Is the FA Cup half full or half empty for Newcastle?
There are probably two ways of looking at life in Toonland today.
The positive side is Newcastle United are still in the FA Cup and on a weekend of Premier League casualties in the famous old competition that's not a bad thing.
But the other side of the coin is that Newcastle failed to beat a team from the Championship that edged it in terms of chances on goal.
And let's be honest they were within inches of knocking us out and they could easily have been awarded a penalty for a Steven Taylor handball.
Isn't that what the FA Cup is all about though?
When the dust settles United fans will be happy enough to stay in the FA Cup but with Manchester United up next it does not get any simpler.
A win at Old Trafford is not on the menu for most Toon fans and a point will be celebrated like a World Cup final win.
And we still have to actually finish off Stoke at SJP which won't be straight forward especially with memories of 5-1 and Birmingham City still vivid for most of us.
It's still quiet on the transfer front but Big Sam hinted at the Britannia Stadium last night that efforts to bring in a couple of new faces are still very much ongoing.
You have to say that new faces are are a must as well.
At the start of the season United boss Big Sam made a point that his squad wasn't big enough by playing Steve Harper as a centre-forward.
Yesterday at Stoke, United turned to 17-year-old Kazenga LuaLua and recalled loan star Andy Carroll.
And while the Toon kids will always give it 110%, what United need right now is experience.
Nevertheless, Newcastle remain in the FA Cup today and that's got to be a positive considering the way things are at St James's Park at the minute.
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Lee Ryder - Proudly born and bred on Tyneside, the Chronicle's chief sports writer has followed the fortunes of the club over the last three decades as a Toon fan and football writer.
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People must start looking at Newcastle in a positive way...
Obviously the problem is the captains Sam appoint these days...That is why he wanted to buy nolan, so he could have a captain worthy of the post.
Geremi...can never be captain because of critisim everywhere and Smith...can never be captain because he doubles geremi's critisim and moreover, he lack of a place to play in Newcastle...
So we couldnt finish stoke, but we didnt lose neither and I, for one, refuse to critise until they had lost...
And Sam really have to look upon the amoutn of GOOD passes and GOOD tackles we made because we lack of those things...we need a player that can pass and tackle at the same time, someone to partner Butt in the midfield, someone like ???
The youngsters are giving all they can, and it is something the experienced players didnt give...you were suppose to set a good example to those young players not the other way around...
I really hope we can get a win in wednesday because getting a point in old trafford is like asking Sam to pluck bananas from a giant red wood tree...not that we will lose anyway...just try your best and I really mean your BEST!!!
Allardyce was probably furious with Lua-Lua, as he actually runs at people, something weâ≢ve missed since those heady days of Craig Bellamy, Nobby Solano, Laurent Robert, Lua-Lua the 1st and dare I say it Kieron Dyer,- What a side that was, for all itâ≢s faults, this current side has potential and some players in it, but itâ≢s not a patch on five years ago.
How the mighty have fallen? Lua-Lua and Carroll in particular actually had the best moments of the game- Carroll shot just wide, Lua-Lua ran at people and created some bits and pieces-
A scene from Newcastleâ≢s Benton Training Ground in Allardyceâ≢s ââ¬ÃÂWar Roomâ≢ Monday Morning: (Lua-Lua and Carroll are getting a dressing down from Dr Strangelove (Allardyce)
Allardyce:- Shame on you boyâ≢s, donâ≢t you know this is ââ¬ÃÂPercentage footballâ≢?
Lua-Lua:- But I was only trying to attack boss?
Allardyce:- Rubbish! Were meant to be playing containing and spoiling football Weâ≢ll have none of this creative nonsense in future- Clear?
Carroll:- But I was only trying to score with that shot on target Gaffer?
Allardyce: Listen son- Iâ≢m the boss and Iâ≢ll do it My Way, Iâ≢m a big boy and Iâ≢m a top man in my field, Iâ≢ve a great reputation and I need five years to get this club right, If you donâ≢t like it you can leave.
Lua-Lua:- But surely were meant to be entertaining the fans who pay their hard earned money to come down and see us play Stoke?
Allardyce:- What? Gentlemen Iâ≢ve never heard of such behaviour in the War Room before!
Great film that Dr Strangelove! But hey, were still in the cup.
Paul.
Looking at the Arsenal cup draw, I believe that Big Sam's strength at Bolton was in stopping better teams playing than outplaying lesser teams.
Therefore with the next five away games at Man Utd, Arsenal (twice now of course), Villa and Liverpool, I hope to see the benefits of his Bolton pedigree and at least us not lose the lot!
In fairness we did a good job at Chelsea, and the home draw with Arsenal shows we can disrupt good sides and take them on.
If the defence could combine one of their better showings (Fulham was good with two different centre backs from yesterday's who gave a good performance so it can be done!) and the strikers convert chances, we may just get something out of one or two of those away games....
Too right it's a positive !, though given the draw Our involvement in this seasons competition could be short lived. The national media love to give NUFC a kicking, but I ask You, which was the more embarassing, Newcastle stumbling to a replay against Chamionship high flyers Stoke City or the mighty Liverpool being outplayed by a Luton Town side reduced to the bare bones by the shackles of administration ?. We've also seen Sundeland tumble out of the cup with barely a whimper, humiliated 3-0 by Wigan in front of less than 21'000 despite charging kids a quid to get in, yet where was the media feeding frenzy ?.
Boils down to this - same rubbish, different day. As Lee said, literally inches away from losing.
Currently, I think it would be a little on the polite side to describe Newcastle United as half-empty. We are actually making no progress, and we are in more than a spot of bother.
IF (and that's a big if) we get past Stoke - we've drawn the Emirates. Fantastic stuff.
Stoke owned us on set-pieces - sorry but how many times was a Stoke player free in our box from a corner? Barring some decent stuff and pressure in the first - surprise surprise we are YET AGAIN treated to eunuch football - no meaningful penetration.
On the transfer front - I completely agree with Lee that new players are a must, but, as always, its going to be extremely difficult to land players that can instantly improve our current situation. Despite the official word, I am still wondering if some of our players really want to play for Allardyce and indeed really want to play for each other.
Considering our season so far, should we really start to worry when our very own "top man in his field" chirps "But I haven't done anything wrong"?? I certainly think we should. On the 8th of November that very same "top man" crooned: "I have to accept responsibility more than anyone else because Iâ≢m the manager.ââ¬? I also think its high time we see Sam Allardyce take some of that responsibility.
A hard fought draw but way too close for comfort. It was good to see N'zogbia on the left wing, and Enrique getting a start, he played quite well I thought, considering we've seen nowt of him for the last 3 months and he's only just come into English football, hope to see him again at least at the replay and maybe an appearance against Man U since i doubt anyone will keep Ronaldo out next week. My main worry about the match was the lack of bodies to cover a sick Milner, Duff did ok on the right but you knew it wasn't his position and LuaLua was brought on for hope against hope debut wondergoal heroics a la David Edgar. Unfortunatly it looks we will be playing for pride only in the replay with a wonderful "randomized" draw against Arsenal at the Emirates, i'd like to think we could take them but I don't think it'll happen.
You are having a laugh Lee, aren't you? Positive to still be in the cup? I take it you hadn't seen the draw before you posted this blog, obviously not or you'd know we're out in the next round and that's not pessimistic, it's fact. If we can't dump Stoke out first go, who incidentally battled the hardest yesterday but lacked skill, then the kids at Arsenal will be relishing us. We were a class above Stoke but couldn't play as a team and lacked belief. The defence, regardless of Pulin's platitudes were again all at sea in their man-marking, and very fortunate not to concede. Owen's frustration at lousy service was too evident, and the on-pitch bickering between forward players and midfield, betrays disarray in the camp. Nicky Butt's distribution and shooting was pathetic despite some appraisal from the Beeb. Well, they had to say something nice, and at least they didn't show Ronnie Radford again unless it was when I went to the loo. Anyone notice Sam's over the top jolliness to someone ( or not ) in the crowd at the final whistle? I reckon it was a wee bit of bravado to hide what he was singing in his mind, which was, '' We're crap, and I know we are. ''
Ryder's reply: Is that cup final record on hold for another year than Ronnie?
Lee. The cup is very important to us, very important, and we hope that Allardyce realises that and plays his strongest team. However there is a question that I think many would like answered, why is Smith in our 'strongest' team? Lee - please put the question. Why is Smith in the team ? Why ? I am in serious need of help to explain this, anyone any ideas ? Anyone, anyone at all. Please help me.
And while the Toon kids will always give it 110%, what United need right now is experience.
How are they supposed to get this experience then??Experience was not on view from Viduka just a diinterested slow overweight spectator,Owen to the nearest second how long was he in possesion of the ball @ a 100+ grand a week.LUA LUA was a breath of fresh air and everything that supposed star names were not in the Stoke struggle that perported to be a football match.The fact is that at other clubs youth is given its chance in their teens but at Newcastle they are always one for the future.The future is NOW give those with flair, style,and without fear the chance to shine, they can do no worse than a lot of the overpaid, disintrested mercenaries that currenty occupy a first team spot.Unfortunatly it would involve playing entertaining football ,not words in our current managers vocabluary
I'm not going to say we played well or bad.
What I will say is that Stoke fans have been complaining the last couple of months about lack of goals and yet they had shot a plenty.
Liverpool etc may well have struggled but it was not their first 11 on the pitch. I wonder how well we will do in the replay if we send out our reserves.
Stoke are a very very poor team. We should crucify them at SJP. Will we though? Now thats a very very different proposition.
Stoke will not be scared of us like they were in the first half. Are we going to worry about what we can do to them or are we just going to worry about what they are going to do to us?
Alladyce is "Fat Fred's revenge" on us all.
I think that centre halves Faye and Taylor were magnificent against Stoke's physical game. Rozenhal and Enrique showed lots of enthusiasm, and Lua Lua was a breath of fresh air. Duff showed some neat touches, as did Nzogbia. I feel sorry for the back four, who took a beating physically, and had to endure such a lack of enthusiasm from Owen and Viduka up front. We have the makings of a good team, but unfortunately our manager does not build upon the positives. On current form. Owen belongs in the juniors and Viduka should be delivering milk with the other carthorses. Pick the best team, Sam!
I have supported NUFC for more than 50 years and it saddens me when I see our own supporters falling in to the media trap of destroying our own club to help them make headlines and put extra pressure on the team every time we lose or do not play well. Sam may or may not be the answer but you have to give him at least 2 seasons before you can honestly judge him as a manager.If we sack him it will cost the club a fortune and who will replace him? One day Alan Shearer might be the man but at least lets give Sam a chance.Confidence is a huge part of any sport and the support of the crowd is important to build that confidence.As supporters of NUFC lets give Sam and the players our support and hopefully the media will go and try to destroy another football club rather than ours.
Hi lee- Yes we are still in the cup-until we go to the Emirates and get beat by Wengers reserves again-must say Wenger is a genious-he must be the best manager in the world-who said arsenal would miss Henry-missing people is not in his book-he seems to know just when to get rid and when to blood his youth-great man-As for Newcastle looks like our season will peter out after the Emirates-that is if we even win the replay with Stoke. Just want to end with one thought-if Big sam thinks Wes Brown is worth more than 50,000 quid a week -he is truly potty-Fergie obviously does not-so whos judgement do we trust-think there is only one answer with Fergies track record-About time Big Sam decided to pay Taylor-if he is such poor value at the age of 21-why is he captain of young England-and why does Stuart Pearce rave about him-if Milner,Zoggy,and Wes Brown are worth such good contracts -then why is Taylor not on parity?Is it because he is probably the one saleable asset we have-and as his contract draws to an end and he still has not signed the vultures will want to pick him up for nothing and silly Sam will have lost one of our most outstanding and committed youngsters-typical of the short sightedness of non football men at the helm-get a grip Chris Mort and sort this one out.
completely agree with Lezb "Toon kids are a breath of fresh air"
Look on youngsters - MILNER, TAYLOR, LUA LUA, ENRIQUE, CARROL, N'ZOGBIA. These 6 kids alwais play 100%. They can shoot, distribute, create bits & pisces. They already have experience and it is right time to unleash...
Age is not a problem. If you play good football at age 17 it's mean that you play GOOD FOOTBALL.
Look on our experienced players SMITH, GEREMI, VIDUKA, ROZEHNAL, OWEN, BUTT.
Any comments?
I have to agree with all those that want Sam to have a chance. We need to spend some time consolidating rather than flicking through managers at a stupid rate of knots all the time. The only way to go forward is to give him a few seasons to do what he needs to do. Stoke are not a bad side, they defend in depth and have a lot of power up front, there is no way that any side ould go to Brittania and hammer them at the moment, Liverpool did not put out a reserve side and when you look at their starting 11 there aren't any that were youngsters with no experience. We need to face tha fact that there is not a lot of difference between the top half Championship sides and the middle to bottom have of the premiership, you only need to look at the results of the relegated sides to see that. Support the team and try to give them the confidence to progress!
I think Pete's comments above are exactly the same as I have been thinking all season - well done that man. Who was there 15 to 20 years ago watching Tony Cunningham, George Reilly and the likes playing up front for us. Still thousands went to watch their beloved team hoping for a win or if not then a point. Most of the time when playing in the old second division the football was rubbish but we did not care we went with belief and I can't ever remember booing players or manager off at the end of the game ! Half of the so called fans these days would rather moan and slate the manager and players instead of support them. Why don't you all stay at home and shout at the television. Would anyone complain if we won the league but played "poor" football - I doubt it very much. This is part the reason I am thinking of not renewing my season ticket for future seasons, not because the team is underperforming ! Get a grip lads eh. Get behind your team come win, draw or lose and the medium to long term future should be rewarding. The Keegan era has passed now, wake up and accept that it will take time for us to get back to our best again...shouting abuse at the players and manager and forcing them out, will destroy our club (like Pete said above).
Talk about common sense going out of the window. Mark I have never seen any team in any division win a title playing
"poor" football it is not logically
possible. You can play defense style of footbal and still win a division but still requires skill, organzation,
Manager with certain strategy and ability to play technical chess like game. What we have here is a bunch of players playing simlar to pick up football, after six month of playing together there is no chemistry, they have no understanding of each others role and play consistently poor.
I uderstand the concept of giving a manager a chance and having stability, the question would you and Peter H be willing to accept the risk of keeping SAM at the expense of being relegated?
To me you apply for a job you have 3 mons or six mons performance review which will give the managment a good idea if you can be a good fit long term.
In this case the six month performance review for SAM would say:
1] His philosopy and tactical approach to playing football is old school(aka Bolton style).
2] He did no sign any player that made an immediate impact in improving the team. Most of the individuals he signed are rejects from other teams.
3] He has not shown the ability to motivate or get the best out of his players, which I thought comming in was his biggest strength.
4] He is stubborn, does not take cirtisim very well. Blame everybody else but yourself.
The only reason why he is not fired is becuase it would cost a lot of money to get rid of him and get a new Manager. If Martin Jol could be fired after having many great years with the Spurs the same should apply to SAM.
i was there when cunningham etc were playing also few year earlier remembering alan shoulders cup equaliser v colchester and you can throw all the names you want(and think i added billy whitehurst few month ago) because the performances over the past 3 months are the worst displays (and i speak for myself not others)the worst i have seen
Agreed that winning the league playing poor football would be fine for the glory but to do that we need to (a)keep clean sheets and (b)score goals we are doing either often enough
you cant remember booing players or managers off the field..happened more than once during mcfauls reign and charltons how about when the mckeags in charge gullit dalgleish or souness
every single fan that walks through the toon on a saturday afternoon still goes with a heart full of anticipation almost 30 years after my first game still get the buzz and every single person who grafts bloody hard for their season tickets and away trips are entitled to voice what they think either at games or in public forums such as this and at the moment my friend the majority agree the medium to long term success will not be with the present manager
And there is not one newcastle fan that wouldnt be 110% behind if we could see any sort of light at end of the tunnel 2 performances of note v gooners and chelsea both missing a lot of 1st team players and 1st half v spurs
we all go hoping for a win if not a point but at the moment we go out and play for a point as for getting behind the team whatever were you at wigan where hardly 2 passes were strung together or fulham it is hard when you 3-0 after 15 mins or when your first shot on goal comes after 40 mins(liverpool)
For some reason we are not gelling as a unit NOT UNITED as one teams and we cant sack the whole team football is a game where the buck stops at the manager,at present none of the players look as if they want to play for sam no matter what they say in press
newcastle fans will back the toon as long as we see an effort (hence the criticism after my comments about smith after gooners)
this isnt getting rid of a good gaffer yeah fergie was given time but look at the youth team he had.this is looking at the short medium and long term
Sam was freddies last dig and none of our 1st choice
faye looks solid but none of his other signings have set the world alight we paid 6 mil for a forward who has not scored and 6 mil for a left back he wont play
ill be kind and say dubious positional and tactical choices
we have a supposed when fit auto choice england forward and last seasons top scorer being refused space on same pitch
(wonder if thats why sam wanted martins for man u game if owen got crocked)
I will repeat myself in saying sam turned down the job 3 times also adding bolton were bigger club
After panorama he was never going to be offered england job so he looked for the biggest fat freddie(sorry salary)on offer
but lets give him a couple of years in a job he never really wanted in first place
or
cut our losses pay off sam and his entourage and get someone to ignite the passion not only on the terraces but in the players too
ALLARDYCE IS NEVER GOING TO DO THAT
and what i am going to ask isnt whether sam is given time i am asking whether each and last one of you as one of the most knowledgable set of fans on the planet think sam will bring trophys to St James Park given his 3-5 years a team that contradicts most comments on here or are we still gonna be the mid table team with loyal fans(that deserve success mainly for blind stupidity)
Mr patterson..a script worthy of being read at the golden globe awards