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I should be glad. We have 27 points from 17 matches in the Premier League this term. I should be happy about this. We are without a win in our last six, however. Granted, this includes matches against Manchester City, ManU and Chelsea, but it also includes matches against West Bron, Swansea and Norwich. There is a very real problem when you only take one point against West Brom, Swansea and Norwich, especially when two of these matches are at home.
When you get emotionally involved in the results of sport, it is easy to aggrandize situations and make statements that don't fit the situation that you find yourself in. In this actual and real situation, there is a real problem. You can't outplay opponents and continue to not take points away from the match. This is not how you succeed in the Premier League, let alone survive.
Demba Ba did what he was supposed to do... he scored a brace to bring his goal to match ratio above 1.0, if only just. This fixture has provided multiple goal performances with regularity and Demba continued the trend. On the flip side, West Brom was able to counter attack with venom and score with regularity. On the day, Newcatle's defense looked slow and frankly just not good enough. When Coiloccini is not performing at super-hero levels, and Perch is performing proportionately below Coloccini's level, there are problems. 3 goal type problems.
Haris Vuckic was impressive... if he hadn't hit the post at the end of the first half, things may have ended up quite differently. As it was, AP brought in Raylor for Santon at halftime, and the final goal came ultimately from a cross on the defensive left wing. He brought on HBA for Best, and HBA wandered aimlessly as he has done creating a little bit of excitement with individual skill with very little contribution on a team level. He brought on Shola for Obertan, and a right wing presence disappeared into nothingness. AP has done a lot very well in his time as boss at NUFC. I really don't think that today was one of those things. The changes just didn't work.
2 points from 6 after a great start... at some point we have to stop writing the "we're fine... look how much ahead we are from where we thought we'd be" posts and figure out what the hell is wrong.
Let's all vent here. Get it out, and say whatever is in your mind. It's a vacuum, and we'll all move on and hope to take points from Bolton... and we'll all deal with the repercussions if we don't.