Nottingham Forest (h)

[Eeeeen]

If anybody believes that this shower of gutless cowards are going to win any cup final against any team, they are fucking delusional.

[KMK]

How many times are we seeing this scenario played out? As soon as we stop pressing the opposition and keep them in their own half we invite them onto our Achilles heel which is our central defence. It’s why we have lost to teams we should have beaten and why we nearly gave it away today. Why are we not learning the lesson?

[GhostfaceKillah]

One of the worst halves I have ever seen from Newcastle, under any manager in my lifetime supporting the club. The swing between the two halves sums up our season. First half we look like a top 4 side, second half we look like a bottom 4 side. I can't explain it other than to flag the mentality of this group, a weak mentality and a team lacking the leadership we had 2 years a go. No one got a grip of it when it was clearly falling away, no one, and we have some experienced heads in that team. Defensively we are a shambles, Burn was having a fantastic season up until a month or so a go, and he is starting to look like a liability. Schar has been shit most of the season, thankfully today Hall was excellent and Tino looked more solid, despite giving the ball away on a couple of occasions. I'd drop Schar for Krafth, and I'd bring Botman in for Burn if Botman can stay fit for more than 5 minutes.

Ridiculous to feel flat after winning a must win game but how the fuck do you go from that first half and having all that confidence, to that second half shit show. It's a massive worry as it seems to just come out of no where, it's Russian Roulette supporting us, and it has been for the last 3 to 4 months I'd say. Madness.

[Mick]

If Murphy is the answer - anybody know what the question is?

Schar is fast becoming a liability. Needs replacing as a matter of urgency.

[KMK]

Agree that you can take no pleasure in celebrating that win when you know we will see the same thing happening with the same players in future games. Where we finish this season in terms of the cup and league position is going to be a lottery in my opinion.
The issue of lack of leadership is valid point. No one attempted to organise our response to the way they had changed their approach in that second half.

[GhostfaceKillah]

No one seemed to be calling each other out, everyone was just going through the motions, high/side fiving when they just about rectified from their own mistake. Bruno at one point trying to gee the crowd up, ridiculous, and I love Bruno, one of my favourite ever Newcastle players, but this isn't on the crowd, this is on the players to take responsibility, stop expecting a rawkus, packed St James to drag you through games. His leadership when things were going wrong was non-existent. I know giving him the captaincy has been questioned, and you can argue (justifiably) you don't need an armband to call someone out, or get your foot on the ball and slow the game down, win a free kick, calm everyone down, but he should, as one of the better players we have, be leading in that situation, and from what I could see he wasn't doing anything other than going through the motions like everyone else.

The level of experience between Pope, Burn and Schar is huge on paper, but they just looked shell shocked, their faces were almost in the same disbelief as the crowd watching on.

When we were persuing Guehi and Trafford last summer, I didn't see them as a priority, I thought we had plenty to get through this season to then review what we needed to push on again, but my God, we are in urgent need of a new goalkeeper and centre back. I hope Botman can sort his knee problems out as we are missing him way, way more than I thought we would do. I thought we had enough combined to cope without Botman, but we really don't, he is essential if we are going to finish this season with anything like what we hope for.

[Eeeeen]

No one seemed to be calling each other out, everyone was just going through the motions, high/side fiving when they just about rectified from their own mistake. Bruno at one point trying to gee the crowd up, ridiculous, and I love Bruno, one of my favourite ever Newcastle players, but this isn't on the crowd, this is on the players to take responsibility, stop expecting a rawkus, packed St James to drag you through games. His leadership when things were going wrong was non-existent. I know giving him the captaincy has been questioned, and you can argue (justifiably) you don't need an armband to call someone out, or get your foot on the ball and slow the game down, win a free kick, calm everyone down, but he should, as one of the better players we have, be leading in that situation, and from what I could see he wasn't doing anything other than going through the motions like everyone else.

The level of experience between Pope, Burn and Schar is huge on paper, but they just looked shell shocked, their faces were almost in the same disbelief as the crowd watching on.

When we were persuing Guehi and Trafford last summer, I didn't see them as a priority, I thought we had plenty to get through this season to then review what we needed to push on again, but my God, we are in urgent need of a new goalkeeper and centre back. I hope Botman can sort his knee problems out as we are missing him way, way more than I thought we would do. I thought we had enough combined to cope without Botman, but we really don't, he is essential if we are going to finish this season with anything like what we hope for.

To add to what you've already written, I have to admit that I no longer believe that, despite Dubravka's many shortcomings, Nick Pope is our best keeper.  That means we have a goalkeeping crisis at the club because our first two choices are both poor.  You're right about central defence but we don't just need one new player we need at least two.  Next season, both Burn and Schar should be, at best second or third choice back-ups, or gone.  I could go on and on about how let-down we have all been by so many players this season, but I will just say that in about 45years of supporting NUFC, I don't believe I've ever come quite so close to giving up on the whole enterprise.  This team promises so much but delivers nothing but heartache and misery, even when they win!

Liverpool will win the Carabao Cup and I fear the team will implode after that,  then, I expect a mass exodus over the summer.

[GhostfaceKillah]

I agree, we do need two new center backs, Botman is struggling to prove his fitness and I suspect this isn't the end of his knee issues, whilst this recent injury isn't the ACL knee, it's a concern, albeit not entirely unexpected, he has bounced straight from one knee injury to another. This will all depend on what Mitchell and the scouts have come back with, if there are some gems out there in the 15-20 million GBP/Euro range then I wouldn't be surprised to see two new ones come, although I suspect this summer there will just be the single target as they will believe Burn is still suitable cover for Botman, and maybe alongside a pacey, strong, younger RCB, he might have another 12 months in him, making room for funds elsewhere.

The Dubravka vs Pope debate is a depressing one at best, Pope is the better shot stopper, Dubravka is the better footballer. If we dominated possession and played a different style, I'd be temped to let Dubravka see out the season, but we are conceding shots and chances for fun at the minute, and a fit Pope saves more shots than a fit Dubravka. Unfortunately neither are good enough. We know the likelyhood is Trafford will come in, and whilst he ticks the ball playing goalkeeper box, I can't get his season with Burnley in the Premier League out of my mind when I think of the mistakes he made. On the flip side I thought he was excellent for the England Under 21's when they won the Euros in all aspects of his game, and a season at the top end of the Championship might be just what he needed for his development.

Staying on this topic in general, having someone like Mitchell gives me hope that the funds we have will be spent well, and also that we will get value for money. Instead of chasing one well known player we could all scout for 60-70 million, we could get 2-3 for that money who are under the radar in Europe, which for me is the whole point of what Mitchell brings to the table. This would give us scope to potentially bring in 4-5 players and give the squad the refresh it needs.