The Newcastle United Blog

82 responses so far ↓

• 1 James // Jan 12, 2008 at 20:49

  Good things we can take from defeat Ed - We have a billionaire owner who has finally cleared the dead wood behind the scenes - Shepherd, Fat Sam, and will now clear the dead wood on the pitch. He’s only been here 6 months, but Ashley has got rid of the two men we wanted out. He will now break up the team and get in the players and manager to start competing again.

  Despite some of the negative comments on here, I trust Ashley to sort us out long term. In his first 6 months he cleared out the crap behind the scenes. These 6 months will be spent clearing out the players not good enough to wear the black and white. Next season will be about getting back to where we belong. You can’t expect him to do everything in 6 months. He’s already got rid of a manager none of us wanted and banned Shepherd from setting foot in SJP. He is driven and demands success. He will not tolerate the players he had inherited.

• 2 Ed Harrison // Jan 12, 2008 at 20:50

  James - good points.

• 3 Ed Harrison // Jan 12, 2008 at 20:51

  James - this was meant to be good things from the game today. Not what Mike and Chris have done.

• 4 carl // Jan 12, 2008 at 20:52

  good things from today. enrique nzogbia. thats it

• 5 James // Jan 12, 2008 at 20:53

  Ed - good things from the game - it’s over.

• 6 Edd Case // Jan 12, 2008 at 20:55

  I agree with Carl…

  Right, time to get very, very drunk - booze fixes everything.

• 7 carl // Jan 12, 2008 at 20:55

  poor toon supporters, paying good money, travel money etc.to watch a load of over payed allardyce cast offs.god save the toon

• 8 John // Jan 12, 2008 at 20:56

  Ed Been honest i can’nt see any positives from this game..It should off been all overin the first half aswell for united as Roney missed some sitters. we had one chance..Ya ZOg looked good but everything else was rubbish…There was no positives..as well as proper midfielders who can actualy play football..Not pretend to play

  I love your attitude on this blog mate, but im sorry i cant agree with you on this…We were absolutley awful…

  I cant understand how Nicky Butt is sopposedly on 50 grand a week..Cant get my head round it…I’ve never seen a more over rated player in my life…I’d love to see how many successful passes he made today ..I’d say one in 4 passes came off…

  were in a very bad state and we need to realise this…I just hope the next manager gets backed financialy cus we really need to get some top quality defenders in as well as midfielders who actually know how to play football and not pretend to play..

• 9 carl // Jan 12, 2008 at 20:56

  yep im on 3rd bottle wine

• 10 keeganpleasecomeback // Jan 12, 2008 at 20:59

  i was on my 3rd bottle when it was 2-0 and im still hiding behind the couch

• 11 Unpopular Bert // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:02

  The vast majority of people wont agree with me but until Newcastle get rid of Shay Given we will always have a crap defence. He is admittedly a great shotstopper BUT ….
  1… He has no physical presence and does not dominate the penalty box
  2… He tends to stay on his line when he should be taking care of crosses
  3… He is frequently beaten in 1 on 1 situations.
  4… He has been at the club too long and is now “a bit stale”.

  We need to start again at the back when a new manager comes in and IMO Shay should be the first out of the door even though he has been a great servant to the club.

• 12 the _lord // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:04

  Mike Ashley black and white army, I’m 100% behind Ashley. Lets give him time he will get it right.

• 13 carl // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:04

  its ok mate, its over you can come from behind the couch.but be quick, the news or match of the day will soon be on!

• 14 Cyprus Mag // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:05

  I don’t know….ok we were outclassed but I think I saw more application than I saw under FSA. Where do we go from here? Sadly we saw few players who were premiership class and it could have been much, much worse were it not for Given, I’m not sure Derby, Wigan or the great unwashed would have done any worse.
  We have some good players but many who are not good enough and no strategy whatsoever.
  We need a top coach and someone who can drive the squad the latter Shearer but who else I don’t know. Then we need 5 or 6 new players.
  Is this possible? It’s up to MA, how much does he want to succeed?
  How have we got to this given where Sir Bobby got us?

• 15 John // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:07

  what does everyone think off Gerrard Houllier with Shearer as No 2?

• 16 ripleyiii // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:09

  Nobody ever said it was going to be easy supporting Newcastle. But nobody ever said we’d do so poorly. However, we’ve been this bad all year. It’s just we hadn’t played many good teams so far.

  So now we play a good team and we’re awful. This is an awful team. We can never win with 4-5-1. Where’s Emre? Butt sucks. Duff isn’t fit. Owen isn’t fit. We don’t clear our back lines. We’re not first to the ball. N’Zogbia was good today (see I can be positive) but he holds onto the ball far too long.

  Owen should have got that goal. He wasn’t offside. Tevez’s goal didn’t go in. These are all positives.

  Geez, I feel sick.

• 17 nightfall // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:09

  good things from today? hopefully everyone realised how bad smith really is..and is the next man to get “sacked”…

• 18 John // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:09

  cyprus Mag.. Derby done better than us.. they lost 4-1 im sure

• 19 James // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:10

  Personally I’d like to officially class this game as “Ground Zero”.

  Four years from now when we win the Premiership we will look back at this day as the day that Ashley started to build a team at Newcastle that we could all be proud of.

  Today will give birth to a very special 5 year period for Newcastle United.

• 20 Paul // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:11

  This is an all time low for me, it could of of been 12 or 13 if we are honest. Things have to change and fast . Im not sure who can sot this shit out and whoever comes in is on a hiding to nothing

• 21 Ashton // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:13

  Enrique was great no wonder villareal fans nicknamed him the bull !
  zog was great too
  and taylor was solid

  assapa was shite
  carr as usual pure shite
  butt is a chamionship player
  fat aussie was crap did he touched the ball !!
  milner was pathetic Im sick of his stupid dribbling
  given was responsible for at least two goals
  smith mmmmm i cant blame him couse he is not a DM
  owen tried to do something but he was alone with the best two CH’s in PL
  duff was bad imo

  get Quique sanchez flores or Van gaal asap

• 22 Adrian Swall // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:14

  Hmmm. Good things from the game today? Well we aint got Droopy Dog as manager!

• 23 Obafan // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:16

  1. Smith red carded => can’t play a few games (I hope they give him a suspension till the end of the season)
  2. Our fans who travelled to Manchester to support the team
  3. Zog signed a new deal in the beginning of this season, thank God he did
  4. We have a good keeper, that is for sure
  5. Butt faces a 2 game ban
  6. I can give 5 postitive things after today, what an amount!!!

  I just can’t see how everyone says that Enrique is good. he kicks the ball away so our defence gets under pressure again.

• 24 James // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:20

  Obafan - Enrique kept kicking the ball up to Duff but he was either out of position or too slow to catch it. Left backs are supposed to give it to the left winger. Hardly his fault that the left winger couldn’t control the ball and it kept coming back. Duff had a howler. For someone who has hardly played and was up against the best attack in Europe, Enrique was class.

• 25 Gooderz // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:20

  Enrique, Zog and Taylor showed why they should be ever presents in the team, whilst Smith and Butt showed why they should be squad players at best.

• 26 Ben // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:23

  I don’t think you can judge the quality of our players after tonight’s game. They are under a lot of stress (= fear), and only human (even paid a ridiculous lot of money) they react to it. Where does this fear come from? In my opinion, mostly from Big Sam. Fear of conceding a goal, fear of loosing, fear of being substituted, and being held responsible for lack of team effort (any descent manager knows that the bucks stop with him). And now, without a manager and without their best players (playing in Africa), no wonder they can’t perform.
  So, wait until a new and professional manager takes charge, hopefully Morinho who always care for his playes, until you put the final judgement on our present squad.
  Even though I can’t make any excuses for Mr. Smith and Mr Butt….

• 27 Obafan // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:24

  James - I don’t agree with you on Enrique. But everyone has his own view and that is that. No offense, but I can’t see Enrique as a great LB in the future…

• 28 Eve // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:29

  Ya, I just watched the highlights on my channel on tv.

  They showed..

  20 mins was shown of the game,
  5 mins of Man U’s goals
  15 mins of Given’s saves.

  I thought that they’d spend half an hour talking about Ronaldo which would have just driven me a wee bit around the bend but they didn’t, and they actually really surprised me because instead they showed Given’s saves. Which was nice,

  And were just saying how..
  they felt for the wee fella and how he’s 31 now but they see him aging 9 years playing behind that team this season if it’s not fixed,
  how it most be so soul crushing for him to see the same old crap happen year in year out,
  how he was on amazing form and still the side managed to concede 6 goals but it shoulda been like 26, how he’s one of the best keepers in the premiership.
  How at times it was him against Man U and how he really most be wondering what the hell’s going on in front of him and how they really underestimate him and his contribution, especially the fans.

  They then went on to say how we apparently are too quick to criticize everyone and should be begging to get Sam back LOL!! But seriously how we always take negatives out of everything and always criticize our players and managers. How they’re could be 10 positive good things a player did in the match and 2 mistakes and how we’d always concentrate on the negatives.
  And how Sam been given 24 matches or whatever it was to change it all around was as ridiculous as our expectations and some of the teams performances todays.

  It pissed me off a fair bit when they said some of it cause I thought they were full of it, but maybe it was cause I knew there was more then a wee bit of truth in it.

  They also said that too many Newcastle fans were living in the past.
  Shearer was too inexperienced to go into the boiler cooker.
  How potentially it’d be attractive to a manager because of the love of football there and us, their wee fans. But how the fact that there seem to be too many dreamers and little realists at the club would be a bit of a turn odd. how looking at the teams performance today it’s enough to ask most of them if they’re actually serious and that most of the teams performance today was below championship level and how if we keep preforming like the way we have been we should be looking over our shoulders at the relegation zone because apparently we’re in serious trouble if it keeps going like this.

  They we’re in a ranting mood tonight but i think it was important to put up how the so called no it alls see us. It pissed me off but maybe there is some truth in it.

• 29 Zero Cool // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:32

  Ripleyiii
  I believe you put it best. Whoever said Supporting NUFC was easy? Thats what seperates us from the Glory supporters of the “big four” we lose, and we’ll still sell out against Arsenal and Stoke

• 30 Michael // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:33

  What worries me is, are we going to be in the premier league next season, I cannot see us getting 14 to 20 points to keep us safe. Just where, can any of my fellow Newcastle supporters see just where. My good God

• 31 Edd Case // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:36

  Was anyone actually at the game?

  Or can anyone confirm if our lot were chanting for Mourinho etc?

• 32 Steeley // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:41

  My most positive note today was that Smith got red carded….misses two games, and hopefully even after that he wont get back in the team, coz he wasnt great today, despite an OK first half.

  Also, does anyone else think that Taylor had a good game? Or at least in the first half!

• 33 Hadrian // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:42

  Eve , every other word out of you is shay bloody givven ??
  what channel did you watch that on? an irish one ?

• 34 Ashamed_to_be_Toon // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:43

  I’m sick of all this ‘back to where we belong’ crap along with a ridiculous attempt to gain positives from today, there are none fact. We should have beaten 10-11 nil today, we were steeped that we were not.

  Where exactly is back where we belong, if one more ‘fan’ references the Keegan days, they really do need to wake up and smell the coffee. That is ancient history, it might take 25 years to get that and remember the big 4 will progress every year too so chances are the best we can ever get again is 5th.

  The away fans are the only thing this club has left to be proud if, nothing else. The home fans have made us the laughing stock of the country and of other football fans. No manager with a brain cell would take that job today, who needs the grief. Don;t win 3-0 at home, get booed off, get abused for trying to do your job. Get real lads and give the rest of us fans around the world a chance to hold our heads up as we cannot do this today.

  No Manager, no defence, no goals, no spirit, no plan, no nothing. I really thought Ashley was going to be a big change from Freddy but seems to have learned from the same school of sack without a plan. We have a lot of players who would not make it into any other team and we’ll have to wait a long while before they get cleaned out. Cacapa is a disgrace to the shirt, not up to the prem pace at all.

  Give Shearer the job, at least it will shut up all you plastic fans and get the monkey of our back and those muppets who sit behind the manager box. Let him turn that pile of no-hopers into a team that can score a goal or keep a clean sheet once a season. Best of Luck and then you home fans can boo him off too.

  I’m ashamed of the toon fans today but I know that I’m talking to myself.

• 35 geordiejayne13 // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:45

  i heard the fans chanting for shearer on tv

• 36 geordiejayne13 // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:47

  mmm away fans don’t boo?????

• 37 Steeley // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:47

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/columnists/columnists.html?in_article_id=507925&in_page_id=1951&ito=newsnow

  Crikey - cracking article from Bobby…I’ve never heard him speak so candidly before. Some interesting info about Duff being one of the players not happy with Sam’s boring tactics, as well as some damning info on geremi! lol

• 38 lewdavies // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:49

  Our defense is put under soooo much pressure and it is inevitable they will leak goals. This is all due to our midfield, especially butt and smith,
  Our striker(s) are starved of service due to our midfield, milner and duff and zog.
  IMO the midfield needs a total revamp, but unfortunatly I just cant see how that is going to happen. Which teams are going to want to buy our dross?

• 39 Eve // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:49

  Hadrian I just said what they did. And no, it wasn’t an Irish channel.
  I was trying to get my point across how..ah screw it it doesn’t matter. What’s the point.

• 40 Ed Harrison // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:49

  Some things to remember:
  1) things are never as good as they look when things are going well
  2) Things are never as bad as they look when things are not going well
  3) Brown Ale is pretty good stuff.

  The priority of statements is in reverse order.

• 41 Ed Harrison // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:50

  Ashamed_to_be_Toon
  Hey - lighten up - things are not as bad as they could be.
  We could have lost 7-0.

• 42 Number 9 // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:51

  Given,Taylor,Enrique

  We’re rid of Sam, he’s caused deep scars in our club but they will mend.
  We’re rid of FFS and all his rubbish he dished out pretending he knew what he was doing.

  We have a bright new future, new owner, decent chairman, hopefully a great new manager who will bring in players and not spongers.

  Back to the days og Sir John and Keegan lets hope.

  So I’m not down I’m looking forward to getting it all sorted and bringing football back to the city.

  All stick together now we can raise ourselves above all this.

• 43 Ed Harrison // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:51

  lewdavies - i think you could be right - the back 4 are not too bad - but they are given far too much to do. We looked completely hopeless in the 2nd half.

• 44 ToonKing // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:55

  I don’t think today was our worst game, i’ve seen worst this season. But Manure was having one of those days in the second half, every shot they hit ended up in the net.

  Given - brilliant today
  Enrique - very very good defensively but needs to work on passing, he even had a few good runs up front.
  Cacapa- crap, the speed of Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo killed him today.
  Taylor- solid, very solid, he made no mistake today.
  Carr - utter shite.

  Milner- terrible, needs a proper coach to handle him and needs to be a sub.
  Smith- absent until being sent off.
  Butt-awful,awful,awful. He’s our worst player this season.needs the boot this summer.
  Zog- superb. the only player worthy of Newcastle.
  Duff-bad game today, seemed lost and angry.
  Owen - he tried, but absolutely no service.

  oh and Viduka——was he on ?????

  worst day in recent toon history that’s for sure. when was the last time we were beaten 6-0 ????

  I partially lost my trust in MA and CM, i thought fiascos like this are a thing of the past. How could they sack Sam having nobody line up ??!! even i wouldn’t have done that and i know shite about managing a football team. i have a feeling dark times are coming…….. and i’m usually an optimist.
  I pray to god for the board to prove me wrong and we get a good manager…..

  PS: @James, we can’t expect Ashley to deliver in 6 months yet we expect Sam to do it ???? Sack the board !!!! (no, not yet, i was joking ).

• 45 Ed Harrison // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:56

  Steeley - agree - a great article from Sir Bobby - in the mail and he knows what he’s talking about.
  They should also have Bobby at the club so he can pass on his sage advice. Maybe he can help Alan - if he’s appointed.

• 46 Punk Skunk // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:56

  The Ref & refs asses were the biggest disgrace in this game…Totally shit-scared to call a descision against wo-manchester, we got no breaks what so ever!..Well-done to Smithy for tellin’ him what he thought of him!..ronaldo is a F***in’ cheatin’ C**t!..Owens goal was good, their 1st was a skank, the 2nd was Shays fault, ferdinands was off-side, cheat-aldos 3rd was a deflection, the last one wasn’t even over the line!..Shays positioning was cack (Yes, i know, he made some good saves)…But basically, the team was totally demoralized by disgraceful officiating, stiles 20-odd games reffin’ manure no losses for them-strange & smelly, was he wearin’ red under his top?..i just hope some from NUFC has the balls to report the T**t, total rubbish!..

• 47 ToonKing // Jan 12, 2008 at 21:59

  i agree with everything Ashamed_to_be_Toon said.

• 48 ToonKing // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:07

  Brilliant that article. you gotta’ love Bobby.

  I didn’t want Shearer, but he has convinced me. Bobby is completely right, whoever we bring in as manager, unless it’s Mourinho, they will always have Shearer’s shadow behind them. He might fail, but then that option is out of the way, but if he doesn’t fail……………well that’s a different story……….

• 49 Number 9 // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:14

  OK Shearer for manager. With Rob Lee, Peter Beardsley. Consultant and godfather Sir Bobby who should still be there now FFS !
  Get rid of Sams stooges and get coaches who want to play football.
  Shearer and Sir Bobby would attract big names but as Sir Bobby says decent footballers. Give Shearer five years and we must all know he is doing the job for the right reasons, so suceed or fail he is going to try his best to get his club up where it belongs

• 50 carl // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:19

  jus get shearer now!! ffs and give hime 50 mil to spend.

• 51 Number 9 // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:23

  I for one would love to be shouting SHEARER, SHEARER from the stands again. Scare the living daylights out of teams visiting SJP. Imagine the noise, I can hear it again now.
  ALAN SHEARER’S BLACK AND WHITE ARMY

• 52 valle // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:26

  Imo the good thing about the game was to sort the players who arent good enough from those who are, which imo is as follows.

  Given… Made some very good saves, and yet fails to make some basic ones, still he should be kept.

  Carr… He is behind Beye and rightly so, he should be sold

  Cacapa… He is rock sollid and will be great in a better passing setup… Should be kept

  Taylor… He has some very good games (like today) mixed with some crappy ones. If he can be more sollid, we will be our heart in defense for years to come… Should be kept

  Enrique… One for future and still finding his feet in a new league at a young age, looked good at times… Should be kept

  Butt… Cant pass the Ball, he often go for the long pass and rarely completes it… Should be sold

  Smith… I love his attitude, but he just wont work in midfield, move him to attack till we get someone better then put him on the bench… Should be kept

  Zog… Needs to learn to pass the ball more, he is still piercing class tho and at times looks like our best weapon… Should be kept

  Milner… The guy has had 3 seasons with us and 1 on loan to Aston Villa so forget about potential… The guys simply dosnt have any football brains, and is frustrating in eversile game i watch… Should be sold

  Duff… He is class, and will shine in a better setup… Should be kept

  Owen… World class, he didnt get to see much of the ball but when he did, his passes was absolute class thats shows true football intelligence and his only real chance on goal was a goal… Should be kept at all cost

• 53 cram gav // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:27

  well lads,if you dont know it now ,here’s the truth .were second rate,have no captain’s on the pitch,no class,and no creativity.the football’s been dire!!! this was not a lesson but a wake up call,the gulf between us and the so called big four is enormous .four seasons ago we were up there,admitted some teams have spent to reach their lofty heights(chelski etc).how has it gone so wrong?.what can be done.we have a goal keeper who does not command the box and has been at fault for some of our results,he has been poor all season.the back four barring taylor and beye are not worth discussing it would take too long,the midfield has no passing ability,or pace(zog exempt) and up front the dream team owen and fat duka ,3 touch martins and 4 touch ameobi .I hate to spell it out but ashley needs to spend 200 million like abramovich for us to challenge never mind achieve!!!! they should have their wages stopped ,but judging by that performance they woudn’t care!!!.cant we get them all banged up like barton….

• 54 ToonKing // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:32

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=507894&in_page_id=1779

  At this moment in time i would be happy with this.

• 55 UTD111 // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:35

  Don’t want to talk lads - gutted
  Cheers

• 56 valle // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:36

  Yah, it seems speculation tho…

• 57 cram gav // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:43

  Valle, you’ve just retained 75% of a team that just been savaged by man united .How can you justify it.!! when special k ran the toon we used to measure our team by how many of our players would make their first 11,(shearer,ferdinand,lee,ginola,beardsley,albert etc) would you like to share with me who would make the bus !!!never mind the team…

• 58 Richard // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:43

  Interesting article by Bobby Robson..

  Can’t believe the Geremi bit - Allardyce is an idiot.

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/columnists/columnists.html?in_article_id=507925&in_page_id=1951&ito=newsnow

• 59 valle // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:56

  been linked 3 times alrdy mate…

• 60 Gooderz // Jan 12, 2008 at 22:57

  We now know that talking out of turn to the ref after a goal is scored, when there is a definite case results in a booking (in both the Man U and Chelsea matches now). Whereas if you run half the length of the pitch to scream in the ref’s ear for no good reason, it’s overlooked. Smudge was unlucky that the one time dissent was actually punished, he was on the receiving end.

  I’m looking forward to the new manager coming in. Hopefully he’ll flip the mentality around to attack and buy the players we need to add to complete the team. We need a midfielder who can pass, or just play Emre. We need a RW to compete with Milner and an experienced LB, but Enrique is growing into his position well. Smith needs to be one of four strikers, with Owen, Viduka and Martins gives us four strikers who are all a little different.

  Apart from that the squad just needs boosting as a whole, and continuing the recruitment of the young talents.

• 61 Dan // Jan 12, 2008 at 23:03

  Ashamed_to_be_Toon I agree with everything you said!..

  some supporters need to stop living in a dream world.

  Newcastle will never be like MAn U or Arse and all, they have had managers there for a long time and they are set up for success…

• 62 boywatts // Jan 12, 2008 at 23:26

  hey, this is my 1st time commenting on the site,
  on the game today:
  i think that the only 3 good players on that pitch today were n’zogbia taylor and enrique and i thought it was unfair when Shay and Cacapa blamed enrique for one of Manures goals today, we have great players at the club but we don’t play the right sort of attacking game that brings out the best in them. I think also that Fabio Capello will have been impressed with Stevie Taylors performance today.
  on the managerial situation:
  i agree totally with Sir Bobbie’s article and that Shearer should be given the job. When Shearer was assistant to Glenn Roeder, he was the one giving the teamtalks before the games and we played flowing attacking football and as soon as he packed up our performances got worse and worse. Only he knows how to connect with the fans being a supporter of the club himself and obviously with him not winning a medal with the club as a player he still has that desire and im sure he would love to become manager.
  but if he messes it up at this stage, would that wreck his relationship with the fans?

• 63 Johann // Jan 12, 2008 at 23:31

  Bert I so much agree with you. It´s time for the next manager to see it. We won´t ever be a big side with Given in goal that´s for sure. How can you see positives for our defense or keeper today? WE GOT 6 GOALS ON US and you say Given had a good game???

• 64 PK // Jan 12, 2008 at 23:50

  I didnt see the match ,i was on a party..when i heard that it was 3-0 and 5 min again i tought it wasnt so bad..we didnt have a manager and we havent been on a good run..but 3 goals in 5 min???..how is that possible..the party was destroyed..i was mood off all day…6 is too much..we need a manager in quick..get rid of players who is overpaid and underestimating..a manager who is clear of what i he means…and mourinho is that kind of guy..we could try to speak with him…DAMN…going to watch videos of our glory days,on youtube,.have to forget this!

• 65 Eve // Jan 12, 2008 at 23:51

  Johann..I really don’t know what to say to you, did you actually see the match. Why are you so hard on Given, he made some bloody good saves. Seriously, why do you despise him so much, EVERY time you come on you criticize him, do ya fancy Harper that much do ya??

• 66 Steve Mills // Jan 13, 2008 at 0:03

  Right I watched the game, and do you know what, i know we got stuffed, BUT. I’ve seen us play worse this season and win.

  1) At least we tried to play football. There was no route one rubbish.
  2) Some awful refereeing, no way was the first goal a free kick, and the other one wasn’t even over the line. Coupled with that, Owen was actually onside.
  3) We actually had a go, at half time, there was a lot of worried Scum supporters.
  4) Taylor played well, and I know enrique had a tough game, but he stuck in there. He’s a lot better than baba, or other recent left backs.
  5) There a class team and would have pasted anyone tonight. Unluckily it was us.
  6) At 3-0 down, all I could hear was the away fans singing. We love our club, and we will get better.
  7) I’d rather see us lose 6-0 to united and have a go, then get beat by derby and try to nick a win. At least we were entertained. I’d rather watch that than the shite we’ve had so far this season.
  We never thought we’d get anything, and its not like our goal difference will make a difference this season
  9) We’ve had loads of thrashings here, under sir bobby and others.
  10) Were not in the relegation dogfight we feared towards the end of the souness reign.

  Lets stick together whilst the rest of the nation slags us off, show our unity and prove “we are the loyalist football supports, the world has ever had. We are the geordies”.

  Our day will come,

• 67 domtoon // Jan 13, 2008 at 0:09

  Sorry, but I think Taylor’s performance deserves some credit - how can you not include him in the positives to take away from this game? The man was rock solid at times, saving us from being at least another 2 goals down.

• 68 domtoon // Jan 13, 2008 at 0:11

  Steve Mills, well said - we need to stick together and ignore the media, slaggers offers, and other such bumholes.

• 69 city blue // Jan 13, 2008 at 0:16

  the team aint going to settle if you exspect too much in such little time. the enemy is within, dead wood players for a start, and more support for the boss!

• 70 rlw // Jan 13, 2008 at 0:42

  i hate some of u supporters u love given and praise him for makeing some good save but if it wass harps u would slag him off given bugger off harps u can play consistant please someone look at the stats Unpopular Bert good on u totaly agree

• 71 AdamCF // Jan 13, 2008 at 4:32

  The amount of work that the midfield cause the defence to have, is where the problem lies. The only DM we should use is Faye. Butt and Smith should not be on the pitch and Milner should only come on as a substitute. And… never go with only 1 up front especially when it’s Owen.

• 72 Charles Ma // Jan 13, 2008 at 5:38

  Personally, I felt that Steven Taylor and Zogbia held their game very well against Manchester United. I think it is sucidal to play Nicky Butt and Alan Smith together in the middle of the park since both players can’t dribble and lack creativity. Milner had a bad game, but I can understand why. He was up against Evra and Evra just didn’t give him any space to work his magic. Lets face it, Milner isn’t Zogbia. I’v heard many people talk about Owen being the best finisher and all. But lets be very honest with ourselves. Owen lost much pace, and with all the tall defenders in the EPL, Owen won’t score many with his head. Owen doesn’t have the built, and his play looks one dimensional. Alan Shearer used to be a very speedy player, but after his injuiry, he changed his game to play as a Target man. I do not think Owen can ever change his game. So to me, Owen is going downhill. Oh yes, did I mention that Cacapa looks nothing like the Lyon captain I remember him to be.

• 73 hanzemre_ // Jan 13, 2008 at 8:31

  am pleased at least we braved ourselves to attack ManU last night. That’s what we craved for attacking brand of football. Though defense was still a mess. with although Given was good with his world-class saves he did a few stupid defending too which was unacceptable. Wrong at times against the best team in PL was soon to be punished. So did Butt, Smith when come to defend as a team. Carr & Cacapa were average, no PL pace. Taylor,Enrique,Owen was okay. Duff wasn’t great just keep on dribbling/running. Milner held the ball too long & still didn’t know to pass the ball to our striker/CF to great effect. Zogbia was just like Milner but he was better as he was more ruthless. All in all, i can see we can play better football & win games if we bench Butt, Viduka, Carr & keep going forward & cut those stupid individual’s errors at wrong time. Smith wasn’t fit as a DM or CM, let’s play him upfront with Owen &/ Martin.

• 74 Ashamed_to_be_Toon // Jan 13, 2008 at 10:31

  Reply to Carl

  Well done Carl, you’re the type of fan who has us where we are. Give a guy without a scrap of management experience 50 million to spend and hope for the best. Please leave the club and let the rest of the fans get a chance to gain some self respect again.

• 75 Ashamed_to_be_Toon // Jan 13, 2008 at 10:36

  Reply to Steve Mills

  Some decent points but “our day will come”, what sort of crap is that?

  I would not rather lose 6-0 at Manure, it is an embarassment. How many did Sunderland lose by at Old Trafford, 1! yes 1 goal. Get a life man.

• 76 Ashamed_to_be_Toon // Jan 13, 2008 at 10:41

  Reply to Johann

  Please indicate where Given (or Harper for that matter) could have saved any of the 6 goals that were scored against us yesterday, We have not had a defence with a good centre half since the days of Keegan and we all know that. Even though we have probably spent easily 40-50 million on centre halves, tell me any other premiership club who has done that.

  The only one ray of hope back through that time was the Robson signing of Woodgate. Though as some people have still and will always fail to realise, when the big clubs come calling, our players will leave. Not that this is going to be a problem for a long time to come.

  We are not a ‘big’ club.

• 77 Eve // Jan 13, 2008 at 11:27

  Ashamed_to_be_Toon..you’re wasting your time he despises Given but no, he loves Harper so. I wouldn’t bother. Just leave it.

• 78 StevieA // Jan 13, 2008 at 12:07

  We lost the game because our 2 central midfielders didn’t protect the back 4 at all. We need at least 1 of the central midfielders to act as a sweeper in front of the defence, I don’t think either Butt or Smith can do that job.

  Duff - Still not fully fit. Not tracking back an awful lot either. No real menacing runs to speak of.

  Milner - Not playing well at all. Not tracking back either. Not many menacing runs.

  Smith - Didn’t create anything and not great defensively. I am starting to wonder if he can hack it in midfield

  Butt - Not very mobile, played OK but not sure he has enough pace to get about the midfield as quick as he needs too. I would play Barton as soon as possible to give us an engine in midfield. Maybe Barton could play in a sweeper/defensive midfield roll?

  That’s how we lost the game. We gave Man Utd too much respect, too much space around the outside of the box and we didn’t work to win the game.

  We should have been 1-0 up however but the goal got disallowed as you all know. It could have been a tighter game if the goal was given.

  We need 3 or 4 players down the spine of the team in my opinion (as a start) a Centre back, A Defensive midfielder who can play as a sweeper and tidy things up for the back 4. A Creative midfielder, I don’t think Smith will cut it in midfield - upfront or on the wing perhaps. And a pacey, tall, athletic striker to give the opposition something to worry about.

  Ideally an out and out right winger too!

  We really need investment and the right man to come in to transform the way we play the game. Let’s be positive and attack teams!

  We need a world class manager. Someone like a Mourinho or Hiddink. I would love Keegan, people say he won nothing but he GOT US IN A POSITION TO WIN SOMETHING. Don’t ever forget that. Noone has come close to that since so give the man some respect for doing that.

• 79 steve // Jan 13, 2008 at 12:12

  Well that was right waste of cash, I’m 250 quid lighter and had the piss taken out of me all night by mancs.
  We were terrible throughout and it was inevitable they’d score a hatful once they got the first goal.

  Ashamed_to_be_Toon & Eve - you arses.

  We need a right old overhaul, unfortunately we’ll neither be selling or buying anyone in transfer window so we’ll have to make do with what we’ve got.
  At least Smith is out for a few games, hopefully Butt as well

• 80 Dirk // Jan 13, 2008 at 14:04

  given was brilliant, taylor zog very good enrique had a good game, milner i think jus needs sum time to get back together has he looks lik he needs a break, he had 60 games last season and has played in every game this season, he needs to take a break and let sum1 else hold rm for a while then he can come back and hav another go, we need sum decent cover for the rite.

• 81 Johann // Jan 13, 2008 at 20:30

  Eve: I don´t love Harper, I have stated many tims I don´t think he´s the solution to our goalkeeping problems. I see a lot in his game that i´m not convinced with but he hasn´t exactly been given a lot of time through the years. But IMO Harper doesn´t dominate the area as much a world class keeper has to do. So no I don´t love Harper but I think he´s better than Given. People just tend to see his “wonderful saves” while if a big keeper makes a similar save it´s just a normal save. You must see that?

  Ashamed_to_be_Toon:
  First of all it´s not about if he could have saved or not. Or just about that game in general. I haven´t seen the game so I´m not goin to comment on it yet. It´s about the defense and goalkeeper not workin well. So other teams don´t get the chances. That´s what the best teams are about, other teams normally don´t get that many chances. And that´s also the responsibility of the keeper.

  Given in my opinion just waits for the attacker to cut through the defense and then he tries to save the team and get the headlines. Given doesn´t guide his defense as he should, as simple as that. And don´t let me start about all his other failings. But yes I agree he´s good at certain things as 1on1 I think he´s pretty good.

• 82 matt w // Jan 14, 2008 at 2:02

  im sory but with the team and squad that we have, there was no way in hell we were going to beat or get anything out of playing the English Champions who are unbelievably better than we are!!! NO question or doubt!!
  i felt Zog had a better game being played in a more advanced position, and along with toylor were our best players on the day
  owen, smith n shay wer extremely poor. owen is finished! smith is no mor than a squad player, not a F**king CAPTAIN!!!!!!! and as for shay, i believ was at fault for 2 of the goals.
  i didnt think butt had a shocker tho, he is prbably our best availible holding mid, which is a poor show of our clubs standing.
  hopefully this will not be the case come the end of next year!!!
  away the lads!

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