I feel strangely unmoved this month to bring you my ramblings (which may explain their slightly overdue arrival!). The reason for this unwillingness is not a lack of Toon-related passion on my part; nothing could ever be further from the truth. It is simply the fact that this season seems to have ground down my unquestioning support in some ways. I think I have simply started to ask too many questions of my beloved club in my own head, and am receiving fewer and fewer acceptable answers.
Results wise, should I complain at those gained Feb 7th – March 3rd? No, probably not. 3 wins and 3 draws seems to be reasonable return. But it’s the manner these results have been achieved, and the comparison to other things going on around us that leaves me feeling cold. Home league wins over Leicester and Middlesbrough should really be expected for a club of our stature, and both were duly churned out. “Churned out” being the description I would give of most results this season. Only in brief patches this season have I witnessed the kind of flair and flowing attacking football I’ve come to expect from this bunch of players.
The away draws at Blackburn, Valerenga and Portsmouth (all of which we led in) were hugely frustrating. In the two league games we led until within the last 3 or 4 minutes (following on from the trend we set at Birmingham last month), and then the usual post-match comments from predictable quarters arrived, such as “We know we must do better”, “We’ll have to look at things harder on the training ground”, “We know we’ve let the fans down” etc etc etc….
Well I’m sorry, lads, but I just don’t buy it anymore. Bobby, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to not greet everything you say with anything other than “Yeah, right”. The team plays with a lack of imagination, a lack of creativity, produces a lack of chances on a worryingly consistent basis, and seems quite happy to invite inferior teams onto us, particularly in the latter stages of games. And we’re told, “We’re doing quite well”. Perhaps even worse, is the lack of steel, grit, determination, and commitment in certain quarters of the team, particularly one Mr Jenas.
I will be the first to admit that last year Jermaine Jenas was nothing short of awesome for large chunks of the season. In fact I regularly commended him in these very columns. However, I feel certain that if you care to glance back at the column that refers to our last home game of last season against Birmingham, you will find I mentioned a worrying development in JJ’s game that day, when he suddenly seemed to be believing his own hype (having just won Young Player of the Year), and had spent 90 minutes strutting around trying to needlessly play every ball with the outside of his boot! It was on this day, that I started to worry about our young midfielder.
This season games have regularly passed him by. In fact whole midfields worth of opponents have often literally passed him by. The kid needs a rest (I’m sure I’ve been saying this for some time, but he seems to be starting to rival Dyer as the great untouchable of our squad). Viana must surely have given up ever forcing his way into the first eleven, as even when there are injuries he next to never gets a start. Hugo cost £8.5 million. Play him Bobby or sell him. Simple.
It’s not as if I’m blaming our current plight on one player. Far from it. But the fact remains that Gary Speed (who isn’t exactly having a blemish free season himself) is having to carry Jenas, and it’s gone on too long. What does Bowyer have to do to get a game in his natural position by the way? Oh and as for the Bowyer European ban debacle, just don’t get me started… (Mind you, it does seem an extraordinarily draconian way of punishing what something that obviously is not the player’s fault).
You know what? I find it incredibly difficult to get annoyed at the defence this season. Sure, they still have their momentary blips in concentration (this seems to regularly coincide with the last five minutes away from home, mind) but the overall defensive record is decent. No, the root of our problems this season (and it’s been a good few years since you’ve been able to say this) is our attacking play. The sad fact is that if our defence even makes one mistake and gets punished, it’s costing us precious points because we are regularly scoring, at best, one goal a game, which simply isn’t good enough.
What have Speed, Jenas, Ambrose, Viana, Dyer and Bowyer scored between them this season? Answers on a postcard, but if memory serves me correct I make it, er……….. 6? (give or take a goal!) That is an absolutely shocking statistic for a team that’s supposed to be Champions League contenders. Shearer? Chipped with in the traditionally great quotient. Bellamy? Since his comeback from injury has been knocking them in much better than last season (shows how much we’ve missed him this season). Robert? Best ever season’s total, so despite recent lackadaisical performances, we shouldn’t complain. Ameobi? Has certainly chipped in with one or two here and there when he’s had his chances. But the midfield….. God help me. What chance have we got if we’ve got a defence who daresn’t make a mistake because it will mean certain dropped points? Shocking.
Bobby wants us to believe. Believe that we’re doing quite well. I know you can dress statistics up whichever way you choose. But the following facts remain. Consider them for a moment if you will.
- We have conceded the same number of league goals than Manchester United this season, yet we currently have 16 fewer points!!!!
- We are currently challenging for Champions League qualification with Birmingham, Fulham and Charlton, all of whom have only comparatively recently become Premier League clubs!
- Since selling one of our best players to a rival Premier League club only 6 weeks ago, they have steamed up the table to within two points of ourselves (having scored an average of nearly 2.5 goals a game since his arrival), and are now also challenging us for European qualification.
- We have scored the same number of league goals this season as Leicester…. who are 17th, one less than Blackburn who are 16th and two less than Manchester City who are 15th.
- The best we could do in the transfer window was to bring in a striker who has spent the best part of the last two years injured, couldn’t get a game for the team who are bottom of the league, insist he’s quality and we can’t wait to have a look at him, then don’t play him. Or put him on the bench. Oh, sorry, he DID play against Valerenga at home. On the right wing…………
So there you go. Obviously I hope something miraculous starts to happen over the next few weeks, we start to play like the team of two years ago (when we finished fourth and, for my money, played substantially better football than when we finished third last year), and we can grasp that fourth place with both hands. But frankly, we don’t really deserve to. And if the dross we’ve been forced to watch for considerable chunks of this season is the fourth best this country has to offer then pity help England in Euro 2004. Obviously I hope Dyer gets picked and does well (and Jenas for that matter) but you have to remember, of course, that Eriksson sees him as a right back….
The club needs a restructuring. Top to bottom. We need a new manager, we need new players, and hell, we probably could do with a new attitude. Don’t mistake this for a lack of support. I desperately want us to succeed as always. And I’ll continue to try and lead the shockingly slack support that comes from big chunks of the North West Corner at St James’, but please will somebody have a word within the four hallowed walls of SJP and say, “Enough is enough”.
Keep the faith.
Mark
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