Bloody Hull

Poor defending was the reason Newcastle didn't win this game, when you score two goals at home, you should be able to win the game.

One of the major components of a successful team is consistency and over the last few weeks NUFC have showed us exactly why we are currently not among st the elite. After a great away win at Villa we faced Hull City expecting them to roll over and give us an easy home victory. The Premier league does not work like that – as the old cliché goes ‘There are no easy games in the Premier league’. 

NUFC tried to just coast through this game in 3^rd gear after a very impressive start. As Pardew stated in his post game interview.

“We started really, really well but then we dropped down a gear after our goal and that caused us problems for the rest of the game. ” “Third gear is not enough in this league against any side,” 

“You look for consistency and this team is a good team but we lack a bit of consistency and that is what gets you results.”   “The Premier League is about momentum and you can fly up the table at this stage of the season. We let ourselves down.”

Newcastle’s players will need to quickly learn that in this league you cannot take your foot off the gas, because if you do you lose your momentum, and sides are not in the Premier League because they are poor sides.

For me our defensive frailties are not just down to our back 4. We win and lose as a team and therefore we need to attack and defend as a team. Our midfield need to offer that protection for our back 4. Tracking you man and sticking with the runners is key. If not our back 4 will be over ran.

Hatem Ben Arfa has been our best attacking player so far this season, however we saw the downside of his game this weekend. I saw two goals come as a result of Hatem not tracking back his man. This cannot happen – either Hatem needs to improve this side of his game or he defensive responsibility need to be passed off to another midfielder – like we saw during David Ginola’s time on Tyneside. Pardew needs to make this call and adapt his tactics accordingly.

I saw a lot of criticism of Debuchys performance on Saturday, however for me this was down to the lack of coverage he had. All three goals came from the Hull’s left wing, and the first and third goals saw Newcastle wide open on the right hand side of defense.

Newcastle looked a very good side in the first half, but some lax defensive play had us concede three goals, and Alan Pardew will need to do a lot more work on the  defense, after this rather shaky display. Though to be fair to Pardew I am not sure what he can do about individual errors – Coloccini losing his man for the second goal is something Pardew has no influence over. Colo has to accept fault on that one.

It was a of a blow yesterday and we lost a game we should have won, but there’s a long way to go in the season, and we showed some excellent attacking play. Remy was obviously the stand out player and his goes bode well for the future – unfortunately for him his 2 goals yesterday count for nothing.

This has taken the wind out of Newcastle’s sails. Pardew and his team need to get that momentum going as soon as possible - hopefully this week when we face Leeds United in a Capital one cup tie.

Ben Arfa

“When they say “go, go, go, take him on!” I feel like I can fly!”

Those were the words of Hatem Ben Arfa, describing playing for the Newcastle fans, after Saturday’s win at Aston Villa, in which he produced arguably his best performance in a black and white shirt.

Having seen Ben Arfa score a late and great winner against Fulham before the international break, Aston Villa will undoubtedly have had a plan to deal with him on Saturday. Unfortunately, there are very few teams that can stop the Frenchman when they catch him on a good day.

Like most NUFC fans will tell you Newcastle really do have some excellent players at their disposal. Keeping them all on the field in the starting eleven is the problem Pardew might face.

Credit must be given to Pardew for reverting back to the fluid 4-3-3 formation which served us so sell during the 2011-2012 season. For me this ia the eay forward for NUFC and sees us get the best out of our top players - no one more so that n Ben Arfa which is released of his shakles and give free rein to attack, attack, attack. After top performance at Villa park the groans of discontent from fans were replaced by a feeling of excitement and expectation.

For me the excitement of an away win was equaled by the delight in our overall performance. Our back four is solid with the partnership between Colo and Yanga M'biwa looking better each game. In the midfield the blend of Anita, Sissoko and Cabaye has the right amount of creativity while also being solid enough to withstand a onslaught, while an attack consisting of Ben Arfa, Loic Remy and Papiss Cisse carries a goal threat that has been missing Demba Ba left to warm the Chelsea bench.

A happy and on form Hatem Ben Arfa is a massive boost for NUFC and it gives us a match winner in our team. He seems to be settled and is enjoying playing for our club. It is clear his has struck up a connection with our fans and he certainly feels the love on Tyneside.

My fears was that even thought we out played Villa in the 1st half we only had a 1 goal lead and when you play against Christian Benteke there is always the chance he will grab a goal - he did and to be honest I feared the worse, however massive credit must go to Newcastle for not collapsing and going onto achieve a big away win due to a Yoan Gouffran.

Newcastle produced a great team performance with the obvious stand out star being Hatem Ben Arfa. Our mercurial Frenchman is in the form of his life at NUFC and if he can continue to reach these heights there is every hope he can fire NUFC to a top 7 finish.

Transfer disgrace

So in the aftermath of another transfer deadline day Newcastle fans everywhere are left think what might have been as the club failed to bring the the players desperately needed to compete in the Premier league and improve on our poor season last year. However it appears no lessons have been learned and everything points to us struggling again this season.

The main issue for me is that once again the impression has been given that we were looking to bring in new players only to be left disappointed with no real explanations or justifications from those in charge. This is a bigger issue than not actually signing the players and is the main problem with our club. Our club have no regards for us fans - they lack the most basic of public relations skills and communication with the public is laughable.

If we had been informed at the beginning of the summer that no signings would be made then maybe we could have accepted that, however we were constantly hearing how  "Signings  are imminent" and "We will add quality" and other such transfers guaranties yet this had turned out to be nothing but lies. I firmly believe Mike Ashley had no intentions to sign any players this summer. He does not care about the club and will continue to show zero ambition. Mike Ashley will continue to withdraw funds from the club - the bumper TV deal, the Wonga sponsorship money, even the James Perch transfer fee have not been re-invested into the club. No doubt this money will be used to re-pay the loans Ashley give to the club instead of improving the playing squad.

There is a major problem when we are being out spent by the likes of Southampton, Cardiff and Norwich. We are a among the top 20 richest clubs in Europe yet have a owner who will not sanction purchases. I believe our fans are reasonable and do not expect Man City or Chelsea level of investment rather we just expect to see our money re-invested into the club. A budget of around 20m per season is very reasonable for a club of our size.

Therefore the fact that no permanent signings were made is an utter disgrace and a slap in the face of the fans, yet all we will hear in the next few days will be the same old excuses. Unfortunately Pardew will be forced to appear in front of the media and read a cleverly written statement no doubt approved by Ashley. We know he will suggest he is happy with his squad even though he told us all summer we need a forward and unfortunately he will defend Kinnear and Ashley as they are his superiors. No matter what we think of his managerial skills it is obvious the lack of signings will worry him and really leave him high and dry. My only criticism of Pardew is that he happily plays the role of a puppet who is controlled by the Ayatollah of Newcastle United Mr Mike Ashley, the man who is solely responsible for this mess. 


 Our owners intentions have always been questionable yet I have been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt however this is the straw that broke the camels backs.  If Mike Ashley has no desire to progress our club then he needs to sell up and give the club to someone that respects the supporters and is willing to try and compete with other teams in the league rather than just simply exist along side them. Until the club is sold I cannot see that any progression will be made