[Cpt Negative]

We are capable of being rubbish, no doubt. But if you can't see the overall difference between last season and this I cant help you.

Think back to August. We were a mess. We've had some fantastic displays this year.

Tonight was a shambles.

What fantastic displays have we had? Honestly? You can discount all of the away games we’ve played in the league, none of them were amazing performances.

I can’t think of a home game where we’ve hammered someone, given our goal difference.

like I said after the Brighton game, we’ve had some decent cup runs where we’ve played one decent team. It’s been a shambles glossed over with a few cup runs

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Our away form since winning the cup:

@Liverpool 0-7
@Newcastle 0-2
@forest 2:0
@Spurs 2-2
@Brighton 0-1
@West Ham 0-1

4 points

Thank Christ we only have one more away game.

 

[NK86]

We are capable of being rubbish, no doubt. But if you can't see the overall difference between last season and this I cant help you.

Think back to August. We were a mess. We've had some fantastic displays this year.

Tonight was a shambles.

It's not just tonight though. We have had these performances for a while, ever since the league cup win. You could understand a couple of matches off the boil, but even you have to admit this is not a shocker. We have never been comfortable even when we are winning and have had to dig deep to eke out results. The results are now just catching up with how we have played for a while.

I agree the players are tired but surely a lot of this goes on the manager who has not managed the squad well when he had the chance to rest players for dead rubbers or matches against really weak opponents in Europa.

Anyway, we might get top 4 but there's a very likely chance we will miss out on top 4 and get a hammering in the FA cup final. You really think that would be a good season?

 

[V.O.]

Our away form since winning the cup:

@Liverpool 0-7
@Newcastle 0-2
@forest 2:0
@Spurs 2-2
@Brighton 0-1
@West Ham 0-1

4 points

How shit are Tottenham

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

It’s giving me deja vu of those grim, despondent final few months under Rangnick. Some of the players can’t handle it and now it seems to be infecting everyone.

It seems to be our natural default setting, so whatever magic dust ETH sprinkled to get them going he needs to find again, and fast.

I can't shake the feeling that fallout from the 2nd half vs Sevilla at OT is going to sink us this season.

 

[UDontMessWith24]

A Burnley reject loanee is a very very strange hill for ETH to die on. Because he will be dying on it if this keeps on

The players need to take a long hard look at themselves. Yet it'll only be the fans who feel hurt when we have to watch us drop out of top 4 to Liverpool. The players won't care as they'll still get their fat wages

The Thursday Sunday schedule is what has contributed to us falling apart this season. Guess we'll be repeating it next season

The Glazers need to fecking announce what's happening about ownership. We need Sheikh Jassim.

We will not be playing midweek fixtures for 5 months straight next season, or any other future season for that matter. Never happened before and should never happen again to any club.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

Did you think them all gutless all season or are you just having a tantrum?

Sorry for having standards for those that are lucky enough to play for one of the supposed top teams in the world

 

[Big Andy]

That was fecking shite tonight, a continuation from Brighton in every sense. No passion, no fight, no composure. We concede and we collectively shit our shorts, and it’s been going on for seasons now, it’s become engrained into the whole team.

 

[Realist08]

Since the Tottenham game we’ve folded.
4 points from 12 isn’t good enough.

This game has pissed me off the most though. West Ham are relegation fodder, and after Newcastle lose we match it with a gutless performance.
It’s like the players have no care as to how much top four is being threatened.

 

[SteveCoppellFan]

You cannot defend the players after that.

These players have gained a reputation for bottling it and tonight just enhances that theory.

If someone called me a bottler, that would be enough of a motivation to prove them wrong, these players dont seem to want to take up that challenge.

 

[Gordon S]

Is it all down to the players being absolutely dead on their feet? Erik lost the dressing room already?

It can’t all be down to our owners being terrible at what the hell they are doing but i am ready to see someone else get the chance.
Newcastle turned from hopeless to top team fighting for big stuff the moment Ashley walked out the door, maybe it is that simple?

 

[Mr Pigeon]

They are tired. Too many games this season with a limited squad.

We should have flunked the Europa League.

The thing is I can understand why we fall flat in the second half at the moment because of tired legs, but in the first half these players were more than happy to just keep the ball and try long range shots. Absolutely zero urgency to try and score, and once again it killed us. Like a lazy student waiting until the night before the deadline to write their dissertation.

You'd think by now they would have started to realise that if they want to win they need to kill the game off early, but nope. Once again we were fecking around way too much.

Ten Hag needs a BIG response from these players against Wolves. If we limp through that game, or even lose it, then I fancy our chances even less against Bournemouth and by then Liverpool will have bagged fourth.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

But isn't the manager's job to instill "fight" into the players? Or perhaps "fight" is just another attribute of the players themselves.

Not sure it is, a lot of players have that anyway. The manager brings it out, but it has to be there in the first place. Antony has it to an extent, Licha definitely does. The others seem to let their heads drop far too easily. I am beginning to think winning the Carabao Cup was not a good idea. It seems to have gone t*ts from there and they haven't really got it back.

 

[UDontMessWith24]

It looks like a bad squad management since we went all in for the Mickey Mouse trophy. Questions should be asked.

You won’t like the answer

 

[BorisManUtd]

It’s not an excuse. When was the last time a team midweek fixtures for 5 months straight? It’s simple biology but not simple enough for some apparently

True. Back in January/February I wanted us to lose to Barca so we don't lose too much energy on that competition. Of course I loved when we beat them with strong performance at OT but it was always going to catch at this stage of the season.

One positive I can find that we now have 6 days until game vs Wolves. Then 7 days until Bournemouth game. Then 5 before Chelsea. It's more breathing space then we've had usually so that could help. Garnacho and Varane being back won't hurt. But it's a struggle now.

 

[frostbite]

It’s giving me deja vu of those grim, despondent final few months under Rangnick. Some of the players can’t handle it and now it seems to be infecting everyone.

Antony, Casemiro, Wout, Malacia, Eriksen ... were not here last year. That's 5 out of starting 11.

 

[Drifter]

Why are we so crap on the road.

 

[UDontMessWith24]

True. Back in January/February I wanted us to lose to Barca so we don't lose too much energy on that competition. Of course I loved when we beat them with strong performance at OT but it was always going to catch at this stage of the season.

One positive I can find that we now have 6 days until game vs Wolves. Then 7 days until Bournemouth game. Then 5 before Chelsea. It's more breathing space then we've had usually so that could help. Garnacho and Varane being back won't hurt. But it's a struggle now.

Honestly it probably would have helped

 

[Houdini]

Thank Christ we only have one more away game.

It looks like we will need 9 points for the top 4. Better win the FA cup.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Is it all down to the players being absolutely dead on their feet? Erik lost the dressing room already?

It can’t all be down to our owners being terrible at what the hell they are doing but i am ready to see someone else get the chance.
Newcastle turned from hopeless to top team fighting for big stuff the moment Ashley walked out the door, maybe it is that simple?

They always says the ownership battle doesn't affect them, but if they are hearing protest chants at every game, of course they notice. Think there is a tiredness about them, which is down to injuries and lack of squad depth which is the owners and their regimes fault.

 

[Red & White]

What a time to lose your bottle. Awful, awful stuff.

 

[mattunited1978]

Garbage

 

[AndySmith1990]

Shocking performance, effort and mentality. Some of these players are at it again. Sick and tired of it season after season. The same shit happens regardless of manager (although every manager including Ten Hag was/is far from perfect)

 

[moses]

It's not just tonight though. We have had these performances for a while, ever since the league cup win. You could understand a couple of matches off the boil, but even you have to admit this is not a shocker. We have never been comfortable even when we are winning and have had to dig deep to eke out results. The results are now just catching up with how we have played for a while.

I agree the players are tired but surely a lot of this goes on the manager who has not managed the squad well when he had the chance to rest players for dead rubbers or matches against really weak opponents in Europa.

Anyway, we might get top 4 but there's a very likely chance we will miss out on top 4 and get a hammering in the FA cup final. You really think that would be a good season?

If we miss out on top four despite being in such a commanding position it will be a fecking disaster that will need proper explanation. If we make it and make as much progress next year I'd be happy.

I'm way short of calling them cowards or gutless. I've enjoyed this season more than any other since Fergie.

 

[Realist08]

Our away form since winning the cup:

@ Liverpool 0-7
@ Newcastle 0-2
@ Forest 2:0
@ Spurs 2-2
@ Brighton 0-1
@ West Ham 0-1

4 points...

Shocking really….and clearly learning or changing nothing. Just continuation of failure.
Fed up with watching it.

 

[scottser]

It's not over till the fat lady sings, etc.

 

[christinaa]

It looks like we will need 9 points for the top 4. Better win the FA cup.

You think we'll beat City with this showing tonight?!

 

[OrcaFat]

Nobody should be surprised by this. Before the game, there were a lot of silly posts in the match thread saying what a great record we had against the “bottom” teams. That sort of thing simply doesn’t matter. You only have to have watched a few of our recent games to know that defeat was a very strong possibility.

We’ve now scored one goal in three matches and three goals in the last six matches.

I don’t want to be negative but I hope this thread doesn’t get full of people saying “we just need to win our three home games and all is fine” because that sounds dumb as feck.

 

[VanHaal'sRedArmy]

Everyone's knackered at the point of the season. Problem is, we've given up mentally... to the bottom feeders in the league with CL qualification on the line.

 

[Berbaclass]

Expecting a big difference in the level of performance against Wolves. First time in ages that we've had nearly a weeks rest.

 

[moses]

Sorry for having standards for those that are lucky enough to play for one of the supposed top teams in the world

Yeah, you have higher standards than professional athletes. Good lad.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

True. Back in January/February I wanted us to lose to Barca so we don't lose too much energy on that competition. Of course I loved when we beat them with strong performance at OT but it was always going to catch at this stage of the season.

One positive I can find that we now have 6 days until game vs Wolves. Then 7 days until Bournemouth game. Then 5 before Chelsea. It's more breathing space then we've had usually so that could help. Garnacho and Varane being back won't hurt. But it's a struggle now.

You are probably right about the EL. ETH I think is desperate to do well, but we just do not have the squad to do this. City have two teams. Liverpool went out of all competitions and are now found a second wind to end the season.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

What fantastic displays have we had? Honestly? You can discount all of the away games we’ve played in the league, none of them were amazing performances.

I can’t think of a home game where we’ve hammered someone, given our goal difference.

like I said after the Brighton game, we’ve had some decent cup runs where we’ve played one decent team. It’s been a shambles glossed over with a few cup runs

Even today showed that there's been improvements, just not complete ones. They can't score even if their lives depended on it but we're actually showing some creativity in breaking down deep lying blocks. Compare that under Rangnick and Ole where we had zero ideas.

Under pressure we're also much better. But there's still things that need to be fixed. We're certainly not just standing still though.

 

[Cpt Negative]

Is it all down to the players being absolutely dead on their feet? Erik lost the dressing room already?

It can’t all be down to our owners being terrible at what the hell they are doing but i am ready to see someone else get the chance.
Newcastle turned from hopeless to top team fighting for big stuff the moment Ashley walked out the door, maybe it is that simple?

It’s gutless from the players, but we were a few points off the top in January window and got served Weghorst and Sabitzer, that’s not moving like a well run club and will leave us back in Europa league on Thursdays again

 

[Jamie Shawcross]

In 99 we had Cole, Yorke, Solksjaer and Sheringham to call upon up top. This season we have Martial, Weghorst and Rashford (when hes not on the left). No team with serious aspirations of Champions league football get a Burnley player on loan. Its on the owners this. Team hasn't been up to it for a while now but what is ETH supposed to do? Guy has his hands tied behind his back. He has worked miracles with this team. Won't have anyone calling ETH out. The only reason we have a trophy and even in with a shout of top 4 is ETH

 

[BorisManUtd]

Honestly it probably would have helped

It's also some details like penalty decision vs Sociedad and Ronaldo missing sitters that meant us playing in round of 32, drawing Barca of all teams and losing a lot of energy to beat them over 2 legs. Then a solid Betis team, then Sevilla where Varane and Martinez got injured. It's obvious we don't have enough quality and depth in squad for 4 competitions so it's unfortunately started costing us since Sevilla game.

 

[Rayman96]

Big shout from utter anonymity.

Mate, you cant just keep putting down passionate supporters who are absolutely gutted at the rubbish we have being seeing these past few weeks.
Doesn't make you a Top Red

 

[Abhinav]

Did West ham even play well? We were so listless and gave away a goal and showed no fight. It is just frustrating following this team right now.
In the middle of the season I was looking forward to games. Its back to dreading now.

 

[Cpt Negative]

Even today showed that there's been improvements, just not complete ones. They can't score even if their lives depended on it but we're actually showing some creativity in breaking down deep lying blocks. Compare that under Rangnick and Ole where we had zero ideas.

Under pressure we're also much better. But there's still things that need to be fixed. We're certainly not just standing still though.

Ole went a whole season unbeaten away from home, he lost it towards the end but the players showed a bit of fight under him.

I can remember two come back wins all season, Everton and City and the city one swung on a bullshit offside call.

Under ETH we’ve shown no mentality what so ever, this isn’t just an end of season thing, it’s an all season thing

 

[Houdini]

You think we'll beat City with this showing tonight?!

We have to. TOP 4 is crucial for te summer. Without CL we can't make a proper rebuild so the next season will be similar shite. It can cost ETH job in the long run. On the other side if we can make top4/FA the season will be saved and we can hope for a better season.