Outmuscled, outclassed by a team with the greater desire to win

[Lawnmower]

I don't understand the complaints about the free kick which led to Newcastle's first goal. It was an absolutely blatant foul, no doubt about it. Disallowing Morrison's 'goal' did appear a little harsh, but Manga also looked to have fouled his man and the ref blew up early.

In my view, criticism of the referee is very one-eyed and Warnock once again came across as a right tool after the game due to his whinging. Newcastle were denied two clear penalties and Richards could easily have been sent off instead of booked for what was a very reckless challenge, so things more than evened themselves out over the ninety minutes. The visitors were quite comfortably the better side, although their defence looked lightweight and City missed a couple of straightforward chances. Had they scored one of them it would have made things a lot more interesting, but Newcastle always looked like they could step things up a gear if they needed to.

Criticism of any ref will depend on how you perceive his decision and the one for Morrisons goal was unfair in the context of the ones given against us for Wolves, Villa and Barnsley and also the one NOT given to us at St James Park.

As I said about the foul for the first goal- I'd like to see it again. It looked soft and the Newcastle players did seem to be going over easily- probably also with the 2 'clear penalties' which you claim. I remember a couple of awful dives which could have been bookings and if they are the 2 which I think you are talking about then both were in front of the Newcastle fans who didn't seem too bothered, the City fans near wanted him booked.

In some games we've had things our way - like Leeds away, where the ref seemed to be making a point about not being intimidated, but against Newcastle we seem to get the worst of the big decisions ( although at St James' the Newcastle fans were very unhappy that the ref there let a lot of physical stuff go)

[Hilts]

Warlock knew what was coming. Why else would he have started with Awful?

And City were exposed as comparatively lightweight if they want to dominate this league next season.

Shame - a rocking atmosphere. At least the crowd was up for it

We are far from lightweight and were not outmuscled. We lack quality.
Success next season will depend on what quality comes in. The form table from when Warnock came in as us in 9th. We are not far off.

[WJ99mobile]

Newcastle will struggle next season if they don't strengthen.

[surge]

We are far from lightweight and were not outmuscled. We lack quality.
Success next season will depend on what quality comes in. The form table from when Warnock came in as us in 9th. We are not far off.

Maybe it's that the extra 10% of quality makes such a visible difference, but which area of the field do you think is strong enough to be promoted currently? If we had injuries to Zohore and Morrison or Bamba we'd be in a different position. Jazz and Bennett with Peltier on the bench seems solid.

[Penarth Blues]

Maybe it's that the extra 10% of quality makes such a visible difference, but which area of the field do you think is strong enough to be promoted currently? If we had injuries to Zohore and Morrison or Bamba we'd be in a different position. Jazz and Bennett with Peltier on the bench seems solid.

I think you've summed that up quite well. In my opinion the players currently here who are good enough to be first team squad, once surrounded by better players, are:

McGregor
Bennett
Richards
Peltier
Connolly
Manga
Bamba
Morrison
Gunnarsson
Zohore

So that means we need 2 more strikers, 2 more wingers and 2 more midfielders who'd be first team squad based on where we are now. To complement these I think the following could do a job off the bench/as replacements:

Hoilett
K Harris
Healey
Pilkington
Whitts
Ralls
Murphy
Noone
Ralls

This gives us 19 'good enough' first team squad players at present. I think at least 4 will leave this summer, and could be as many as 7. We'd therefore need to find another 13 first team squad players.

Of those I think have to go to make room:

Halford
Amos
John
Gounongbe

So this is going to be a very big Summer in terms of change in the players, and I don't think we have enough money to purchase enough quality in one Summer. However, it'll be interesting to see how good a go Warnock can make of this period. He's had a good run up at it and I hope he's already got a number of players lined up. Great to see Zohore sign until 2020. Now need to get the rest of the side in quickly ready for pre-season.

[Lawnmower]

Pretty certain it was Jazz Richards. 2 handed push and the replay showed the ref had a clear view. Halfords shirt pull was a clear penalty if the officials seen it. But I dont think they did. Both were penalties.

Shirt pulls and pushes go on all the time.
If you look closely enough at the replays you could probably pick a couple up for us too. Certainly there weee challenges at the set pieces which were worse.

And as for the Richards decision we all felt Atsu threw himself to the ground - not for the first time. Not that this was a game defining decision as it was pretty much over by then.

[The Lone Gunman]

Shirt pulls and pushes go on all the time.
If you look closely enough at the replays you could probably pick a couple up for us too. Certainly there weee challenges at the set pieces which were worse.

And as for the Richards decision we all felt Atsu threw himself to the ground - not for the first time. Not that this was a game defining decision as it was pretty much over by then.

Credit where it's due, you're funny at times, although almost certainly not deliberately so.

Surely an obsessive like your good self recorded the game? If so, watch the incidents back and stop gibbering rubbish.