FLIP FLOPS OR TURNING POINT ?
After the shambolic display at Everton there needed to be a vast improvement against Arsenal. Newcastle were rightly slated by fans and pundits alike, given Evertons form of late and mid week outing in Europe it wasn't out the way to have expected a point or 3 from that game. Newcastle being Newcastle don't do things the easy way though and simply didn't show up on the day with Gary Lineker suggesting they already had their flip flops on for the summer.
It's pretty safe to assume the majority of us were expecting a proper mauling at the hands of an in form Arsenal and some fans even said they wouldn't watch such was the worry it could be a very embarrassing scoreline. Well what a pleasant surprise we got, ok we lost and we did fall apart for the two goals in that crazy 5 minute spell but second half we were outstanding and truth be told no one could of complained if we'd gotten a point from the game.
I'm still baffled how we can go from being utterly useless as a unit to completely united in one game but this isn't the only time this has happened, we also saw it under Pardew. The funny thing is that under Pardew we would be great first half and awful the second, leading many to wonder what got said at halftime!
John Carver came out after the match to say how proud of the players he was and rightly so. What ever he said at half time, and he alluded to comments about pride in the shirt, it certainly worked. The difference was simply amazing, especially considering this was a patched up team.
So is this a turning point, do we actually have a team capable of attacking and creating chances and goals that get bums off seats? Or was this just a flash in the pan performance bought about by the fear of yet more ridicule from the fans and pundits? Is there actually some pride and sense of something to play for or are we deluding ourselves?
St James Park was rocking second half on saturday and I for one haven't heard such noise for a long time. This cannot of gone unnoticed by our owner who was watching in the stands. I wonder how much he wants that atmosphere every home game? Just a couple of astute transfers of real quality in the summer and no more daft loans and sales and we could yet have a team to get back that wonderful atmosphere on a regular basis and maybe even turn St James Park back into a fortress again.
By KIMTOON
