Bruce: No respect at all. He’s the Rodney Dangerfield of football, Rodney Dangerfield being the famous American comedian whose catchphrase was ‘I get no respect, no respect at all!’ But meanwhile, despite all the moaning, considering the resources at his disposal, Newcastle are actually doing as well as can be expected, at the least, they certainly aren’t doing badly.
In their first ten games, Newcastle have won 14 points with a 40% win percentage, not the greatest until you consider that in 2019/20 they’d only won 3 points, and before that, Benitez only won 3 too, though he equalled Bruce’s first ten game total in our first season after promotion. Bruce and Benitez have had similar league finishes, both have played a similar style, counterattacking football with a big target man up front which isn’t the most exciting to watch, and yet one was almost worshipped and the other is treated with disdain, but why? (more…)
Pardew – His form goes up and down like a Bride’s nightie. I must admit I have missed the subject of this piece, not for his modesty, nor his ‘route one’ football (which I analysed in several articles back in 2012) when he was telling everybody that he was a ‘flair’ manager whose teams played entertaining ‘passing’ football in the style of Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola, nor for his legendary losing runs that seemed like they would last an eternity, or even the rather annoying way he said ‘Noocarsle’; no, I miss him because, like Joe Kinnear, he was such a great subject for blogs on here!
As for the ‘route one’ football, that certainly hasn’t changed at St James’ Park but that’s another ‘blog, so getting back to this one, in a recent Sky Sports report on the most successful Premier League managers of the last decade, Pardew scraped into the top ten with 304 points, nine places behind winner, Arsene Wenger, who won exactly double Pardew’s total with 608, but ahead of such notables as Manuel Pellegrini (11th with 302 points) and Roy Hodgson (16th with 231 points). Pardew was also ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson (13th with 300 points) and Harry Redknapp (17th with 204 points), though their spells of Premier League management ended too early in the last decade. (more…)
Dwight Gayle – Easily Toon’s most efficient goalscorer. It is no secret, Newcastle United’s strikers couldn’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo at the moment. Collectively, our four strikers have scored only one goal in the Premier League in 26 games, with almost all of the goals scored by the club so far this season coming from defenders and midfielders. One in particular has been given more than enough time to prove himself and has shown woeful judgment in front of goal whilst others have only had the odd substitute appearence to prove themselves. In this piece I intend to sort the wheat from the chaff and go through their performances at the top level over their careers. (more…)
Sean Longstaff (£692 per week) and Yoshinori Muto (£54,000 per week) As a Newcastle United blogger, one of my occaisional pastimes is to peruse the details of Newcastle United’s payroll and after a few seasons of this, I thought that it’s about time I wrote a ‘blog about it as it contains quite a few interesting details.
For instance, Sean Longstaff, now a fairly regular choice for the first team, and who was recently the subject of speculation linking him with a move to Manchester United with sums as high as £50 million being bandied around, is still only receiving £692 per week (£36,000 a year). This is the lowest by a huge margin compared with all the other players who have featured in the first team on anything like a regular basis. Jamie Sterry (£2000 per week) apart, the next lowest player who has played in the first team with any regularity is Isaac Hayden, who is currently earning £22,000 per week (£1,144,000 per year). Meanwhile, the hardly used Yoshinori Muto is currently picking up £54,000 per week (£2,808,000 a year), making him the second highest paid player on the list. (more…)
Joelinton – Only 1 goal in 25 Premier League games Newcastle United have managed to defy trends this season to keep themselves away from trouble at the bottom of the Premier League. Statistically the Magpies have endured an unremarkable campaign, scoring only 24 goals in their 25 matches. Crystal Palace (23) are the only side in the top flight to have found the net on fewer occasions at the time of writing, which could be a cause for concern for Steve Bruce as his team approach the final stretch of the 2019/20 season.
With or without scoring, just getting shots on target has also been the problem; once again, the Magpies are in the bottom three there as well with only 82, only Burnley (80) and Crystal Palace (79) have fewer. (more…)
