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The Toon Army Thread

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8 wins in a row (in the league) or 9 if you include the cup. Very impressive against an up and about Leeds side who sold out their first home game in quite a few years.

5 points clear of 2nd (with a better GD so effectively 6 points). 9 clear of third and 14 points clear of Leeds in 7th (just outside the last playoff spot).

Also how is this for an omen: no side has won eight games in a row in the second tier and failed to get promoted since 1982.
 
We played some bloody solid football.
Tough,high energy passing game and very tight at the back against a side that just kept on coming.
So yeah a big winning run on the back of establishing a fantastically talented and balanced squad and expert coaching and fitness stuff.
Hard to see how Rafa would allow this opportunity to be missed.
 

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Times are good on the Tyne.

Wonder how Pardew and Sissoko are going? :D
15095536_1332157716849988_1635508276874997785_n.jpg



https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...hotspur-champions-league-group-e-match-report

A feeble performance from Tottenham, who conceded the winning goal 38 seconds after equalising through Harry Kane, ensures Spurs are out of the Champions League :$

How's that move working out for you Moussa?
 
Mate of mine (Spurs fan) is headed over to London for a while and paid $250 for Champions League tickets vs CSKA. Oops! :p Told him they have to try and cover the 30m fee somehow lol

Watched us the other night vs Leeds, we are humming along at the moment, is becoming pretty easy to watch :)
 
Don't have Sissoko clogging things up in the middle that helps:p
Both Hayden and Diame are harder working and so much more consistent.
Spurs fans must really be shaking their heads.Kudos to Rafa and the club for bluffing $30m out of them at the poker table though.
Rafa's got a hard edge to 'im.:D
 
A bad week gets worst!

2-1 loss to Forest this morning but geez was it frustrating. Lots of drama for the neutrals though.

2 Toon players sent off for soft incidents. Henri Lansbury what a mug he is, acting and diving.
2 penalties saved (Huzzah Darlow!).
Legit Toon goal chalked off as well as penalty shouts turned down.
Succumbing late to an OG.

I like Forest but far out, never been so incensed by biased refereeing. Stephen Martin worst ref I've ever seen. Reffed a conference game last time out, says it all. :mad::mad::mad:
 
In a bit of a rut right now! Need to turn it around
 
Just a bit!

Going to be tough losing Shelvey - dare I say it, won't help him contest that racial allegation either - if he is found guilty, could be a sizeable absence.

As for Dummett, time for Lazaar to seize his chance methinks.
 
Cathro has left to become the new head coach at Hearts. Shame to lose him, could have learned so much from Rafa but I guess he wanted to take the next step - maybe he'll come back to the Toon in a few years if he proves to be a great manager.
 
I think Cathro will be a loss,have always heard very complimentary things about him,but I'm sure it won't show on the park.

Losing Shelvey I'm hoping becomes a blessing in disguise.We use him as almost our sole playmaker and although his passing range and vision are very good it does make us too predictable for mine.
We will benefit from his absence if it enables others to play with a more creative focus.I'm thinking Diame and Hayden in particular.At the moment Shelvey is regularly given the ball 5-10 metres in front of the back four and everyone spreads and heads for the hills and Shelvey will attempt to play the ball in behind the opposition defence.We are often too slow in our build up or counter attack as we pass it around attempting to create some time and space for Shelvey on the ball.
It's very predictable and I'm sure all opposition managers are awake to it.We are too one dimensional and I'm hoping Shelvey's absence will force us to change the game plan to our longer term advantage.
 

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2 wins on the bounce - hopefully that's the end of that mini stumble.

2-0 over Wigan this morning with Diame and Atsu grabbing the goals - Diame apparently was very impressive in the first half.

 
Watched the game and while we were the dominant side who bossed the game and probably had 70% of possession over the 90,Wigan still made chances which they thankfully failed to take.
Quite a number of solid performances with Diame and Lascelles the pick in the first;Hayden and Clarke also good.
Very well organised team performance without being spectacular anywhere.Gouffran,Richie and Gayle worked really hard and at times we must've been stringing 30 passes together ,but at the end of the game the actual goal scoring chances would have been about even.
Wigan aren't as bad as their ladder position but we were lethargic at times.
We will go straight back up though.Too much quality.
 
I watched the Wigan game too. I thought we were pretty good in the middle of the park but our passing out of the back half was woeful, Dummett and Clark particularly bad. For years we have needed a good left back and Dummett is not that. Hope Rafa sees that and addresses either in January or before we go up to the premier league.
 
I agree about Dummett and Clarke's disposal was certainly average but I liked his positional sense and the partnership he's forging with Lascelles.
Dummett does have a nice turn of pace but there's no avoiding the fact that he's only a stop gap;bring back Olivier Bernard!!
 
scon said:
I agree about Dummett and Clarke's disposal was certainly average but I liked his positional sense and the partnership he's forging with Lascelles.
Dummett does have a nice turn of pace but there's no avoiding the fact that he's only a stop gap;bring back Olivier Bernard!!
Click to expand...

Lazaar must be really average, he hasn't had a look in at all ahead of Dummett. Even Haidara is better, he's always injured though. Both Anita and Yedlin are decent enough on the right, we need to sort out LB though.
 
I have to admit I was a bit skeptical with signing Clark but he's really showing why Rafa signed him. Making a good partnership with Lascelles and seemingly getting the jump on both Hanley and Mbemba who I'd initially had ahead of them.

Dummett is a funny one. Offensively, he doesn't offer us much but seems Rafa rates him and trusts him so I guess we have to trust his judgement. Apparently a few PL clubs want him as well so they must see something in him haha. On Lazaar, I remember reading an interview with him where Rafa was basically taking a cautious approach with him given he is new to the country and style. Plus with the back 4 collecting quite a number of clean sheets, I guess it's hard to change something that isn't broke so to speak.
 

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I was relieved to get the win over Burton on the weekend - going into the game I remember thinking it would be such a Toon game to lose and then the headlines that go with it...

Was a scrappy one listening to the radio (fell asleep in the second half for a bit) but did just enough to get the win. Funnily enough, a few people blamed Dummett for the equaliser - just lucky we were able to get ahead again and hold on.
 
5 game ban for Shelvey apparently (for the racism thing). Not sure if the club will appeal it - would be curious to know how they 'proved' something like that given it was spoken and might might just be a 'he said vs he said' type deal.

Either way, if Shelvey did say it, he deserves to have the book thrown at him. I like the guy but he might have a bit of a 'dark' side to him (that little kick that got him sent off in the Nottingham game - which admittedly was soft and rightfully was overturned showed a bit of bad sportsmanship IMO).

Will be interesting to see how we reshape the team given he is such a vital cog in the lineup.
 
I think 'dark side' translates to dick head.Has done some dumb shit over his career.I'm sure Rafa will turn him into a better and more disciplined player in time but still got some idiot genes active.Not saying he's not a talented and effective playmaker though.But even there he at times selects ridiculously extravagant 50metre outside of the foot options and fluffs it(only seen it a couple of times but stupid decision making).Just young and still a bit silly I'd say.
I read about the fine and suspension but couldn't find any detail about what he's supposed to have said/done.
I think we've got the midfielders to cover him.I think Colback's ready to come back in he could play the anchor role with Diame in front with licence to attack and create,and play Perez in behind Gayle.
Rafa will come up with something effective and hopefully Shelvey comes back a more thoughtful human being.
 
Personally I'd be moving Anita to the centre of midfield for the time being and give Yedlin a crack at RB. Really not great timing considering there is a bunch of games coming up and we will need the depth. Where is Tiote at?
 
Awful performance. They were too physical for us and we didn't cope. No creativity in the midfield which without Shelvey wasn't a surprise. Need to really look at that because you can't play both Colback and Hayden, both negative and not skilled enough.

We should have been facing 10 men at the end, Wednesday player (can't remember his name) was extremely lucky to get just a yellow.

Mitro was introduced too late. We needed to help out Gayle, their defenders were all over him.

Dummett was just as bad as normal. He's barely even Championship standard. Screaming out for a good creative LB. Gouffran was back to his worst too.

Thank goodness for Darlow though, he kept really well, could have been worse without him.
 

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