My Latest Toon Blog...your thoughts?

I’m glad I waited until the 1st Feb to post the first post of 2011…

The prospect of the ‘run-in’ seems very different now to what we had all predicted at the turn of the new year. Thoughts of top half finishes and European places, despite being optimistic at the time, now seem somewhat ridiculous and the bitter feeling of deja vu that another relegation scrap would no doubt bring seems to be becoming more likely with every passing week.

We were NOT a one man team, as was demonstrated over a Carroll-less 4 game unbeaten run in January, but the loss of the latest ‘local hero’ does beg the question; how will it affect the team? £35m is a ridiculous sum of money for a player with Andy’s experience and had the offer come in at the start of January it would have been a no-brainer. However the departure of our no. 9, and more importantly the lack of a replacement, has come at a terrible time for us. With no time to invest the money (whether that will happen still remains to be seen) we find ourselves with a front line that is without doubt one of the weakest in the premiership.

Despite what has been a turbulent week we must now consider the positives…

We have a solid stable of goalkeepers, our defence has tightened up this season and at times has threatened to look unbreakable. The depth of quality we have in midfield is arguably on par with almost any club in the Premiership, with the addition of Ben Arfa and Ireland further bolstering this.

To stay up we simply have to change the way we play. We are not strong enough up top to be whipping in deadly balls from wide areas and expecting them to be buried. We need to develop a style that gets the most from our midfield and make the most of the limited resource we have up front.

This however will take time, and time is not a luxury we have with 14 games to go.

10 points from 14 would ensure survival…and to be honest anything less is simply relegation form.

 

Good read. Keep it up

 

Well typed. I should really blog.

 

Good Blog. I've clicked to start following.

Feel free to return the favour

http://itsnotlifeordeath.blogspot.com/

Not a dedicated Toon blog, but a general sports one

Keep up the good work

 

A Game of 1 Half

It had been a tough week for us…and by 15:11 on Saturday it seemed as if it was only going to get worse.

We were absoulutely dominated for 45 minutes by a team with superior skill, speed and passing ability. It was at times embarrasing, the gulf in class was apparent and when the 4th hit the back of the Gallowgate End net in the 26th minute most around St. James’ would have probably settled for single figures.

At half time many would have capitulated under these circumstances, putting it down to a rough week and team morale being at rock bottom..many would have rationalised away their failures, after all Arsenal are a great team who had given us a lesson in passing throughout the 1st half…and many would have simply tried to hide the embarrassment that they would no doubt be feeling at this point.

But the 11 men in the home dressing room would not roll over so easily.

What was to follow was a performance of such heart, passion and determination that it will live long not just in the memories of the Geordie faithfull but in those of football fans across the country. All of a sudden we were getting tight, closing down the opposition and going in hard with firm but fair tackles. It was a different team than that which limped lifelessly off at half time.

The catalyst came when Joey one a 50 50 ball with a crunching tackle on Diaby who’s reaction was quite unbelievable, and it was after this reaction, and the subsequent dismissal that followed, that some around the ground started to think; we couldn’t, could we?

After cooly slotting away the first (and to be fair what should have been the only) penalty of the afternoon it was no longer 10 v 11 but closer to 10 v 51,511. There was a sense of belief emerging around the ground and the roar that followed Best’s ‘2nd goal’ of the afternoon was one that you would only here at SJP.

The story continued to play out with a 3rd goal coming from a questionable penalty awarded by a linesman who may have been looking to attone for his earlier sins, but there was nothing questionable about the equaliser. We’ve seen Tiote tease us with thunder-strikes which have invariably hit the first defender on a number of occasions this season…but there wasn’t any one in red, or any other colour for that matter, who dared get in the way of this one.

The celebrations that followed were extreme, yet justified and the Toon Army had another tale that would go down in Geordie folklore.

However, without meaning to rain on parades, piss on chips or generally sound negative…the question still needs to be asked what happened in the first half? Another pressing issue is the question of goals and where they are going to come from. Yes we scored 4, but 2 of these were from the spot, Best was rather fortunate that it fell nicely for him, and Tiote…well if he could do that every week I suppose I couldn’t complain.

Going forward the task is simple…we MUST take the heart and passion that saw us earn a well-deserved point in to the next few games, preferably this time from the kick-off.

The countdown continues: 9 more pts until we can breathe a sigh of relief (I can’t help but think I’ll be a little bored when the drama’s over though!).