Match Day Thread Huddersfield versus Newcastle

Has anyone noticed an uncanny symmetry between our results this season and last season (lost one to a team expected to do big things in the league and the other to Huddersfield)? Anyone think its worth having a flutter on us winning the Premier League with a win on the last day?





With an insurance bet on us being relegated before Christmas.

 

It's a game we should have taken something from, we had enough decent chances. The half hearted challenge on the edge was very poor for the goal but it was a good strike. We just don't have the goals in the squad to stay up. Perez, Mitro, Joselu and Gayle will never be enough.

 

Exactly this. We have a cutting edge like a playdough knife.

 

Gayle is not committed in his runs which suggests the problems in his head around grtting injured are still there. He's only half fut therefore so for me, we need to get him looked at and take him out of the firing line.

 

I'd sell him double quick. Sound out a few champ clubs and get rid, then use the cash to grab someone like Batshuayi with the number 9 on offer.

 

I'm no football manager and certainly haven't won the Champions League but there's just some things I cannot get my head around;

- We play with such fear and look so flat. Compare and contrast to more or less every other team, who seem to play even fleetingly with some freedom and zest. The only club who seem as scared as we do is West Ham - ironically probably the one club where our manager may end up.
- We rigidly, without exception, stick to a formation that does not suit the players we actually have, meaning...
- Our full backs, regardless of ability, are doing the same thing time and again
- This doesn't make sense when our wingers stay wide; we end up with two players wide slinging in crosses for Gayle and Perez - it just seems like utter nonsense?
- We just do not have a no.10 at all. The only one we have - SDJ - isn't even in the matchday squad.
- We seem to have the right players to go plain 4-4-2 (although 3-5-2 would be nice to see) and just get some points on the board, why aren't we playing it?
- There's no leadership on the field.
- Rafa looks frustrated and defeated off the field.

I agree it's only game 2 but if the manager sounds off about his frustrations in the media, how bad is he vocalising it behind the scenes? If things are really that bad then Rafa might as well call it a day. I'd much rather he stays, as I can just see Pardew back in the hotseat, but you either work within the limitations or you don't work at all. You can't just muddle through, get relegated and say "I told you so". We need to desperately see some effort in the next few games.

 

Benitez suggested he was asking for more than he was initially on (which was 60k I think)
To be fair Benitez seems to agree with you, he started last season ahead of yedders

 

I think where we went wrong yesterday is we've set up for the season to use Shelveys Hollywood balls for counter attacks. Shelvey goes and Merino CAN be capable of producing those kind of balls. However, perhaps because he's 21 and its his first game in a quicker league, he was consistently forced to play shorter and generally forcing us through the middle, meaning we played right into Hudds hands. Give merino abit more time to find spaces and these tactics might have worked better on another day.
I think the Diame sub was an attempt at going for it, we seemed to push all our players up and relied on him to bring that ball forward in the event the long balls weren't working. Sadly Benitez fails to realise that, no matter where you put him on the pitch, he will always look like a non-scoring Ameobi.
That makeshift defence was fine and only undone by a Merino mistake (first game, again)
I've changed my mind about the end. We looked like a team scared as opposed to uninterested. Similar to how we started last season.
But for that bit of Mooy magic, we were on course to get something from that game. After the goal I saw a hudds team pretty much sit back and time waste against a team that had already shown to have zero guile in front of goal.
Basically Benny needs his striker and a no.10, because I noticed Perez ruin chances many times in our quick counters.
People can say Benitez shouldn't be so rigid in tactics, but he was promised he would be getting the money to create the team he wants. The sad way Newcastle operate is Benitez seems to have little clue who's coming in and when. Sorry but unless you're an absolute bitch like Pardew or carver, and are just lucky to be there, it will affect your management skills and how you forecast your tactics for the next game.


Even McLaren was privately fuming we didn't get the striker he'd pushed all summer for, and he's never even played CL football nevermind won the ****ing thing. This guys missing another GK, CM, a no.10, a striker, left back and maybes another CB with lejuene out.
But its fine cos we bought him lots of lovely wingers.

 

I don't see three teams worse unless this is addressed asap.

 

You're right, although I remember plenty of our board saying this last season. I reckon that, regardless of window, as long as we keep Benitez we'll hit some run of form that can save us.
All I know is any other manager chosen by MA will certainly be the death of our season

 

This is completely missing the point for me.

We do not have an all-round striker, distribution-friendly goalkeeper or - critically - a real Number 10 of any description. So why, in the name of all that's sacred, are we playing 4-2-3-fcking-1!! We. Do. Not. Have. The. Players.

I think Rafa's as good as we're going to get.....if we had money. We don't. We need an Eddie Howe or Sean Dyche approach. I want Rafa to stay, but I desperately need him to come to terms with what he's got and open his fcking eyes.

 

So we play a 442, get battered by Huddersfield because we're more defensively open, and everyone moans. Proof that when the chips are down at Newcastle you'll never win as manager.
Having Joselu AND Gayle start would have got us goals? Not a chance. Maybe Mitro, but more likely he'd be sent off 10 mins in, after the spurs match its not worth the risk.
I got his point of protecting a makeshift back line with deeper midfield, and he couldn't account for Hayden channeling the spirit of Diame.
Everyone seems hell bent on ignoring the fact we were coping absolutely fine until Merino's debut cock-up. Sorry but who else do we play instead of him so that didn't happen?
I got why he didn't play De jong by the way, didn't have the necessary speed to move forwards with a counter.
I'm not bothered currently because its the same negativity that was on this board two games into last season.
For some reason after pards, carver and McLaren we jump all over Benitez as soon as he gets the tactics arguably wrong in a game, as if every manager doesn't do it atleast a few times in a season. Personally I look at the team on offer to him and, 11 v 11, hudds always had more about it.

 

We didn't do any of these things and i could just as easily say Hudds wouldn't see it coming and we did them 3 or 4 nil.

Joselu set up a couple of good chances, and was more of a nuisance. Mitrovic has proven solidly for a while he can't score, but I'd have been happier with him on up front anyway - the point was we have players for 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 and aren't using them, which is isolating far too many players who don;t know what they're doing.

We make a mistake every game. We couldn't keep clean sheets enough in the Championship, we've always got an error in us whoever plays. We have to expect the opposition will score.

As for De Jong - Perez wasted more chances to counter than I care to imagine, because he's a dribbler (and a bad one). He has not got the speed of mind to link it up, feed it on, look for space. Not saying SDJ is the answer, but Perez isn't - and has been proven not to be for three years.

Hudds, one of the worst in the league, has more about it than we do......and you're not bothered?! lol

 

No I think you're misinterpreting that, I'm not bothered about benitez and his tactics right now. When we've got a **** team due to finances not being spent,in the places vitally needed, what do you want me to do? Tell benitez to start putting money in? To add 10k a week so we can finally offer someone that fable 80k a week? I have faith in Benitez to pull us out the mud eventually, even with this shocking team.
You've just agreed Perez and SDJ is not the answer, so who else plays that role? Diame? It again goes back to not having the correct squad. Hence why Benitez seems to be pushing for Praet. Fail to see how a 352 fixes that. You're right that Joselu looked clever when he FIRST came on, but ended the game anonymous, only popping up to try every ridiculous shot/header imaginable.
Since when would Joselu, Gayle or Mitro yield 3/4 goals in a prem game collectively, I don't see how putting two goal-shy strikers up top will bring us goals, it will also leave our shaky midfield further open, which in turn leaves our makeshift defence ****ed.
You say it yourself that defensively we've been worrying. I don't think the answer is starting Joselu/Mitro. Both have yet to prove they capably add to the attack enough to make up for defensive shortcomings. I can't blame Benitez for thinking "we are lucky to score a goal with these strikers currently so I best protect the defence so we're not two goals down in the first half against a team high on confidence and enjoying a lack of expectation in their performances"
Whilst you rightly say we're always due a **** up, that defence coped well yesterday overall, with benitez's tactics, and was undone by a young player making his first start in a league he's never played in. I think on that reasoning we shouldn't start shouting 352 as if playing a formation we haven't used before will magically turn us into a team that turns others over 3-0
Its more about getting more players in than blaming benitez

 

By the way 352 and we're one injury away from fielding hanley

 

Merino was a massive plus - he looked quality throughout and in all facets of his play. I think Hayden is limited though. Perhaps if Shelvey can keep his head, him and Merino can prove useful.

In front of them we need that one clever player to make everything tick. The problem I see is Shelvey seems to think he is that player. What we need is that No.10 to pick the locks. Perhaps look at a cheap older player for this role? Someone who has fallen out of favour? I think we have some useful wide options. We just need the cutting edge and someone to knit it all together

 

It is all about the no.10, probably more so than a striker, because Gayle will be able to have a bit more influence on the game. The lad needs 3 or 4 chances most games in order to score, we aren't offering that at the moment. Need somebody with the flair to play through balls closer to a teams back line than Shelves, and in tandem it would make us far more unpredictable in attack

 

Well isn't it just a matter of hours now until Fabregas turns up.....eh, Windy? Well? Isn't it?

Jokes aside, you're right - I liked the look of Merino. First game in this league, a season on the bench at BVB - very impressed. Him + Shelvey could be very good but we need someone else who would be the central point. Issue is even if we brought in, say, Praet we're one injury from floundering again. That said, young Murph has a lot about him. Or we could move Ritchie in?

 

Yedlin isn't the best defender in the world, but we really missed him on Sunday. I'd put Dummett, Clarke and Mbemba ahead of Manquillo as full backs too. Once we have any one of Dummett, Lejeune or Yedlin back then that should see an improvement at right back. When we have Lejeune back (hopefully to replace Lascelles) that should also see an improvement in quality. We will always be a couple of injuries away from problems, but overall I think the defence is capable enough to survive.

Totally agree that we need someone creative to create chances though. I'm not even sure a prolific goalscorer would be the answer without someone creative to provide chances. We need to find another Beardsley. Even the strikers we have would benefit from that.

I like the look of Merino. Him and Shlevey (if he can sort his head) in the first team, with Hayden as the sub rather than Diame, could work well - if we get lucky. We have enough options out wide but no-one in the centre for them to link with. The likes of Merino, Shelvey, Ritchie and Atsu would all look better with some quality inside to play off.

 

Are we allowed to go back down to the championship for the rest of the season? Not sure I can take all the Premier league negativity on and off the pitch for another year.