M_Afro

It makes me feel so sad when AEG starts games for us. It’s nothing against him. He is a top bloke but he is nowhere near good enough to be starting games in the PL. I know he scored a few goals but he is guilty of a high percentage of our attacks breaking down.
I am posting this fully in the hope that he will now make me look very silly!

2 minutes ago, macandally said:

I don’t think we have a problem beyond a lack of fitness.  Three points today and a good performance and the world will be a better place.

The nagging concern is after today and Brentford we have some difficult games to come.  As Sheffield United will testify, the longer you go without a win, the harder it gets to get out of that slump.  Watched them against the baggies the other night and arguably they are still in that slump.

Imperative we get up to match fitness soon and get some wins on the board.

Not having a go but I just don’t buy the match fitness argument. We were much the better team in the final quarter of the game last week which would suggest that our fitness was fine. 
 

I agree that we need to get three points on the board though. Watford was a disaster but it’s done. Back to back wins would give us a nice boost to take on some more difficult fixtures. We simply have to find some consistent performances quickly.

I’m still hoping that Connor gets loaned out and it enables us to sign another centre mid (defensive). There’s still time for it to happen. I doubt Connor fancies a season of not even making the match day squad. 

9 minutes ago, alreadyexists said:

I don’t think Luiz is fully back yet. If he is I would put him in for Ramsey.

I think he’s available. He has trained all week.

Surprised so many are picking JR ahead of Luiz. JR has been largely quiet for us when he has started matches. He always seems to do much better when coming off the bench. I would start with Doug and allow SJM to play higher up the pitch.

1 hour ago, DCJonah said:

Hope he starts today.

I agree. The way Dean spoke yesterday, it seems like he will start on the bench. I get the sentiment and he has played loads since he joined us but I don’t think today is the day to rest him. A good performance is really important after last week. There will be better opportunities to rest him during the season. I would play a three man midfield with Doug and Marv holding and SJM linking.

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

Against Watford we had 3rd/4th choice wingers around a striker who had been training with the team for a week. Anyone expecting that to click straight away is expecting way too much.

Now the performance was awful and there were other issues but we had serious key players missing.

Our strongest team would include at least 3 from Luiz, Bailey, Traore and Watkins. Do you not think having those players fully fit would make a difference? 

That’s all true but why then play a 4-2-3-1? That was Dean’s decision. We could easily have gone 5-3-2 or 4-3-3. That would have totally mitigated the need to play AEG as a right winger, Buendia as a traditional 10 and Young as a left winger! Neither systems are perfect with our available players but both would have provided greater control in the game.

Anyway, that one’s dead now. Hopefully Dean learns from it, which he surely will. I expect a different set up today and a better performance. That’s all we can ask for. Hopefully the result will then follow. The atmosphere will certainly help too.

7 minutes ago, villan-scott said:

Still has legs maybe? Not done at all. Still others in the running. 

I hope we have a chance. This kid is class and can play any role in midfield. If he signed for us, even though he is very young, he would force his way in. Class player.

Newcastle are a garbage team with a garbage manager. We certainly have our problems but we are at home and so long as we go 4-3-3, I think we will be ok. Fingers crossed 

Just now, VillanousOne said:

Just lack of experience/fitness/preseason, if we played Newcastle with the same side in a few months i would feel more confident

Fair enough. If it makes you feel any better, my Toon mate is virtually suicidal and thinks they have no chance tomorrow. It certainly made me feel better.

10 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

It's annoying that we are playing winnable games at a time when fitness, lack of preseason, lack of cohesion (some of these players have still never played together) and injury is ripping is a new one.

Presuming Bailey won't start then:

                  Ings

Anwar --- Ramsey --- Buendia 

Doug --- McGinn

Targett (or Young) -- Mings -- Konsa -- Cash

Martinez

Is about is a good as it gets and to be honest we'll still struggle with that side, it will be even worse if for some reason he persists with Young on the left wing and Anwar on the right.

 

Why do you think we will struggle with that side? It’s a fairly expensively assembled starting eleven. With home advantage, I think that should be good enough to beat a team that has been largely starved of investment. I genuinely have no idea and I could easily be wrong but I would think that this team probably cost a fair bit more than the toon 11. From the players available I quite like your selection and formation. It’s nicely balanced. Of course we would all be happier with Bailey in for AEG and Ollie in for Ings but Ings at least is a good alternative.

5 minutes ago, Woody1000 said:

It clearly does have something to do with last weeks performance, you’re already talking about our finishing position with doubt after one game. I’ve got faith in Dean getting us an improvement on last season.

Great. I hope you’re right. 

I have a feeling that this guy is going to show us what he’s all about tomorrow. Especially if Dean plays him on the right of a front three. Just had a cheeky bet on him for anytime scorer.

1 minute ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Which rules us out, because we don’t leak. 

The leak could have come from their side of course.

4 minutes ago, Woody1000 said:

They don’t need to give us sticks, we bring our own.

We have jumped to massive conclusions after one defeat, let’s just see how the next few weeks pan out maybe?

This doesn’t have anything to do with a fairly awful performance against Watford. This is about stated expectation for the whole season. I think it’s fair to expect us to do better than last season for the reasons I stated. Clearly Purslow agrees and Dean is up for the challenge.

I have my doubts in Dean but I really want him to succeed. If he doesn’t then I am sure he will be gone. I don’t want that. I love having someone who gets our club at the helm. Nobody else will ever have the same love for the club that he does but he must also deliver. I really hope he does.

Wow. Great deal for Spurs if true. I think he is going to be a top player. Nuno has a great eye for young talent.

2 minutes ago, Woody1000 said:

I would take those sort of things with a pinch of salt.

Why do you say that? Our management are fairly guarded with their communication. They would never give the supporters a stick to beat them with. I suspect it was thrown out as a challenge to Dean by Purslow. The fact that Dean then repeated it was an acceptance by him that he was up to the challenge.

2 minutes ago, Woody1000 said:

What are you basing that on?

Purslow said we are aiming for European football. So did Dean.

It seems some posters are using Grealish leaving as an excuse for us not doing so well this season! This is clearly not what our board think and I totally agree.
We finished eleventh last season despite Grealish missing a third of our games. In Bailey, Ings and Buendia we have added three very expensive and talented attackers. We have a very settled defence which should be getting better and better. Although most of us think the midfield is not good enough, it is the same one we had last year. We also have some youngsters who are now good enough to at least be a part of the squad plus Sanson who is effectively a new player. All in all we are in a better overall position.

It is only right that the board expects us to do better. There should be no excuses. Dean must get it right and deliver the goods. That means getting to at least 60 points. Too many games like last week in our first 10 matches will spell the end I am sure. It starts tomorrow. Get it right in front of the fans and launch the season in style.

Interesting press conference. It sounded as though he feels the selection was right last week and the players just let him down. I suspect, from what he said, that we will see the same starting 11 tomorrow. I hope I am wrong because that 2 man midfield is likely to get rinsed again! Hopefully he will go 4-3-3 instead. 

36 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Smith looks to be happy with Steer and the kid, I doubt we’ll see anything anything on the GK front. Steers a decent backup anyway, not great but decent

I like Jed. He’s fine for the cups. Would be concerned if he had to start a run of PL games though. It’s a massive gap between Emi and Jed. I suspect we are on the lookout for someone else. Big Cuts knows his apples.

I wonder when we will start getting linked to GK’s? At the moment, a long term injury to Emi and we are well and truly in the brown stuff! 

5 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I know this will raise holy hell with some people,  and not necessarily a scenario I want either. However, Conspiracies' have been running amuck in my brain.

The combo of Headband pissing off, plus the coaches, and a bit of disorientation. ( Were the coaches leaving Deano's decision? )

Has any one sort of been wondering if the board might slowly be leaving Deano to sink or swim?

Have they lost 100 percent faith in him? Won't commit to blowing another 100 mill or so etc until they decide if he is the man to take us to the next level?

I actually think Jack leaving, did alot more damage than is on the surface.

Blindsided everyone, disappointed everyone, made people contemplate changing strategies etc.

Please don't be angry with me, i'm just thinking out loud.

This could all be ( Most likely be ) absolutely bollox, and spawned fan paranoia out of boredom.

I think there could be something in that. If they are not convinced by Dean then it makes sense to see what he can do whilst keeping some aside for a new manager should he fail. It’s probably a sensible move too. Let’s see if he can get them ticking with what we already have. We do have a decent squad on the whole.

Bullet well and truly dodged. Let’s hope we have £50m to spend and we choose to spend it a bit more wisely. That could still but two midfielders that transform our side in a very positive manner.