We were too cautious again for most of that match. It was a pretty tight game but we could have done more to get the first goal. It seemed as if a draw would have been fair on balance of play, but them finally taking one of their chances, combined with our inability to take ours, appeared as if it would ultimately cost us. Thankfully Newcastle and Howe are incapable of shutting up shop and we nicked a very good equaliser. Surprise of the day was Kayembe - he immediately looked more comfortable out there than Louza has for us so far. He could well be an adequate Hughes replacement (though not Capoue, but who is?!). Samir also looked very assured out there, albeit not great that he got cramp. Kamara was a bit shaky at first and had a few sloppy moments (including losing Joelinton from a corner in the 1st half which he should have scored from). However he seemed to grew in confidence during the game and started to show the occasional bit of quality. I'd have liked him to have got forward more as the rare occasions he did he looked dangerous. He def seems a marginal improvement on what we had before, though I was a tad underwhelmed given his reputation. Can still improve though. I don't know why we started with Cathcart, who almost gifted them a goal after a few minutes. Good thing Wood was crap for them and a relatively easy opponent in the end. Sissoko had a rare poor game for us, perhaps being back on Tyneside had an adverse effect? Almost gifted them a goal in the first half and fluffed a glorious opportunity to score in the second. Seemed to lose more physical duels than usual in the middle of the park as well.
Yes, all our wins have been thoroughly convincing so it’s not like we’ve been lucky that way and turned draws into wins, we’ve just simply not had the resolve to draw some of the losses we’ve had.
Dennis was really, really quiet again. He lost the ball so many times. Is he not quite fit or having a sulk? I thought all three of the new boys did very well, especially Kamara. He's got a fair old jump on him too. Accurate passing and good pace. I liked that bit towards the end where he knocked the ball past the Newcastle defender and just ran past him.
Thank f*ck. Difficult one to judge that. Nothing between the teams first half. Not sure if its the plan or the team themselves, but sitting back against these teams around us won't cut it. The first goal is usually vital and we need to start more positive. I understand the desire to be more defensively solid, but only a headcase would suggest we should try defend for 90mins as a genuine game plan. Ngakia had done well until his brainfart, but that seems to be the trend this season, one individual mistake seems to cost us dearly. Don't think Foster had another save to make. We seemed to wake up after we conceded, King and Sissoko wasted good chances in the second half. Samir, Kayembe and Kamara all look like solid upgrades. Hopefully it was just cramp at the end for Kamara. Cathcart ok defensively but dreadful with the ball at his feet. Kucka wasn't great either, good to see him replaced after an hour, that should be his absolute limit if he starts. 4-6 points from the next 2 needed.
I would have taken a draw here all day before kick off - and thank's to JP's excellent finish we finally manage to end our losing run at attempt number nine in all competition. Did we deserve it? I think so, Newcastle looked just as poor as we do right now and it's going to take a huge upturn in form for either of us to escape the drop come May. However, despite them hitting the bar really early on we never actually looked like we were going to concede. Then I woke up from my dream and remembered who I support. Second half could not of gotten off to a worse start - Ngakia loses the ball too close to goal, ASM tears down on goal and Cathcart decides to forget what position he plays as he could of at least put his body in the way to make the shot harder. So, a goal down and its all looking very predictable as per usual. But Sossoko... oh Sissoko, how did you miss? It was so much easier to score that chance. Level it up there - and we could of got another. Thankfully Pedro spared his blushes and did find the net to rescue a very, very much welcomed point. Have to say the new boys all looked very good from what I saw. Didn't shirk anything like a certain Turk would of done today. Foster was capable and it was good to have him back in the side. Hopefully he can keep Dracula out of the side for a bit. So, exactly 19 played, in our season that's half way. We sit just outside the bottom three and today's point could be huge not just for the season as a whole, but the confidence of the squad. CR70 is spared the axe for now, but Burnley (if it goes ahead) will be an even harder game, and with Norwich winning today against a clueless Everton, we may just need that bit of confidence to help us out. Shout box excellent again.
Agreed, was schooled a bit by Sean Longstaff which isn't a good sign. Hopefully a blip. Thought it was his worst performance for us and he, Kucka and Dennis our weakest links today.
I really hope Ranieri goes back to the press because we are nullifying the attack with our current tactics.
Why? I said in part, obviously the goal is about 95% down to Ngakia, but after that mistake St Maximin had acres of space. Considering it was on the right side of the pitch he should have closed him down better. I would have said the same for Samir if it had happened on the other side.
We were pretty terrible throughout, but somehow we've left tyneside wondering how we didn't win. Guilt-edge opportunities missed from King and Sissoko. Positives were that I thought all three of our new additions looked pretty handy.
I just can't understand why Ranieri has turned us into a counter attacking team. We're dogshyt at defending, get the team further away from our goal and get our good players closer to the opposition goal!
Neil Lennon radio 5 live said this on 85 minutes…. "Claudio Ranieri's side deserve an equaliser. They've had the better chances, they've had more of the ball, they've kept Newcastle's chances to a minimum. They've asked questions of Newcastle on the counter-attack, but they've not worked Martin Dubravka enough."
Seeing poor old Saint Eddie’s sad little fatty face at the end there was almost worth sitting through the 96 minutes of turgid football that preceded it. Fact is Newcastle scored during their one real purple patch. If we’d have done the sensible thing and not played like a bunch of mannequins in the run up to their goal we’d have seen them off and then a nervy 0-0 would have turned into a glorious 0-1 Watford burglary.
Ngakia's decision making is absolutely atrocious. I admire how he battles through but the damage is already done
Good to get a point late on. Sounds deserved but maybe need to be more positive from the start . Nice to see Pedro score. Shame Norwich won but Everton are hopeless.
Still a lot of improving to do but we could be making some serious money from this guy at some point. King and JP are decent as well.
I think I might have a different view from some ngakia had been good up to that point so feel sorry for him, thought the 3 new players where positive JP was man of the match even before the goal, Kiko came on and we started pressing , Dennis was absent and should have been subbed earlier (hope he is not sulking) king was alright , sissoko was alright. Kucka wasn’t terrible but we were better in midfield when Cleverly came on. Think it was our attack that cost us today not the defence , on another day we could have score 3 or 4 thank **** for JP, if we had lost today think that would have been it , now we still have a slight chance, shame Norwich beat Everton
Only positive with the Norwich win is that it closes the gap to Everton to 5 points. Not insurmountable, although it feels like they will turn it around at some point.
My view is broadly in line with yours too. In recent games we’ve been so hopeless and just resorted to passing it around at the back then running out of ideas and hoofing. We were by no means great but I saw signs of us trying to hold on to the ball and pass ourselves into decent situations.
Rewind a week and you’ll see plenty of posts where I wad shot down because I was critical of Ngakia and said he’s not yet good enough to this level. I just think Kiko is a mental-midget - one assist won’t change my mind there. Let’s not forget that pathetic attempt against West Ham just a couple of weeks ago.
He cant because we just kept conceding goals everywhere. He's tightened it up despite still not keeping a clean sheet still. But it makes us less potent up top. I thought Saint Maximum was abysmal aside from the goal. Wood won't save them.
Mostly poor, the one of those where the result is all important. Very nice equaliser from JP. Need 4-6 points from the next two games to be in a decent position.
Ok, if you're saying that he played a very minor role in the goal then fair enough - so did Kayembe for letting St Maximin cut inside him to get the shot off and so did Foster for getting beaten at the near post (albeit was probably unsighted). Cathcart is of course the "go to" player to blame for everything - there were a couple of moments today when he had the ball that he nearly got us in a real pickle but thought he defended well overall. The free header that people were blaming him for in the first half - Wood would have been a mile offside if King hadn't lost concentration and gone back into the six yard box.
I am an option 2 person - just checked the result and failing to get all three points at woeful Newcastle is just about bearable
Only a good point if we back it up with results against Burnley and Norwich City. I think that was a bit of a kick in the teeth for Newcastle. I can't really make out whether it was an improved performance or not as Newcastle looked terrible. Kamara looked very good, I was pleasantly surprised by the Kayamabe or whatever his name is chap, he isn't Zidane but he looked relatively solid. I actually thought Samir looked decent.
Kayembe highest number of passes on the pitch and an 82% pass success rate. Including a banger of a ball for King.
You have to wonder - one minute he looks like the best player in Europe, the next he's utter gash. The only thing that has happened at the crucial moment was his being held back from the ACORN. He showed some flashes today, but he's not the same player he was a month ago.
What a crucial late goal! It was such a pressure game, particularly after we conceded, that the performance can be overlooked if the result was positive. Newcastle were crapping themselves as the clock ticked down as they have a habit of conceding late goals, so they dropped deeper and deeper and invited pressure onto themselves, turning their demise into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Our goal didn't even come from a mistake. It was a nice interchange between Cucho and Femenia, the latter for once delivering a superb cross, and JP rising like a salmon to crash home a lovely header. For the team, this will probably seem like a win and will give them much needed confidence. The 3 new boys all had good debuts and will hopefully give use some much needed forward momentum. Wouldn't suprise me if Burnley is called off for Covid reasons giving us a chance to focus on and really have a go at home to Norwich.
Very true and Norwich have played 2 more, Newcastle 1 more , Burnley are worrying as they have played 2 left I would say Norwich are down even with that win and then 2 from Burnley, Watford , Newcastle , maybe Leeds and Everton (but can’t see it)
Thought we were overall the better side today, but definite room for improvement. I think a lot of the hang ups are confidence issues; the team looked almost magically changed once we scored. New boys looked alright to very good, but you can never judge off a single game. Sissoko's miss seemed almost easier to score. I was surprised when he didn't put it away. Fantastic ball from Dennis. Ngakia definitely at fault for their goal, but the mistake, while it shouldn't have happened and was very silly, wasn't a complete giveaway in itself. ASM still had to do a LOT to score that. Before that I thought Ngakia handled him alright, so willing to put that down to a relatively young player making an error. Hopefully he learns from it. Something to build on here, and certainly not all bad news.
