We're still here - now any danger of a performance?

Brisbane Mag wrote...

Newcastle's performance over the past few years have been poor, but this season we've hit a new low.

BSA brought in many good players and has a decent squad so we should be doing better. He must start by selecting players in their correct position; these are the basics.....

Posted by: Brisbane Mag  | November 28, 2007 10:01 AM

Karl wrote...

Im going on saturday and am as ever the optimist.. Personally i do think we'll stuff them come saturday

Posted by: Karl  | November 28, 2007 11:00 AM

James 09 wrote...

Lee, you said it a couple of days ago: "....you won't find a city like Newcastle when it comes to obsession with football."

With tens of thousands of fiercely passionate, dedicated, and loyal supporters who have put up with a whole heap of turd over the many painful years - I think we, Newcastle United supporters, might just deserve (we should demand)a decent performance week in week out. If (like me) Geordies even suggest Newcastle United should have European football on a consistent basis and the occasional piece of silverware - we are routinely dismissed by many as impossibly impatient and overly ambitious, if not gluttonous.

A lot of our players have so far been decidedly average. Yes the players have to "rise to the occasion" BUT....their opportunity and ability to do so is being severely frustrated by the managerial regime!!!! Deployed in a batty formation, played consistently out of position, and sent out to draw ain't exactly conducive to rising to the occasion is it.

Oh and Mr Allardyce - I'm sure announcing your preferred targets (Silvestre, Distin, Ben Haim) will really help several players' mood and confidence. Wow - and silly me thought instilling confidence into one's players was pretty high on a decent manager's "to do" list.

Posted by: James 09  | November 28, 2007 2:26 PM

NORTHSHIELDSMAGPIE wrote...

History suggets SA teams are about muscle and fight,brute force, to which passionate mags expect at the very least. Most of all though we like to see attractive flowing football. We are seeing neither by a long stretch. To add to this puzzle SA is playing players out of pos,its unreal. its suicidal.where wud we be without 52k supporters shouting them on at home on a saturday? i think around 8pts less. You get nothing with a pool of players who are just versatile players. Am sick to death of SA using the versatile word. We need specialists in their prefered positions.Apparently these versatile players will come into their own over the festive period and in jan, they just aint good enough for godsake. Am afraid we need to ditch another boat load of players in jan, and for SA to admit his mistakes. Take a leaf out of ericson's book please. You can't win anything with a very defensive attitude.

Posted by: NORTHSHIELDSMAGPIE  | November 28, 2007 2:31 PM

Ronnie Lambert wrote...

Saturday's encounter against Blackburn will be very interesting because it simply must be no less than a win, and that will mean the whole team playing out of their collective skin and an attacking formation away from home, something not yet seen by BSA so far. It will fly in the face of everything he's tried, as yet unsuccessfully this season. All of this talk about patiently building from the back goes out of the window this weekend. I only hope it comes off for him ( and us )as the next game against Arsenal will be tougher than Liverpool, and two more lost games will virtually seal his fate. This will absolutely neccessitate the use of our two wingers in their correct left and right positions to give our strikers any hope of scoring more than the opposition. If it works, it will prove only one thing, that the simple science of soccer is to try to win games, not draw them. I recall with happy memories that Keegan employed such a simple system when last here, and had he not left, we'd have won at least a trophy or two by now, using that simple system. Why the game suddenly needs a busload of scientists on the staff to understand a simple law is beyond me. The system? score at least one more than them to win. Granted, we don't have the same quality player these days, but if you don't even attempt to win by sustained attacking, which I've witnessed is possible with this lot, then you end up with nothing. Really then, Sam is left with no other choice now but to go for the jugular, and wouldn't it be weird if this brought positive results.

Posted by: Ronnie Lambert  | November 28, 2007 2:52 PM

Duncan Baines wrote...

I find the discussion about whether our fans want attacking football or 'winning football' rather pointless. Anybody who has watched us this season knows that it is shambolic football that Allardyce, Alan Smith, Geremi etc. specialise in. How many games recently have we won/attacked in? Not many. Even Bolton away (the only win) we hardly attacked all game.

The point continually made in the media about our fans being impatient also makes me angry - surely it is a show of patience to buy a season ticket after last year's disasters under Roeder.

Posted by: Duncan Baines  | November 28, 2007 3:44 PM

mag in boro wrote...

there has to be a major improvement in performance on saturday and 3 points any less sam may as well don a red suit and a big white beard ready for his next challenge

totally agree with you james in that sam coming and telling his signing "oh you were 4th 5th and 6th choices"is fantastic and that comes from a manager who is supposed know how to get the best out of players

Oh and a quote from our egotist of a boss(for now) “There is an impatience around the place and the desire for success and of course, that impatience was shown at our performance against Liverpool" So we are now impatient
are we or was the reaction you got something to do with the worst performance in recent memory and on the back of the 2nd worst the home game before(and god there has been some crap)
we didnt want you in first place
and dont want you now
Mike Ashley can we have a new manager as an early christmas prezzie instead of the turkey we got at the moment
cacapa states he wasnt fit to play against portsmouth surely one of the numerous medical staff knew this so not only do you play players out of position you play injured ones too hey you are just great at this and you ask us for patience sounds like you started on the christmas spirits early

Posted by: mag in boro  | November 28, 2007 7:04 PM

dan wrote...

I don't think a result is what we need on saturday, though it would be nice. We have a 5 point cushion from Reading and some winnable games coming up, however Lee I agree we need a performance, win,lose or draw. For too many games this season fans have been let down, not by the defeats, but by the manner of them, we haven't gone down in tough games fighting, but given up in winnable games or at least when the game is able to salvage when we go 1-0 down. We've got a very tough game against an in form Blackburn but if we lose 2-1 and put in a good performance the travelling fans can get on their trains and coaches with their heads held high for once instead of carrying feelings of shame and embarrassment at watching what should be a good side perform poorer than what a championship side battling relegation could do.

Posted by: dan  | November 28, 2007 10:08 PM

Ronnie Lambert wrote...

I apologise for being restrained in my earlier letter. Since seeing it in print, and reading subsequent posts I've had a red mist descend which needs to be released. And it is this, my impatience has reached boiling point and my true feelings are that Allardice and other non-Geordies have no idea what it's like to be conned and robbed blind season after season. The amazing level of support maintained by this unique class of football fan, starved of any encouragement since the Fairs Cup apart from a few Wembley appearances and promotions is unequalled in the world. And we have to suffer the ignomy of idiots in the London press who were raised on successful football teams, whether or not they chose Man. U. or their local club to hang their hats on. They don't have a clue what impatience is, and Allardice is just covering his blatant inability to run a massive club by gifting these morons the headlines they crave. I've decided that the way forward for this potentially gigantic club is for us amateur critics to stop pussyfooting around with namby-pamby comments about how Sam should play his formations blahdy-blah..and just say what's on our minds. And it really is that Allardice is useless, he is as big a mistake as Dalglish, Souness and Gullit put together, and he should be sacked sooner rather than later, along with all of the deadwood in this club. We have the chance now with Mike Ashley, more than at any time in this club's history, to wipe the slate thoroughly clean, starting with the man they, or we the paying public didn't appoint or want. Yes, like many other decent fans at first, I tried to support Sam in the hope he would get it right, but it's now clear that he's not only incapable, but is riding the southern press's gravy train by blaming us. Come on Mr. Ashley, show the guts you obviously have by standing in the freezing cold in a Toon-top, and do the right thing. Sack the man now and get this dream of yours, and ours on the road. This season's knackered now anyway if you don't, you've nothing to lose.

Posted by: Ronnie Lambert  | November 28, 2007 10:14 PM

medan wrote...

This is really crazy, a team with such talent playing school yard football. As I said before if SAM want to play like he did in Bolton he has to change the whole team as the personal in this team are not suited fro that type of tactic even if you put Smith and Geremi in midfield. Anyways I just can not see Sam changing his selection blunder and tactics as you all know it is hard to change a persons belief. We better start looking for a new Manager just in case

Posted by: medan  | November 29, 2007 11:49 AM

Stamford Toon wrote...

It amazes me how so many contrbutors to this subject know exactly how we all feel. Well I for one wanted BS and am pleased we have him. A third defeat unacceptable?? What other club could have withstood the Liverpool multimillion pound team when they had four of their central defenders injured?Yet you expect us to........come on guys get real. Until BS has got a full squad with plenty of good reserves to cover injuries then we will have these problems. BS will get the results once he gets the club on a good footing and gets to know his squads full strengthsd and weaknesses.Success is very rarely instant and if you had any common sense you would realise this. Get off his and the teams backs and try to be the 'unique set of fans' you think you are. It has been like sitting in a morgue at times this season, even when we were winning. Listen to how some of the other PL teams are supported and just see how weak the support is. SJP is the only place I have heard the home team booed this season..........that says something about the quality of support.
Arsenal will be a tough tough game but at least lets hear the fans get behind our team.

Posted by: Stamford Toon  | November 29, 2007 1:47 PM

James 09 wrote...

Ronnie Lambert - absolutely spot on in regards to the impossibly impatient c*** that's consistently leveled at Newcastle United supporters. Ask a whole heap of idiots what the years 1955 and 1969 mean to us Geordies and you get a rabbit in headlights response. And of course the level and passion of support of Geordies for our club is unique. That's not an opinion - it's fact. If we dare suggest that Newcastle United should have European football on a consistent basis and the OCCASIONAL piece of silverware we are dismissed as being impossibly impatient and overly ambitious.
And Ronnie keep up the unrestrained criticism.

Mag in Boro - yea that was ridiculous from Allardyce.
Allardyce has made some other quite ridiculous comments not just post-Liverpool humiliation but in the past couple of weeks.

Perhaps most infuriating is his constant references to Bolton!!!! He's done it from day one and continues to do so. On the 9th he commented to the Journal:“The dark days then [when Bolton were in a relegation fight] were much more pressured than the pressure at Newcastle United.�
Ummm...maybe just maybe the penny dropped for him at SJP at the weekend. But I wouldn't count on it.

Posted by: James 09  | November 29, 2007 2:19 PM

Michael wrote...

I don't believe sacking SA after a few months in charge is the right thing to do! We have tried that so many times before and writing off another season in November is a bad idea. SA can organise a football team, he can run a premiership club and he can motivate players because he has been doing it succesfully for years with Bolton punching above their weight (and above us a few times as well!). I do admit to having been baffled by some of the tactics, formations and substitutions recently but joining the sacking bandwaggon is not for me.
Another question Why Boo during a game those of you that do? Do you really think it will help improve our performance? Will it really help Stephen Carr play better in his first game for months?

Posted by: Michael  | November 29, 2007 3:32 PM

ROB SMITH wrote...

Allardyce is not the right man for NUFC - the display against Liverpool was very poor. However, sacking him will only solve part of the problem - who is going to replace him just before? Please don't tell me NUFC should appoint a world class manager - it is not going to happen. Also can any name a player that NUFC have sold for a fee higher than they paid for him? - I can only think of J Woodgate. Good players sign for the Toon and then seem to regress.

Posted by: ROB SMITH  | November 29, 2007 4:47 PM

Paul Patterson wrote...

Sam Allardyce has insisted over the last two weeks that up until Portsmouth at home, this was Newcastle United’s ‘best start for 12 years’

This doesn’t really make much of a statistic as Newcastle United have been traditionally slow starters and as a consequence have had to play catch-up, now whilst this may seem an argument FOR Allardyce rather than AGAINST him, it’s based on the premise that we attack and go out and try to win games.

Allardyce has match winners in his squad, but is reluctant to use them, he’s came out and said that Owen may be back in a couple of weeks, but really, Owen will make little difference if any to the current Newcastle United set-up.

On the other side of things, here’s a little something I found which should amuse.
It’s a bit of class from a bit of class (The man I’d have replace Allardyce at a shot)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UdKU8VRADM

I don’t know about a fight, but I know who would win in a Premiership points rumble.

Paul.

Posted by: Paul Patterson  | November 29, 2007 7:11 PM

mag in boro wrote...

so a crucial game on saturday opposition playing last night where was sam he gets lost in the north west and ends up at anfield to watch a centre half
YOU ARE A COMEDIAN
hopefully you not gonna be here in january never mind signing any more quality centre halves(that was sarcastic)and what happens they get beat 4-1 they even conceded more than we did
also just heard a rumour that we are close to getting anelka for cash plus butt so not only does he want to give his old pals ashleys millions for the biggest moaning mercenary(granted on his day lot of talent)but also give our best performing midfielder away
IF any of this is true he should be banged up in cell next to harry for crimes against intelligence
i will never hope for a newcastle defeat anytime but there could be a silver lining if we lose saturday
yes its time to be impatient because we cant wait for you to p*** off out of toon

Posted by: mag in boro  | November 29, 2007 8:19 PM

Steve wrote...

Abuse eh so us supporters are abusing our team?
How arrogant is this man?
The FRUSTRATION that the supporters are expressing is not acute it has been there for a while.
The opion aimed at the manager and his coaches is abuse sometimes very justified.
To point the finger at the supporters is a terrible way to deflect the limelight off yourself.
This is the begining of the end for that arrogant man and Mr Ashley needs to sweep the place clean of these under acheivers and bring in the professionals so he can move forward and brand the shirt of a successful team

Posted by: Steve  | November 30, 2007 10:41 AM

trevor wrote...

I am by nature an optimistic man. I regret to say that I am extremely pessimistic about tomorrow's game and subsequent games. Mr Allardyce is as arrogant and conceited as any managers you will ever come across. This of course is unwarranted as he no right to to be so.

If he had had the success of Wenger and Ferguson he might be in a position to bleat about the performance of players etc. (He has however, no right to complain about the moans of supporters who have to put up with the s..t he and his players dish up).

Most of this lot are his. He signed them and he continually plays them out of position. He is likely to persist in this for the rest of his tenure. Hopefully this tenure will be a short one.

I have no doubt in my mind, whatsoever, that Allardyce is more froth than substance and has not a clue about strategy or tactics. His game plans belies the former and his substitutions the latter.

Another winter of discontent? I think so.

Ryder's reply: I think that at least 7,000 Geordies will be going down there to see a much improved performance.
It seems the players have discovered exactly what Newcastle is all about this week and that is to attack and entertain.
Whether they do that at Ewood tomorrow remains to be seen.
Toon fans know one way or another come 4.50pm tomorrow.

Posted by: trevor  | November 30, 2007 5:02 PM

Siomi wrote...

The discontent is for the manager, not the players. The majority of players have the full support of the fans and are enthusiastically cheered and encoraged.

We have just lost all confidence in this manager. We have now had a good look at his tactics and on-field strategies and training and the style of play he is trying to develop and we don't like it.

Some of us might put up with it if it won us games (though less than he would think), but the bottom line is that we are failing in every way. We have lost confidence in him and the useless Pearson and the rest of the head scratchers offering their advice on the bench. We haven't yet lost confidence in our team, but I suspect they have lost confidence in their management and coaching, and sadly themselves...

Posted by: Siomi  | December 1, 2007 3:49 AM

mag in boro wrote...

well 2-1 down needs sacked and now impatience no incompetent definatly
and barton word of advice "shut it"

Posted by: mag in boro  | December 1, 2007 4:32 PM

Wizard of Odds wrote...

Another defeat but a better performance and robbed of a penalty. The scoreline does not reflect how well we played but BS has a lot to do to lift a side whose confidence is severely dented after this. The result will do nothing to ease the pressure on him but I reckon a win will turn this side around.

Posted by: Wizard of Odds  | December 1, 2007 5:08 PM

mag in boro wrote...

right where do i start
3-1 more inept defending and joey barton calling us "vicious" and news that sam is eyeing up surprise surprise jaaskelainen
WHAT A FANTASTIC SATURDAY AGAIN.....
sam if you want the bolton squad to work with go back there
Mike Ashley you wear your strip with pride alongside us in the stands time you listened to what we are saying
Sam isnt gonna walk he gonna wait for his pay off
Please get rid now before he totally destroys our club

Since signing joey your attitude towards everything has been spot on but then you go and open your dozy manc gob since returning from your injury have you set the league alight with dazzling performances errr no so far you have hoofed a mackem in the nuts which fair enough and does get you a gold star to a point but you think you we are vicious...are we in court on assault charges for a "vicious attack on a team mate" or the classic stub a cigar out in someones eye you are a regular mother theresa
people in glass houses jb

So its Arsenal next....Oh the joy

Posted by: mag in boro  | December 1, 2007 5:45 PM

darren robinson wrote...

LOCK OUTSIDERS OUT!!!
I sat here this time last week totally gutted after watching newcastles shambolic display against liverpool,i even wrote on this web page that i wanted allardyce sacked!
After a week to stew i was sick of reading negative press about our team,our manager and our supporters.
I woke up this morning to more negative press,joey barton calling our fans vicious and negative.
Having read this i do agree with him on one thing:NOW IS THE TIME TO STOP THE BOOING,GET BEHIND THE TEAM,GET BEHIND THE MANAGER AND STOP READING THE CRAP IN THE NATIONAL PAPERS!
Will sacking another manager help newcastle united????I think not.

Posted by: darren robinson  | December 1, 2007 8:49 PM

dexter wrote...

I was really pleased with the performance against Blackburn. The energy of the players was the highest I have seen all season. I think the players showed they are willing to fight now.

I would like to see a similar response from Alardyce. Systems are great, but if we need the players to fit into it. So instead of playing our best attacking players out of position lets get a back four of defenders, a midfield of midfielders and an attack consisting of forwards.

The only games I have been impressed with Alan Smith are Everton and Blackburn when he played upfront. He and Martins are our best upfront pairing. Habib Beye is really looking a great signing, Rozenhal has the potential to be an Albert but it's evident he needs solid players around him. Poor zog does not have the awareness to play defence and many of our goals have been conceded from him being out of position or giving the ball away.

I think we have the players to put a run together and get ourselves back into contention for Europe. Now if Big Sam can get back to basics and play to his players strengths instead of trying to fit them into ellaborate systems we have a chance. If Big Sam thought that coming to a big club was his chance at real life fantasy football then he's in for a relegation fight. Go the toon

Posted by: dexter  | December 2, 2007 1:04 AM

Brian Wylie wrote...

United are now in that dangerous country where they have got into the losing habit. Over the years I have seen a number of teams afflicetd by it and it is very difficult to lose. On the practical front where can we get a defender who actually knows what he is supposed to do? The attack is uninspired, but all good teams start with a solid defence.The game is simple If you have the ball your attacking. If you don't your defending. Players seem to have forgotten this and are often embarrassed when someone goves them the ball.

Posted by: Brian Wylie  | December 2, 2007 12:17 PM

mag in boro wrote...

darren i agree we need to stop booing get behind the team and manager
JUST NOT THIS MANAGER
playing people out of position
playing unfit players(Again)1st cacapa and now faye
smith up front viduka on bench
geremi playing at all
having the audacity to try and blame us
playing the worst football seen for years at St James
If any of us could see any of this changing, a light at the end of the tunnel the support would be there but he is ever going to give us the football that we will class as entertaining or acceptable

Posted by: mag in boro  | December 2, 2007 7:06 PM