Newcastle Utd fan's view

Dec 23 2007 by Neil Farrington, Sunday Sun

IT’S high time Newcastle gave someone “a good, old-fashioned thumping”, according to Toon fan Paul Lawson.

And if United cannot dish out a drubbing to Derby, then it is a sad day in the Lawson household.

“I watched them beat us earlier in the season and still don’t know how we managed to lose to them,” says Paul, 32, from Consett.

“It looked like we – no, we definitely – went down there happy for a draw and paid the penalty.

“Sadly, we’ve done that in most of our away games this season and ended up with slim pickings.

“But there’s no excuse for us not giving Derby a good, old-fashioned thumping at home. We have to go at them and give the fans something to cheer going into Christmas.

“We’ve done OK in some straightforward games recently, but we need maximum points against Derby and at Wigan on Boxing Day with Chelsea coming up.”

But it will take a significant shift in Sam Allardyce’s tactics before Lawson is convinced of the Newcastle manager’s merits.

“I don’t like 4-3-3. It’s not working,” he adds. “We need Milner and N’Zogbia playing as proper wingers with two up front.

“We are painfully narrow and lack pace in midfield when Butt, Barton and Geremi play together. It’s not on playing all three at home.

“We need a player like Emre who can unlock teams like Derby with a pass, because it’s guaranteed they will come here and put nine or 10 men behind the ball.

“The big plus recently has been that we have worked our socks off and tightened things up at the back.

“But I’m still far from convinced that we are getting things right further up the field.”

PAUL JEWELL must free Derby from the shackles away from home if they are to dazzle today.

That’s the view of Rams fan Simon Fisher, who has become hardened to his side’s grim away form in the Premier League.

Derby have scored just one league goal on their travels this season – at Manchester United earlier this month.

Simon believes Derby’s obsession with not conceding a cricket score means they have effectively admitted defeat before every away kick-off.

“We’ve been playing like a side only interested in keeping the score down,” says the 32-year-old, from Overseal. “We’ve invited teams to have a go at us and defended like the Alamo.

“Sadly, in this league, teams always have players capable of breaking you down and we’ve slid to inevitable defeat after inevitable defeat.”

And Simon sees a simple solution.

“Let our attacking players go at the opposition,” he adds. “I’d love to see the likes of Giles Barnes just told to run at defenders, and see what happens.

“We should be playing two genuine front men, with Barnes floating just behind them, giving the opposition something to think about.

“Instead, we end up often playing one up front and simply trying to stop the opposition from playing.”

And while Fisher is relatively unimpressed by what he has seen of Newcastle recently, he is convinced Derby must score at St James’s Park to stand any chance of a result.

“I know one or two people up there, and they aren’t too happy with the type of football that Newcastle are playing, but they have players who can hurt you whatever the tactics or the situation.

“One thing our central defenders can’t handle is pace, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Obafemi Martins caused us problems on Sunday.”