Moving on up

It was a game that Newcastle United could and should have won by a far greater margin but that doesn’t matter one bit; it was a 1-0 win and most importantly, a victory that moved us up the table and out of the relegation zone. I’ve gone on and on about must win games and more often than not we have failed to take the points but the game against WBA yesterday really was a must win. Had we failed to take all 3 points I was ready to write us off as relegation certainties. Thankfully we got the points and other games all pretty much went our way. It has been a good weekend.

It was certainly a good end to the week having watched us completely roll over for a rampant Everton side during the week. But this week sums up our season beautifully; absolutely woeful one game, absolutely brilliant a few days later without any clear reasoning as to why. Unfortunately for us we have been woeful far more times than we have been brilliant this season and we have also consistently failed to build on a win, often turning in a shocking performance right after a victory. Given our next game is away at Chelsea followed by another away game at Stoke, I suspect this trend will continue.

There has been a lot of talk about Steve McClaren resigning, or being sacked, in these parts over the last couple of weeks and this intensified after the Everton defeat ten fold - it is to be expected after all, we have been in or around the bottom three pretty much since August. I’m a little split on the issue as even if he was to walk, or get the sack, who is Mike Ashley going to replace him with? Jose Mourinho might well be out of a job but Ashley hasn’t exactly got the best record with management appointments has he? Ashley likes yes men, he likes people he knows, he likes people he can control. Personally, I think we will stick with McClaren this season given the investment during the January window and perhaps the time to evaluate the situation is at the end of the season when we know what division we will be playing in. That said, will Ashley be prepared to stick with McClaren? The next Premiership season will mean mega bucks for the 20 sides lucky enough to be a part of it so relegation would be devastating from a financial point of view for Ashley. And we all know how much he likes his money.

I’m not going to analyse the Everton and WBA matches but I do want to discuss the tactics, or lack of them, that Newcastle employ when playing away from home. As a fan it is frustrating to watch us play so bad (and not just bad, I mean criminally woeful like the team genuinely don’t try) away from home when I know how well we are capable of playing, especially at home. On our day, with this side, we can beat anyone, we really can, but how often do we see this team? At home, certainly in recent games anyway, we press sides, we battle for the ball, we pass the ball well and are actually an enjoyable side to watch. The team is new, it is young, it is developing and it’s good to see it click. Away from home is a different story and I find it hard to even summarise how we play. Against Everton we played a 4-6-0 formation with on Ayoze Perez (kind of) playing up front. We pack the midfield and try to stifle teams but Steve McClaren, I have a message for you. IT DOESN’T WORK.

In my lifetime we have always been fairly poor at defending and Newcastle’s best form of defence has always been to attack. When we sit back and attempt to soak up the pressure it fails time and time again. I know McClaren will say we play a counter attacking system away but once again Steve, IT DOESN’T WORK. We lose almost every game away from home regardless of the quality of the opposition so why does he continue to use the same defensive tactics time and time again? You know what, going forward we’re actually a good side. We have some top class midfielders and exciting forwards but they’re generally redundant in away games.

Next up is Chelsea, who like Everton, have a fairly formidable record against us. I am not expecting anything but against a side like Chelsea we simply can’t sit back and hope for the best. We have got to approach the game thinking we can win and not simply hope for a draw. I’m fearing the worst.