Article: A little less than a year ago... | Football, Newcastle

We were optimistic and looking forward to be being back where we belong.

And after the hammering of Villa we could all smile, knowing full well that whatever the season brought, we would always be entertained.

Fast-forward a year and where are we? We’re despondent and troubled with many tipping us for the drop. Why?

If we look at the team against Villa:

Haper
Perch Williamson Colocinni Enrique
Routledge Smith Nolan Barton Jonas
Carroll

It shows that out of the 11 who started the game only two will probably regain their place for the forthcoming season.

Colo and Guti.

Does this mean we have moved on? Does anyone think that we have a better team now? A team that we can get behind, and relate to?

It’s clear that Ashley is trying to get rid of the ‘big personalities’ in our dressing room. Everyone who stood up for Hughton is off. His buys are off, Routledge, Best (apparently) and Ranger (who was handed a five year contract before Chris left) is transfer listed.

It’s odd how all this faith and trust was placed in Hughton. It paid off. and now Ashley wants to start all over again.

It’s amazing what a year can do.

 

I think that every year a club or squad needs to move on. What we've seen are wholesale changes and not small changes to improve the squad overall.

Are we better? In some areas we've improved but in others we've either stagnated or taken a step back.

The GK position is solid and needs no improvement.
Defence has stagnated a bit as it hasn't been improved; yet it's still fairly strong and could do with some improvement.
Midfield and I think we are stronger overall.
Strikers we have taken a step back and need another brought in.

As far as a team we can back; we always back the team.

That has never been in question.

 

Compare that to the team we currently have available for Arsenal: -

Simpson's better than Perch, Saylor's better than Williamson, we technically still have Barton/Enrique, Tiote's better than Smith, Cabaye's better than Nolan, Jonas and Colo are still here of course and Gosling/Marveaux are better than Routledge. Ba is about as good as Carroll IMO, both scored 13 goals last season and one cost 35 million less.

 

I disagree with that. Arguably the strongest part of our game last season was the team spirit. A watch of the 4-4 will show that Nolan and Barton were the ones who got the team together after first losing Caroll, then going down 4 - 0 at half time. You could see they were the ones it meant most to. And now we've lost both of them. I'm not saying we'll completely fall apart, but I'm nowhere near as confident in our team spirit as I was this time last year.

 

I don't think we're as likely to go down 4-0 at half time in the first place now though.

 

Well I would hope not! It all depends on what happens from now until the Arsenal game. We don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Everything could be fine, or it could've all gone to ****. I'm a lot more nervous about this season, I can't help it.

 

Thats a shocking statistic, our team has changed dramatically!!!

 

True, in that instance, but there were numerous games where Captain Nolan was too lazy to track back, and after losing the ball/giving it away would jog back from the penalty box to berate someone else for his mistake. Barton will be the big loss, him and Cabaye in the same side gave us a dimension to our midfield - ability to pick a pass and create an opportunity from open play - that we have not had since the 1990s. We still have this in Cabaye, but Barton would have been an excellent foil.

I genuinely don't see a place for Nolan or his attitude with our 'new look' team.

 

Nolan was as frustrating as he was brilliant, but the fact of the matter is, he was a huge figure in our team. The players looked up to him, the fans loved him. The same goes for Barton. Much better footballer but a similar sort of character. I was excited to see Barton and Cabaye together, but that's out the window now. Our midfield was stronger than most last season, and we've lost two of the key players in it.

The new players have my full support, but I'm not sure we're as good without the old ones too.

 

I think some players looked up to him, particularly before his main ally was sold, but I can't imagine, from seeing Nolan's attitude towards him week in week out, that Jonas would have looked up to him.

Actually the formation above, and season stats prove something important about Nolan, and that was that he's no midfielder. He only scored 2 goals after Carroll left - when he was played in a more withdrawn role - and went missing for the majority of games due to his lack of pace/fitness. I even think some, not all, but some of Tiote's yellow cards were due to the amount of space Cheik was made to cover in Nolan's absence.

So in a midfield sense, I don't think we'll miss him, but as a goal poacher, we will, which is what makes our quest for a new striker all the more important.

Ironically we have more suitable cover for Barton, but we will miss him more.

 

This is a very important point, with a more able midfield I don't see Tiote raking in as many yellows either.

 

True. I think Tiote will look even better this season because he wont have a total passenger alongside him in midfield.

 

Agree Cabaye seems like he gets stuck in far more and has more pace and stamina than Nolan

 

Clarence, you've just improved my mood dramtically with your sensible, well thought out post.

 

Looking at that team v Villa i am very confident of a good season, especially as other teams have got weaker (villa, wigan to name a few) the teams who are coming up are really going to struggle and IMO we have improved as a squad. HTL

 

i think our team we have at this point has improved since then but when we lose Jose and Barton then it will be weaker

 

We have a tiny squad though!

 

Haper
Perch Williamson Colocinni Enrique
Routledge Smith Nolan Barton Jonas
Carroll

vs

Krul
Simpson Taylor Colo ???
Jonas Tiote Cabaye Marv
HBA
Ba

Tons more quality than start of last season, but left back and better cover for on the bench or to challenge for places do need to be bought, we do have a very thin squad, if injuries and suspensions kick in we'll struggle!

 

Looking at that Simpson is better than Perch and Tiote is better than Smith, don't know a lot about Cabaye and Marveaux. That aside team looks weaker to me, with a worse manager.

 

Hang on we don't know we can put that line up out judz. Best when comparing the teams to just look at the squad and see what 11 we would put out to see if we have improved. Last seasons team would be: Harper, Simpson, Enrique, Taylor, Colo, Barton, Jonas, Tiote, Nolan, Ben Arfa, Carroll. This seasons best starting 11 would be Harper, Simpson, Ferguson, Colo, Taylor, Jonas, Marveaux, Cabaye, Tiote, Ben Arfa, Ba. I reckon last seasons team wins due to the quality of Carroll and Enrique. Cabaye is better Nolan, but Barton is better than Marveaux for me so they cancel each other out. We may sign a left back and a striker to alter this though. The other key thing being that we have more injury prone players than ever. However we also have Gosling as an option, and several young players who will be better than last year.