Javi got it completely wrong today. Newcastle were always going to sit deep, we needed players we could overload the box with from crosses. I was saying from early on we should get Deulofeu out wide and swing it in from there, lo and behold it lead to the goal. Hughes continues to look poor. As does Masina, who appears rather slow and dozy for a defender. Special shout out to Deeney again - both Rondon and Doucoure today showing how it should be done. There's really no excuses for him any more, he's a waste of space. Fine with a point though after that, Newcastle wanted it more. It's rare that we've been outfought in a match. Oh yeah - and let's bite off the hand of any decent-sized club who make a stingy bid for Doucoure - sell him asap! Morons.
Gracia too slow to make changes. Wasted ten minutes of the second half. Another two points thrown away against a piss poor time wasting team. Roger East pretty poor too. Every tumble from them seemed to result in a free kick while they escaped a couple of nasty challenges without punishment. Both our fullbacks need to attack to help Pereyra and Deulofeu. Neither did. Always cutting in or going side to side. Masina looked really rusty and not match sharp while Janmaat played in his crosses they were flat and infront of the defence while he is capable of swinging in great balls from the byeline. So Deeney and Success had precious little to attack. Neither he and Deulofeu functioned as a unit and Pereyra was often double marked as Masina was reluctant to get forward. Once again far too many misplaced passes in the final third and not enough urgency or moving of the ball to change the point of attack. Against teams that pack the defence we will struggle if we continue to play down the middle without creating space by dragging their defence wide and allowing Pereyra and Deulofeu to get one on one on their opposing player.
I think Javi got that wrong from the start today. Our midfield with Hughes and Perayra out wide were always going to be very narrow, so we needed the fullbacks bombing forward constantly to provide width, neither did. Both looked off the pace, perhaps understandably. Newcastle came to park the bus, which is a valid tactic, so there was not going to be space behind for Gerard. I think he'd have been better on the wing to start with. Thought their attacking unit played very well, especially Rondon. And their whole team put a good shift in, outfighting us. Success was very poor on his own up front. He got better once alongside Deeney, and started drifting out wide where I think he's more effective. However, with those two up top, you're playing two strikers who will never score. We can't really afford that. Seriously, seriously, seriously need a striker in January. Also a CB of course, as seeing Britos named on the bench sent an actual shiver down my spine. Tough game due to Newcastle's tactics and fighting spirit, I do think we deserved a point but nothing more. Nothing more to say than: We Go Again.
Big pat on the back for you for the lazy opinion a 10 year old could have made. Lowerrous in, Goblin out.
Who has advocated selling AD for a stingy offer? Leicester and Everton losing means, in terms of league position, it wasn't a terrible result. In defence of Hughes-he's bound to take time to regain match fitness and Masina is still adapting. I think we need to be realistic with Quina too.
A qualifier for worst performance of the season. Very, very fortunate to get away with a point. Abysmal first half. Massina & Hughes pretty awful. Quina showed why Javi left him out for a couple of games. He still has a lot to learn. Janmaat got booed every time he got the ball. The fact there were hardly any boos tells you how much he got on the ball. Very ineffective. In retrospect, too many changes made. I can understand rotation at this time of year, but that was a few too many. Success tried hard, but needs more composure in front of goal. Deulofeu and Pererya both ineffective today and often chose wrong options. That shot Yedlin (?) had towards the end nearly gave me a heart attack. Thought that was going in. Good game from Foster though. Came out quickly twice to clear from Rondon in quick succession.
Yeah, agreed. Bit touchy from me there so I apologise. Javi is a good manager but Jesus Christ it's reading the game that seems to let him down. Make the necessary changes early!!
Spurs, Everton and Leicester all had a bigger xmas hangover than us. Newcastle are Burnley with a Spanish manager. Ref was gash.
We play the same tired 442 week in week out, we never do anything different, opposition know how we play and know how to stop it. Gracia has got to take a long hard look at what he is doing if the rest of this season is going to be anything other than fizzle out into a slow creep to 40 something points.
Poor performance with few positives. A fair result. Thought Foster, Cathcart and Janmaat did well. Abject petulant performance from Delefeou. Mariappa couldn’t get the basics right - let the ball bounce twice and beaten in the air most of the time. Hughes poor. Success was effective 2nd half but rarely feels like he will score. Quina shows for the ball well but tries to do too much at times. Think this shows how much we’d miss Doucoure if sold.
I love Quina, he’s a top,top player. However, for him to be effective in this team, he needs to play in front of both Capoue & Doucoure. Why Javi can’t see that is beyond me
Sorry but I think that's way too simplistic. First, I don't think it's 4-4-2 but, if it is, it's an unorthodox variant of it. Nor is it always the same. We pose a different threat depending on who is playing up top, out wide and in the middle. And there's a reasonable level of rotation in those positions by Javi to keep opponents guessing. Yes, Newcastle knew how to stop it today - by regularly fouling us while a weak ref barely punished them. Combined with our squad players coming in and not reaching the right level and a couple of regulars putting in sub-par performances, that was enough to even things up a lot.
Masina looked off the pace. Success was fouled a lot and they should have had a lot more yellow cards for their fouls on him but he needs to stay on his feet more as well. Deulofeu and Pereyra were both anonymous. Mariappa was abysmal. Janmaat was quiet, not much right or wrong. Capoue was poor, a rare bad game this season from him. Foster did well, one dodgy kick aside. Cathcart had a shakey 1st half but got into it. Quina was trying a lot, perhaps too much to compensate for a lackadaisical midfield. Harsh but right call bringing him off. Deeney won a few headers in midfield but not much in the box. On the whole looked better with him on. Doucoure before the goal I thought didn't look to bring much this game but can't argue with a goal.
Strongest XI would've won that. Once again a lot of nice football around their box but no end product, nothing new there. Must be painful as a Newcastle fams watching that style of football week in week out.
Its a 442 where the wide mids cut in, you could call it a 4222 if you like. Width is provided by the full backs. We've played that way every second of every game this season. I predict it's how we will play next week. Eddie analysed it and beat it last time by doubling up on our full backs and using the width of the pitch, bypassing our narrow formation. He will do the same thing next week. The problem particularly today was neither Masina or Janmaat are as offensive as Holebas and Femenia, we very clearly and obviously lacked width. Why Javi thought the tactic would still work is beyond me. All the Spanish waiter had to do was pack the middle of the park with bodies and prevent us tika taka'ing our way through.
The other thing I forgot to mention was our free kicks. 3 in good positions. 3 into the wall. Atrocious.
Yeah but the wall dummies on the training ground (Britos, Prodl and Zeegelaar) don't jump, so it's unfair to expect that in a live match.
Got to be our worst home performance this season. Much credit must go to Newcastle for Rafa’s Boring old tactics of lets get 11 men back when we score. This game reminded me very much of Stoke last season at the Vic. Success played well first half and the pass from Hughes to play him in was fantastic chance bar the last ditch tackle. SH was not much better tbh but I will give Javi credit for doing early subs. Deeney did virtually nothing when he came on and Doucouré played better than he has lately. Bullet header for the equaliser and I guess deserved for the never say die attitude we have this season. Quina did well, but had a hard game against such an odd formation where even Delafoo was pretty inaffective. I’d rather draw than lose obviously but Newcastle came close to a first win at the Vic for years, it should of never got to a point of us scrambling for a point. We go again at Muff. Never an easy game, but I’d love to get them back for humiliating 4-1 loss earlier. I hope Gracia can find his formation better because something just didn’t click today. At least Everton lost. Oh and how the hell did Decoure not score at the death? Great lifted ball again by Hughes and I think he did well today.
2 of 3 of our poorest games have been against Newcastle which suggests that Benitez knows how we play and has his team drilled very well to counter our football style. I think this was very clear today as their defence was very secure and on the break they looked a threat. Saying that though, had we put away some of our very easy chances, we could have run away with it. Unfortunately, Pereyra and Deulofeu can only score the difficult goals and the easy 1 on 1's are made to look impossible. Subs saved us today and it's showing how important Holebas and Doucoure are for us. Deeney weren't too shabby either
Overall I do like this intricate tika taka play in the box, but in these types of games when those set ups constantly fail, it does get a little frustrating. Essentially we are like a Budgens version of Man City.
Say what you like about Deeney, but he always brings some sort of assurance & a provides a certain outlet to the team, you just have to accept he is not going to score in the vast majority of games. Captains role indeed. Success does not look like the answer for goals in this division, screams Championship. Would prefer to send him out on loan next season.
Oh, woe is us! I'm beating my breast (ouch) as I post. Doom and gloom merchants out in full force. How dare the manager and players have a poor game. I've just bought the new Christmas Premier League Game - "Entitlement" it's called. I would recommend it to some on here.
Wasn't that bad if I'm honest, had a bad spell but wasn't all bad. First 20 we were excellent, lovely one-touch stuff, Quina was looking delightful, Success & Pereyra both looked bright. Gerard failed to pull the trigger once and then hit one tame effort straight at Dubravka the second time. Could've been 2-0 by then. Then we dropped the intensity for literally two minutes and they got a good ball in 1-0. From there Newcastle sat back and we looked slow, ponderous and not quite sure how to break it down. Douccoure came on and was intense, demanded the ball and sped things up a little bit. Plus he got the goal - that's another £5 million on his value. Good performance! Masina was sh*t. No urgency in his game, looked like he didn't want to be there. Made me appreciate Holebas. I thought Cathcart was pretty poor against Chelsea but he was even worse today, he needs a rest. Mariappa was shocking too, it's appalling he's our third choice centre back. It's either that or Rondon was just unplayable? But we made him look unstoppable. I wish Deeney played like Rondon did today. After Success's bright 20 he started to have an absolute shocker! Did he have studs on? No excuse for falling over so much and for a big lad why is he able to be taken down so easily, looks for a free kick too much. Started to feel sorry for him. He kept standing in the same spot as Deeney as well, was very confusing. Don't remember Hughes doing anything, Worrying trend. I thought Roger East was awful, Success got an elbow in the head at one point and still no foul. Pereyra went down a bit too easily but Yedlin did have his arm, potential penalty. Newcastle are absolute trash. However, Leicester lost to Cardiff, Everton lost to Brighton and Spurs lost to Wolves. Given the weakened line up and the intense schedule, I'll take the point. I'd much rather beat Bournemouth anyway.
Too many changes cost us today. I was looking forward to Success starting but frustrating to see him spend so much time on his arse. The other results today showed how inconsistent the middle group in this league are and that of course includes us. We just didn’t look like we had the fight needed to win the match.
