Newcastle match day thread

[theplater]

I am fuming, and I haven't lost a days wages and travelled 200 miles to watch that rubbish!

I can accept a defeat, if I feel the team has tried to have a go but tonight was absolutely abject, and I lay the blame solely at the feet of Bruno Lage. He selected the side, and it's his job to have a game plan. For the first 45 minutes we had none. We didn't for much of the second half in truth and it wasn't until we fell behind we offered some sort of intent. Embarrassing! I do not want to read tomorrow comments from any member of our squad saying that it wasn't good enough. I bloody well know that already.

I might think differently tomorrow but tonight I feel we're a team that has overachieved this season. We have a fair squad. A squad that should see us safely avoid a relegation battle, but it's a small squad, mainly average but with a few exceptional players. And you can name them. All on one hand. Jose Sa, Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves. I'd add Neto but he's been injured for most of the season and is still slowly finding his feet again. Raul isn't the player he was pre his injury, and I'm not convinced he ever will be again. Saying that we missed his presence tonight. Podence has all the ability but not the consistency, Jonny Otto, if he can stay injury free, and I'll throw Coady in because he's exemplary as our Captain. Then we've got a few gems that look like they've got a great career ahead, Kilman, Ait Nouri and possibly Silva. The latter, the jury's still out, however I still think he needs a run in the side because his work rate and effort is there to see. The rest are expendable, including the manager!

It remains to be seen if we can finish high enough to achieve European football next year. It remains to be seen if we can keep Moutonho and Nevis for another year but whatever happens, now we're out of any FFP restrictions, we need to see some clear intent from Fosun in regards to how seriously they intend to take us forward. I accept that trying to keep up with clubs owned by State Nations is going to be hard, but Fosun are a massive International brand, along with only a handful of others in a similar position. They set a 10 year goal to achieve Champions League status and we're only 5 years into that. Apart from a disappointing last season, clearly due to the worldwide pandemic that engulfed us, we've improved accordingly, but times have changed. The Saudi's, through Newcastle has made the objective harder, so has the war in Ukraine. China, as a State, is more aligned with Russia than the West. How will that affect future relations? These are questions we didn't foresee 5years ago. Next season will probably tell us.

[sausagenegg]

Good post plater and I agree with every word.

Fair play for making THAT journey and the trip back must have been a killer after watching that dross.

Regarding your last paragraph lately I've been thinking what Fosun's real objective is.

Premier League consolidation and rake in the guaranteed millions from TV revenue and the selling on of players a la Jota and maybe soon to be Neves and Traore?

[Wolfiebill]

Have to agree with you Plates.

On a separate issue, but back to the thread title, I wondered what you guys thought of Sa's "foul" on Wood that lead to the penalty?

IMO, it was more of a dive than a trip (why would Sa trip him in that position?) I think Wood was VERY unlikely to score if he got past Sa legitimately. I think it's another case of either the Ref / VAR being niaive or having been conned.

I'm a simple sole. The question I would ask is "If Sa's leg was a crocodile, would you have been able to jump over it?"

[sausagenegg]

I think it was a daft thing for Sa to do and he realised it straight away.

Yes, Wood was going nowhere but he knew exactly what he was doing as Sa outstretched his leg.

Unfortunately for us a trip is a trip in the penalty area no matter where the player is and yes, I agree it was very unlikely Wood would score from that position.

The ball was probably going out for a goal kick, Wood saw Sa's outstretched leg and thought it was Christmas come early.

[abbobrom]

Plater, I felt sorry for all the supporters who made the long track to the North East. Injuries for us, I am sure played a big part in our starting line up. To say we were poor in the first half was an understatement.

Newcastle were physically stronger, bigger and more mature, and it wasn't until the latter stages that we started to play and look a little like the team sitting 8th in the table. The main and only positive from the game was that some youngsters gained some valuable experience,.

[abbobrom]

As for the penalty, Wood collided with Sa, Sa did not collide with Wood. The Newcastle man cheated to win the penalty and the referee bought it, hook line and sinker.