You can always dream
So the FA Cup fourth round draw is done and dusted.
But after Alan Cork and John Aldridge kindly plucked out Arsenal then Stoke or Newcastle, many Toon fans must be think the FA Cup "run" is also already at an end.
Anybody that can take solace from the fact you have to beat the best teams to win it is dealing with it better than I am!
It will take a monumental effort to beat Arsenal at the Emirates.
And are Newcastle United up to that task?
You never know.
But the truth is even Arsenal reserves, as proved once already this season in the Carling Cup, are a cut above most teams outside of the top five.
This morning I was feeling quite optimistic but this draw could not have been any worse.
I bet most Geordie households switched off as soon as we were drawn out first.
Still, as the Geordie green alien known as Gilbert (that used to hang round with Gaz Top on Tyne Tees) used to say: "You can always dream."
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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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It all starts with a dream then only it will come true...
true for most team, including Newcastle and we never might know if we can win or lose. The truth is, Newcastle will be far better if they can do one simple thing...SCORE!
Yes, despite dead tackles and stupid passing, newcastle always have one or two chances, one on one with keepers or chances when the keeper is only in front of you and all you have to do is to touch the ball but they never score those, did they?
If Sam was sensible then he will start looking for a striker, a striker that can score and can give some pointers to other young players like Martins and Carrol.
Owen is good, but he always seem to injure himself when he reach rehabilitation, if its not in england, it's somewhere else.
To draw arsenal, we need a good heart of midfield that is consistent. To win arsenal, we need talented strikers that can score!
To lose arsenal...just put Smith as captain and playing at midfield, put defenders out of position.
Two words - Jermaine Defoe?
Any takers?
I think the expression that will be used, if it hadn't already been, is season finished in january. We always seem to pick arsenal or chelsea out in these draws, but looking on the optimistic side, i cannot see us beating arsenal, heard pundits say, arsenal will have key players away maybe on african nations duty, so what, we lost already to there reserve team.
Big sam looking at nolan, oh god, is this for real, someone wake me from this nightmare, what will he bring different, answer nothing, and who would want to come to Newcastle now? there isn't much incentive is there, unless your like owen, and come for the 100 grand a week
The balance of this team is like the Titanic when it was sinking.
NâÂÂZogbia at left back, Rozehnal and Taylor deployed as Right Backs and Milner out left, Duff out right- I canâÂÂt even believe that a manager would do such a thing. He should be sacked just for that, if Allardyce wants to lose matches then doing what he is doing is the right way to go about it. Not playing your strongest side, when they are fit, remember Roeder got lambasted for the same thing.
The midfield is easily the strongest area of our side, Duff should be wide left and Milner wide right, with Nicky Butt as the more defensive of the centre two- with my own preference of partner for him- Charles NâÂÂZogbia- Yes you heard me, Zoggy in the middle to run at defenders and Butt backing him up. (Carbon copy of the Speed/Dyer partnership- had its faults, but Champions league was attained)
And for gods sake put Enrique in at Left Back, give him games to get him up to speed.
The subject of Jermaine Defoe REALLY annoys me, because I said get him when we were third in 2003, it would have been a brilliant option to take us forward, (Shearer retiring in two seasons) and then weâÂÂd have Bellamy/Shearer/Defoe to chose from. I also remember wanting Baros from Liverpool. Who did we get? Lee Bowyer on a free- Nuff Said!
IâÂÂd personally swap Defoe for Owen, but all this is complete pie in the sky, as no matter who we sign, Allardyce will remain in charge and for me itâÂÂs gone too far with him now- he seems intent on doing it âÂÂHis Wayâ and it simply wonâÂÂt work up here.
The national media (Sundays Supplement programme in particular) seem to want to view us GeordieâÂÂs as demanding fans who want managers sacked after five minutes, well this is only the case, when we get cheated by the man in charge, which were getting now.
The squad will still be like the Titanic, and in recent years this Titanic has hit the biggest of icebergs in Shepherd, Souness, Roeder (Bless him) and now Allardyce.
Paul.
I agree that Sam has no idea about tactics, or anything, in fact. I was excited by his scientific approach, but it's window dressing for a poor coach. This methodology adds to coaching basics and I'm afraid Fat Sam is a 1970s coach in a 21st century game. Even Bobby has told him to get the ball down and play. When the ball is being passed it's out of your control so the longer the pass takes the less control you have and thus the more opportunity for your opponent to gain control. As for playing Milner and Duff on their natural opposite sides is actually quite a good tactic. It means they come inside on their stronger foot which means more confident shots. Why it doesn't work with us is because we're not playing wide enough of the time and we're not winning the ball in the centre. We need to play touch football and get the ball in the channels for crosses and cut backs. Nobby and Robert used to pepper the box and provide ammo for the strikers. Milner is superb at that sort of play but keeps being told to come inside. Lastly, Sam insists on changing his side to deal with the opposition, any decent manager at any level knows "PLAY YOUR OWN GAME!!!" let the opposition worry about you. If you stick to your game plan you will cause them to change (providing you play the right system (4-4-2) in the first place). We all loved the football we played before....even GS and GR played decent football more often than not. I never realised there was anyone more tactically naive than GR!!!!
Is it just me, or did anybody else see that there were a lot of good points to draw upon against Stoke. Enrique for one looked a genuine a bit of class at left back. Taylor and Faye were excellent in the centre of defence, but we did miss Beye at right back, when he returns added to the other three that looks like a good defence. We also missed Milner, if he had have been playing down the right side he would have run amock against Stoke.
It's up front that worries me a bit, Owen is miles away at the moment he just did'nt look sharp and while Viduka has obvious qualities he's not going to get 20 goals a season. So if someone like Jermaine Defoe is available we should be in for him. I see we have been linked with Lassana Diarra, well this would represent a coup for Big Sam, he's another quality player let's hope he get's him, and possibly one more quality centre half as cover.
If BIg Sam pulls of these signings then I think we be on the up.
Paul, your spot on, i agree with your selection, we need creativity in the middle, and someone to make something happen, zogy can do that, he's got the energy to go from box to box.
Sam annoys me by chopping the defence all the time, for me Steven Taylor should be paired up, with someone experienced to learn off, why roeder didn't snap up campbell, i don't know.
For owen, well i would welcome his exit, England match coming up, so we all know why he's busting a gut to get match time
Hi Lee.
Yes its the ice cream man in DC and i am so deflated after the draw as even if we beat stoke and that is no formality, we will get stuffed by arsenal and the only chance is a replay at home.
I would of been happy with the tie here but i think this year is over.
I hope we get rid of emre as well and diarra would be a good option to me as emre is lightweight in midfield and i agree with another blogger and get charles in midfield and that is a good option with duff on the left and jose in at left back until beye gets back.
They are showing the man u game on Fox Soccer channel and i will be expecting the worst per usual.
All the best lee and Alan Oliver your sidekick as well.
Andrew
Ben & Jerrys
I agree that Big Sam has made some errors in his selection and tactics. He is not getting the best out of the players. Play enrique left back give him time we dont have anything to lose this season. Get taylor a contract and stop messing around hes the next newcastle captain and should be first name on team sheet. Zogbia is not a defender and to waste his attacking talent is a joke. He has done more than duff who still has to earn his shirt if you ask me. Owen should go, he doesnt want to be here and it shows in his game
. Martins is looking more like emile heskey every game, cant get the ball under control and runs with his head looking at his feet.If sam is going to play the long high ball in to the box game he needs to be playing viduka and carroll and should seriously look at signing crouch. Ameobi could do better than owen and martins right now. Alan smith captain? another big error by Sam. Shay given should be Newcastle Captain hes a legend and been as massive for the club as shearer. Signing Barton was a big gamble that has backfired.
To be positive beye and faye are good signings. Cacapa is ok. Milner has come on great so far. Taylor as i said is the best prospect we have had in years.
Overall however Big sam is making too many mistakes and its showing. I'll give him time if he can get the team selection right. Id also like to add that the media portrayal of the impatient, trophy demanding geordie fans is completely wrong. All we want is commitment and improvement. So the board must commit to One manager. Back him to the full and that manager must bring about improvement.
If Chris Mort and Ashley are going to stick with Sam allardyce they need to put up the funds to back him in the transfer market. I want to see at least two QUALITY! players come in in during this window. Thats not too much to ask.
Pete,
You are spot on,get rid of Barton he is c**anyway.I stress again where are we going to get any more points from this season. FA CUP exit next round !!!!!.
big sam left toon out of tune!! lets hope for better times ahead for all concerned. Lippi? Shearer ? who knows.
Hi Lee,
I have just heard the news on Big Sam and i only hope we have Jose lined up, as this is a huge shock in Ben & Jerry's World and to me.
Total and utter shock.
Andrew
Well well well we have finally done it, sacked yet another manager after no time at all in charge it's bloody laughable.
When are we going to learn that it's takes time to fix a mess like Newcastle United. Well unless we get somebody like Mourinho who as far as I remember he has already said that he is taken over another club in the summer. So maybe he come for the rest of the season and get himself a massive payoff and still take over this other club.
Who ever we get now might not fancy any of the players currently here then we are left getting rid of them for peanuts, its a never ending cycle of new manager new players and paying out money for very little result.
Do you sack a manager like Big Sam without a replacement already sorted out, I don't think so. Mort and Ashley must have done a deal with someone I beleive it will turn out to be Shearer, and don't necesserily think this is a good choice, where's his experience we nowt with him as a player and will probably win nowt with him as manager.
Let's get mourinho he's the man.
Well chaps BS has gone. It looks like Ashley wasn't going to back him with cash ala Roeder situation. I think Sam has paid the price for some poor signings but ultimately the players aren't performing for him. This has been evident since the Portsmouth debacle.
It will be very interesting to see who Ashley goes for. If there is any chance we must push for O'Neill. A quality manager who can handle pressure, win things, motivate players, develop young players, make quality signings and please the fans!
Hopefully we will see the 'lets try to impress the new manager' run of a few wins that might culminate in a decent cup run
well im shocked that Sam got that sack at this point in the season. I thought he would at least get one season. However he made his own bed and has nobody else to blame. So who next? For me the only manager out there is mourinho. The guys a winner and has trophies to prove it even before the millions at chelsea. Whatever it costs we must get him it will be money well spent. Almost as good as the money they spent to get rid of souness.
I read in one of the daily tabloids that BIG Mike! is pursuing Harry Redknapp for the post, Tell me this is a joke? I just hope we get it right this time
but I won't hold my breath...