What now? Today's match didn't sound like it was a case of players not putting in the effort. For once, it seemed as though the ref was actually giving calls in our favor. What went wrong today? Just bad luck? How do we improve next week? And the week after,etc?

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

Answers

Sorry - nee idea at all :-(

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

I think all of us on here have chewed over this issue many times.

OK so injuries have played a part this season, but the bottom line is that too many of our squad is mediocre, and our reliance on the old guard is an indicitive of poor quality dealings in the transfer market.

Bobbys signings have been inconclusive. Some may argue poor. Cort, in fairness has scored goals when fit. Bassedas has not adjusted. Cordone a flash in the pan,Gavilan appears no nearer the first team and LuaX2 seemingly not ready.Cant comment on Quinn

All in all having had two relitavely poor seasons, we are relying on the same nucleus of experience that got us to two cup finals but finished mid table after relegation fears.

added to the previous two managers dealings in tne transfer market, then you can see why we are no further forward.

Added to this - look at all the defensive departures - Goma,Pistone,Dumas,Helder,Howey,Pearce,Charvet and the ever injured/sick Marcelino. Two bloody defences in that lot. No stability or continuity. No clean sheets.

As mentioned on another thread, the most worrying thing seems to be a lack of direction and forward thinking. This season has seen us stumble and lurch from one crisis to another and it was no suprise when Boro went two up. Poor team. Cant score. Cant win away - yet managed to beat us.

Sorry it beats me. But I'm not paid to be the manager or chairman. One thing for certain - between them they must sit down, sort out a plan - short and long term - and encourage people its worth investing in a season ticket. Otherwise we is up the creek.

Easier said than done, but with 52000 fans and a stadium like we have for gods sake it cannot be that hard to create a team to compete with charlton,Leicester,Southampton,Ipswich.

Big club my arse

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

ps Michael Carrick

Training Ground

Youth Academy

Expert on hand medical team

Later three easy. The first about ten million quid.

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

Verdict? Boro were sh*te: we almost made them look good.

Ideas? I don't even know where to start!

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

Not a happy man then Mr Clark?

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

It's a painful defeat.

The effort was definitely there, but the thing that hurt the most was that the Smoggies played absolutely awful. They didn't create a single real chance except for a tight angled shot at the end of the game. Both of their goals have come from free kicks and we missed so many decent chances, misplaced passes under no pressure at all.

Solano has to be dropped next match. Although he is undoubtedly a great player, he is seriously lacking in confidence. Whether that is down to the passport probe thing or not I don't know, but something is getting to him. Time and time again we had good placed free kicks and he wasted them. And how the hell he missed that penalty I'll never know (although I did have the same feeling as when Shearer stepped up against the Mackems).

It also seems that we have a serious problem with motivation. Our play was patient and too calm and it took a two goal Middlesbrough lead to put any urgency into our play.

The thing is, it is maybe a bit unfair to be too hard on them. The two Boksic goals were from set pieces, not well worked chances at all. We had more of the ball in midfield, but they looked like they wanted to win the match more than us.

One thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was the lack of movement from our players. Man Utd build their game plan on off the ball movement, but we stayed still for most of the game. In the second half, I thought Wayne Quinn got forward well and his crossing was pretty good, but all too often there was on-one willing to go forward for it.

Cort was pretty good too and took his goal well, but didn't look 100%, although it was good to see that we had someone who could put the ball away. Definitely the best striker we have at the moment.

Ameobi simply didn't look up to the job. He got cheered and applauded early on for running the ball out of play and conceding a goal kick, but in all honesty, he played badly. When he first broke into the team, he'd be winning nearly every high ball that was aimed for him, but today, like the last few matches, he rarely won anything. His passing was rarely accurate and his shots were weak.

Rob Lee's distribution was pretty good and he played some pin point passes across the field, but he wasn't dictating play during the game, only on breaks. Acuna found a lot more space in the second half and made some decent forward runs, but all to often Gary Speed stayed back making the runs pointless.

Speed simply shouldn't have played. He didn't look fit for a start, which is good enough reason for me not to play him. The defence wasn't really awful, but it was inexperienced against Boksic, who was basically the difference in the match. If Boksic was out injured or didn't play today, we would never have lost, and would have probably kept a clean sheet. Middlesbrough did nothing from an attacking point of view if you take Boksic out of the equation.

I know you all listened to the webcasts, was the goal ruled offside in the first half for us actually offside?

The main thing for me is that we pick up enough points to avoid the drop. Don't bother buying anyone as it's a waste of time. We want to wait until the summer, when we've got £30m to spend apparently, then BR can have his pick at some decent players.

There are also some hard-to-please fans about. One bloke behind me came in at the start of the game saying he had been going for 30 years and he would never stop supporting NUFC. At the end, he wouldn't shut up about how he was going to rip up his season ticket and how he wasn't coming back to SJP ever again. He criticised all of our foreign players and then laid into the English players saying they didn't have the skill of the foreigners. What the hell does he want? How the hell are you supposed to please a fan who doesn't like foreigners or English players?

I think we've basically just got to hold on until the end of the season, when we can build on our current squad. I am starting to have doubts over whether Shearer, Lee, Speed, Barton etc are long term NUFC players though, as they don't seem to be able to play regularly without getting injured.

The one good thing about the match was Carl Cort playing 90 minutes which was good to see. His record for us is 3 goals in 6 games which isn't too bad really and I think he could make the difference in the next few games when we are realyl going to need goals.

The next game, at Bradford, is very important. If we can win it, we're save from relegation and have nowt to worry about, but a loss leaves me wondering where we will get our next win from. Arsenal, Ispwich, West Ham, Sunderland, Leicester, Liverpool, Southampton, Aston Villa. 6 of those are in the top 8 and West Ham and Villa aren't exactly bad sides on their day. It really could be a struggle until the end of the season unless we sort out the problems we have at the moment, whatever they are. To think we were talking about Europe but a few weeks ago. Pffff.

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

We have merdeocrity (yes I spelt it like that deliberatley) right through the club, from the chairman down to the coaches and the squad with one or two exceptions. With a midfield of Acuna, Lee and Speed we were never gong to create anything, and Solano hasn't been any good for over 2 months. I know we've had to chop and change the defence constantly for 2 years but really, not to keep a clean sheet since Spetember is just appaling. No matter how good we think Aaron Hughes is, he's still part of just about the worst defence in the Premiership.

Which brings me to Bobby. I know we all love him but....do the players have any sort of game plan when they run out on that pitch, because if they have would someone please tell me what it is. Little inaccurate dinks into the box from left or right side do not constitude creating chances. Abd while Goma's parting shots might be painful to hear, I think he's got a point. Is it that they don't work hard enough the reason our players just have to walk onto a football pitch and they get some sort of injury. I think the COlchester fans are right about Mick Wadsworth.

This summer we need a good enema. Gallagher, Cordone, Glass, Marcelino, Serrant, Hamilton we know are proabably going, but I reckon we should cash in on Solano (a luxury we can't afford) and Speed (because he's useless). We won't get rid of Barton but we should. Lee should be retired gracefully and used whenever Acuna is out. Shearer.....well he's been injured all season but I don't think he should be guarenteed a place. If we had a fit Bridges and Cort, I wouldn't play Shearer.

But you know what...we look like we'll be relegated next season unless things change from top to bottom.

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

The players don't know how to win anymore, they go out trying not to get beaten, trying not to make mistakes. Inevitably they do. If Boro had 11 men on the pitch it would have remained 2 - 0. The first half was annoying in that Boro were there for the taking and we pussy footed around, never real threatening them. For gods sake we had two 6'4" strikers, and they won nothing in the air. Not that they were given many chances to. Boro's goals were the only two chances they had. And they took them both.

I want to know WHY we can't defend set pieces? Is it the defenders fault, the goalkeepers fault, the other players fault Or the coaches fault for not teaching them how to defend from these situations?

I would keep them all behind after training for a tactics lesson every afternoon for the next fortnight. Don't let them get off easy, they have to learn how to defend.

The second half of the game started off a bit quiet and I thoght , why the hell don't we make a substitution? Bring off Quinn who had been hopeless in the first half and put on Gallacher . Play a 3 -4 - 3. Instead Quin and Barton pushed forward and the chances started to come. Newcastle though just couldn't finnish any of the moves. The midfielders were absolutely shit, all of them nee to have extra shooting practice. I would keep them back after training and after the tactics lesson to learn how to side step a challenge and take a shot at goal. Christ we work 9 - 5 , so should they. As for the strikers, I wasn't impressed with either of them up until Corts goal that was.

It was an excellent strike from a tight angle, If he can improve the rest of his game, especially winning balls in the air against lads 6" smaller than him then he'll be OK. Most disapointing player on the pitch ..... jesus, I can't decide between Solano, Speed, Hughes, Barton, Ameobi and Lee. I'll give them all a 3 /10. Caldwell had some good spells, but made a few bad passes he gets a 4. Given ... Hey he is a goalkeeper and let two in , the only two times that he needed to earn his wages he makes a cock up . Scwatzer (however it's spealt) came and caught every ball that Solono played into the area, Given stayed on his line and leyt in two goals I'll give him a 3 as well. Get Harper on. Who's left? Quinn gets a 2 for the first half and a 6 for the second. That leaves Cort who scored a good goal and Acuna who really ran his socks off, and atleast looked like he wanted to score when the rest of them looked for someone else to pass to.They get a 6/10.

This was the most frustrating game of the season for me, we were playing a shit team, down to 10 men who gave us most of the possesion, offered little threat to our goal looked to have a hopeless defence and we still couldn't score.

I don't know what the answer is, New players, better trainers, tougher training? or possibily all three!

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

I'll give you another candidate for 3/10 Rik - Acuna. He runs around a lot, but for my money did SFA today. He contributed little in midfield, and spent the entire 2nd half - presumably under orders from BR - under the 2 big forward's feet instead of making late runs to join them to pick any flicks or knockdowns - of which I realise there weren't many.

I know I'm a little biased, but I felt Rob Lee was virtually a one man midfield today - and I'm not saying he played well by any stretch of the imagination - but the support around him at times, with Speed and Solano inefferctive, was non-existent.

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

You're probably right about Acuna,clarky he got forward but never did anything . Mind you I think Lee and Speed were in he same category fannying about in the middle, making a muddle of things. Didn't you just want one of them to make a move down the middle, Boro were backing off all the time and insted of taking them on we passed sideways all the time to players that failed to get any crosses into the two biggest strikers in the frigin league, wher's Keiron Dyer when you need him? We've got 10 midfielders on the books and not one of them is any good at the moment.

BTW, forgot to mention the penalty

We ALL knew Solano would miss. It happens everytime there is a delay before it's taken. Surely the players should mess around while the Ref does his player booking, then promptly take the ball, place it on the spot and bury it. If you have 30 seconds looking at the ball on the spot and the keeper getting biger and bigger the more you look at him, you are gonna miss.

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

I'm just pleased we weren't playing against a good team

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

Not one average performance, but it's been like that all season.

Who is our player of the season ?

Three decent performances I've seen. (I missed Leeds at home). Chelsea, Man U, Boro away on the box. Boro were hopeless then (as now), Man U and Chelsea are big games for a little club like us to raise ourselves for, we drew them both.

Bobby Robson has until October for me, less if Man City can get 12 points from their remaining 8 games. If they can get 12 we're relegated, pure and simple.

-- Anonymous, March 17, 2001

October Mac? Didn't you say Christmas earlier in the week. So Sat was that bad???

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2001

"Who is our player of the season ? "

Goma gets the nod for that one imho, even tho' he wanted away I would have kept him until the end of the season. Every time he played he looked decent and would probably made the difference v's Boro.

Riks point about the keeper wasn't lost around our section either, of the few crosses that actually made it to their box Wurlitzer plucked them out with ease.

Gary Speed should not have played, he didn't look anywhere near up to it and spurned a few chances.

Cort's goal was well struck but against 10 men for the second half I'd expect us to carve out more chances.

I am not convinced about Quinn, his side looked the most prone to crosses.

Boro were crap and we deserved something from the game, no wonder the crowd never got going.

-- Anonymous, March 18, 2001