LETS PUSH ON!!! - My thoughts on the Norwich game

Whilst Tiote and Dummett were not great today, I believe we need to give them a little slack and a couple of games to get back up to full pace. Tiote has been out for what seems like 2 seasons and Dummett hasn't played since the end of last season. They will need a few games to get up to speed with the Premier league.

Tiote looked good with Cabaye further forward, He has the ability to look good with Gini & Sissoko ahead of him. Whether he takes that opportunity is another matter entirely. Dummett is quite frankly the best opportunity we have to get a decent partner for Mbemba before January.

 

Agree with this. Both teams have had plenty of turnover in players over the past few years. I honestly think that the only players that will be playing that will care about the Derby are Colback and Cattermole.
The players need to treat the game as if it's the Norwich game. Playing to the supporters in the crowd was one of the reasons that we have been so awful in the past few seasons in these games. Knuckle down and approach the game as they did this week and we'll win the Derby.

 

I think with regards to Dummett/Haidara, let's face it they're both incapable of holding down the LB position. Both have their own glaring weaknesses but these were masked by the 6-2 big win that we took. I'm more concerned with how mentally not fired up Cisse was when he came on. I would have liked to see Cisse eagerly try to prove himself and score.

 

Some good performances yesterday, Sissoko being the main one for me. It seems when he is determined to work hard for the team, you get a result but too many times he turns up half-arsed.

His three assists (I believe the one for Perez doesn't count as his initial shot was blocked) were outstanding, but you can see in the first half when he wasn't as bothered about the team, defensively, Newcastle just went to ****.

Maybe making him captain would push him to lead the line.

Aside from him, Perez, Mitrovic and of course GW had a blinder.

I think Mac deserves a lot of credit for this performance, he won't get it because a lot of you seem to have written him off already. He's got a knack of getting teams attacking well, at a fast pace, he's just got to solve issues at the other end now.

 

I hope Allardyce has them really up for it, I mean really fired up because players like Lens, M'Villa, Catermole, Kaboul, Coates are all liable to make mistakes, get fired up and be reckless,

I would prefer our players to know the importance of the game, but be fully aware that its going to get heated and how there is a requirement to remain proffessional, let the other team get wound up. We need to go amongst our business, let them have the ball and pow! hit them on the attack with the same kind of speed as yesterday.

If we take the righ approach and play like we did yesterday, i see no reason why we couldnt comfortably win.

 

I agree Mac deserves full credit for yesterday. You want a manager who will improve things at half time and also make the right substitutions when he sees a weakness or that something isn't working. We got that yesterday. Far too early to be writing him off. Our start to the season was unbelievably hard. No point complaining about it as everyone plays everyone else twice. It was never going to be easy changing the system while also accepting that it will take 2 or 3 transfer windows to turn things around. We've still got a hell of a long way to go, but if we can improve again in January we should be just about ok this season and in a better position to build on next season.

 

The guy behind this performance was Sissoko not Mac the Hairdo, Sissoko put in a shift for the first time this season and showed what a difference he can make to the team, he has obviously woken up to the fact that if he wants out to a champions league team he had better show he is capable of playing at that level. Defensively we were poor giving far too much space down the wings and allowing them to cross at will at times, both Sissoko and Widget were guilty of standing off and not making any defensive challenges at times especially in the first half, Norwich were also terrible defensively and are only the 15th best team in the league currently so whilst it was a great day for goals there is a hell of a long way to go.

 

So even if Mac told Sissoko at half time he needs to do more defensively, he deserves no credit, it was all Sissoko? The logic is ****ed pal, forget about Fergie it was all Keane and Scholes' work.

Writing managers off after a few games, it's no wonder you lot get ridiculed so often as a fan base.

 

Very tough start to the season and - I'm going to say it - we've been better than the 3 points prior to yesterday showed. Could/should have beaten Southampton and Chelsea, played well against United, Arsenal and City (for half a game). Were gash against Watford, Swansea and West Ham.

Not sure how many points people were expecting to get from our first ten games but 10 points would have been about par from that list and we're one Ramires firebolt away from being around that number.

McLaren getting too much stick from the minority of our fans. We wont be in the relegation zone come January, if we are then perhaps consider a change prior to more investment but even then I'd be tempted to stick with him.

 

Garth Crookes team of the week:

"if McClaren or any of his staff think for one minute that Wijnaldum, or anyone else for that matter, can keep scoring goals at this rate to win games he can think again. Wijnaldum needs to have a quiet word with his boss and tell him to sort his defence out."

I think if Wij goes to McLaren to complain about how the goals were conceded he may get a bit of a bashing. Did Crookes even watch the game?!?!

 

Garth Crooks sounds a little bit bitter there doesn't he? I wonder if he had Norwich in his coupon.

Wijnaldum can be a regular scorer for you, for certain, he knows where the net is.

I'm fairly certain Steve Mac doesn't ring Garth up for advice, ever.

 

Last time I checked, you won games by outscoring the opposition, not by having a tight defence every week. I couldn't even a **** what that tosser thinks. I'd rather see us win games scoring goals. If we concede so ****. I enjoyed yesterday. It's been a long time since we saw attacking football of that quality.

 

I don't think he was written off but obviously people were concerned by his bizarre start to life here. He does deserve credit for yesterday, but he has also deserved berating for some of the previous team selections/tactics. We have had a tough start, but if you took Man U away out of it, tactically otherwise he has had a shocker. I mean Pardew took some almighty stick, but Steve made him look like a genius with some of his early selections and tactical "masterclasses".

Must admit though I looked at the team set up on Sunday and thought "yeah happy with that". Ok Tiote was a bit of a poor call but otherwise it looked good. As for our defensive problems obviously McClaren must take some blame in there. He is part of the transfer committee afterall which didn't bother to sort the defence out, and he is responsible for getting the likes of Gini and Sissoko drilled to track which of course they didn't and cost us 2 goals. Equally he deserves credit for pointing it out - swings and roundabouts of any manager.

Big step forward generally though, we looked a handful going forward. Once Perez put a poor 1st half behind him, the link up and movement in the front 4 was difficult to handle.

 

I think he went in with too much of a friendly attitude, he could have waded in and told a few players that they weren't getting squad numbers and would be forced out of the club, such as that donkey you have in defence and a couple of the French lads who are useless.

Maybe if you had more squad places you'd have signed one or two more. He's been honest though and said he'll take a few more windows to get the squad how he wants it.

From an outside point of view, the haters will never accept him, even if he succeeds they'll just say Pardew would have achieved the same with similar money.

The lad who's made most difference is Mitrovic, in my opinion, he's got the passion that your squad lacked so desperately since you flogged Barton and co. It's no surprise that when he got suspended you played absolute garbage.

 

Mitrovic plays like he's a fan. His passion is fantastic and you can see that others respond to it. Helps that he's a fantastic player as well. Future captain.

 

Its just a fact. Mitro gives a ****. Players who give a **** are like gold. You get people who claim this player or that player can be a leader. True character is doing the hard yards all the time. The lad is wasted by 75mins because he runs none stop, he closes down. He is infectious. It rubs off on the others. People like that can drag you up a level as they get players putting in the extra 10 yards. Once you do that, talent is the issue. We have talent in the squad.

Its the age old adage about earning the right to play.

Sounds like a cliche but it is just the truth. Jermaine Jenas gave a perfect anecdote. He mentioned how the leaders like Shearer, Speed etc would say in the tunnel before every game "15 minutes". It meant 15 mins of chasing, competing, tackling and getting the fans onside. Gary Neville touched on it saying it was a horrible place to play when the fans got behind them - only the players can make that happen. The signings we have made like Mbemba, Gini, Mitro seem to have that bit about them. As you say maybe the inability to shift Gouffran, Willo etc has proved a stumbling block and maybe McClaren was a bit too nice. He deserves time as I keep saying. He has frightened the bejesus out of me with some stuff. It could be worse though I could be watching Sam Allardyce's stat driven anti football. I see little point in harking back to Pardew or comparing. Completely different parameters they are working under, the aim is completely different. Its not fair on either. Pardew did well for what they wanted to achieve - he fought hard on a shoe string and cut his cloth. McClaren is under a different kind of pressure and expectation.

 

I think McClaren had to give some players a game, to see what they were made of. If he's made a few mistakes it won't be he first time it's happened or the last. You're not going to get the perfect manager, they don't exist anymore but for the type of football you lot like, McClaren can get that with backing, from everybody.

He might bore you but his job isn't to stand in front of a camera and entertain you all, Joe Kinnear did that and I'm damn sure you don't want him back again. I could hear McClaren yesterday shouting all game, non-stop instruction, he's a proper manager (head coach?), Pardew wasn't that at Newcastle, he was too busy telling people to smile and headbutting everything.

Your main problem won't change though, no matter how successful McClaren is, you won't keep your best players if the big bids come in. Wijnaldum could be prized away after one short season and you're looking again, back in the market for a replacement. That needs to change for strategic success.

 

That is life though and other teams have a structure to deal with like Swansea have.

Our main issue is we have the same defence for about 6 years. Yes we swapped out Debuchy for Janmaat but otherwise nothing changes. Mbemba is a brilliant start. If McClaren can secure a replacement for left back and Colo in the next window, I honestly think it will transform our team. We have other issues like both central midfield players, but that is if you are looking to break into the upper echelons. Baby steps for me, and time to to sort out a problem which has been there for the best part of 10 years. Get this kid a partner and get a left back, the 2nd half of the season could offer a bright future.

We will lose the likes of Mitro, Gini, Perez, Mbemba at some stage. Quality young players will always be hoovered up by the big sides. We just have to make sure it is on our terms and at the time we desire. I like what Southampton have done. Morgan S could have left ages ago and wanted to. They just said no but gave him his wish when it suited. They went and got Clasie to replace. Its just having that system which works.

McClaren needs support. He has had a bad start. A lot of very good managers have had terrible starts at football clubs. A few more games like that and you can roll forward. His own confidence looked shattered. Equally he looked buoyed by yesterday. That's football.

 

Not taking anything away from it, 6-2 is a thrashing, but.......we were fluffing dreadful at the back and deserved to be shown up for it.
I don't think you'll have an easier win than that this season, but I hope you do have some and get back up the table.

 

We missed Lens and Toivian at WBA who should be on Sunday, they were brilliant against WHU who were lucky to get a point and look at their away record, we have improved a lot at home. M'Villa is great on the day.