Newcastle 4-1 Chelsea

[Blue Armour 4,288]

10 hours ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

It has taken me until today to even want to discuss this match. I do not think I could have been more let down by the effort I watched out there. We looked absolutely shocking.

But should it be shocking., though? I'll admit that both James and Silva being major culprits in this game was super disappointing.

But at the same time, I dont think any of us should be too astonished or be too negative about this game.

With the young,  largely inexperienced squad that we assembled at the start of this season., it was always going to be a case of ups and downs.

Some nice performances in between., and some equally embarrassing ones.

8th is the min target for this squad, with Europa league or higher being the moonshot. Hopefully with a returning Nkunku., it becomes more likely than a moonshot. Right now the performances are perfectly resulting in midtable position, so not too far from the target, with nearly all the tough games out of the way for the first half of the season.

A lot of people have used Arsenal as a metric for this side.

I personally don't like it, but if you were to use that as a metric, Arteta and Arsenal slowly worked up a side that couldn't finish in Europe's conference league spots, and turned it into a top 4 side.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Blue Armour

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

18 hours ago, lucio said:

I think the squad will look a lot better once nkunku and lavia are in tbf 

Lavia isn’t going to make a huge difference. Not straight away. Don’t even think he plays ahead of Gallagher who has been our most consistent and improved MF player under Poch 100%. 

Talented yes but Lavia isn’t going to do anything different to what we have seen already from Caicedo & Ugochuwku. Playing Lavia, Caicedo and Enzo in a 3 makes me think of Kante, Jorginho and Kovacic. On paper, maybe it will be good but those 3 players there is definitely not the right creative or attacking balance/input.

Nkunku will add something to this side no doubt.

9 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

I agree with what you're saying but it was always going to be very very difficult to replace 3 top class mids in such a short period of time.  

I think between Enzo - Caicedo and Lavia (once he's fit), we should have a decent base in midfield and Nkunku should definitely help the likes of Sterling/Palmer once he's fully fit.  We still lack a clinical finisher up front and that will cost us a lot of points.  Just look at us and United, you can't tell me that they've been playing amazing football this season, the only difference is, their attackers have been able to finish those 50-50 chances and they've taken the 3 points. 

The question will be: what to do with Mudryk, Madueke, Cucurella and some of the other players in the squad as they are nowhere near consistent enough to be playing for a side that should be (at the very least) around the top 6 of the league. 

United are only where they are because at least they can score goals yes, likes of McTominay, Garnacho, Fernandes, Casemiro chip in. Not to mention Maguire, Lindelof, Dalot have been amongst there scorers too. Also not to mention they have the ability to ride out phases of the game which they struggle in or nick lucky goals. But we don’t have that. And we fold because we don’t have the know how or experience to get through these phases.

[robsblubot 3,504]

On 26/11/2023 at 09:14, MoroccanBlue said:

So everything is ok then. As if we won’t see anymore Newcastle esq performances this season. Brother is gaslighting. 
 

Been a liability all season but these half arse unprepared performances stem from the top. 

Yeah, all signs that he's done at this level are there...does not even manage to get himself into the worst Brazil squad in recent years. He makes point-costing mistakes every other match and can no longer make forward runs, which was once the staple of his game. No, he was never (crazy) David Luiz in that, but he used to be able to contribute with quick transition into attack.

With that out of the way, he does not pick himself for the starting XI. Had the squad been a bit less rebuilt, and included more senior players, maybe he'd be sitting on the bench already. Although Disasi does not look that much faster than Thiago, and both Colwill and Badiashile play on the left... so 🤷‍♂️ Like I said, this squad needs an iteration or two in the transfer market in order to get back to being what the club needs.

The squad simply isn't good enough; we do see moments of quality from some of these players, and then they go quiet in the following match; that's exactly what most young players do.

[Reddish-Blue 2,347]

2 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Playing Lavia, Caicedo and Enzo in a 3 makes me think of Kante, Jorginho and Kovacic. On paper, maybe it will be good but those 3 players there is definitely not the right creative or attacking balance/input.

It's sort of interesting that Mount may actually have been a better fit next to our current midfield group....and Ten Hag was actually quite high on Lavia. 

2 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Talented yes but Lavia isn’t going to do anything different to what we have seen already from Caicedo & Ugochuwku

From what I saw at Southampton, Lavia is definitely a level above Ugo.  He's got that keen eye for a pass, ability to break the line...something which Ugo/Caicedo aren't known for.  

[Fulham Broadway 16,854]

4 hours ago, Blue Armour said:

But should it be shocking., though? I'll admit that both James and Silva being major culprits in this game was super disappointing.

But at the same time, I dont think any of us should be too astonished or be too negative about this game.

With the young,  largely inexperienced squad that we assembled at the start of this season., it was always going to be a case of ups and downs.

Some nice performances in between., and some equally embarrassing ones.

8th is the min target for this squad, with Europa league or higher being the moonshot. Hopefully with a returning Nkunku., it becomes more likely than a moonshot. Right now the performances are perfectly resulting in midtable position, so not too far from the target, with nearly all the tough games out of the way for the first half of the season.

A lot of people have used Arsenal as a metric for this side.

I personally don't like it, but if you were to use that as a metric, Arteta and Arsenal slowly worked up a side that couldn't finish in Europe's conference league spots, and turned it into a top 4 side.

Like your optimism - and there are definite signs there. Amazing home crowd at St james, never easy, Poch up in row Z, and some stupid mistakes - not making excuses but there were conspiring factors that made it look worse than it was.

The downside for me is the slow boiling of the frog in terms of a pattern of shit results whereby mediocrity is slowly the norm. 

Many heads would have rolled under the Russian rule by now, shit results would not be tolerated

[lucio 5,418]

4 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Lavia isn’t going to make a huge difference. Not straight away. Don’t even think he plays ahead of Gallagher who has been our most consistent and improved MF player under Poch 100%. 

Talented yes but Lavia isn’t going to do anything different to what we have seen already from Caicedo & Ugochuwku. Playing Lavia, Caicedo and Enzo in a 3 makes me think of Kante, Jorginho and Kovacic. On paper, maybe it will be good but those 3 players there is definitely not the right creative or attacking balance/input.

Nkunku will add something to this side no doubt.

United are only where they are because at least they can score goals yes, likes of McTominay, Garnacho, Fernandes, Casemiro chip in. Not to mention Maguire, Lindelof, Dalot have been amongst there scorers too. Also not to mention they have the ability to ride out phases of the game which they struggle in or nick lucky goals. But we don’t have that. And we fold because we don’t have the know how or experience to get through these phases.

Lavia is far better on the ball than both of them. 

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

3 hours ago, lucio said:

Lavia is far better on the ball than both of them. 

Everyone keeps saying this but one season of playing every week in a piss poor Southampton side hardly fills me with confidence.

Also the same sort of things was said about Andrey Santos as if he was some sort of world beater based off of maybe 3 decent pre-season games. Now he can’t even get a game for Nottingham Forrest. 

Will reserve any actual judgement to the two of them play some competitive games for us. We tend to get over excited about players. Lavia for me is one of those who maybe will become a good player but whether he was a necessity this summer is another question.  

4 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

It's sort of interesting that Mount may actually have been a better fit next to our current midfield group....and Ten Hag was actually quite high on Lavia. 

From what I saw at Southampton, Lavia is definitely a level above Ugo.  He's got that keen eye for a pass, ability to break the line...something which Ugo/Caicedo aren't known for.  

Interesting point re Mount, I think he would of played the same role as Gallagher has so far under Poch. That sort of more advanced role, linking with the forward players and making those sort of willing runs that creates passing options to break the lines for others. And maybe would of suited him yes, as he had a similar role with Tuchel although maybe a bit more offensive. 

Again as mentioned above, Southampton is Southampton. I don’t think from what I seen of him last season he was an absolute necessity this summer but like with us, Mudryk and Arsenal last January, Liverpools interest and our desire to sign every player who exists… it happened. When he plays we will see. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,302]

6 hours ago, robsblubot said:

Yeah, all signs that he's done at this level are there...does not even manage to get himself into the worst Brazil squad in recent years. He makes point-costing mistakes every other match and can no longer make forward runs, which was once the staple of his game. No, he was never (crazy) David Luiz in that, but he used to be able to contribute with quick transition into attack.

With that out of the way, he does not pick himself for the starting XI. Had the squad been a bit less rebuilt, and included more senior players, maybe he'd be sitting on the bench already. Although Disasi does not look that much faster than Thiago, and both Colwill and Badiashile play on the left... so 🤷‍♂️ Like I said, this squad needs an iteration or two in the transfer market in order to get back to being what the club needs.

The squad simply isn't good enough; we do see moments of quality from some of these players, and then they go quiet in the following match; that's exactly what most young players do.

I see an average CB in Disasi. 

 

[Special Juan 27,429]

I see one in Disasi, Badiashielle and now Silva, on top Cucurella 

[robsblubot 3,504]

5 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Interesting point re Mount, I think he would of played the same role as Gallagher has so far under Poch. That sort of more advanced role, linking with the forward players and making those sort of willing runs that creates passing options to break the lines for others. And maybe would of suited him yes, as he had a similar role with Tuchel although maybe a bit more offensive. 

Again as mentioned above, Southampton is Southampton. I don’t think from what I seen of him last season he was an absolute necessity this summer but like with us, Mudryk and Arsenal last January, Liverpools interest and our desire to sign every player who exists… it happened. When he plays we will see. 

As someone who rates Mount for what he can, and has provided in the past, his form does not suggest he'd be doing anything useful for us atm.

He is a player who relies on his physique, his fitness, and these routine niggling injuries must be taking a toll. I don't know if he's been working less off-pitch, if it's genetics, or he's just been unlucky, but he's been struggling with fitness at united.

[lluubbeenn 142]

I was on a vacation last week. Still managed to watch the game at a bar. I am a bit shocked from this forum. I understand there was a lot of optimism on the back of our last games, but Newcastle are good, especially at home. Psg, Arsenal, Villa and Man city have fallen on that stadium. They are relentless, very physical, have one of the three best dead ball specialist in the prem and have a top class striker. Isak is arguably the second best in the league. Its not like we got nullified and beaten by Nottingham Forest. Oh wait, bad example. The biggest let down was that 3rd goal that Silva created, because they really had no bench and we could have gotten to them at the end. That goal really got to us. They may have a lot of injuries, but their starting eleven is simply better than ours. In terms of both experience and quality.  

The game against Brighton will be big. If we manage to get the points, we are budling a team. A reaction after a bad result is a must for a big team. Lets see what Poch and the boys come out with on Sunday. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,302]

17 hours ago, robsblubot said:

I don't know if he's been working less off-pitch, if it's genetics, or he's just been unlucky, but he's been struggling with fitness at united.

Kovacic, Kante, James, Mount, Chilwell, CHO, are all dealing with injuries since Tuchel 

Edited November 29, 2023 by MoroccanBlue