Newcastle(home)predictions FA cup

[AucklandRover]

Well – one of those “nearly” games, turning on a few key moments.
Their first goal was just bad luck – the deflection could have gone anywhere. The second was poor defending, but well-finished.
We scored two excellent goals, and after a strangely “flat” second half, we dominated the first period of extra-time.
Then came Dack’s horrible howler, the missed offside and a dreadful piece of goalkeeping – the incidents which combined to change the game.
I don’t mind the fourth goal; it often happens in that situation.
Overall, we tried to play a PL passing-game, while Newcastle went for the long ball and the counter-attack.
Disappointing, but quite a lot to admire in some of the individual performances.

RAYA – didn’t actually have much to do, but very poor for their third goal. If you can’t take the pace off the ball with a parry, punch it or tip it over. Basic ground-rules for the job.
NYAMBE and BELL – same report for both, really – looked a bit uncertain and shaky for the first 15/20 minutes, but both played very well after that.
LENIHAN – some excellent challenges and a superbly taken goal, but I still think he needs to learn a bit of composure from people like Mulgrew and Rodwell. Sometimes, it’s best NOT to make the challenge. He doesn’t do much “shepherding”. Two late tackles which could have been penalties.
REED, TRAVIS and SMALLWOOD – I thought all three were excellent. They controlled midfield for much of the match. I hope those who put Smallwood down as a matter of course watched this game without those biased spectacles on! Travis looked tired in the last 15 minutes. Let’s hope Reed’s injury is minor.
BENNETT- if he had a slightly better first touch, he would be PL standard. Is there a fitter player in football? I wish he would get more crosses in, but every team needs someone with his spirit.
BRERETON – I’ve been one of those supporting him, but I thought he looked completely lacking in confidence here. Looked lost. Couldn’t get a cross in and created little. Put him by for next season – perhaps after a spell in the U-23s.
ARMSTRONG – disappointing, apart from an expertly finished goal. One thing you DON’T get from Armstrong is consistency.
GRAHAM – very good again in that target-man role. I think we should have hit far more long balls into the area, but I accept that we are trying to craft goals in the modern style.

CONWAY – grew into the game after poor first five; lovely cushioned header to set Dack up.
NUTTALL – looked far more confident than Brereton. I am becoming more convinced that he COULD play the Graham role.
DACK – dreadful miss by his standards. The keeper had committed, so he didn’t even have to hit it near-post. He could have switched to the right and poked it in.
ROTHWELL – one run that came to nothing. Neither he nor Armstrong seem to go looking for the ball.

[champs95]

Well – one of those “nearly” games, turning on a few key moments.
Their first goal was just bad luck – the deflection could have gone anywhere. The second was poor defending, but well-finished.
We scored two excellent goals, and after a strangely “flat” second half, we dominated the first period of extra-time.
Then came Dack’s horrible howler, the missed offside and a dreadful piece of goalkeeping – the incidents which combined to change the game.
I don’t mind the fourth goal; it often happens in that situation.
Overall, we tried to play a PL passing-game, while Newcastle went for the long ball and the counter-attack.
Disappointing, but quite a lot to admire in some of the individual performances.

RAYA – didn’t actually have much to do, but very poor for their third goal. If you can’t take the pace off the ball with a parry, punch it or tip it over. Basic ground-rules for the job.
NYAMBE and BELL – same report for both, really – looked a bit uncertain and shaky for the first 15/20 minutes, but both played very well after that.
LENIHAN – some excellent challenges and a superbly taken goal, but I still think he needs to learn a bit of composure from people like Mulgrew and Rodwell. Sometimes, it’s best NOT to make the challenge. He doesn’t do much “shepherding”. Two late tackles which could have been penalties.
REED, TRAVIS and SMALLWOOD – I thought all three were excellent. They controlled midfield for much of the match. I hope those who put Smallwood down as a matter of course watched this game without those biased spectacles on! Travis looked tired in the last 15 minutes. Let’s hope Reed’s injury is minor.
BENNETT- if he had a slightly better first touch, he would be PL standard. Is there a fitter player in football? I wish he would get more crosses in, but every team needs someone with his spirit.
BRERETON – I’ve been one of those supporting him, but I thought he looked completely lacking in confidence here. Looked lost. Couldn’t get a cross in and created little. Put him by for next season – perhaps after a spell in the U-23s.
ARMSTRONG – disappointing, apart from an expertly finished goal. One thing you DON’T get from Armstrong is consistency.
GRAHAM – very good again in that target-man role. I think we should have hit far more long balls into the area, but I accept that we are trying to craft goals in the modern style.

CONWAY – grew into the game after poor first five; lovely cushioned header to set Dack up.
NUTTALL – looked far more confident than Brereton. I am becoming more convinced that he COULD play the Graham role.
DACK – dreadful miss by his standards. The keeper had committed, so he didn’t even have to hit it near-post. He could have switched to the right and poked it in.
ROTHWELL – one run that came to nothing. Neither he nor Armstrong seem to go looking for the ball.

Their first goal was a fluke.
Their second goal came from nothing.
We where besieged by injury and a virus running through the camp.
Dack was Ill and shouldn't have played at all. I don't think it was a terrible miss allvtgst considered. Their 3rd goal was offside.
They had 100% of the luck. We had none.
They say it evens itself out. I'm not sure if does. We rarely get any. Last night everything was against us.
Still battled back. Had virtually nobody fit. And showed tremendous spirit.
I was proud of them. I thought we where superb all things considered.

[Despair]

My instinct came about (for me), in that overall even taking into account their luck their desire to see this game out just about eclipsed ours.
I thought both sides commitment was commendable.
Agree with Champs in that Dacks effort was not as ‘woeful’ as seen by quite a few.
Agree Nuttall has really benefited from his fortunate goal from Sat and think he could well ‘kick on’ now.
That brings me to BB , I’ll resist labelling ‘woeful’ for him albeit in ref to the 6/7 mil tag even the most optimistic must be feeling some concern now. This match and the depleted opposition was ready made for him to find his own ‘kick on’ moment , but there was none.
This is not a personal ‘attack’ on the lad , but all has been stacked up upon ‘promise’ not demonstrable ability.
Hope I’m way off the mark, but this club cannot ‘carry’ for very long such a financial burden.
I like the way that many including me were wondering why we weren’t hitting balls early to our target man, in the same way they generally were doing. But so often we have been criticised for such (as hoof ball) , but if this was seen as best tactic for a given game - why not. Too much deliberation was made before electing to actually deliver the ball into the oppos ‘throat’.
Robin, not in any way a gripe but I thought (generally) our predicts we’re against the outcome of games, but seemingly due to Aucks question it became a 90 mins vs extra time vs pen shootout predict.
This is only a entertaining ‘game’ so I’m none too fussed 😏 - unlike Brexit 🙈 !

[champs95]

Newcastle's weakened team was assembled for £80m.
That's about £75m more than what we had out last night.

Breteton looked quite good last night I thought. I think people are forgetting his age.

What was Dack doing at 19? Or Armstrong? What was Graham doing at 19? Or Bennet?
Where was Nuttall at 18? Up in Scotland playing for Clyde doing nowt.

Bens confidence is a bit shot. Fans getting on his back will never help. It never has and never will. It starts on social media and trckles down from there. I am surrounded by people now at Ewood, sat waiting for him to fail. And will be very vocal about him.
The lad is 19. Joe Nuttall is 23. And I still don't think the lad will quite make it here with us.
One day, things will click into place for Ben. Trust the manager, trust the lad, trust the club.
At this stage we have paid upfront no more than what we paid for Arma. Who imo flatters to deceive. And is a lot older. And played 50 first team games for us. Over 100 in his career.
Brereton has played about 20.

Lets not write off a 19 year old lad folk are despertae to fail.

We where robbed last night, don't fall for this *******s about them being depleted. That team cost £80m. Ours was half made up of academy players. The spirit, the fact we played them off the park mostly over 2 games is surley worth a mention?
We lost to a fluke defelction, and 2 offside goals. Had Mulgrew and Dack been fit, we'd have beaten them.

[Despair]

Champs, WADR I have to stress yet again that these are my own personal feelings derived from what is see. I am no expert (far from it), plus the barracking of any player of any age from their own supporter is well out of order.
BUT the fee and subsequent salary cannot be put to one side simply because of his age.
It will be a real burden for us re FFP that’s a fact.
As I say these are my own personal fears and concerns , but I dearly wish the lad to come good and justify the cost. It’s a question of how long this will take , and how much slack will our ‘over expectant’ supporter give him.

[champs95]

Bradley Dack has been a person who has given me a lot of joy in recent times.
I often justify my outlay of money, so I can see him play. Pretty much since he walked in the door here, he has been nothing short of brilliant. Gutsy, spirited, classy, and our main man. He steps up week after week after week. Pretty much single handily got us promotion. Having never played in the Champ, and despite numerous people questioning whether he could step up, he has. He's got us 13 very VERY crucial league goals. Has made more goals than anyone else. In my lifetime, I am struggling to think of a better player we paid so little for, and got more out of.
Last night he had the strength to sit on the bench for us when he simply should not have been. He was ill. But due to the fact we where so low on numbers he did this for the team. For his club. For his mates. For his manager. For the fans.

Alan Shearer missed chances. Chris Sutton missed chances. Albiet not very many, but still. They are human afterall. It happens to the very best.
Dack is human, and last night just should not have been on the pitch. The other lads also hit by a virus, didn't fancy it. So sat it out. Dack didn't. The ball came to him very quick. And for once, the ball went a centre meter the otrher side of the post. He still had to beat the keeper. Who had come out to narrow the angle. And he got his toe on the ball inches before the defender. He was under pressure, and plus, he wasn't 100%. It was a kiss, but not of epic proportions.
One minute later, their goal which was 3 yards offside was the deciding goal in the tie.

Travis was outstanding, as where all our players. Their first 2 goals, the first being a fluke, came from the fact we where playing 3 at the back, and it took a while to get organised.
They were no better than us over 2 ties. We played in Div1 last year. They played in the Prem. We half a team of academy players, playing, and we looked every bit as good, if not better. They had all the luck, we had none.

Had VAR been at our ground last night, we'd have won. Had VAR not been at their ground we won have won that aswell.

But we can have our heads held very high.

[champs95]

Champs, WADR I have to stress yet again that these are my own personal feelings derived from what is see. I am no expert (far from it), plus the barracking of any player of any age from their own supporter is well out of order.
BUT the fee and subsequent salary cannot be put to one side simply because of his age.
It will be a real burden for us re FFP that’s a fact.
As I say these are my own personal fears and concerns , but I dearly wish the lad to come good and justify the cost. It’s a question of how long this will take , and how much slack will our ‘over expectant’ supporter give him.

Champs, WADR I have to stress yet again that these are my own personal feelings derived from what is see. I am no expert (far from it), plus the barracking of any player of any age from their own supporter is well out of order.
BUT the fee and subsequent salary cannot be put to one side simply because of his age.
It will be a real burden for us re FFP that’s a fact.
As I say these are my own personal fears and concerns , but I dearly wish the lad to come good and justify the cost. It’s a question of how long this will take , and how much slack will our ‘over expectant’ supporter give him.

I think people have got the wrong end of the stick. All we have paid is £2m at this stage. For a 19 year old. He hasn't actually done anything wrong. He has played just one game (away at Sheff Utd) in his actual position. When he plays at the mo, he is doing so for the squad. Playing out of position.
There is nobody inside our club with any concerns with Ben. In time we will see if he comes good. He has Danny Graham to learn from (who he isn't going to displace in the side) and a very good manager.

Did TM throw Travis in? Despite all the fans demanding it? No
Has that paid off? I'd say yes, as he is looking good now.
That's all he is doing with Brereton.

He looked as good as anyone last night, its now fans are watching him with intent expecting him to tear sides apart. Football isn't that simple.
Trust the manager, trust the lad himself. Nobody at the club is worried, only the fans ....some fans. Not all. Some of us are willing the lad to come good, and are happy and willing to give him time.

[champs95]

I heard the word deadful mentioned above.

All things considered, I don't think its fair to say anything about us last night was dreadful.

There was however one dreadful thing that happened. For Rafa Benitez to come out afterwards and state they weren't 'lucky'.
I thought that was a disgraceful comment. Unfair, incorrect, and he is lying. He saw another game to anyone else.

That was dreadful. It was hugely disprespectful to Blackburn Rovers football club. And I hoped all our fans would be really supportive of us. These are the times the lads need support.

Instead, Brereton is now going to get more pressure piled on him.
Far too much of this going on. People with no integrity talking nonsense.
We went to Millwall on sat. It was an awful game, we won. Our manager came out afterwards and said exactly that.
We don't send spies top other clubs to watch them train, we don't cheat. We don't lie.

But I just wish we had a unfied fan base. Not a bunch of pushovers who will turn on us in a flash, and back up other sides.

That manager was a disgrace last night. Our club, our team our manager did us proud.

What do we do?

Not exactly supportive on the whole is it? All things considered.


They are a poor outfit. And we will get our own back next season when we play them in the league.

[Despair]

Champs, please note (from above):

“As I say these are my own personal fears and concerns , but I dearly wish the lad to come good and justify the cost. It’s a question of how long this will take , and how much slack will our ‘over expectant’ supporter give him.”

Your and my wish are exactly the same.

[AucklandRover]

Champs - I think you have your blue-and-white glasses on in those posts!
For a start, the off-side was half a metre - not three! And when you say "Their second goal came from nothing," I am not sure what you mean. Bell allowed the wide player too much room, and the cross was expertly converted. I don't even agree that they had 100% of the luck. I definitely thought we edged the game and in the first period of extra-time, I was convinced we would win. However, WE also had some luck in that the officials didn't register Lenihan's two late tackles in the penalty-area!
I am not BLAMING Dack for missing the chance. Everyone does. I am saying the match probably turned on that moment. The same with Raya's error. It does not mean he is a poor keeper. It is just that in the context of the game, the offside wouldn't have mattered if he hadn't made such a mess of that shot. And i would repeat the word "dreadful". It was a very fundamental error for a class goalkeeper.
As for Brereton, I have taken a lot of stick for defending him on the Telegraph site, but I thought he was downright poor in this game. I very much hope he comes good, but on that evidence, he needs to be taken out of the spotlight at the moment. Looking at the clips of his earlier career, you see a confident, quick player, happy to take people on and shoot. We just aren't getting that currently. When you say "he looked as good as anyone last night", you are simply showing wishful thinking. He lost the ball almost every time it came to him, and I doubt that he made more than three successful passes. He presented no attacking threat. The contrast with Nuttall was marked.
I comment on each game as I see it, and I try to avoid generalisations from limited evidence, but I almost think it would be cruel to keep Brereton in the squad at the moment. When I lived in Newcastle, years ago, they had a player called Tommy Gibb, who was targeted by the crowd so much that, in the end, the manager only played him in away games.
I feared for a while that the same was going to happen to Smallwood, but I am hoping his performance on Tuesday will have silenced some of the critics. He and Travis looked excellent together, and Smallwood probably passed the ball better than anyone on the pitch, on the night.
I think any combination of Reed, Smallwood, Travis and Evans (except, possibly, Evans and Smallwood - who now look too alike) is going to do well in the rest of the season in central midfield. Reed is another Bennett, though - a manager's dream. You could stick either of them in goal or as target-men, and they would probably do a decent job! Let us hope Southampton do well from now on, and feel they can do without Reed next season.