GeordieVillan

Just looking at the fixtures - this really is a big weekend. Preston, Ipswich, QPR and Forest are currently in positions 10-13, and they play eachother, so points will be dropped. Sheff Wed are in 14th and they are playing us, and hopefully losing to us. This might be the week where you see a gap emerge between Norwich/Boro and everyone below, with those above being the teams in contention of the playoffs...

We should be offering a contract that is linked to his performance and his development, with decent basic wage as a starter. If he doesn't want to accept that, I guess we just have to live with it - we can't get risk getting our fingers burned again with a long a contract and big wages for a player that goes off the boil.

Agreed....happy with anything other than a Cardiff win...

Cardiff currently trailing at Bristol City...if that stays the same and we can win later and Sheff Utd don't manage to win...then we will be right in the mix by 5pm, only 2 points off second place. Regardless, if Cardiff lose and we win, we will at least be one point closer to automatic promotion... We just have to keep doing our bit and winning our games!

I actually think that we are now seeing that the system we play doesn't suit either Hogan or even Kodjia, especially when they are not alongside a target man i.e. Davis. The difference is that Kodjia, by his very nature, can receive the ball into feet and try to take players on and do something on his own, sometimes frustratingly though. Alot of Kodjia's goals last season were very much that, him doing something out of nothing on his own. For that reason , Kodjia will probably still play a big role this season when fit. Hogan doesn't seem have this in his locker. Hogan is a decent player that has the attributes to be a very good Championship player at least, but our current style of play combined with his obvious lack of confidence at the moment means that he is only going to play a bit part role this year, barring alot of injuries to our other forwards. If Hogan being a passenger is a by-product of us being promoted, then its certainly a price I'm willing to pay.

Looking at everyone else - we need to win the next 3 games at least to show that we mean business. Dropping points tonight would be a disaster. Even a draw isn’t good enough. I actually can’t believe how tight the league is. Most teams will feel they have chance of making the playoffs if you consider Reading are in 20th place and they are only 8 points off 6th Place.

Big game on Wednesday against Preston now - before the Birmingham game I would have took 4 points from these 2 games, so that means we now have to get a win here. Its very congested in the top half of the table, and we need to carry on our momentum for the next 2 months as thats when the pack will split. Given what we have seen in the last couple of years, I think we start to slip, we might struggle to make up ground again. Bruce has to find a place for Davis in the team - he has already become the crucial player to our style of play. I think the second half on Sunday showed that when we are playing tough games, it may be effective to play both Whelan and Jedinak behind Hourihane, and with Kodjia and Adomah either side of Davis.

The next round of fixtures is a chance to make up more ground...Leeds play Sheff Utd....assuming we win.... I would prefer a Leeds win or a draw as that brings us closer to Sheff Utd. A Sheff Utd win would mean we can overtake Leeds. I think it’s better if the teams chasing us beat the teams above us, as it just helps squeeze the pack together, and we just need to keep doing what we doing!

How can you say that? To say our chances of automatic promotion are long gone is just ridiculous. Its October and we are 5 points off second place. Is it impossible that we might continue as we are for a little while and then suddenly "click" and close this gap? You might think its unlikely because the manager seems to be inept, but its not impossible. If we get through this season with a team that "isn't right", or isn't playing attractive free flowing football, but we end up getting promoted, Bruce will have done his job. The issue will then be assessing whether Bruce is the suitable person to manage us in the Premier League, and I would imagine the general consensus would be that he is not. Lets be pragmatic, its our first defeat after 8 unbeaten - thats a very decent run. If we can get 6 points from the next 3 games, we will still be very much in the mix. This league is all about staying in touch with the top for as long as possible. Yes we would ideally like to be one of the top 2 from right now until the end of the season, but we started badly and are playing catch up.

Because prior to this defeat we just won 4 in a row and were unbeaten in 8. Regardless of the style of our play, or your opinion of the manager, that tells me we seem have found a way to get results. I'm staggered that after we lost (albeit convincingly) to the team who are now top of the table, people now think we aren't capable of of winning the next couple of games, or at least bouncing back and avoiding defeat. Over-reaction central.

Yesterday was a difficult one for Bruce. Had he changed the team to counter Wolves style, if we lost people would have said he bottled it and didn’t take the game to them. If he stuck with the same team and style that has served us well in last 5-6 weeks, as he did, then defeat would lead to him being accused of being one-dimensional and not understanding the opposition. As it is, it was not pretty viewing, and we could have lost by more. We are not an entertaining team, but while we remain close to the playoffs and automatic promotion places, we will stick with Bruce. I see no reason to change manager now. Lets be realistic, with Bruce in charge this is not a long term project, we have spent a lot of money on players to get us promoted, we havnt bought a team of young players with high sell on values. If we don’t go up this year, Bruce will be gone. Contrasting Villa with Wolves at this stage is justified, but I think we need to have perspective as Wolves could quite easily go on a bad run in a few weeks and lose ground. Even the best teams have bad runs and lose games back-to-back. We had a bad run at the start of the season, and seemed to have turn the corner, so hopefully we can bounce back. Our club has been a mess and rotten at the core for a few years now, bereft of spirit and confidence. This is something previous managers have not dealt with. Regardless of our playing style, I believe Bruce is addressing the confidence issue and building a team unit. Wolves have had numerous ups and downs, and failed promotion campaigns over the years, and fair play, they seem to have hit the jackpot this year, but it’s still very very early. Who’s to say their young international players won’t tire or suffer a drop in form when the winter sets in. 4 points from the next 2 games and we will still be right in it. Ideally 7 from the next 3 games. I think we need to accept that as long as we are in contention, Bruce is our manager for this season.

This is our chance to cement our place at the top of end of the table. 2 wins in the next 2 games isn't an unreasonable expectation given the opposition, but its the kind of situation we have blown in the past. If we can get 6 points, we should be in play off spots by the time the weekend is over, and within a couples of wins of automatic promotion. More than anything else, it will be 4 wins on the bounce and 8 games unbeaten in the league, and I think the rest of the league, especially the other teams at the top will be looking over their shoulders. I also think the level of belief in the players and fans will be sky high. Regardless of what you think of Bruce, we look much better as team with Davis up top, and we are a different team altogether with Kodjia back. We have a goal threat up front and from 3 midfielders (Snodgrass, Adomah and Hourihane) and it will be very difficult for opposing teams to contain our front 5, even if we aren't playing with the fluency some would expect or hope. I'm not a big Bruce supporter, but the fans will all be increasingly behind him if the results continue as they are.

Its appeared in one local paper now, but this is the Shields Gazette, not the Newcastle Chronicle. If it appears in the Chronicle, it might have some legs. No quotes at this stage, so hopefully no substance. http://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/football/newcastle-united/transfer-latest-aston-villa-set-to-ramp-up-interest-in-newcastle-outcast-jack-colback-1-8708609 LIAM KENNEDY Email Published: 15:58 Thursday 17 August 2017 Steve Bruce is keen to be reunited with Jack Colback this summer, as Aston Villa lead the race to sign the Newcastle United midfielder. ADVERTISING The Gazette has learned that there has been contact between the two sides, with talks initiated before the Magpies returned to pre-season training in July. Talks have been on and off since then but Villa are now primed to ramp up their bid to land the former England youth international after a difficult start to life in the Championship. Colback is heading for the St James's Park exit door having been told he is not part of Rafa Benitez's first-team plans. The player was called into Benitez's office at the club's Benton training base last week and told that he would be allowed to leave. It has also been reported that he was involved in a training ground row with the club's staff. And, as things stand, Villa are the club who head the race to sign Colback, despite interest from a host of other Championship sides. Bruce is a massive admirer of Colback's talents, having worked with him during his time at the Stadium of Light. In fact, it was Bruce who handed Colback his Premier League debut in May 2010. And with Colback on a Premier League wage, reportedly between £40,000 to £50,000 per week at United, there are few clubs in the second tier who can get close to that. Although, Villa, having nabbed the likes of former England and Chelsea skipper John Terry, do possess that kind of financial muscle. The Magpies are keen to offload a number of fringe players from their ranks, in order for Benitez to further add to his side. Colback heads that list, alongside the likes of Tim Krul, Achraf Lazaar, Massadio Haidara, Grant Hanley, Emmanuel Riviere and Henri Saivet. As reported Colback is set to miss out on a place in United's 25-man Premier League squad list. Meanwhile, reports in Italy suggest that Benitez is weighing up a loan move for former Manchester City forward Stevan Jovetic. The 27-year-old is currently on the books at Inter Milan.

Story is that Colback is refusing to train in order to force a move. I can't believe anyone would refuse to train in order to force a move to us right now! Calls into question not only Colback's ability, but also his state of mind.

Don't think this has been posted, but apparently the local press up North will be carrying a story later on today that we have offered (or are going to offer) £5m for Jack Colback. As someone that has seen a bit of Newcastle over the years, I would be really disappointed if this is true. 1) we don't need another holding type midfielder 2) he is no better than Whelan or any of our other central midfielders for that matter 3) he isn't going to solve our problems in terms of creativity 4) he isn't going to be a player that gets past the strikers and into the box, the kind of player we've been missing for at least 5 years 5) it stinks of panic buy and a manager that doesn't know what he's doing

Terrible to watch this. Its like watching our slow paced sideways attacking of the last few years. Grealish isn't doing enough in the hole - he's not direct or fast enough. McCormack isn't showing for the ball up front either, but we need attacking options so for me it has to be one of Westwood or Gardner off with Ayew coming on. Grealish can then play slightly deeper as the tip of a 3 in midfield, with Adomah right and Ayew left of McCormack. Dare I say it, this is a game crying out for a Gestede type player that we can play direct to. We are lucky to be only 1 goal down. I hope Bruce makes changes earlier rather than waiting until 70-75 mins as he has in the last few games.

Couldn't fault him today. He's not a right winger and he worked harder than I thought he was willing and able to. I don't understand why Bruce didn't move Kodjia wide and play Ross in the middle. We still could have played long direct balls to Kodjia with him being wider. For me, McCormack is the key to this team going to the next level. We don't have any creativity still, and Grealish isn't the answer yet. Ross either needs to play as a no.10 or he needs to play as the furthest forward of a midfield 3. It would seem we are going to play with 3 in the midfield, so Ross is going to have to demonstrate that he can work hard enough to do it, as I don't see him getting a game as the main striker in front of Kodjia or Gestede. Also feel sorry for him that both Kodjia and Ayew (although very important players for us) seem to refuse to pass the ball to him, or even pass the ball quickly. For someone that doesn't have much pace, he relies on the ball being played quickly.

Last night could easily have gone with either way, but like the Newcastle game we had the rub of the green late on. I'm not complaining about it, because I would say in most of the other games where we have conceded late, our opposition have barely deserved it. Saturday is a massive for Bruce - if we win then we suddenly have a bit of momentum and new manager bounce and the atmosphere around the club will be very different, and also the media will probably turn in our favour. A defeat or another frustrating draw, and it will probably feel like a bit of a false dawn again.

How anyone can be criticising the current owner is beyond me. People have very short memories - this guy rescued us from someone who had totally lost interest in the club. The appointment of RDM was generally well received and seen as an astute appointment along with Clarke as assistant. I can't think of a single pundit or anyone in the game who said it was a bad decision at the time, and even now the media focus is on how poorly we have done under RDM, rather than asking why he was appointed in the first place - and I think this says a lot as it would be very easy for the media to try build up negativity towards Dr Tony, as they have done with many other foreign owners. Having said that, there was of course a small fraction of supporters who were against the RDM appointment and they can now rejoice that they were right, but again, I don't put any blame at the owners door, I was right behind the appointment at the time.

Brian Little as caretaker manager for now.

To be fair - this is what we did with Lambert.

Couldn't disagree more with this. I personally think we've got a very good Championship squad, if we pick the correct players and formation and get organised.

First time in a while I think the Villa job will be really attractive to a lot of managers. We have one of the best squads in the Championship now, and should still make the playoffs at least if someone can get us organised.

Fair play to him - ruthless decision, that was needed. None of this "waiting too long" business that we had under the previous owner. He needs get the next appointment right.

My mate is a Barnsley fan and season ticket holder and he said Adomah was excellent against them, one of the best individual player performances he's seen this season - that's the view from an impartial opposition fan.