how big a game is birmingham v newcastle?

[fergus8]

I'm also quite suprised that you say that you've watched 4 full newcastle games yet you feel duff is world class(was duff not playing in these games) he can't beat a man ne more every defender in the country seems to have him in there pocket can't think of a good game he's had since he signed for us.He's certainly not the player that he was when he played for blackburn.If we do manage to stay up i feel a lot of players will be leaving the club(this seems to be the case every season now and is one of our big problems).

duff has only played one of the games i have seen, bolton nil nil i think, he wasnt great but he wasnt anywhere near the worst that night. otherwise my entire appreciation of duff is via chelski blackburn and ireland

[fergus8]

Tacatically naive would be playing balls over the centre backs for Owen to run on to - he has no pace. He can however put the ball in the back of the net and he'll continue to do that given half chances. Similar to Shearer, Owen can keep hold of a football and bring others into the game, it cant be that hard to do but some seem to struggle. On that basis I dont see an issue with him coming short as long as he's where he needs to be when the ball falls loose in the box like he was twice last night.

i find this paragraph insane, ball in behind for owen to run onto is not only a threat of a goal directly, but opposing defences fall too deep in fear of it, hence helping strech opponents def to mid.

shearer had so much more to his game, i cant see owen in any way similar. unbelievable statement imo.

owen with no pace coming deep = useless

Faye had a shocker, he can look good at times, but he needs to exterminate - in his Newcastle United association at least.

awful, and id say him and taylor are prob the worst central defensive partnership in the prem bar derby

I'm tired of people just jumping on this Kegan tactically naive stuff. Very rarely can anyone come up with actual football tactic arguement to support it.  He played a form of 4-3-3 last night against a 4-4-2 but both the Birmingham wide players like to be on the ball and play more narrowly than you'd think - so by playing three holding midfielders like we did then it really didnt cause a problem and let us (in theory) go for their weakness of not keeping clean sheets.

We're slowly on the climb back, sometimes things have to get worse before they get better, and I think we've been through that. Plenty more confidence can be gained over the next few weeks and even this group of muppets will look like a different team. Hopefully that wont prevent the clear out though.

i think keegan showed his tactical knowledge with england, the real life mike basset

[mondatoo]

I'm also quite suprised that you say that you've watched 4 full newcastle games yet you feel duff is world class(was duff not playing in these games) he can't beat a man ne more every defender in the country seems to have him in there pocket can't think of a good game he's had since he signed for us.He's certainly not the player that he was when he played for blackburn.If we do manage to stay up i feel a lot of players will be leaving the club(this seems to be the case every season now and is one of our big problems).

duff has only played one of the games i have seen, bolton nil nil i think, he wasnt great but he wasnt anywhere near the worst that night. otherwise my entire appreciation of duff is via chelski blackburn and ireland

That makes more sense, since his recent injuries he's just not the player he was at blackburn he never really done enough at chelsea for me imho.He will be one of the players that definitly leaves in the summer i feel and hope will be another loss for us as it seems with most players that come to the club in recent years.

[fergus8]

duff and keane at world cup 2002 were awesome

duff against barcelona was class 5-4 agg win

[Rooky9]

Tacatically naive would be playing balls over the centre backs for Owen to run on to - he has no pace. He can however put the ball in the back of the net and he'll continue to do that given half chances. Similar to Shearer, Owen can keep hold of a football and bring others into the game, it cant be that hard to do but some seem to struggle. On that basis I dont see an issue with him coming short as long as he's where he needs to be when the ball falls loose in the box like he was twice last night.

i find this paragraph insane, ball in behind for owen to run onto is not only a threat of a goal directly, but opposing defences fall too deep in fear of it, hence helping strech opponents def to mid.

shearer had so much more to his game, i cant see owen in any way similar. unbelievable statement imo.

owen with no pace coming deep = useless

Faye had a shocker, he can look good at times, but he needs to exterminate - in his Newcastle United association at least.

awful, and id say him and taylor are prob the worst central defensive partnership in the prem bar derby

I'm tired of people just jumping on this Kegan tactically naive stuff. Very rarely can anyone come up with actual football tactic arguement to support it.  He played a form of 4-3-3 last night against a 4-4-2 but both the Birmingham wide players like to be on the ball and play more narrowly than you'd think - so by playing three holding midfielders like we did then it really didnt cause a problem and let us (in theory) go for their weakness of not keeping clean sheets.

We're slowly on the climb back, sometimes things have to get worse before they get better, and I think we've been through that. Plenty more confidence can be gained over the next few weeks and even this group of muppets will look like a different team. Hopefully that wont prevent the clear out though.

i think keegan showed his tactical knowledge with england, the real life mike basset

You seemed to have missed the point Fergus. Owen has no pace. That is a fact. Okay he can move but he is no quicker than an average premiership centre back therefore there is no threat from a ball over the top. Because he has no advantage we tend to not play a ball over the top. Defenders dont drop deep against him anymore because they know they have the beating of him.

For us to fit him in the team and benefit from what he can do, put the ball in the net from a half chance, he is going to have to change his game - at the moment he is dropping deeper. Its too early to tell if that'll become a successful part of his game but its got to be worth a try. I'm not saying that Owen is going to turn his game into a similar one to Shearer (its physically impossible), but dropping short, taking the ball into feet and bringing in others was a massive part of Shearer's game and Owen has been doing this since December 5th game against Arsenal. Owen with no pace deep cant be as bad with owen and no pace trying to play on the shoulder.

As for Keegan, again I can't see any actual examples. He was a pro footballer for 20 years, being the best in Europe during that period. He has played for some of the best managers in their lifetimes. He'll of picked up more in half time team talks that many could wish for. To talk of him as if he is clueless, and talking as if he knows less than an average supporter is just riculous.  Fair enough he'll place less emphasis on that side of the game than a Benetez or Wenger but thats in part to do with nationality and style of football. Tactical doesnt neccessarily = best. Football can be as complicated or as easy as you want to make it. At the end of the day if you get top players together, get them motivated and playing together they'll be successful.

[mondatoo]

The fact that we were abysmal in the 1st half yet looked a good side in the 2nd half proves kk isn't clueless.Fair enough he didn't do it at international level and many outside of newcastle aren't a fan but least he had the decency to walk away without a payoff in comparison to that scum mclaren.

duff and keane at world cup 2002 were awesome

duff against barcelona was class 5-4 agg win

Very long time ago though 2 be fair.

[Bazzaboy]

Duff is finished.  The injuries have taken their toll on him and he has lost his pace and confidence.  The same has happened to Owen, he is still a great finisher but only a shodow of the player he was at Liverpool.

[mondatoo]

The difference is tho is that owen can still do it at the top level whereas duff as you say is finished.

[fergus8]

can duff not do a giggs and change his game?

i remember giggs had a transistional period where he was losing his pace

duff is 28 years old

[mondatoo]

Duffs never been anywhere near as good as what giggsy is also as already said the injuries have finished duff, giggs hasn't had as bad a spell of injuries (i dont believe). It helps giggs a lot though with the quality of players he has around him but its still no excuse for duff his performances this season have been diabolical.

[Horneris]

Duff was one of the best players in the world imo at one stage, just before his move to Chelsea.

Obv, hes terrible now, but i disagree with the previous post.

[mondatoo]

I don't think he's ever been in that bracket of "one of the best players in the world".He was an excellent player when he was at blackburn then left to go to chelsea and although had the odd good game wasn't good enough.So overall he probably had 2/3 good seasons at blackburn wasn't good enough at chelsea then was absolutely terrible 4 us. A dont think he's ever been in top 50 players in world and isn't comparible to giggsy in my opinion.

[kinboshi]

Duff was one of the best players in the world imo at one stage, just before his move to Chelsea.

Obv, hes terrible now, but i disagree with the previous post.

Duff = Kewell

[Colchester Kev]

I would say that todays game at home to Fulham is more important than the Birmingham game ... nothing less than maximum points will do against Fulham.

[mondatoo]

We couldn't afford to lose at birmingham and before that game i wouldve took a draw as we are poor away (not much better at home either!) Todays game vs fulham is huge but i really believe we will win today however if the unthinkable happens and we lost then we are in deep shit even a draw would be a disaster in my opinion we must win today and if we do win i think we should be safe with the run in other time have.