General Mackie

[LeftSideBoy]

Did f**k all tonight. Sorry.

 

[unification]

Mackie resembles what Constable would have looked like in a MApp side - busy, tenacious, bags of effort and a gobby b****r to boot, but ultimately ineffective and his deficiencies woefully exposed when paired with better players around him.

On a technical level, Mackie is behind every player we have in the squad now. Our centre backs have better close control than him and can dribble past at least one opponent. As many observed, Agyei offered more in his cameo yesterday although both offered the same in terms of goal scoring threat. The difference is that Agyei still has time to sharpen that whereas you’d be changing a habit of a lifetime if you suddenly managed to get more than half a dozen goals a season out of Mackie.

That said, his race here isn’t run yet. I think we need to use him more smartly. Don’t start him but throw him on to force opponents to play long and hoof the ball out of play. Bring him on to waste time and harangue defenders for 10 mins or so rather than the 60-70 mins we currently give him.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

Mackie resembles what Constable would have looked like in a MApp side - busy, tenacious, bags of effort and a gobby b****r to boot, but ultimately ineffective and his deficiencies woefully exposed when paired with better players around him.

On a technical level, Mackie is behind every player we have in the squad now. Our centre backs have better close control than him and can dribble past at least one opponent. As many observed, Agyei offered more in his cameo yesterday although both offered the same in terms of goal scoring threat. The difference is that Agyei still has time to sharpen that whereas you’d be changing a habit of a lifetime if you suddenly managed to get more than half a dozen goals a season out of Mackie.

That said, his race here isn’t run yet. I think we need to use him more smartly. Don’t start him but throw him on to force opponents to play long and hoof the ball out of play. Bring him on to waste time and harangue defenders for 10 mins or so rather than the 60-70 mins we currently give him.

Harsh on Constable given the amount of goals he scored for us. I’d argue he’s more of a natural goalscorer than Mackie, although worse in other areas I’m sure

 

[Scotchegg]

The Mackie bashing has become tedious. Last night he actually had a decent game and looked more like scoring than Matt Taylor did when he came on. And all of this was at a time when Newcastle had almost complete control of the game. He's never going to be a 20 goal a season striker, nor is he going to be taking it past players. But he is effective in what he does which is to hassle the back 4 into moving the ball early which brings our midfield into the game. Last night he did that well, much better than in recent games where he hasn't been very effective.

We have 18 odd games to go and we will have to shuffle players around, but every one of our squad deserves our support and if we play the way we did last night then promotion is a real possibility.

 

[oxfordfan1]

The Mackie bashing has become tedious. Last night he actually had a decent game and looked more like scoring than Matt Taylor did when he came on. And all of this was at a time when Newcastle had almost complete control of the game. He's never going to be a 20 goal a season striker, nor is he going to be taking it past players. But he is effective in what he does which is to hassle the back 4 into moving the ball early which brings our midfield into the game. Last night he did that well, much better than in recent games where he hasn't been very effective.

We have 18 odd games to go and we will have to shuffle players around, but every one of our squad deserves our support and if we play the way we did last night then promotion is a real possibility.

WOW!! really...........

 

[dickwalton1964]

You can’t question Mackie's endeavour but technically he is now performing at about Conference level, I’m not saying that disrespectfully, I genuinely think that’s about where his actual performance level is at. In the last two games we’ve seen three other strikers play his role and each has been head and shoulders above Mackie.

Taylor is struggling a bit to find the net but he has a finesse and touch and is able to bring others into the game that Mackie cannot compete with. Browne, similar to Taylor but with searing pace and a much classier all round game in the central role. As for Agyei he’s erratic but there’s a threat to his game on the ball. He doesn’t zig zag around like Mackie does when he’s closing down but ultimately football is a game about what you do on the ball and Agyei, like the other two, offers far more.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

The Mackie bashing has become tedious. Last night he actually had a decent game and looked more like scoring than Matt Taylor did when he came on. And all of this was at a time when Newcastle had almost complete control of the game. He's never going to be a 20 goal a season striker, nor is he going to be taking it past players. But he is effective in what he does which is to hassle the back 4 into moving the ball early which brings our midfield into the game. Last night he did that well, much better than in recent games where he hasn't been very effective.

You didn’t think Taylor played well when he came on? I thought he was good, held the ball up and laid it off well and won a few free kicks. Bit harsh to say he didn’t look like scoring, and how exactly is that supportive?

 

[Shosho]

Instead if slating the relative attributes of our players, let’s just enjoy the fact that a premiership team couldn’t beat us over 180 minutes and needed a further 26minutes to find a winner

we’ve now outshot Man City and Newcastle whilst beating West Ham.

Every player played their part, let’s be proud of what the team achieved last night and look forward to the weekend

 

[dickwalton1964]

The Mackie bashing has become tedious. Last night he actually had a decent game and looked more like scoring than Matt Taylor did when he came on. And all of this was at a time when Newcastle had almost complete control of the game. He's never going to be a 20 goal a season striker, nor is he going to be taking it past players. But he is effective in what he does which is to hassle the back 4 into moving the ball early which brings our midfield into the game. Last night he did that well, much better than in recent games where he hasn't been very effective.

We have 18 odd games to go and we will have to shuffle players around, but every one of our squad deserves our support and if we play the way we did last night then promotion is a real possibility.

You could NOT have been there last night ! Taylor was much better than Mackie, far silkier in everything he did. If we were Wimbledon of old then there might be a choice to be made more often as to who carries the most worth but, come on, in this particular team playing this particular style then Jamie Mackie just gets in the way.

 

[tatabanya]

The Mackie bashing has become tedious. Last night he actually had a decent game and looked more like scoring than Matt Taylor did when he came on. And all of this was at a time when Newcastle had almost complete control of the game. He's never going to be a 20 goal a season striker, nor is he going to be taking it past players. But he is effective in what he does which is to hassle the back 4 into moving the ball early which brings our midfield into the game. Last night he did that well, much better than in recent games where he hasn't been very effective.

We have 18 odd games to go and we will have to shuffle players around, but every one of our squad deserves our support and if we play the way we did last night then promotion is a real possibility.

Haha - just a coincidence then that the turning point of the match (and when Newcastle stopped having “almost complete control of the game”) was what Mackie went off.

I’ll always support him when he’s on the pitch, he should just never be on it.

 

[holdsteady]

His legs have gone, can’t fault his efforts but he isn’t up to it anymore, we looked so much more threatening when he came off. I actually think he cleared a couple for them last night as well. It is a strange game to choose to bring this up after I agree, but we have 3 better options to play up top now, I wouldn’t even put him on the bench unless we are short on numbers, the supposed helping us see out games from winning positions is a bit of a myth as he was a liability when he came on against Blackpool.

You can’t pick players on what they were a few years ago, that won’t help us now and you can’t just pick players for positive attitude as we have coaching staff to help with that, with a play off spot in the balance we can’t carry people and need every player to contribute on the pitch.

 

[unification]

Harsh on Constable given the amount of goals he scored for us. I’d argue he’s more of a natural goalscorer than Mackie, although worse in other areas I’m sure

It wasn't meant as a character assassination of Beano. I was comparing like-for-like styles of play. It's hard to argue that Constable made a career from zig-zagging runs and overhead kicks. He was a power player, who bundled teams around and struck powerful shots. If he hadn't gone before MApp arrived, he would have been moved on like Ryan Clarke was as technically he was nowhere near the level that MApp was looking for. Seeing as MApp wasn't exactly the apple(ton) of the fans' eyes in that first season, it's probably wise Beano jumped ship when he did.

The same applies to Mackie. Every other player last night possessed some technical quality that Mackie lacked. It means we at times carry a player who takes that extra touch to bring it down, gives away senseless fouls and isn't at all potent in front of goal. What he does add though, is a pain-in-the-backside attitude that is best used infrequently rather than from the outset that KR seems intent on using him for.

 

[oxfordfan1]

It wasn't meant as a character assassination of Beano. I was comparing like-for-like styles of play. It's hard to argue that Constable made a career from zig-zagging runs and overhead kicks. He was a power player, who bundled teams around and struck powerful shots. If he hadn't gone before MApp arrived, he would have been moved on like Ryan Clarke was as technically he was nowhere near the level that MApp was looking for. Seeing as MApp wasn't exactly the apple(ton) of the fans' eyes in that first season, it's probably wise Beano jumped ship when he did.

The same applies to Mackie. Every other player last night possessed some technical quality that Mackie lacked. It means we at times carry a player who takes that extra touch to bring it down, gives away senseless fouls and isn't at all potent in front of goal. What he does add though, is a pain-in-the-backside attitude that is best used infrequently rather than from the outset that KR seems intent on using him for.

I'm sorry but comparing Mackie to the club legend that is james constable is outrageous.........

Mackie is not fit to lace Beanos boots, he scored all types of goals let me reiterate he scored all types of goals and loads of them no debate here if I were you I would go and checkout Beanos stats for our great club before comparing him to that complete waste of space.

 

[Shropshire U]

The Mackie bashing has become tedious.

Nowhere near as tedious as your attempts to defend the indefensible!
He's an experienced pro with a likeable attitude, so let's recruit him to the backroom staff...just keep him off the pitch ffs!

 

[bazoufc90]

Haha - just a coincidence then that the turning point of the match (and when Newcastle stopped having “almost complete control of the game”) was what Mackie went off.

I’ll always support him when he’s on the pitch, he should just never be on it.

for me the biggest turning point was when Joelinton went off for them.....after that point their long balls had no one to stick with upfront and allowed us to begin to get into the game. Joelinton wasn't especially good (highlighted by the lucky way he hit the ball into the ground for his goal), but he is clearly important to the way they "play" football

 

[unification]

I'm sorry but comparing Mackie to the club legend that is james constable is outrageous.........

Mackie is not fit to lace Beanos boots, he scored all types of goals let me reiterate he scored all types of goals and loads of them no debate here if I were you I would go and checkout Beanos stats for our great club before comparing him to that complete waste of space.

Read my post again.

It's comparing styles of play in teams where it doesn't always fit. Constable worked under Wilder's pragmatic management and simple style, he would have been out of place in a MApp team. Mackie would probably work in a technically deficient side like Wycombe, but looks out of place in a ball-playing side like us.

It's not hard to understand.

 

[Carpy]

I’m sorry but anyone that suggests that Mackie is anything but totally ineffective must be watching different games of football to me. When you’re playing one up top, at the very least they need to be good at one of two things, either someone who can bring balls down to the midfield running on and generally hold the ball up (especially important when playing teams “better” than you, if only to give the defence a breather and time to get their shape) or have some pace to be able to run the channels, and stretch and pull the opposition defence out of position as your midfield join the attack, they can then find those pockets of space vacated by the defender now out of position

Mackie displays neither of the above qualities, he is too slow and cumbersome to run the channels, and is really quite poor in the air, especially for someone who is by no means small, let’s also not forget he quite often fouls defenders when attempting to challenge for the ball.

Agyei I think proved to most fans at least, not only tonight, but previously, that he at least has some of the characteristics above

To suggest Mackie starts because he is a leader or experienced is also nonsense as far as I’m concerned, if the wider group of players need a 34 year old donkey, whom they’ve had to carry for most of the game, to give them a lift because they’re having a bad game then I have a couple of questions, 1. What is the purpose of Gary Bloom if not to instil some mental toughness in our younger players, 2. Has anyone heard Mousinho speak... this guy oozes class and intelligence, I have no doubt he can do all of the above on the pitch

Also, the people that say oh you need to stop “picking” on Mackie, I, and I’m sure everyone else have no issues with the guy personally... he just cannot compete in the lone striker role and there is clearly better options from multiple different players at the club

I posted the above on the match thread... can all the Mackie admirers tell me which of the qualities that I have mentioned that Mackie does in fact possess?

 

[Jason N]

I don't see why we can't rotate Taylor, Browne and Agyei as our central striker now. Use Mackie as backup. I'd love to see Agyei get a run in the team, either as centre forward or on the right of the front three. (although there is no way Sykes should be dropped, at least he can play midfield if Cam Brannagan is not fit!!!). Despite all the transfer hoohaa, we do have a lot of options.

 

[Marked Ox]

Haha - just a coincidence then that the turning point of the match (and when Newcastle stopped having “almost complete control of the game”) was what Mackie went off.

I’ll always support him when he’s on the pitch, he should just never be on it.

The turning point was later than that.

 

[Essexyellows]

HOW we play defines WHO we play.

He`s there for a reason be it disruption, experience or leadership, we don`t really know, but he is there for it and does it.

You need options & variety until you have sussed out the opposition.