The fans continue to question the 4-5-1 formation at St James' Park, but Kevin Nolan says playing him behind Andy Carroll is stiil the way forward.
As for him saying “Manchester United and Chelsea play like it at home" ... I don't know what games he has been watching but ... I DON'T THINK SO!
We played Blackpool at St James' Park four months ago - with TWO strikers (Carroll and Lovenkrands) - and we took them to the cleaners.
NEWCASTLE 4 BLACKPOOL 1 (Gutierrez, Carroll, Nolan, Routledge)
Harper, Kadar (Ryan Taylor 37), Williamson, Coloccini, Simpson (Ameobi 75), Routledge, Guthrie, Nolan (Barton 69), Gutierrez, Carroll, Lovenkrands.
Kevin Nolan: “People make a massive thing about it, but every Premier League team play like this.
“Manchester United and Chelsea play like it at home, so why can’t Newcastle play it at home?
"Why are we always a 4-4-2 side? I’ve never understood why Newcastle have to play two up front.
“We’ve got two wingers who ran riot in the first half (against Stoke). Even when we put Shola (Ameobi) on in the second half, it didn’t change anything.
“We’ve got to be adaptable and I think we are. We can play different formations, but we’re living in an era and a league of 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 if you like.
“You know, last week we were brilliant at Everton and nobody moaned about playing 4-5-1 then.
“We started off well against Stoke in a 4-5-1, but we let sloppy goals in and suddenly the formation is being questioned. The formation wasn’t the problem, the little mistakes at set-pieces were the problem. They were costly.
“We have to keep looking at the bigger picture. We’re in a new league and we’re a new Newcastle if you like, and we will keep working towards our aims.
“We’re there or thereabouts at the moment. We know we could have had more points on the table and we probably should have more points on the table if you look at the games we have lost at home, but that’s what this league does to you.
“I’m sure we will win games we probably don’t deserve to along the way. We’ve already lost games we should have won, but that’s why the Premier League is so punishing. We’ve got to look forward now and get on with it.
“It’s another setback at home, but that is all it is, a setback. Obviously we wanted to continue from the two great results we’ve had away from home, we wanted to keep the ball rolling.
“We’ve come unstuck because of two badly defended set-pieces. That has to be a massive lesson for us to learn because we cannot afford to give goals away as sloppy as that.
“We’d been working on that all week, they didn’t come with any surprises. We controlled the game for long periods and then we got sloppy at the back.
“We gave them more set piece opportunities than we would have liked and they punished us. We were very sloppy and by our standards, it wasn’t good enough.
“We’ve got to make sure we learn from it because a lot of teams will come here looking to do the same. We can’t get away from the fact that, no matter how well we have played, we’ve been beaten twice at home now.
“Teams will look to absorb the pressure here and attack us through set-pieces. It’s a harsh lesson, but we have to take it on board quickly.”