General opinions

1. Bobby got it wrong yesterday big time in playing three at the back

2. Bobby got it wrong AND failed to see it (post match comments)

3. Bobby appears to think in our four central midfielders he is covered in this area (re comments on speculation 'how will my midfielders think abou this bla bla bla)

Has he lost his judgement?

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

Answers

Central midfield is the major factor why we are where we are in the league, tenth! The Mackems win tonight and well, that's too horrible to think about.

I believed we could be a good team - potentially a European place team. However, the Wham shambles, the failure to get anywhere near Liverpool, and that stupidity yesterday, is forcing me into change my opinion from one of optimism to realism.
The defence including our short arsed goalie is poor but individually we have some canny young players. I’m confident we’ll see great improvement here. Bob here’s a little advice from someone with no qualifications: never ever play that way again, you’ve tried it a few times and it’s a shite tactic.
The attack with pace, width and balance has scored a good few gaols so far and at times looks really tasty. When the opposition goalie is sent off we’re fecking great. We also have two big big players out at the minute, so we’ll have healthy competition for places. Goals won’t be a problem and we should have played to our strengths yesterday for crying out loud.
At present NUFC have Lee, Speed, Bassedas, Acuna, Green & McClen in contention for two places. IMO all of them can be classed as OK on a good day to downright shite on a bad day. Time and time again we are losing out in the most vital part of the pitch – central box to box area – and if this is not addressed then we’ll have yet another nothing season. So, in conclusion two new midfield players are needed right now, if the right ones are found I’ll regain my optimism.

I didn't see Robson's post match interview was it bazaar?

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

I didn't see the post match confrence but have read some of his comments on various web sites and heard some of it on the radio.

Like evryone has said, he fails to accept responsibility for the team formation and said that we played quite well in the second half. He also blethered on about Poyet.

He needs to think about our team and not the opposition.

I hope to god we are back to 442 on Saturday.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

Look gang, we were also cr@p in the 2nd half - it's just that everything is relative!

h'nh - the only thing I would differ on is your assessment of our m/f players. In reality, the only player who is PL standard in your list is Rob Lee - and he is 35 yrs old and fading fast.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

The thing is Clarky, if it wasn't for the first half, we wouldn't have lost the game. We weren't that bad in the second half, but the fact that Spurs already had a 2-0 advantage meant they could sit back and defend, making it very difficult to break them down. If it was 0- 0 at half time I still think we would have taken the points.

This is maybe the first time that EVERYONE has agreed what the main problem was (ie the tactics) If we can all see it, the media can all see it, but our manager - the top man at the club - cannot see it, then we should be seriously worried.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

..... believe me Paul, I am getting worried.

I have a real bad feeling that the situation with Rob Lee is developing into a festering sore within the Club. This situation needs firmly resolving one way or the other, and quickly.

I don't disagree that we were better in the 2nd half yesterday - I just feel the improvement was marginal. We still created very little, and still made some real howlers that could have resulted in a couple more goals for Spurs.

By that point the damage had already been done, and the really scary aspect of this is that our Manager still appears to believe his formation and tactics were spot on. Very worrying, actually.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

Clarky, this Rob Lee thing is starting to scare me, too. We missed him badly yesterday but that's almost beside the point. What is worrying is that all of a sudden things are so sour. Veiled comments about Lee having nothing wromg with him etc. To tell the truth, I am starting to think that we should just let him go rather than let a legend turn into an anti-hero.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

Frankly, at this point I'm not concerned about his status as a Toon legend. I smell a cancer developing in the Club over this contract issue, and it requires urgent treatment.

The guy has been a genuine hero to me; however, if there is any truth in the suggestion that he ducked the game yesterday because of the Club's decision not to grant his request to move to whatever Club it is that has offered him a good deal - then I would kick his @rse out of SJP tonight.

I wish I knew the truth, but whatever it is this situation must be resolved one way or the other, and quickly.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

I agree, Clarky, because we don't know how many arguments there were in the dressing room about the whole thing.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

I wasn't there on Sunday as I was in rainy Belfast instead celebrating being married to a 40 year old woman :0) I have only seen the goals and a few other highlights.

The comments on here are no different from any made last season, and show that we haven't really progressed from there.

Last year for me their were three big problems, left wing and middle of midfield, and centre forward, also there was a general lack of pace. We had no one on the left and for me the middle of the midfield was hopeless, up front the only hope was Shola, Shearer was too static or injured or both, Cort was injured and that was it.

Moving on 12 months. Well yes the left wing has been filled, but that's it. Bellamy has replaced Gallagher but seems to have the same sort of goal scoring prowess and work rate. Bellamy and Robert have pace and that is great, but it has to be used where it can be.

The middle of the midfield has not had a decent player there since Hamman left, or since Robert Lee turned 30. Gary Speed has never been a great player for us, a good average player, you know exactly what to expect from him, and so do his opponents. Acuna and Bassedas are okay, they try, but they aren't classy enough. With them I feel more sympathy as somehow I feel they are here and are doing there best in a strange situation. I don't have this sympathy with Speed.

I don't really see Acuna, Bassedas or Speed as players who hide in games, their problem is that they just aren't good enough. (I feel the same about Warren, he never hides, he just isn't good enough).

The Robert Lee situation is very sad. He started to lose it when Lee Clark was still here. I remember the discussion being "Rob Lee is having a poor time, we might as well give Clark a go". At the time, for me this meant Clarkie was never good enough, only worth a try when Lee didn't play well. But looking back that means 4 years ago WE were starting to question Rob Lee's worth. As our own Clarkie says, this is a disgraceful fact for the club. Hamman was supposed to be the answer, and he very probably was. Gullit messed him around and we used the Hamman money to buy Dyer. A great investment/buy but NOT a replacement for Rob Lee.

While Rob Lee and/or Gary Speed are in our side we will struggle, regardless of the formation around them. It seems to be like the Adams/Ince/Batty/Shearer England squad. While they are in the team it is clear there is no one else who is good enough and it would be wrong to not pick them.

We must be able to pick up a decent player for midfield who is better than Acna/Speed/Lee, we must. If funds are tight then sell someone. As soon as Dyer is fit sell him, or better sell Solano. Use the money to give us a chance in midfield.

We are all down about the performances but it's just that we are back 12 months.

I have moaned long and hard (and boringly !!) on here about our older players not being good enough. We need to lose them all they are too much of a drain. Barton seems to be out of it, for whatever reason, Lee isn't interested anymore, Speed, who cares, and Shearer is nothing to be excited about.

The worst part of all of this is that Bobby Robson is just free wheeling through it. He bought well in the summer but that seems to be it. He has taken Distin on loan which is okay business but we seem to be colelcting centre halves. The 3-5-2 is a nonsense without the players to make it work. We have three centre halfves (and more) who may be up to it, but we don't have one proven wing back. Must never happen again.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001