Sheff Utd 1-0 Newcastle - Tuesday 12th January, 2021

[Devil-Dick Willie]

What happened to that American dude who was on a first name nickname basis with Almiron because he saw him play a couple of times? What are your opinions of him not being good enough for the premier league after costing so much @Eco

[DeadLinesman]

[Stan]

I dread to think what you put in that pie @DeadLinesman.

Did you try to re-enact a scene from American Pie?

[Lucas]

2 hours ago, Steve Bruce Almighty said:

I'm sick and tired of Bruce and a lot of that feeling is because everytime he opens his mouth pure shite comes out. Let's see what crap we'll get after this.

Shocking approach to the game. Piss poor with 11 men and utterly naff with 10. The line up was as if we were away to Man City.

Bruce has a lot of explaining to do. He brought nothing to that touch line but acid reflux.

As long as the Bacon's ok, he'll be happy.

[Honey Honey]

The local press have completely turned. Ever since the hysterical comment they've gone, that's quite something as some of them were more pro Bruce than the mackems. 

The whole thing is Pardew all over again.

1. An underperforming team going nowhere, serving up shit

2. An owner who doesn't care if the team is going nowhere as long as it isn't going down yet so won't sack him

3. A national media and pundit class who can't fathom what could possibly be wrong and even think this is all alright

The bottom 3 are so bad we are getting away with it a bit here. 30 points might be enough to stay up this season. Fulham have some horrid fixtures so it will be a while before anyone can catch up if we are to continue to draw and lose.

[Danny]

Away from Newcastle being shit and a pointless entity under Ashley...what happened to a thick striped Newcastle side? The kits these days just look strange compared to the ones back in the early 00’s, the Shearer days

[Stan]

1 minute ago, Danny said:

Away from Newcastle being shit and a pointless entity under Ashley...what happened to a thick striped Newcastle side? The kits these days just look strange compared to the ones back in the early 00’s, the Shearer days

Yep, that is the really issue here to be quite honest.

Bring back the Newcastle Brown Ale sponsor too. These were classic kits of that era

 

 

[Honey Honey]

Last seasons kit was extra thick stripes.

Either not iconic because the design is shit or the team is shit, or both 

[Honey Honey]

Local paper reporting Bruce's job is not under threat as long as we are outside of the relegation zone. They also say focus is entirely on forcing the Saudi sale through. Not interested in what's happening on the pitch at the moment.

[Storts]

3 hours ago, Stan said:

Yep, that is the really issue here to be quite honest.

Bring back the Newcastle Brown Ale sponsor too. These were classic kits of that era

 

 

That away kit is bloody lovely 

[Azeem]

Why were the shorts shorter back then ?

[Bluewolf]

11 minutes ago, McAzeem said:

Why were the shorts shorter back then ?

They were not shorter... Legs were longer back in the day

[Bluewolf]

1 hour ago, Steve Bruce Almighty said:

Local paper reporting Bruce's job is not under threat as long as we are outside of the relegation zone. They also say focus is entirely on forcing the Saudi sale through. Not interested in what's happening on the pitch at the moment.

Good news then, The fans can relax now knowing that no matter how shit your season gets, how negative the style, how bad the result as long as you stay free from the relegation zones everyone can sleep well at night... 

[Honey Honey]

2 hours ago, Bluewolf said:

Good news then, The fans can relax now knowing that no matter how shit your season gets, how negative the style, how bad the result as long as you stay free from the relegation zones everyone can sleep well at night... 

Or as Steve Bruce calls it, "progress"

 

[Lucas]

1 hour ago, Steve Bruce Almighty said:

Or as Steve Bruce calls it, "progress"

 

I feel for you. Not often I agree with TalkSport but Warren Barton summed it up really well today with his assessment on last night's game.

You've had diabolical football to watch for a while now, I'd go as far as to say you haven't been exciting to watch since Bobby Robson's team to be totally frank.

Need a complete change of philosophy. If it's any consolation, I never saw it coming at Leeds till Bielsa came in and changed the culture of the club.

You need someone that's really going to buck the trend and make a difference. A presence.

[LFCMadLad]

35 minutes ago, Lucas said:

I feel for you. Not often I agree with TalkSport but Warren Barton summed it up really well today with his assessment on last night's game.

You've had diabolical football to watch for a while now, I'd go as far as to say you haven't been exciting to watch since Bobby Robson's team to be totally frank.

Need a complete change of philosophy. If it's any consolation, I never saw it coming at Leeds till Bielsa came in and changed the culture of the club.

You need someone that's really going to buck the trend and make a difference. A presence.

Wasn't Keegan after Robson? They were great to watch then!

[Lucas]

9 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

Wasn't Keegan after Robson? They were great to watch then!

Keegan did go back to manage after but his main spell was before Robson mate.

I saw us lose 4-3 to his team at Elland Road in the Premier League and credit where it's due, they were brilliant. 

I'd actually probably say Solano, Dyer, Speed, Robert, Bellamy, Shearer were as good a watch as Ginola, Lee, Clark, Beardsley, Ferdinand and Asprilla.

[Honey Honey]

14 hours ago, Lucas said:

I feel for you. Not often I agree with TalkSport but Warren Barton summed it up really well today with his assessment on last night's game.

You've had diabolical football to watch for a while now, I'd go as far as to say you haven't been exciting to watch since Bobby Robson's team to be totally frank.

Need a complete change of philosophy. If it's any consolation, I never saw it coming at Leeds till Bielsa came in and changed the culture of the club.

You need someone that's really going to buck the trend and make a difference. A presence.

You know why we've never had a progressive philosophy since then, because we've never had the bottle to appoint a foreign coach with no Premier League experience. We've never had the nous to look around abroad. We must be one of the only clubs not to have at least tried it after all these years in the Premier League.

Reality is if Bruce goes the best we would get next under Ashley is Eddie Howe. 

[Danny]

14 hours ago, Lucas said:

I feel for you. Not often I agree with TalkSport but Warren Barton summed it up really well today with his assessment on last night's game.

You've had diabolical football to watch for a while now, I'd go as far as to say you haven't been exciting to watch since Bobby Robson's team to be totally frank.

Need a complete change of philosophy. If it's any consolation, I never saw it coming at Leeds till Bielsa came in and changed the culture of the club.

You need someone that's really going to buck the trend and make a difference. A presence.

Ironically for a season they were good under Pardew, but that was largely down to some good scouting in France and a group of players had a chance to play together before the negativity at the club wore them down. Cisse, Ba, Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Tioté, Coloccini, Santon and of course the glue that held them altogether Gabriel Obertan 

[Honey Honey]

We all knew we'd get to this point.

The truth is managers bring their mistakes, limitations and problems with them from previous jobs. They're ingrained side effects of their philosophy and approach. Regardless of how good the manager actually is. This is why getting someone who has already failed in the Premier League or ran into trouble is simply going to repeat itself in some form. 

The things Villa fans would say about Bruce are carbon copied here. Pardew went to Palace and copied what happened here. They also bring their positives as well. Rafa for example was good in the 2nd half of a sseason. Pardew went on wild winning runs with us and Palace. 

[Lucas]

1 hour ago, Steve Bruce Almighty said:

You know why we've never had a progressive philosophy since then, because we've never had the bottle to appoint a foreign coach with no Premier League experience. We've never had the nous to look around abroad. We must be one of the only clubs not to have at least tried it after all these years in the Premier League.

Reality is if Bruce goes the best we would get next under Ashley is Eddie Howe. 

That Eddie Howe appointment I could see happening a mile off too now you've said it. Didn't think of that before but probably even more predictable with Ritchie, Fraser and Wilson already there too.

It's like you need to find your own Hassenhuttl. Or when Pochettino first came over from Espanyol to Saints.

Someone a bit like that, off the cuff but with high standards ready to take the players out of their comfort zone and raise the bar at the club.

[Honey Honey]

2 hours ago, Lucas said:

That Eddie Howe appointment I could see happening a mile off too now you've said it. Didn't think of that before but probably even more predictable with Ritchie, Fraser and Wilson already there too.

It's like you need to find your own Hassenhuttl. Or when Pochettino first came over from Espanyol to Saints.

Someone a bit like that, off the cuff but with high standards ready to take the players out of their comfort zone and raise the bar at the club.

It's a gamble they won't take. And it is a gamble. We all wanted Remi Garde and Frank De Boer  it won't necessarily come off, but you need to take risks to progress at this stage.

[Tar-Mairon]

Newcastle appear to be in the unfortunate quadruple.

1) Non ambitious owner who is not interested in what's occurring on the pitch. No ambition means he is unlikely to do anything until it is far too late. No pressure to well and truly motivate the manager.

2) Fans not allowed in the stadium, probably until next season (even if restrictions end in March/April which I think they will) moves fan protests online where they can be more easily ignored. Were the stadium full, the pressure would be a lot more severe.

3) A sycophantic media of ex-pros, many of whom are putting their personal friendships with the manager ahead of any objective criticism. They cannot criticize "Brucey" so a lot of them engage in some petty, unprofessional, disrespectful and disgraceful trolling of Newcastle fans, mis-characterizing them as never satisfied unless they're winning the Champions League without possibility of a proper response from those they are criticizing. Conversely, they have an inexplicable personal loathing of the former manager that causes them to run him down at all times eighteen months or so after he has left.

4) Players who have neither the ambition or strength of character to actually challenge the manager, probably because it's a relaxed and easy life so he will never lose the dressing room.

The takeover will have to go through or they will have to go down to get rid of Bruce. I hope it's the former. I think the league is richer for having Newcastle in it and competitive.