Its confirmed

After last night's result, i have finally come to a conclusion. We are officially running out of luck, or should i say, luckless now. Although i didn't catch the game, from what i saw on gamecast on soccernet and what i gathered from the post match reports, i thought we did enough to win the game but again, no luck, no goals, no win, no 3 points. Period.

But also a piece of interesting activity took place. "Fans resorted to throwing paper planes and wearing plastic bags* on their heads in the absence of any entertainment on the pitch at St. James' Park, after a second goalless draw in four days" - from NUFC.com. Its funny why the supporters did that. Was that a show of discontent or maybe its time the management take a 'flight' out of the club. I don't know and no one will know. But what i do know is the Souness will still be at the club next season for another of hope and optimism. I wouldn't hold my breath for one minute.

After the result, i jsut can't see any way that we are going to extract 3 points from the alst 3 games. Fulham, who just defeated Everton who happens to be our next two opponents. Fulham might have a slight advantage over us but only through morale and confidence. I'll fancy us to get another clean sheet, a win, unlikely. Everton would be next. Fighting to get into the champions league. Unbelievable really. If i'm being brutally honest, i don't they will get to buy quality players. They have an average squad with a good manager, better than souness in my opinion. If they do get the 4th spot, then expectations will bloat to a certain extent that next season will be much harder for them to achieve what they achieved this season. I know i'm sounding like sour grapes but i'm not. Our team are just not doing well and won't until some personnel leave and new ones come in.

The last game will see chelsea coming as champions. Sigh. Yup, they are the champions alright but don't think they will retain it next season. It may not be a fluke but its just a matter of time before they realised that money doesn't give you silverwares forever.

Back to the game, the visitors didn't create much or hardly get the ball moving and we intended on wasting the chances that came our way. Not surprising at all. Perhaps, defensively we have tightened up. Steven taylor was back with O'brien dropped. Hard on the lad who did his best when he has played. And i think taylor had a good game. Have to. But again we were up against average opponents but then again, we always tend to concede against such average opponents. i won't be critical of the players as i'm yet to see the match. But i'm sure they did put on a good display. Yerr right....

[Ps: This report is based on post match reports and match analysis from gamecast. I apologise if i assumed too much]

Pre match: Newcastle vs Crystal Palace

Its just another game on the weekend. Guess that's what most newcastle supportes would say to themselves including myself mind you. A season that started with so much hope and optimism ends up with the team going into another transition period. The team that Sir Bobby constructed has to be re-constructed by a new manager with a managerial record which is nothing compared to Sir Bobby's. It was the same case almost 9 years ago when Kevin Keegan stepped down and Kenny Daglish took over. The team needed minor adjustments but was turned upside by daglish and for the next few seasons after that, we endured a few seasons in the doldrums. Ruud Gullit didn't do any better and when Sir Bobby came home, the messiah has returned.

This season didn't got off to a good start even during the pre-season. Lethargic displays culminated with dressing room unrest. And with Fat fred coming out and saying this would Sir Bobby's last season, we knew something was just not right. And it proved. 4 games into the season, 2 points, and Sir Bobby was sacked. In my opinion, it was a wrong move and i'm still adamant he would turn the club around and lead us to a top 5 finish again.

I hope i'm wrong about souness. He needs the money and time to get in new and better players. "His players", he said. I can tell you that if we don't get to a good start next season, the fans would get on to his back and after that, it would just be history. Anyways, focus would be on tonight's match against palace. I wouldn't say its a must win for us but it would be nice to have a good ending to a torrid season. We have nothing to play for but pride. Europe qualification through the league has disappeared as soon as Sir Bobby got the boot. But with palace relegation worries and desperately fighting for their lives, i think it would be tough game.

Injury worries for us as usual which means the youngsters will get another chance to show what they've go. After tonight's game, there will 2 aways games coming so this will be a good chance to get the 3 points(due to our pathetic away record)

I'll say put in the young lads and i'm sure they would put in effort and desire to win. Palace will play defending and we should have a go at them. Keep out for Andy johnson and Wayne Routledge. Keep them quiet, take our chances and we'll win. I'm predicting a 1 nil win for us.

Toon Player Ratings Vs Boro (h)

Shay Given: 6 Didn't have much saves to make but did well went called upon. Made some hash clearances and looked a tad uncomfortable but still a world class keeper

Peter Ramage: 8 Did well and confidence grew by the minute. Few misplaced passes in the first half but did not put a foot wrong.My Man of Match

Andy O'brien: 7 Did everything he could to stop hasselbaink.

Jean-Alain Boumsong: 7 Did well but sloppy at times with clearances.Kept the back 4 well.

Robbie Elliott: 6 Sloppy passes and distribution. Wasn't overrun like last weekend against ronaldo.

Darren Ambrose: 6 Anonymous for most parts of the game, and when he's not, he gives away possession cheaply. Disappointing night in my opinion.

Stephen Carr: 7 Did everything like a defensive midfield needs to be. He would the obvious choice for the man of the match if it weren't for ramage.

Charles N'Zogbia: 7 Looked lively throughout the game but needed someone who has the ability to feed him passes because he can run for the ball and dribble. We need a playmaker because this guy is a winger and he lives on good passes.

James Milner: 7 His best game so far?! Did ok but lack the final touch when it comes to crossing. Has the ability to take on defenders. Should have scored if it weren't for Brad jones superb save.

Alan Shearer: 6 Looked jaded but tried his best to fight on. Didn't had a sniff at goal. Played in N'zogbia in the last minute where the kid should have scored.

Kieron Dyer: 7 The best player on the field for 35 minutes until he was substituted. Ran the boro defence ragged and if he had stayed on for the rest of the game, we should have won the game.

Substitutes:

Shola Ameobi: 5 Awful. Tried his best but simply not good enough. If dyer is still available for the next few games, he wouldn't start a game. Now that dyer will be out for the season, he will need to start repaying the manager's faith in him.

The Boss Man:

Graeme Souness: 7 No choice really but to start with the same players that started last weekend with the exception of dyer. Everything looked to be in place with dyer creating havoc but when dyer went off, the team looked vague and ran out of ideas. Need more depth and quality for next season in case we have injury crisis. Just look at chelsea; they have two players in each position. Give him time and money and i'm sure we'll do well. *fingers crossed*

Stalemate

Finally, the run of five defeats ended albeit unfashionably. Finally a clean sheet to savour since march(vs liverpool 1-0). Woke up around 2.30am to watch and surprsingly i didn't had any trouble waking up although i only sleep for less than 3 hours. At least i didn't have to go to work in the morning :) Anyways, the same thing against Man U started this game. Dyer started the game although it didn't take him long to be brought off the pitch due to his persistent hamstring problem. But during the time on the pitch, he was the only players to trouble boro's defence. He was running them ragged, no doubt. And once he left the pitch, any threats were nullified although we did have some more chances to scores but not taking it.

Usually, in this type of games, where we look to be in an unimaginative mode, the supportes would get onto the players' back with booing and groaning. That was not the case this morning. Its a good thing that people realised that the team were made up of fringe players and that they did put in effort and gave it all. I, as usual, was very disapppointed with some of the players, notably ameobi. He looks off pace, off touch and ........

I was particularly please with peter ramage's performance. He didn't put a foot wrong and look comfortable especially in the 2nd half. He looked kinda nervous at the start with some misplaced passes but he got over that and never looked back. My guess is he will start at right back in the ext game unless carr moves back to his normal position if any of the central midfielders are back. It'll be a selection problem for souness.

I don't want to be critical of the team's performance and the lack of chances that he created to win the game but we have to win this weekend against Crystal Palace. They are definitely bouyed by last week's win against liverpool. I'm not sure if souness will start with the same team but i hope the players can win it for us, the supporters. Please.....

NUFC: Given, Ramage, Elliott, O'Brien, Carr, Boumsong, Dyer (Ameobi 35), Milner, N'Zogbia, Shearer, Ambrose.
Subs n/u: Harper, Kluivert, Robert, Brittain.

Booked: Ambrose (foul on Queudrue)

Smogs: Jones, Davies, Ehiogu, Southgate, Queudrue, Parlour, Doriva, Boateng, Zenden (Downing 65), Nemeth (Graham 83), Hasselbaink.
Subs n/u: Reiziger, Wheater, Knight.

Booked: Hasselbaink, Doriva.

Crowd: 52,047

Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

Alan Shearer overtook Rob Lee as our most experienced Premiership player, making his 268th Premier League appearance for Newcastle in this game.

The goalless draw didn't change our highest and lowest possible Premiership positions which remain 7th and 19th respectively.

Pre match: Newcastle vs Boro

Time to get out of the rot by winning against our favourite opponents, home and away. The smoggies have done well this season, at least better than us. Thats the truth and the truth hurts. Steve McClaren came out saying that it would be better for us to lose tonight as it will ensure a 'safe' passage into the intertoto cup next season. I only got one thing to say, he can kiss my geordie's ass.

I guess tonight's line-up will comprise the same youngsters that started in the last match against Man U. Hope they will put on another spirited display. It doesnt't matter if we don't play pretty football. Its time to get results no matter how bad we play. The only thing that matters now is the 3 points. Its time to get out of this rot we're in and the best way to do that is tonight, against the smoggies. C'mon lads.....

Rooney strikes

A wayne rooney strike ended any hopes of an unlikely away win at Old Trafford since 30 years ago. The team that started the match raised a few eyebrows with most of the youngsters given the chance to start while dyer, butt(presumably injured), faye, jenas, aaron hughes, bramble and steven taylor missing while messrs robert and kluivert were on the bench. Despite the loss, the match was in stark contrast to the one at Cardiff. We lost with pride and honour and no one could criticised the commitment of the players.

After going 1 up, i thought we were going to get something although i still think that Man U were going to get a goal back. Ambrose did well to seize a mistake by "Dodgy" Howard before going past two defenders to slot the ball home. At that point, we were coping well with the host's attacking threat. Almost at the end of the first half, there were few scares due to some poor clearance from some of the players. This has been the story of our season so far. Going 1 up and self-destructing and eventually losing. sigh....

2nd half was no better for the home team until a wonder strike by rooney gave Man U a chance to get something out of the game. Dammit. It was a good goal no doubt and i'm sure most of the Man U supporters are gloating about it. But i'm still sure that shearer's strike against everton during the 2002/2003 season was better :)
Another goal put an end to a hope which was so bright before rooney strikes.

I think most of the players did ok but they definitely played better than those at Cardiff a week ago. But nevertheless, its now 5 straight defeats. Next up is the smoggies who trounced West Brom on saturday. We have to start winning or we could be sucked into the relegation mire although we have 2 games in hand. I'm feeling edgy and nervous. This rot has got to stop and it has to stop this wednesday.

Pre-Match: Man U vs Newcastle

Oh no. Not them again. Quite frankly, after the FA Cup aftermath followed by the defeat at carrow road, luck is not on our side. Why? Because we are up against Man U, again. The game against Norwich was a game we needed to win to keep up the morale which has been rock-bottomed after 4 defeats with a win over Sporting Lisbon in the first leg sandwiched in between.
2nd April 2005 - Lost 3 nil to Villa (league)
7th April 2005 - 1 nil win over Sporting (UEFA Cup)
10th April 2005 - 1 nil defeat at Spurs (league)
17th April 2005 - Demolished 4-1 against Manu (FA Cup)
21st April 2005 - 2-1 defeat to Norwich (league)

Hmm, so i guess the omens are not good. This is hardly the best of fixture to come up after recent poor results. But no matter what, we still have to go there to put up a fight. Yer right. After the FA Cup debacle, one would expect manu to be comfortable winners tonight. They too haven't had the best of results in the league too. Lost 2 nil to Norwich before whacking us in the fa cup then a 1 nil defeat at everton. Plus, they have paul scholes and gary neville missing after their sending offs in the last match. So are we up for this game? I'm not sure if the players are but if they play like they did against Norwich, with some luck on our side then why not. We have a long injury list but at least we have some players back. Notably dyer. We have missed his pace and technicality so its definitely a plus for us. I'm not expecting much from this game though but if we can put on a good display and with effort, me may at least lose this game with pride, not like the last time we met them :(

Keep it simple and tidy at the back and try to go at them, i'm sure we will get something out of the game. My prediction: 0-0 :x

Opening Ceremony

I declare the opening of this new blog, which is dedicated to all newcastle united football club fans in singapore and perhaps from all over the world too. This blog will focus solely on newcastle united football club. Any comments, suggestion and ideas are welcome to help me improve the blog. Cheers...