Newcastle 3-0 Wolves: Verdict Thread

[Jinky]

Decided to go watch Traitors after the game rather than post a verdict. Having slept on it, I’ve a few thoughts.

Aggy looks… er, a bit agricultural. Looks like he loves a tackle and will fling himself in to blocks etc, but positionally he’s way off it and his distribution is poor. How much of this being down to him being asked to play in an unfamiliar position, only time will tell. I expected a few teething issues with bringing a new person in to the defensive line, with the language barrier, all while getting used to a new league, system & teammates etc - but a couple of those goals last night were unforgivable really. We’ve gifted them the three points.

That said, Shi needs to get out there and sign another defender ASAP because if we’re not trusting Dawson, we don’t have the quality in that area of the field to stay up at the moment.

I too, echo the calls for 3-5-2 for the next run of games. Playing the likes of Hwang & Guedes is putting us on the back foot from the off. Guedes at least you can see the effort levels are there (although he appears to have no upper body strength and just gets continually knocked off the ball) - I called it after 10 minutes last night that you could see it was going to be one of those nights for him. Hwang on the other hand, was actively hiding from the ball. His strength is he’ll occasionally score you a goal - the rest of the time he looks like a park player. Please stop playing him. There were moments last night where we just kept pumping the ball towards JSL’s head (who is being marked by Dan Burn, ffs) because Hwang and Guedes were not offering us anything. 3-5-2 means you can play JSL & Cunha up top and have the extra man in midfield. Seems obvious to me.

As for JSL, you can see he’s almost trying too hard and snatching at the chances that come his way. Just needs to relax a bit - try and find the corners rather than just smacking it straight at the keeper. Needs a goal. Sarabia also guilty of hitting it straight at the keeper rather than the corner. At least Cunha tried to find the bottom corner, even if it narrowly went wide.

It’s now imperative that Vítor tightens it up for the next run of fixtures and doesn’t remain too stubborn in his set up. He’s got to work with the tools he has, which I think we all appreciate, isn’t at the level required. Wouldn’t it be lovely if Hobbs & Shi, y’know, actually TRY to help him out a bit while the window is open?

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

After the results from Leicester, Utd, Spurs, I just expected more.

I think it's fair to feel down about last night. But I think we played quite well v Forest, earlier season JSL scores a couple and the world is a different place.

But obviously he didn't.

I think against weaker teams, and also playing at home AND with Cunha we will be stronger and better.

Particularly if Sa can play like he did last night too.

 

[sycophantia]

I think it's fair to feel down about last night. But I think we played quite well v Forest, earlier season JSL scores a couple and the world is a different place.

But obviously he didn't.

I think against weaker teams, and also playing at home AND with Cunha we will be stronger and better.

Particularly if Sa can play like he did last night too.

Hope you're right.
I was a bit down last night, not just because of the football, Im not usually so glass half empty, in fact beer was not helpful.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

I think it's fair to feel down about last night. But I think we played quite well v Forest, earlier season JSL scores a couple and the world is a different place.

But obviously he didn't.

I think against weaker teams, and also playing at home AND with Cunha we will be stronger and better.

Particularly if Sa can play like he did last night too.

I admire your optimism but until teams have to work much harder to score we’re going to struggle. The upcoming run of games is savage and in a month’s time we could easily be 6 points adrift of safety and to have any chance of bridging such a gap we need improvements and I don’t see that from the current squad of players. I hope I’m wrong but we’ve all seen enough of them to know too many have serious weaknesses in their game. Doherty, Bueno and Toti aren’t going to suddenly cut out unforced mistakes from their game, Guedes and Hwang aren’t going to go on a scoring run. We’re an injury to Cunha, Gomes or Cunha from being closer to Leicester than Ipswich.

 

[Langers]

I was miserable watching last night because of the dreadful defending - it didn't seem like we'd learned anything from O'Neil's tenure, and this was with a new signing in the back line. Yes, we're light on numbers and as I said in this thread right after the game, I don't want to write off Agbadou after a single game, but we are still making errors that will cost us points. The 2nd goal in particular was horrendous - a Premier League team should not be conceding like that. Bueno just isn't very good and we know about Doherty's weaknesses. We BADLY need a proper organiser at the back who can play alongside Agbadou and help him adapt to the league.

Will we sign another defender? My hopes aren't high, and if we do, I'm sure it will be a cheap option and not a player who will be able to slot into the backline immediately and make the difference we need right away. What I'd give for a Coady or a Boly type character.

This defence - if it isn't sorted this month - is going to get us relegated because it's way short of what's required.

The forwards haven't done too badly this season and I can forgive them an off day. At least we're actually creating things and having Cunha on the pitch for 90 minutes rather than 45 is only going to help us so I'm not overly concerned about them just yet.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I admire your optimism...

I don't think it's optimism, I think it's logic. Forest and Newcastle are both in club record breaking form.

We have only had Cunha for 45 mins of the last 2 games, and our usually pretty clinical striker hasn't taken his chances.

I tell you what is not optimistic is thinking about how an injury to one of our key players would fuck us.

Of course it would, and so would an injury to Vardy, Pickford or Delap for our rivals, or Salah getting injured, or Palmer for Chelsea.

It's just not worth thinking about or even talking about it.

It's like saying "wouldn't it be awful if the Russians dropped a nuke on the UK."

 

[Derby Wolf]

Lemina gone private on socials. Probably wise after refusing to play.

Good luck in the desert Matheus Mario.

 

[Del Woppio]

Fucking prick. After everything we did for him and his brother last year, it's fucking outrageous.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Interesting that VP has gone public isn't it?

Obviously VP has a lot more good will that GON, but if GON had called ML out publicly we (including me) would probably be focusing more on GON than ML.

 

[Lupo]

Its one thing going in hard on a player who has made a couple of mistakes in a game, another entirely on a highly paid player who has downed tools, refused to play and treated the club with absolute contempt as Lemina has done. As Del said, this club and the fans were so good to him a year or so ago when he lost his dad.

Been looking on the Newcastle forum and they seem far more complimentary and optimistic about our chances than we do!

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I wish him well even if it is away from Wolves.

Why?

It's not even as if he has a huge club like City trying to buy him like Nunes did, and he was a cunt with how he behaved.

Lemina was our captain, we brought his brother in, supported him when his dad passed.
The fans loved him and liked him as a man, we are in need as a club, and what does he do? Refuses to play.

He could knuckle down and still get a move, he could stick with us until the summer and still get a move.

But no, he chooses this.

Fuck him, what an absolute wanker.

This is worse than Nunes.

 

[jd1981]

To many holes and not enough time to fill them in this side.
Some GON habits are lingering around still ie not picking up on set pieces and really poor ability to read a game. The latter is quality that I think most our defenders don’t have.
We’ve got a makeshift defence with players out of position, who either should be back up or are new to the scene.
It’s not a surprise we’re as poor as we’re defensively once we hit a good side.
As an attacking outfit if you’re starting front 3 includes Guedes and Hwang you’re in deep trouble.
None of them have the ability to even hold up play, run the balls into Channels and provide an outlet or relieve pressure.
We end up with a heavily exposed midfield which was over run at times last night.

 

[Jinky]

Interesting that VP has gone public isn't it?

Obviously VP has a lot more good will that GON, but if GON had called ML out publicly we (including me) would probably be focusing more on GON than ML.

Think it was widely reported before Vitor joined that he has no issue with calling people out in public - and that he has form for falling out with players, staff, fans because of it. It's how he is & at least he's consistent.

If Gaz had done it, it would have been to try and protect himself and it would have been done with that smarmy, gormless look on his face. Had it come to light that Lemina refused to play under Gaz, I don't think we'd have focused on Gaz, though - so on that bit I disagree. It's diabolical from Mario. I'm sure he has his reasons. We know he's highly emotive and I'm sure he's embarrassed by having the captaincy taken off him - he probably feels the world is against him. But there's a right and wrong way to go about things, particularly when you're earning millions in the process. But hey, we're all humans. He isn't the first and won't be the last to react this way. The best thing we can do now is to get him off the books ASAP and sign a replacement. I hope he doesn't ever play in England (against us) again because it would be a shame to see the abuse he'd be on the end of.

 

[sycophantia]

Yep just get rid asap, get what we can.

 

[jd1981]

Having Lemina behave like this almost certainly creates a toxic atmosphere in the dressing room.
You do wonder how long this has been rumbling on for. Looking at performances I’d say pretty much all season.
Anyone who’s worked in a team environment and has had a disruptive colleague will know that bad attitudes can be contagious especially if it’s a senior pro doing it.

 

[The Bear]

We don't know what's going on with Lemina or what his mental state is. So it's a little premature to be going in two footed on him.

If he really wants to move away then just sell him and move on asap.

 

[Kenny]

Vitor has said he asked to leave a month ago.
So, post West Ham game issues caused that.

Seems like an ideal time to blame Jeff and/or Hobbs as the coaching team has changed and his decision hasn't.

Been plenty of images of him being in the group and mixing OK and was in the team last week so i dont think its been toxic. The not well enough play seems to me as if we have rejected a bid from a club he wanted to join or his team are anticipating a bid and want to make his exit a quick one. What happens now though will be tough, Vitor dropped a few bombs last night and that could lead to issues going forward.
He will certainly be kept away from the 1st team now.

 

[jd1981]

We don't know what's going on with Lemina or what his mental state is. So it's a little premature to be going in two footed on him.

If he really wants to move away then just sell him and move on asap.

Regardless it’s an horrific look from the outside looking in, if he’s struggling mentally then VP saying what he did in public is at best irresponsible.
If it’s down to Lemina not wanting to play etc it’s a terrible look for him.
Again it’s more drama and chaos at the club for all the wrong reasons.

 

[Quirkafleeg]

We don't know what's going on with Lemina or what his mental state is. So it's a little premature to be going in two footed on him.

If he really wants to move away then just sell him and move on asap.

This is social media and shit in this era. People are fucking wankers.

 

[Kenny]

This is social media and shit in this era. People are fucking wankers.

How is Danny Batth these days?...