Actions Speak Louder Than Words
When Shay Given finally emerged from the away dressing room at Charlton Athletic on Sunday he quickly blurted out he had nothing to say to the Press. Disappointing, because I have newspaper pages to fill, but understandable, given the fact Newcastle’s goalkeeper would have struggled to say anything remotely complimentary about his team-mates after the 2-0 defeat at The Valley.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more I admire Given’s stance. Newcastle’s vice-captain is normally one of the best, honest and most plain-speaking commentators on affairs at St James’s Park but, having already apologised to the fans for the defeat in Alkmaar a few days earlier, he simply couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to repeat more empty words about putting things right or mutter the same tired old phrases about letting the club down.
If Newcastle were supposed to be making up for their dreadful Uefa Cup exit at Charlton, they have got a lot to learn about apologies. This was a bit like trying to say sorry to your wife for having an affair at the same time as texting your girlfriend to set up another date. Rather than heal the rift, the performance in South London has only served to widen it.
The Magpies – in obvious contrast to what is happening at the Stadium of Light under Niall Quinn and Roy Keane – are stuck in a rut and there are serious doubts about whether they have the ability or the inclination to dig themselves out before the end of the season.
On paper, there are eight games left and plenty of points to play for. In reality, they are a side which look incapable of putting a run together to get them back into the reckoning for European qualification.
Glenn Roeder made changes from Alkmaar, but none of them could be called a success. Oguchi Onyewu is not better than Titus Bramble, while Craig Moore’s contract is almost finished and the Australian will be leaving in the summer, so what is the point of playing him?
Nolberto Solano had another poor game at right-back, although Damien Duff did do reasonably well defensively at left-back.
This raises a few issues. Why didn’t Duff play there in Alkmaar instead of the 19-year-old centre-back Paul Huntington which would have allowed James Milner to play on the left wing?
Why was Bramble dropped? Was he the only player to play badly in Holland? No. He was beaten to a header by a striker at a corner which he has to take responsibility for. He did that and he deserves to be criticised for it.
But does he deserve to be made the scapegoat for the one of the worst collective displays of Roeder’s reign? Did Steve Taylor or Solano do any better for the first goal?
No, but they aren’t convenient people to blame because they are two of the most popular players among supporters, so Bramble gets the bullet from a manager – whose constant referrals (but not excuses) to injuries is becoming increasingly farcical – desperate to divert attention away from himself in the blame game.
You can normally tell managers are under pressure when they start to look for tenuous positives in apparently overwhelming negatives. According to Roeder, Newcastle battered Charlton in the first half and only lost their way after Charlton scored the first goal.
Hmmm, surely to batter a team you need to have a shot on target and Newcastle didn’t manage one until second-half injury time. Newcastle did have lots of the ball, but they didn’t do much with it and that is not a dominant performance.
Yes Obafemi Martins missed a great chance but how many times this season have opposition sides missed a great chance and Newcastle have gone on to win the game? Tottenham away, Aston Villa at home, Reading at home, Palermo away, Manchester United at home . . .
Do I need to continue? That’s just football I’m afraid and the luck tends to even itself out eventually. As for Charlton, they had enough great chances to make it four or five in the end so . . .
For most supporters, the two-week international break has probably come as a relief; a chance to recharge the emotional batteries before the resumption of an increasingly meaningless Premiership campaign.
But for Roeder and his under-performing players the two weeks will be torture as they stew on their failures. Hopefully it will do them some good because the mood is in danger of turning ugly again.
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Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
well said luke, i agree with your comments entirely, when will the so called good men from nufc deliver to us the long suffering fans something to cheer about, they do not deserve our support. GR has done a worse job than GS could ever have done, we have no tactics, substitutions leave a lot to be desired & yes the easy guys always come off, ie titus, nobby, charlie & milner, never parker or emre probably our least two effective players all season, so goodbye GR & FS some football loving millionaire please help us geordies
I think it is about time that these overpaid footballers had a dose of reality and maybe offered to reduce their pay so to release some funds to buy a few players who care
The only problem I have with this piece is that it's a blog and not in the paper this morning. Or would uncle Freddy have something to say to your bosses if this was printed?
An interesting idea from Chris, although the prospect of the current clowns in the squad reducing their pay to fund the purchase of their replacements is unlikely to win much backing in the St James's Park dressing room! Shame, because you might have a point.
Sawdox, I appreciate what you're saying, but The Journal has always been critical of the club when criticism is needed and we praise when praise is due.
At the moment, they deserve to be criticised and I feel that is what we are doing. My colleague Paul Gilder has written a critical comment piece on Newcastle today in the paper although I don't know if that goes on the internet. (TUES) Glad you like the blog, as it's more of a personal rant there is more scope to get things off my chest in a different way to how they appear in traditional print. However, I wrote similar things in the paper over the weekend.
Hope you continue to read and leave your comments because that's the aim of the blog. Tell your friends, because it's the views of the fans that really matter.
Yeah, I accept that Luke. It's just that it seems the vicious circle has been around (pardon the pun) for some time now - since SBR left - and a lot of supporters are frustrated that there seems to be little support for them in the media.
well said :)
what people need to ask themselves, is when did titus last have a bad game (apart from AZ), when did taylor last have a good game?
who is the defender mincing about in a pair of white boots and laughing (twice) at his own stupidity against AZ?
i doubt glenda will be in charge next season, but a lot will depend how deep the blood letting before then
Some journalists talk in nothing but clichés (Roger Thames and friends), I have nothing against clichés as such, and indeed some of my best friends are clichés, but the one I despise the most is ‘luck tends to even itself out’ especially in conjunction with refereeing decisions. I see the Salford club conceded a penalty at Old Trafford this weekend, didn’t someone somewhere bring out a report, I think it was called the Cambridge report or something which showed refereeing bias in favour of the bunch from the ‘theatre of dreams’ (where did they nick that title from in the 1990s wasn’t it originally the Neu camp? don’t know!) since that report I have noted that the percentage of penalties has increased but only when it was irrelevant, when the home side were coasting, now that doesn’t happen anywhere else, some may say that is because they are a much better team than everyone else, it could be true, and probably is.
Chance does evens itself out when it has no modicum of intervention, i.e. throwing a dice or tossing a coin, when chance is objective without bias, but with refereeing decisions making small differences to the outcome of games ‘chance’ or ‘luck’ plays a reduced part in the pantomime. I think it might take a few years for that one to even itself out (about 100 in my estimation) how many bad decisions are made in games? Bring on technology and a 4th referee it need not spoil the game if it’s used cautiously under the discretion of a referee. Appoint a single referee to each premiership club to train, and disallow their participation with their own club, let the FA appoint the remainder to counter any bias but most of all recognise there is bias rather than insist that referees are impartial!
Commulus, not for the first time you have lost me a little, but I take your point about referees.
I don't think there is any doubt that big clubs tend to benefit from refereeing decisions, although Leyton Orient most certainly do not fall into this category following the 2-2 draw against Oldham at the weekend. Gary Alexander (who?) never touched their number five, honest!
Anyway, back to big clubs. Newcastle, though, are supposedly one of these and it was interesting to note that the penalty conceded against Charlton was the first given against Newcastle this season!
Apart from the obvious lack of achievement from our team I am arriving at a very serious question before we can ever put things right.
Can the existing set-up attract good players to the club? Would Shearer have agreed to come without Keegan or John Hall? I do not believe that Jonathon Woodgate joined Middlesbrough instead of the Toon because of some long ago emotional attachment to them. The astonishment expressed when Owen signed was indicative of the surprise at our apparent ambition, and not of our constantly proclaimed 'Big Club' status. This we had under the John Hall era. We were then known as the sort of club that goes for the talent that we wanted to sign and usually got them. I do not see this attitude returning under the current management. To send Milner (our best player this year) down to Villa to sign for them if a purchase of Viduka was realised, was sad not just for the failure, but sad because Viduka preferred Middlesbrough, a team that can barely fill its stadium most weeks, to us.
We all have sympathy for Roeder, he is a nice chap, but has he the stuff of a Bobby Robson or Kevin Keegan? I think not. We are also aware that Freddie Shepherd got his fingers burnt with the financial excesses of Graeme Souness, but does he have the vision and direction of a John Hall? I think not.
The answer to our problem is to attract a good replacement for Glenn Roeder and to find a Chairmen with enthusiasm, confidence and credibility. Thanks Glenn, you did your best. Thanks Freddie, you have had a long shift, but without a long drawn out period of rancour, please go. We can all feel the ominous rumble of some real trouble very near.
The bottom line is that the majority of the players at the club don't give a toss. They don't live & breathe the club as the supporters do. The club is merely their paymasters & if things don't go to plan, then so what? They can easily find another club. The attitude of some of our players must have infuriated the likes of Alan Shearer, a local lad toiling for success for himself and his home club. Lack of guts & commitment was never an accusation you could have levelled at Shearer but what about the likes of Carr, Dyer, Babayro, Bramble, Duff, etc who for most of the time look totally disinterested & therefore ineffective. If a game like Alkmaar away cannot raise these players lrom their complacent slumbers then what can? Maybe they think they are too good for the club? If so, they can ship out in the summer & take Roeder & Shepherd with them!!