Eddie must take the blame for that one

What have we been doing all week to turn up and play like that. It was like we had never played as a team before. Newcastle were up for it and we weren't.

Benitez had done his homework with a strategy of three up to press us.Most of the time we ended up overcomplicating our play and we ended up giving the ball away with the result that Wilson was starved of the ball.

Whilst we huffed and puffed with corners their keeper hardly had a shot to save and we flattered to deceive.

We are not as good as we think we are. All our outfield players were off the boil today. Only Begovic can come out of this game with any credit. I agree with you Druss about Ibe. He's a liability and I would rather have Marc Pugh than Ibe.

Rondon was MOM today. We stuggled to defend against him.

Adam Smith's injury was a strange one. Looked to take a free kick and held his leg back as a Newcastle player was standing close to the ball then went down in a heap. Had he injured himself in a poor challenge by a Newcastle player a few minutes earlier and never realised it? Hope it's not too bad.
 
Nah. It's pretty reasonable with Stan,King out to think Ibe might seize his opportunity. He didn't,at all. And then ended up in some sort of terrifying wingback role (please don't let this be thought of as feasible). But then everyone was awful, except for Begovic. One thing we can blame Eddie for is not sorting out a RB backup in 2-3 years, with Franno on the wane (though he has played well this season, when he has someone who can be arsed to track back)
 
Ibe's miss near the end was appalling. Excellently put through by Gos, Ibe only had to slide it past the keeper from 8 yards. Instead he felt the need to try and hit row Z.

At this level he is just not good enough. A half season in the Championship might do him good.
 
We always looked strong with Fraser and Brooks on the wing and King with Callum.. surely putting Mousset in for King was therefore the best way?

We have a strong first team with mediocre back up. That’s not unusual for a small team really...who wants to be a long term reserve for a team outside the big six?

Eddie has stopped trusting Mousset which means he has gone backwards from last year. (This may well be Moussets fault so don’t take it I am blaming Eddie). He doesn’t even start cup games.

Ibe has also gone backwards. I don’t understand why he plays when he was so abject in the cup games. No point in giving cup success up to see the reserves if you don’t follow through by picking the ones that shine.

Defoe is incapable of playing for us and Eddie doesn’t trust him either. Did he touch the ball today.

This means when King and Stan aren’t available our ability to keep the ball and stretch teams with pace is gone.

Ibe needs to go out on loan and if we can’t get Mousset firing we need another striker in Jan.
 
Agree we look light weight up front when King is missing...has to be a question mark over Moussets attitude otherwise he'd get a chance......a lack of a creative midfielder is also a worry although they are hard to come by tbf.....saying that how is it possible that Gosling can come on and be our most creative player?
 
We always looked strong with Fraser and Brooks on the wing and King with Callum.. surely putting Mousset in for King was therefore the best way?

We have a strong first team with mediocre back up. That’s not unusual for a small team really...who wants to be a long term reserve for a team outside the big six?

Eddie has stopped trusting Mousset which means he has gone backwards from last year. (This may well be Moussets fault so don’t take it I am blaming Eddie). He doesn’t even start cup games.

Ibe has also gone backwards. I don’t understand why he plays when he was so abject in the cup games. No point in giving cup success up to see the reserves if you don’t follow through by picking the ones that shine.

Defoe is incapable of playing for us and Eddie doesn’t trust him either. Did he touch the ball today.

This means when King and Stan aren’t available our ability to keep the ball and stretch teams with pace is gone.

Ibe needs to go out on loan and if we can’t get Mousset firing we need another striker in Jan.

Totally agree,when I saw Ibe in the side with Stan and King still injured I knew it would be tough.
My god Franno was awful today,he's my favourite player from our rise up the leagues but he gave the ball away constantly today putting us on the back foot.
Not sure what's happened with Mousset as he seemed to improve and scored a couple of good goals last season but now can't get a sniff.
Defoe looked sharp last season when he played after scoring a few fir Sunderland but now he's not playing he's way off the pace and just doesn't make any impact,even struggles now in the cup games,sad really his career is pretty much over.
If Smith is out long term ,and Stan can never stay fit coupled with the above problems I've from thinking we don't need anyone in January to thinking we need three new players.
 
Starting with Ibe means we are a player down from the start in terms of the way we play. The game passes him by. This has a knock on effect on the game. It means that everyone else has to work harder and cover more.

I'd still prefer 3 in centre midfield. Gosling, Lerma and Cook today. The latter isn't up to holding the midfield together yet. He makes too many mistakes. Give him the support and space to create, which he can do. He has good vision and appreciation of what is going on around him. He offers a lot and sees the pattern of play.

The key is 11 players working for each other. Pressing. Tracking back. Mistakes are fine but you have to look at overall contribution. Look at dead ball situations, Ibe doesn't know where to go and is often standing in space marking no one. He frequently loses sight and track of the player he is supposed to be marking. That is his game. Its how he plays.

I wish he had done well and come good like so many others. Sadly I think he is in the same category as Rantie and Afobe. OK in some ways but not good enough for this team. He has had two chances recently against Norwich and Newcastle and has taken neither.

And, yes, I'd have Pugh in the side instead of him if it came down to a straight choice. Pugh will cover and work for the team. He tracks back and marks. When things are going badly that is what we need.

I thought we played much better second half in some ways, but Newcastle were happy (ish) to let us play and hold on to what they had. We couldn't break them down. We missed Lerma and King. We are not as good without them.

We are now a team that no one talks about in terms of relegation. That is huge progress. But I am sure that Eddie will not be complacent. Two seasons ago Stoke and WBA were safe, mid table teams.

Let's not get above ourselves. A top 10 finish would be terrific. Top 8 brilliant and top 6 unbelievable. I have already seen more good performances this season so far than the whole of last season.

We have 20 points and knew that November and December were going to be a test. For what its worth I think losing really impacts on these players. Let's hope Arsenal are on the receiving end next game.

Relax everybody. Its just a game.
;)
 
But Ibe wasn’t the only poor player out there today....so unfair to criticise Howe...if Ibe had put that clear cut chance away things would have been different...but then we fluffed our lines in their box a few times
Ibe brings zero value. At best it’s 11 on 10 out there with Ibe. I’ll go so far as Saying Ibe creates so many turnovers misses shots and passes that he should could as a plus 1 for the other side. So it’s actually 12 on 10 out there and it showed.

His only strength is standing on the ball threatening to do something. Can’t shoot. Can’t pass can’t defend. Can’t beat a defender with dribble or speed. What can he do?
 
Eddie’s meddling has got us into 6th place in the PL.

Also he has kept us in this league for four seasons so far.
So you think playing Ibe at right wing back was the right thing to do when Smith went off ? Come on, it was a stupid idea that would never work. His whole set up was wrong from kick off.
 
Defoe is a star from another galaxy....he won't look for the ball will he ?,....he HAS to have it delivered with a cream tea!
Tbf to him though, just coming on in the last 15 mins in some games over two years isn't much of an incentive. Not a successful signing even if he does help with the younger players training . He won't play Mousset ! So hasnt he been 'helped' by Jermaine to develop?
We need young hungry, top quality Championship players. If Callum and Wee Man can make it big from Div 1 so can some of them! More signings like Brooks in January?
 
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Have we ever won a game when Ibe started. Smith was playing left back in a back four. Daniels was a straight replacement. From memory Ibe started on the left in midfield and switched with Fraser certainly for the second half and last part of the first.
 
Newcastle did their homework and outperformed us by a mile. Wasn't expecting a win but they kept Wilson at bay and deserved their victory. Poor performance from us today. Wouldn't blame it entirely on Eddie though. Who else could he have picked other than Ibe?

No shortage of options 343, 442, 352 if Brooks plays wide
I quite like 3-4-3

So,
Brooks, Wilson, Fraser
Gosling, Lerma Cook
Daniels, Cook, Ake, Franno, Smith​

Back on topic though, regardless of the reasons EH ALWAYS takes responsibility for the result.
 

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