Always interested to hear what Newcastle United fans are saying before and after matches.
It amuses and frustrates me in equal measures, when I see what some of the very same fans have said pre and post-match on The Mag.
The two things often not matching up, especially if things haven’t gone our way.
The Newcastle United fans I’m talking about, there is often a lot of hindsight at play.
After the match they can’t believe that these players were selected, this formation used by Eddie Howe and so on.
Yet before the game, these Newcastle United fans didn’t have this brilliant insight.
Funny that.
Quite obviously, there is a massive overreaction these days from a fair number of Newcastle United fans, especially if the result has gone against us.
There were always people like this, the bloke in the pub who would tear into the team and manager, no matter what had happened in the match. A case of, if Newcastle United lost, then they must have been rubbish.
Coming back up to date, everybody has a voice, all Newcastle United fans have a voice.
Which is good… but also not always good.
Anybody can have a social media account, anybody can put something on an online comments section, start a YouTube channel.
As Andy Warhol predicted back in the 1960s, decades before social media was a thing, the future is indeed now here and everybody can have their 15 minutes of fame, or 15 seconds, they just need to get noticed.
The best way of getting noticed appears to be by being as extreme as possible.
So when it comes to online/social media, it appears to be in the interests of anybody who wants to be noticed, to be as ridiculous and over the top as their imagination can take them.
This West Ham match reminded me very much of the Brighton game earlier this season and not just because Newcastle lost both of them and failed to score.
What I am getting at is that in both matches, Newcastle United were easily the better team for around 55-60 minutes, created more than enough very good chances, but through a mixture of great goalkeeping, determined defending, failure of NUFC to take chances, bad luck, fine margins going against them, Newcastle just couldn’t score a goal. Then in the final half an hour or so of both matches, as NUFC chased the game they became more ragged and unbalanced, the numerous substitutes not making enough impact as they faced a team that were leading and had something to protect.
That then followed on with the very similar reaction from certain Newcastle United fans, that not only had Eddie Howe’s team lost, but that both he and his players had been rubbish/clueless throughout.
This kind of ludicrous creation and misrepresentation, does nobody any favours.
Just because you lose a football match, doesn’t automatically mean that the team has been rubbish. It makes me suspect a fair few Newcastle United fans have never kicked a ball themselves and/or not really taken in what they have watched over the years.
In that 1-0 defeat to Brighton, surely your own eyes should have told you that despite going behind, Newcastle had overwhelmingly dominated the first half and the start of the second half.
Even if you don’t believe your own eyes, the Expected Goals stats were 1.94 for Newcastle and 1.68 for Brighton, United created more and better chances than the opposition, they just didn’t take them. Another stat that is very much relevant, is how many times your team’s players have touched the ball in the opposition penalty area, as a guide to which has been the most dominant and threatening team. In that game it was 45 touches for Newcastle in the Brighton penalty area, only 12 for Brighton’s players in the NUFC box. Yet these Newcastle United fans claiming NUFC were rubbish, Brighton dominated and so on. The truth was very different.
This West Ham match on Monday, almost a carbon copy. Newcastle creating more and better chances, an Expected Goals staat of 1.50 compared to West Ham’s 0.94. Whilst when it came to touches in the opposition penalty area, 40 for Newcastle and 17 for West Ham.
Fair play to West Ham for taking their chances and being the better side in the final 30 or so minutes. However, it is simply untrue to claim Newcastle were rubbish in the first 55-60 minutes played.
Back with that Brighton game.
Imagine if that match had been played out exactly the same BUT say Welbeck’s shot had went the other side of the post, whilst Isak or Gordon had taken one of the many chances that came their way, the Newcastle United fans going so over the top in slagging off Eddie Howe and his team, would have instead been saying what a great performance and win it had been over the Seagulls.
Anthony Gordon Newcastle Brighton
Taking chances is of course a big part of the game BUT usually, the team that creates far more and better chances, will win the match, Sometimes you just get these games where the better and more dominant team fails to convert that dominance into goals, whilst the opposition make the most of far fewer chances.
It was the same on Monday night.
Such small margins. West Ham taking their two decent chances in the opening 53 minutes, the second one going in off the post. Imagine if instead that had come back off the post and that Soucek’s opener had gone wide or been cleared, whilst Newcastle taking one or two of the numerous very good chances they created, especially in that first half.
If that had been the case and chances taken by Newcastle and not by West Ham but the rest of the match playing out just as it did, these Newcastle United fans would all have been saying very good win and performance.
Down at Forest I thought Newcastle were excellent and massively deserved the win, yet both the first and second goals went in off the post, whilst the third went through a defender’s legs. If these margins had gone against NUFC in just those two or three instances, the self-same Newcastle United fans would have once again been slagging off Eddie Howe and the players, instead of saying what a great away display and victory.
As Eddie Howe said after this defeat to West Ham, of course he and his staff and players will look at what they need to do better (defending set-pieces and finishing!). However, as he said at the same time, Newcastle played well overall for those first 55-60 minutes and created plenty of decent chances and had many other opportunities when they had great situations they didn’t take advantage of.
I think Eddie Howe and this Newcastle United team are getting a lot of things right and just need to keep on doing the same with those, whilst also addressing and improving other important aspects, other fine details.