Dembele off...dempsey drops into midfield and adebayor on. They have us sussed so we need to change it
Dembele's really looked off the pace, hasn't he? Some good flashes here and there, but his final ball's been awful and he's given it away a few times for no reason, too.
Yep I like the look of that Colin. The only time Dempsey looks like he will get on the end of something is when he gets offside.
Taking Dembele off is no solution. he's looked a little poor with his final ball, but Dempsey has offered nothing at all so far, and won't be a better option in the centre, IMO. Why do we even bother crossing the ball in when we have a corner? we'd be better off playing them all short. I don't know the last time we won a header from a corner, that actually resulted in an attempt at goal. There doesn't appear to be any aerial threat whatsoever.
Started the game well, but we seemed to drop off about 5 minutes after we'd taken the lead and we let them back into it. We haven't had enough composure on the ball, nobody's dictating play in the middle and it's not sticking up front, unsurprisingly. I'd rest Dempsey at half-time, bring on Adebayor and see how that changes things. Hopefully it's just our usual first half malaise.
Dowd's not the worst ref but surely if ManU were playing Coloccini would have been booked for the original foul on Dempsey that led to the goal and (can't remember who) would have been booked for that foul on Dembele when he led with his knee into Dembele's thigh (IMHO quite deliberately). There's also the fact that we could have had a penalty because with the current rules you sometimes get those and sometimes don't. Again I reckon ManU would have got that at Old T. Then there's their goal which was a major deflection. So not so bad really.
Dempsey will do the simple things well in midfield... his movement has created space for Holtby and he was fouled for the bale free kick ...Dembele is clearly off form...he is winning very little and his passing has been poor. I ain't scapegoating him I just think that he ain't at the races...I think we need to give toon some different type of problems as they looked very comfortable after they equalised or we ain't going to get even a draw from this
Some signs of quicker movement from Spurs early, we need some more of that. What has happened to Dembele?
I agree, he's not at the races today and this is the first time i've seen it. I know others had concerns before today. However, I'd rather have an off form dembele who's trying to drive us forward with runs into open spaces, than have Dempsey who'll do the simple passes. Newcastle look a good side and they are cancelling us out. Simple passes will not be enough to break Newcastle down today, IMO. I also don't think Dempsey's got the legs for Dembele's role.
This needs to be changed...we are battling well but are being cancelled out and controlled going forward by newcastle
Lots of hard work being put in by this Newcastle side. Very different to a lot of their performances pre-January.
Bit of a strange one for Gouffran. Didn't seem to be that much contact, but he's clearly quite badly hurt. Hope he recovers quickly from it.
Quinn is a real prick....it's obvious the toon player aint acting yet he waited till he sees the geezer getting oxygen before he stops taking the piss
