you're not wrong Dave . Our play is so bloody pedestrian, build ups so ponderous

WHEN are they back pedalling at a rate of knots like we were when we conceded . 83rd minute we'll see jesus Sterling and Nwaneri .

2.52 am Sunday Think I'll go back to bed save myself the anguish

Ref just told timber to move back 1 pace on a throw in - sigh

It’s going to be one of those days.

Again.

Zinchenko showing his worth there.

Strange. Weird taking off Martinelli. He wasn't having much luck but he was at least lively.

Consistent again with the yellow card for Tonali.

With the way we’re playing we don’t force mistakes from teams. Nowhere near fast enough in the play and passing

We haven't managed to get Saka into the game at all.

Have we had any real chance? I can't think of any.

That was just under a 2 minute delay for Pope’s treatment there

We’ve been very poor and toothless.

Guimaraes just throws himself before Partey gets anywhere near him there. Nice pressure reliever

Honestly we are the only team I see get penalised regularly for not taking throw ins from the exact spot

Has missing out in the title last year sucked some belief out of the team?

And slow... clearly the squad is stretched and needs a few upgrades.

Is he fully fit?

And competition for places.

At least he had a shot.

The low bar for free kicks in this game has really played in to Newcastles hands, such a stop start game

Rice misses a sitter.

Typical of our day.

C'mon We've been shite.

Rice misses a sitter

He's a bit more lively now. Big chance for Rice there.

Of course, completely on us, just the way the game has played out has been very stop start which is not what we need. We can up the tempo and make sure it isn’t stop start, but the nature of the game has really helped them once they got a goal up.

If you’d have predicted a Newcastle win this is exactly event by event how you’d have said it would happen

Arteta will be furious on the duels weve lost today. Every 50/50, every 2nd ball, we’ve been second best on everything

We needed a Centre Forward but Arteta just won't get one. We needed a Plan B with a point man to send the balls to, but we have none. Teams have figured us out and our slow-mo attack is toothless.

There’s not much subtle about Newcastle, they could only win this game on emotion and energy and attitude. We had to move the ball faster and put them under far more pressure than we did. With the way we played all that happens is Newcastle gain confidence with every defensive action because it was so easy for them, no desperate defending, no running back towards their own goal, no pressure.

Really really weak from us. Felt like we’d got lost this kind of performance which we would absolutely NOT put in at home. Over the last 2 seasons we’ve made home/away pretty irrelevant but today it felt like a huge factor and we weren’t up for it

Never mind Arteta, I’m furious too.

He has to shoulder the responsibility. He should've changed it after 20 minutes. I expect somehow we address the squad issues in January. Otherwise all this build will be for nothing. If we are out of the title race then we should play with more adventure. 2 very difficult games coming up and I can't see us on that performance being able to challenge for the title. We are in a race for top four though.

Hard to get top players in January

Trossard and Havertz together just doesn't work. Arteta seems to be taking a while to realise that.

Absolute dogshite.
So so poor despite starting well.
Once they scored it was downward spiral.
Doesn't get any easier next week either.
Chelsea away.
What the *%^@ is happening???!!!!
Always let these poxy teams end their bad runs against us. They hadn't won in 5 league games before today.

Howe often plays the same way against us, big physicality and athleticism in central midfield and the wide players running a marathon to double up on the wingers - Joelinton in particular doubling up on Saka.

It’s games where we certainly miss the craft of Ødegaard because the games turn in to physical athletic battles with few chances, but possibly where we also miss natural more skilful full backs who can take on genuine attacking responsibility when the wingers get doubled up on. If you’re double marked and you move the ball quickly enough by simple logic you have a spare man

Only little tiny positive is by start of 2025 we would have played city spurs villa Newcastle and Chelsea all away in first half of season
If we can put a run together maybe we can claw back some points on Liverpool and city.

Today yes, similar to what a lot of us were saying pre Xmas last year, rice was playing 6 and our ball progression was stodgy to say the least.
But then look at the first half v Liverpool or PSG, high tempo football pinning opponents back and creating chances.

The boring stuff isn’t every game, it’s more than we want and it’s highlighted more when we don’t find a way to win

Don’t forget Inter Milan in midweek.
Really bad day today but the teams been through too much in the last 2 years for the fans to give up on them. Lots of things haven’t gone our way this season. Injuries, red cards, timing of tough fixtures….and of course our own awful play. Plenty of the season still to go though

Plan B when plan A is not working, we haven't any Plan B

Today we didn't even have a Plan A.

We don’t tend to lose games when we score, that may sound stupid but look at all our recent defeats
Bournemouth
Newcastle
Villa twice last year
Newcastle again last year
West Ham at home
Porto and Bayern away

The on my game I can think where we’ve lost and scored is the Fulham game.
We lose so few but scoring goals is the problem. 1 Newcastle goal at home should not be able to decide the match - same as all the above.
Therein lies the biggest problem

To be honest, I am not that upset. It's been coming. We haven't look like a great team this season.

We've looked like a team lacking fluency, creativity and adventure.

We've been relying on a solid defence and set-piece goals. Now that the defence is creaking and the set-piece goals have dried up we look devoid of ideas.