wtf at your first two sentences. No doubt West Ham were saying the same. Does that mean we have to think we are a little team? No. They are not world beaters even if they flatter themselves they are. What annoys people is that the defensive weaknesses were evident enough in the previous game and Bruce did absolutely nothing about it. We could have easily lost the last two games.
I also have a slight problem with Bruce giving all the players a chance and trying to accommodate all the players to keep them happy. It is a nice sentiment but useless if it is at the detriment of points.
Missed the last 15 min or so so missed the last goal. But also thought Dawson was good. He marshals his defense well, at one point I heard his tell Elmo to back off and get back in position (which was what was needed). We have not seen as many Elmo defensive gaffes as we did last season-may well be down to Dawsons marshalling? Thought Diame was outstanding just what we need in midfield-some steel and drive. Compared to the other buys, especially Livermore he looks a steal (hope we did not pay 8 million for Livermore). Thought Robertson was at fault initially for the first goal and then ultimately McGregor. Should have saved it. Robertson offers a lot going forward but needs to improve defensively. Not sure what was wrong with Hernandez, never really got into the game. As usual we gave the ball away cheaply lots of the time. Given the possession stats and the fact that Jelavics goal was arguably our first shot at goal, a point cannot be grumbled at, however, there is a lot of luck involved when you don't have a lot of possession and you end up 2-0 up (people in the right place at the right time etc.) Opportunities like that don't come often and you have to take your chance. So 2 points dropped.
I didn't see any of you ****s complaining about his team choices before the game kicked off. Pards brought on Cisse and changed the game. That ginger **** was dire today. Livermore misplaced his passes too
the goals: http://streams.tv/highlights/10275-newcastle-0-1-hull http://streams.tv/highlights/10280-newcastle-0-2-hull http://streams.tv/highlights/10282-newcastle-1-2-hull http://streams.tv/highlights/10286-newcastle-2-2-hull
This is negativity but just an honest opinion on how I see it. We gift to opposition possession way to often and the majority of that is unforced errors. Our passing has been poor and we are incredibly clumsy at times. If we can address these glaring issues then we could be immense.
Pity that we couldn't hold on, and you can criticise Bruce's substitutes if you want but the real reason they came back was Cisse. His introduction gave them a forward capable of scoring. Prior to that they had looked completely toothless. Tiote coming back gave them some grit too. Hernandez never got going and seemed to beat himself up every time a pass he played went awry. Huddleston did an effective job and was easily the best passer on the pitch. Not sure why he's getting so much criticism. Our support was fantastic. I remember a League cup game in the 90s when I was one of only a handful of City fans there, so I'll admit to shedding a small tear when looking up to the Gods and seeing a full away section singing CTID. Banner saying Jonas, Stay Strong was appreciated too. Until the stewards took it down.
Costing us goals and points. Makes the odd world class save, as he should as an international, but not doing the basics. Arguably cost us four points in the last two games.
That has been the problem this season, dodgy defending. We used to be one of the most solid defences in the PL last season but no goal threat. Now we have the goal threat but one of the worst defences. We can't keep throwing away the likes of 2-0 leads.
I think the fact that Cisse came on and gave them a goal threat is a real red-herring; we should assume that all of our opposition have a goal threat at this level and we should be capable of dealing with it. McGregor's goalkeeping is below par and needs attention, urgently. Quinn's passing the ball is bloody useless and created us more problems that the remainder of his game contributed - he should have been taken off, not Jelavic, who, even half-knackered, offered far more of a threat. Robertson and Elmo offer more in defence than they are credited with, but the real solution is to return to 3-5-2 to get the best out of our centre backs. Anyone who does not consider that as 2 points lost needs their head banging; we were 2-0 up because we deserved to be and to lose that in the last 15-ish minutes is bloody awful and totally unacceptable. it seems to me that we have quite a number of posters who will invent any amount of excuses to accept a poor result and this was a poor result.
http://streams.tv/highlights/10311-1st-goal-lei-mu-0-1 http://streams.tv/highlights/10312-2nd-goal-lei-mu-0-2 http://streams.tv/highlights/10313-3rd-goal-lei-mu-1-2 http://streams.tv/highlights/10314-4th-goal-lc-mu-1-3 http://streams.tv/highlights/10315-5th-goal-lc-mu-2-3 http://streams.tv/highlights/10316-6th-goal-lc-mu-3-3