STEVE MCCLAREN: JUDGED AFTER 12 GAMES

Article courtesy of Newcastle Stats (@NewcastleStats)

September 2015: “Judge me after 10 games”
October 2015: “Judge me after 12 games”
November 2015: “Don’t judge me after 12 games, judge me at the end of the season”

Regardless of attempts to move the goalposts, we – Newcastle Stats – soldier on. You did ask to be judged, Steve…

12 games into the Premier League season ahead of an international break seems a good point of reflection on the performance of our new boss.

Positives:

• Mitrovic\Perez partnership: The young Serbian and Spaniard have formed a formidable (and ever improving) partnership up front together, forcing Cisse out of the side. Aged just 21 & 22 things can only get better.
• Summer recruitment: By large, summer recruitment was a success. Mbemba, Mitrovic & Wijnaldum have all greatly impressed and injected a bit of well-needed class into our side. Toney looks a good prospect, however the best is seemingly yet to come from Florian Thauvin, much like he predecessor Remy Cabella.
• Performances: The improved performance is there for all to see, in comparison to last season horror-show we look a totally different side. The players clearly believe in McClaren and his competency and want to play for him – which is more than you can say for our former managers.
• Hope: Under the former regimes it seemed an endless cycle of mediocrity and late-season resurrections to save us from the Championship, however under McClaren there’s a different feel to the club and the majority of fans back him; let’s hope he can deliver – and soon.

Negatives:

• Sunderland defeat (read more here): Under McClaren’s stewardship we lost our 6th consecutive Tyne-Wear derby, the first time this has happened in a 100+ year history. Although a promising, and perhaps unjustified loss this is simply unacceptable.
• Points dropped: In total we’ve already dropped 7 points from winning positions this season (the difference being 17th as we are now, or joint 9th). A good performance is nothing without reward – would you rather win ugly (Bournemouth win being a perfect example, yielding badly required points) or draw well?
• Results: Regardless of what you believe is contributing to this, we’re simply not getting points on the board. For all the promising performances we’ve shown we haven’t got a lot to show for it; only 10 points from 12 games.

One of the most surprising points I’ve noted is after 12 games who thought we’d be only 1 point behind Chelsea in the Premier League? Unfortunately it’s not at the end we might have expected:

Steve McClaren’s record (all competitions) for NUFC now stands at:
P14 W3 D4 L7 W%21.4

By comparison, here’s the overall record of our 2 former managers:
John Carver (2015): P20 W3 D4 L13 W%15.0
Alan Pardew (2010-2014): P185 W71 D41 L73 W%38.4

We asked the board for changes and we got it. We’ve a new boardroom, new manager, new philosophy and had significant player investment (in fact the largest outlay for a single window in our history – read more here).

Rome wasn’t built in a day and it’ll certainly take more than 12 games to turn Newcastle United around from the mess Carver/Pardew left us in, but Steve McClaren – in my opinion – has been a breath of fresh air and perhaps our current position doesn’t reflect that, or what we deserve.

He’s not quite been the “wally with the brolly” but not quite spectacular either. There is however no denying we (the fans, the players, the board, the club) need points soon or heads may begin to turn.

Comments welcome.