Bowyer didn't get a great reception did he This was always going to be heated though, with the only REAL United's going head to head.

Viduka equalised 4 minutes after we took the lead and then an attrocious mistake from Bernard gifted them with another goal. We piled on the pressure, had a goal disallowed for being offisde (which it wasn't), had a shot cleared off the line, and should still have won it. Leeds only two shots on goal were their goals, and they were both giveaways which came from Newcastle mistakes. A shame really, but there's 37 games left so no reason to panic. A draw away from home - things could be worse.



Leeds were dirty as usual, so they have no right to call us thugs X1 or whatever when they're one of the dirtiest sides around.

Howay the Lads

Last edited by evil_bastard on Aug-18-2003 at 15:52

Yeh 2-2 I was a bit dissapointed. I thought we controlled the game completely and what really pisses me off is that Leeds go forward only twice and they score. Where as Newcastle (including last season) have awesome chances, but something always happens to avoid the goal.

Luck has never been on our side. But that just goes to show that a team can put in all the effort and walk away undeserved loosers

SHEARER AGAIN TO THE RESCUE!

What team do yous reckon we should play against Man U?

I'd play this:

-----------------Given

Griffin -- O'Brien -- Woodgate -- Bernard

Dyer ---- Bowyer --- Speed ---- Robert

----------Shearer ----- Bellamy


Much as I'd like to see Bramble given a decent run against weaker sides this year, O'Brien is the safest option for this match. He's a lot calmer under pressure and I think that could prove crucial in this match. If it comes to containing the likes of Ronaldo or Giggs down our right, who better than Griffin to kick some lumps out of them? Bolton gave them too much space to flaunt their skills, but much as I criticise Griffin he won't take any nonsense. Dyer can't really cross but he has bags of pace and runs all day so placing him on the wing might force Ronaldo to defend a lot more than he'd like. I get the feeling Ronaldo will be poor at tracking back. Bowyer and Speed should provide much more grit in midfield than we had during the 6-2 thrashing (we had Dyer/Jenas in centre mid that time, both young and lightweight). Hopefully Robert's long-range efforts and the raucous St James' will keep Howard on his toes.

If things aren't going well at half time I'd like to see Ameobi given a full 45 in place of Bellers. Ameobi has been withdrawn from the England U21 squad because of a minor injury, but I hope he's available for Saturday. Also, depending on how the midfield battle goes, Solano and Jenas are both options in place of Dyer or Bowyer.

Obviously I'm concerned about this fixture, we still have massive problems in defence. But this time we have the addition of Bowyer and Speed, both of whom weren't available for the second match, and Woodgate who wasn't available for the first match last season. Hopefully we'll take none of their nonsense and really go at them from the flanks. Man U are a lot weaker defending than they are going forward, Newcastle are the same. That's why our two games produced 16 goals last year and why it's always a thriller.

That said, if somebody offered me a draw now I'd take it. I think the start of our season will be damage limitation, we've had some difficult draws with Partizan, Leeds, Man U etc. If we can get through this difficult phase fairly unscathed we have a run of easier games in October where we can hopefully pick up the points and gain some confidence.

The referee for the Man Utd game on Saturday is...

URIAH RENNIE!

SHIT!! We might as well not play Shearer at all, I bet this fucking prick is itching to send him off already



Remember when he sent Shearer off against Villa and even the Villa players were bemused?! The guy has publicly admitted he doesn't like Alan Shearer. This is a disgrace, I think Newcastle should challenge the FA about it because this is a crucial match and we can't have someone with an obvious and unashamed bias in charge. If Shearer doesn't get sent off he'll get stretchered off, because the Man U players will know they can have a free dig at him. Plus Roy Keane has a big rivalry with Shearer and he knows he'll have Rennie on his side. I can see the tackles flying in...

Last edited by evil_bastard on Aug-19-2003 at 15:32

It gets even worse, that smoggy bastard Jeff Winter is fourth official!

Apparently we've lost all eight of our games that Uriah Rennie has been in charge of.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Aug-19-2003 at 15:55

Yeh the decision to field Uriah Rennie as the ref is bloody outrage. IMO, Rennies is a man who publically criticised Shearer and shared his dislike to the media about the Newcastle team. Newcastle officials have even approached the FA about changing the decision, but they are not having any bar of it.

As for the team, I think Bowyer did play pretty poorly, apart from the part he played in NUFC’s first goal. . But we can't forget it was 2nd game for NUFC and take into consideration that he prefers to play in the center.

I'm still a bit uncertain on having Dyer and Bowyer both in the same side. They play identical to each other and I don't think either can play on the right side of midfield.

Now we all know that Nobby's future is looking very bleek, after he controversially put country before club and has even admitted he thinks he will be sold in the near future. The Peruvian will be missing alot of games this season and I think Sir Bobby needs to dip into the transfer market and purchase a solid out-right winger as cover.

I thought Robert played magnificently against Leeds. He made runs, had several long-range efforts and he even back tracked to help out the defence.

I'd also like to see Ameobi introduced if things are going horribly wrong. He came on against Leeds and I think both him and Jenas revitalised the confidence of the side. I think Bobby will have to seriously consider replacing Bellamy in attack with Ameobi, if he doesn't starting scoring more regurlarly.

I'm getting frustrated with Bellamy as well, I think his days are numbered if he doesn't get his act together.

I would rather put Nobby on right wing but realistically it's not going to happen. He and Bobby seem to be in a bit of a huff at the moment which is a bit childish if you ask me. I would like to see this midfield:

Robert - Speed - Bowyer - Solano

Grit in midfield, flair on the wings. Sadly Solano's days could be numbered and it'd be a great shame to see him go. I have faith in Bowyer in centre mid, but he needs a decent run there.

We need more goals coming from midfield and players like Speed and Dyer are poor at long-range efforts. After our recent performances you have to question their partnership there with Bowyer, Jenas and Viana all vying for places. Bowyer scored some long-range screamers at Leeds so we know he is capable, Robert loves to have a dig and Viana and Jenas both know where the back of the net is. Speed and Bowyer would provide more protection for our defence in my opinion and provide a better goal threat. As I see it, one of the fundamental problems with Newcastle's attack strategy at the moment is that we constantly wait for the perfect shot. We waste chance after chance, minute after minute carving up the perfect tap-in with only a couple of players willing to test the opposition keeper from 20 or 30 yards out. In the 0-0 Chelsea game we didn't have a single shot on target, even though we kept the ball in their half for long periods. At least Bowyer will have a dig every now and then and if it goes wide that's only a goal-kick. Being on the wing he looks a bit lost and isn't getting the right pportunities. The problem with Dyer is he'll run all the way up the pitch and then make a sloppy pass and we're caught on the break.

As Nobby probably won't even be considered for Saturday I think Dyer is our only option on the right wing. He can't curve nice balls in from Shearer which Nobby can, but hopefully his pace and determination might unsettle them a little.

yay, uriah rennnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee

Looks like we're gonna get shafted by the TV stations again. Setanta are covering the Rangers and Celtic games and the BBC will probably choose Chelsea (again).

Hopefully someone will televise our game, but it doesn't look good so far. I might buy tickets but I need all the money I can get now for Uni

We had quite a few international players featuring yesterday. DYER had a goal called offside against Croatia, although it was onside. SOLANO scored for Peru against Mexico, VIANA played a full 90 minutes for Portugal (Cristiano Ronaldo joined him in the second half), DABIZAS played the last ten minutes for Greece, JENAS played 90 minutes for the U21's, O'BRIEN played 45 minutes for Ireland and BELLAMY and SPEED played a full 90 minutes for Wales in Belgrade.

WOODGATE and AMEOBI were withdrawn from the England squad because of injury fears. Woodgate has confirmed he will be available for Saturday, it's still not certain where Ameobi stands. By the time we face Man U on Saturday Bellamy and Speed will have played 4 games in 10 days, 2 of them in Belgrade, and Solano has to come back from the US where he played a full game yesterday. You have to worry about our squad's fitness going into Saturday's match, and Partizan next Wednesday.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Aug-21-2003 at 15:42

Very bad news, Woodgate and Bellamy will both miss the Man U match because of injury, meanwhile Ameobi, Solano and Speed will all be fighting back to fitness

Whatever happens tommorow, I just can't see us not conceding. Woodgate may have played in the 6-2 match but we had Speed out then, and Robert came off after 15 minutes, leaving us with a very lightweight midfield of Viana and Solano on the wings and Dyer and Jenas in the middle. They ran all over us in midfield and Scholes picked up plenty of through balls. We should be aiming to do the opposite this time, rather than Dyer and Jenas in midfield we should put Speed and Bowyer, both determined players who never shy out of tackles and would give Keane something to think about. Sadly there is talk of leaving Bernard out and putting Speed at left-back. I don't doubt Speed's ability at left-back, but we need him in midfield. Solano if fit should be on the right, if not then Dyer on the right and Ameobi up front, and if Ameobi isn't fit then Dyer playing up front (!) maybe dropping just behind Shearer (the way Man U use Scholes - not ideal but what other option would we have?! Lua Lua maybe?).

Still, if I had a choice of losing to Man U and beating Partizan or vice versa I'd choose the victory over Partizan every time. I just hope our boys are fit for next Wednesday! As for tommorow, it doesn't bare thinking about our defence without Woodgate (and possibly Bernard)...

Last edited by evil_bastard on Aug-22-2003 at 18:12

I'm actually looking forward to the Partizan game, since i wanna see how Sir Bobby gets his men to respond after the Man Utd loss.

Im also actually eager to see whether our formation will change or not. After the Man utd game supporters believe that our team should employ a diamond formation. Maybe buy someone like Gio Van Bronckhorts as left wing back. He is cheap and reeks with class.

-----------------Given

------Woodgate--Dabizas--Caldwell

Hughues--------------------------Bernard

----------------Speed-----------------

-----------Bowyer---Viana-----------
Robert
---------------Shearer-----------

*Robert to roam behind Shearer, just like Kewell did at Leeds behind Viduka

But we definitely need new additions to the squad. I think Viana could also be as exciting as Ronaldo, we just need to give him more of a starting role, instead of always bringing him off the bench with 10mins to go! <- Which is just pointless