Positives from today

[Zippity]

(well, yesterday now and no, I don't mean Covid, either)

I stand by what I said on the match thread about how joyless being a Newcastle fan is at the moment-and has been for a while-but our Finnish friend has pricked my conscience.

So....two decent goals

And, credit where it's due (grrr), Bruce's substitutions and changes worked.

It's another 3 points towards maintaining the PL status which will be ***** in keeping the Saudis interested.

Anything else?

[Zippity]

Wow.....vital is blocked...ffs (that'll be its use in another forum's name...ridiculous)

[toonlegend]

a positive is in the way a couple of players, previously frozen out by bruce, performed and aided our victory

[bix01]

We can win without ASM - will still be good to have him back and motivated though.

[MidsMagpie]

Positives Dwight Gayle back and scoring a fine goal and Miggy having his best game for a long time, negatives Joelinton playing the full 90 and Bruce is still our manager

[Sixnowt]

For the first twenty minutes I thought we looked a good attacking side even the sky commentator s repeatedly said Newcastle look a threat every time they go forward ,we haven't heard that for a long time , I thought Hayden and Clark did well and Callum Wilson put in another good shift and Gayle looked sharp when he came on .
Negative s the two full backs were awful , as mentioned earlier those two going off changed the game .
All the very best to all let's hope 2021 is better , off and on the field
Stay safe and well

[TANYA_]

the biggest positive we had was the fact covid spread through our team and Bruce had his hand forced over who he could play.

Yesterday we showed glimpses of we could have once Gayle and Murphey were on and even Ritchie showed we had a different option other than give the ball to Maxi and let him run at people or hoof the ball to Wilson.
Once we started to cross the ball, we looked a threat.

Lets be honest though, for large parts of the game we were second best at home to the team who are bottom 3 and cant buy a win.
The win is largely down to the lack of options available to Bruce not his tactical nous.
We have seen this many times, we give the bloke a tiny bit of credit and let positivity back into our mindset, then our next game (away to Leeds on this occassion) he takes the momentum and positivity and puts 11 men behind it and defends a 0-0 draw and more often than not the players leave the pitch dumbfounded and defeated.

We really have become a money making machine rather than an entertainment. Grind out those 0-0 draws and 1-0 wins to keep the team in the PL cash and whatever we do, do not risk losing a point by being expansive and daring to play.

I really can only see us getting maybe 3 points maximum between now and mid March



oh and **** Steve Bruce and his army of arsekissers like Sutton

[toptoon]

Considering where we as a club are these days there were lots of positives just as there were when we beat Morecambe in the cup. No disrespect to WBA but we are a team whose performance is entirely decided by the quality of the opposition and we rarely take the game by the scruff of the neck and unsettle teams which, on paper, are better than us, even at home.
They were two well constructed and taken goals, however, and I agree with Shearer that Bruce’s subs worked although never would’ve been made like that if it wasn’t for the virus.

We continue to punch well below our weight.

[Sclox]

We won.....

But I'm not sure thats a positive as every dour point just solidifies the SB regime.

Make no mistake this is a poor West Brom side without their one decent player in Pererra.

Heres a few stats from the home team against second bottom yesterday:

45% possession
Less shots
Less accurate passing %
1 clear cut chance
Same amount of corners.

These are rhetorical questions but where is the progress? What is the long term plan other than a 17th finish for the foreseeable? What is the point?

[Zippity]

These are rhetorical questions but where is the progress? What is the long term plan other than a 17th finish for the foreseeable? What is the point?

All relevant questions and the answers are 'there isn't any', 'there isn't one' and 'I'm not sure'.

Ordinarily I'd agree that the 3 points almost don't do us any favours in that they just perpetuate the 'survival at the expense of style' ethos of Bruce.

BUT...with hopes of a takeover still not fully extinguished, staying in this league is more important than ever.