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Opinion

How I laughed at my old man when he said Newcastle would end up in the play-offs…

7 years ago
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After sitting through that awful Newcastle 0 Sheffield Wednesday 1 display at home, I’m not angry but just feel let down and disappointed by the players.

My old man who has watched Toon for over 50+ years, said at the start of season that we would end up in the play-offs….. how I laughed at him!!!

However, after watching that I’m worried.

We just lacked everything, apart from a fantastic goalkeeper we offered nothing.  No one stepped up and got the game by the scruff of the neck. Have we been found out by teams now? They sit deep, frustrate us and get physical.

Lucky we haven’t got many draws on the board otherwise we would be in the sh*t! Seems to be either win or lose.

January transfers in/out are going to make or break us this season. Don’t get me wrong, I’d have taken top of league at Christmas same as any other fan at the start of the season.  But on that display tonight it’s going to be a long road to May.

Where do we start and change things? Midfield? Forwards? Or the system?

I know we are going to have games where things just don’t work and nothing goes for us but that tonight was more than that. It was flat, the same as the Blackburn game.  It’s creeping in a little too often now for my liking.

This season has been the biggest in years in terms of where we move forward. Rafa has done a great job but some players are letting him down in so many ways. We are huffing and puffing – not creating anything – humping long balls. I’m starting to think we got ahead ourselves when we won nine on the spin.

Now we are coming back down to earth all too often. It’s like sometimes there is no plan B, once teams sit deep and frustrate us. Is that the lack of creativity mentally in players, or just not good enough?

I’m always a person trying to pull positives from games but at the minute I’m struggling. If not for Darlow we would have come off that park getting beaten by four, not one.

Is Diame another Sissoko? Turns up every few games.

Perez offered nothing.

Gayle gets no service, feeding on scraps.

Just a few examples of what we lack, I could go on for hours.

What do we change against Forest? Same set-up and hope it works?

For me, Colback and Hayden just don’t work – but have we got another option?

Rafa is a proven manager who can work wonders but players he’s putting faith in are letting him down badly. I thought in January we could get away with maybe just one or two players but on that last night we could do with half a dozen.

I’m looking over our shoulders with great caution now because will my old man be right and is the play-offs the best we can hope for?

By God I hope he’s wrong. Rafa, please give this lot a kick up the arse before it’s too late.

(To read the instant NUFC fan/writer reaction go HERE)

(To view our interactive Newcastle v Sheff Wed player ratings and to add your own, go HERE)

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