Newcastle United fans have had a rough time of it of late when it comes to how pundits perceive their frustration.
Despite fairly decent results, the Toon Army have been left exasperated at times with Steve Bruce's style of play and their side's ambition on the pitch this season.
Bruce was given funds to spend in the transfer market over the summer and has also tied down a number of key players to long-term deals.
On the face of it, things are all right. Newcastle are 13th in the Premier League, eight points clear of the relegation zone and are in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
What's to complain about? Certainly that's the question the likes of Mark Lawrenson, Chris Sutton, Robbie Savage and Tony Pulis were asking when they offered their ill-informed verdicts of the Magpies' season.
Yet the reality for most United fans is different. They have to watch their team week-in, week-out and have seen a team with the fourth worst possession stats in the division (they sat bottom of those standings last season) as well as conceding the most shots of any team in the Premier League.
This is a team that should be moving forwards but are slowly creeping backwards and are built with the ceiling of their ambition being to avoid relegation.
So Newcastle fans would have been heartened to hear the analysis of TalkSPORT presenter Max Rushden earlier this week when he outlined his sympathy for them.
"I think it is interesting with Newcastle and I have slightly changed my tune," Rushden said.
"Steve Bruce is a great bloke and I know that is not what we are judging here but it does make you want someone to be successful.
"If you are Newcastle United with the players you have, well, you are not going to have the ball a lot against better teams because they have better players than you. That is kind of how it works. You have to set up to try and get something.
"But I watched that game against Spurs and, honestly, I thought Newcastle should have said: 'Actually, we don't deserve anything from this game today'.
"I watched another game and it was tiresome. If I did have to watch this every week then I would be a bit sad about it."
