Newcastle United

Sunderland, Newcastle, Norwich, Aston Villa. Whose manager is best suited to task?

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As we all know, the Tyne-Wear derby is more than just a question of whether SAFC can make it seven wins in a row. Premier League survival could depend on the outcome.

Steve McClaren has gone. The unprofessionalism he showed in handling the media in the death throes of his Newcastle United managerial career may have been caused by the stress of knowing the axe was poised above his head, so maybe he deserves our sympathy.

And the smart money – only money – is on Rafa Benitez, another manager with a history of strops with the press, to replace him. He may find St James’ Park “less sexy than Real” according to a Belgian site I came across, but we can hardly say he’s a useless manager.

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Norwich, Newcastle, Sunderland, even Villa: Sixer assesses the battle for fourth bottom

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Jake: 'no more false moves please ...'
Jake: ‘one I made earlier’ …’

Not forgetting ….

The other version

The Norwich-based Eastern Daily Press is inevitably getting as worked up about City’s prospects of survival as we are about our own. Black Cats vs Canaries vs Magpies. Which creature will prevail? So the EDP came knocking at the door and asked Pete Sixsmith how he thought the relegation battle would finish. The questions and answers presuppose that Villa are relegation certs so let’s hope they haven’t a Leicester-style revival up their sleeves …

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How Newcastle won the cup, fuelling an Arsenal grievance lasting 84 years

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Harper
Man in the middle: W T ‘Percy’ Harper


Rightly, wrongly or clumsily, Salut! Sunderland allowed a splendid piece of whimsy from Pete Sixsmith, which also offered serious discussion of the steady progress of Stoke City as a well-run Premier League club, to degenerate into another ugly spat over Ryan Shawcross’s 2011 challenge on Aaron Ramsey.

But, as a new study reminds us, the history of Arsenal grievance and victimhood goes back a long way …

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That 6-0 waltz past Newcastle: it was’t SAFC’s first team either

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Ye olde days
Ye olde days

As soon as we heard the result of the “behind closed doors” friendly with Newcastle United – why do I always type it initially as Untied? – Mags were all over social media saying we’d only beaten their reserves.

OK, Keegan and SuperMac were absent. There was little sign of Shearer, Ferdinand, Beardsley, Rob Lee or even Solano, let alone Milburn and other proper Tyneside heroes of long ago.

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Villa, Sunderland, Newcastle? Norwich, Swansea or Bournemouth? Not Watford, and ha’way Leicester

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John McCormick:
John McCormick: let’s drink to next season

John McCormick writes: there’s no Premier League football this weekend, so it’s another chance to take stock and update my “relegation watch” series. If you’re new to the series and want to see how it began, or if you want to refresh your memory, you can try this link)

By now regulars should be familiar with the first graph. It dates from the close of the summer transfer window and shows our readers’ choices for the relegation spots.  I’m putting it in once more so you can remind yourself how closely it resembles reality or, alternatively, so you can work out just what the clubs have to do to prove our readers right by the end of the season. If that’s too difficult you can jump to the end, where I’ve made it simple for you.

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SAFC 6-0 Newcastle. Seven in a row, after a fashion

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From the excellent Chris Young of the Sunderland Echo comes the heartening news that Duncan Watmore scored three times as Sunderland walloped Newcastle 6-0 in the secret friendly.

Seven-in-a-row? Of course not. Of no importance? Debatable but yes, if you support NUFC – though even some of their fans are joking about Steve McClaren telling the TV afterwards he was proud of his lads’ “fantastic” performance and was just disappointed at the result.

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Aston Villa, SAFC and Bournemouth bottom, Norwich and Newcastle nearby, Watford wobbling, Leicester laughing

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John McCormick:
John McCormick: drowning his sorrows

John McCormick writes: It’s another international break, so another chance to take stock and update my “relegation watch” series. For some of the clubs at or near the bottom, it’s getting scary.

(If you’re new to the series and want to see how it began, or if you want to refresh your memory , you can try this link)

By now regular readers should be familiar with the first graph. It dates from the close of the transfer window and shows our readers’ choices for the relegation spots.  I’m putting it in (again) so you can see how closely it resembles reality or, alternatively, so you can work out just what the clubs have to do to prove our readers right by the end of the season.

 

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Sixer’s Sevens: SAFC 0 Southampton 1. Simply not good enough

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Jake: catch Sixer's instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season
Jake: catch Sixer’s instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season


Monsieur Salut writes: For starters, Newcastle’s win was probably good for us as Bournemouth are more likely than the Mags to drop heavily into the bottom three. But with performances as limp as the one that deservedly failed to avoid defeat against Southampton, it may not matter in the end. Pete Sixsmith was deeply unimpressed by our play and by the reckless stupidity of Yann M’Vila’s challenge that gave the Saints their penalty winner. It was a pretty depressing show and Sam Allardyce will have to accept that playing ugly is all very well for a team in trouble if you are still able to get something from the game. As Gary Bennett said in the BBC radio commentary we are just not good enough to sit back and defend, hoping to snatch a result ..

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