KaKa

It's hard to say until we see what kind of team he puts together over the summer.

We probably could have got someone better, but at the end of the day I honestly feel we got a manager who is better than our previous three.

From that viewpoint I was okay with it.

Is supporting the player not a part of supporting the team? 

I don't recall anyone sayign they hated Newcastle on here, unless of course I missed something.

Martins does really seem to have settled into the North East so well. Really does seem to have a genuine affection for the club, which is really refreshing.

We do need another left back though, we're one injury away from Steven Carr rolling around on his protruding belly back there.

The question is do we get someone to backup Enrique or someone mor eexperienced who can play straight away who Enrique eventually takes over from.

Didn't you say you were with Wes Brown and 'Arry when Wes signed for Pompey in January?

Sort it out fella.

Had Viduka and Martins been left on in the last ten minutes, with Owen vacating, we would have scored two more goals.

Thereby, collecting all three points and improving our goal difference.

Keegan has clearly lost the plot. Does he even have his pro license or badges?

Incidentally, anyone notice how monsieur HTT  lies low for a few days anytime Oba has a decent outing?

Probably concocting a new theory to dispell every good thing the guy did yesterday.

I don't know about this guy but I've had the feeling since KK returned that it was a temporary job until the summer.  It aint based on any facts or evidence just my own gut feel the way KK has been since he came back - it has a really temporary feeling about it.

Nah ... couldn't see it.

No room upstairs anyway.

KaKa viewing the thread, here we go.

Twat.

Why don't you all stop moaning about people praising Martins. People go on about how unintelligent he is and how poor his footballing brain and his touch and movement are just as much also, and that is just as annoying.

When he does well it is only fair that he gets his dues, even if slightly overboard. The guy made a huge difference yesterday and will continue to do so. I don't feel like we will struggle to create chances to score as well as score goals when he starts games.

I always felt Enrique got way too much heat for punting the ball upfield as there are never any options available to him.

On the odd occassion when options are available he has shown the ability to play little one twos and get forward for sure.

I would say that Faye has not looked great all for a few weeks and last night was a shocker for him, his ability to clear the ball from danger is weak and for a big guy he is poor in the air.

 

I never make knee jerk reactions to football, I am as emotional about Newcastle as the next man but, I have been around long enough to remain phylosophical, I feel that I am very forgiving to players having a "bad day" but, Faye has never looked comfortable on the ball to me and in recent weeks he has got worse.  Confidence is a problem for him.

 

Cacapa is great on the ball (most of the time) and has a decent turn of pace for an older player but, Diatta is captain of Senegal and has played with Beye numerous times meaning that it would make sense to look seriously at giving him a go with Taylor.  Taylor needs a strong partner to lead him, if he is confident in his partner at the centre of defence Taylor seems to play a lot better himself.

 

Wait ... so you think Faye  has never looked comfortable on the ball and has a confidence problem, but you think he should be dropped while Taylor remains in the team 

Multiply those problems you have identified in Faye by a million and that is Taylor, so if anything Taylor should be the one heading to the bench.

Henry is an absolutely awful character. Never happy and always moaning, and when the going gets tough he moans at his own teammates too.

He whinged about Arsenal not having enough top players but look where they are, and he has run off to Barcelona to be with all his top players and they aren't doing all that great anyway.

He also has some serious back issues too.

We ought to be looking at upcoming players and not this bitter man who is on his way down.

Heres to a bid for Benzema!

Just to add ...

Only in situations where we cannot find any decent prem experienced players would I expect us to get in players from abroad, especially concerning our defence.

I'm not having a go at Keegan either. I think Brown and Riise are alright as long as other defenders are brought in also.

Calm down Dave! Goodness.

Keegan talked a fair bit about having players with premiership experience in January, and so I would expect him to continue to go after such players in the summer.

Why does that make me mental?

Read Keegans comments on the official site (or was it in the Journal), and he said that it was 433 and that Owen was told to drop a little deeper.

If that is indeed the case then that is good news for sure, and I hope we then continue to work on this formation in training and try and push on with it and get some consistency.

Keegan is sound but he along with others before him seems to suffer from the big man + little man syndrome.

And in my humble opinion ...

if big man + little man = Newcastle upfront.

then little man = Martins.

Well I really hope that is indeed the case and we see something similar to the second half the rest of the way then.

On this one occassion I would love to be wrong, as I am a bit worried that with yesterday's lineup we didn't really seem to have a set of strikers 100% certain of their positons and roles upfront.

It seems as though people are convinced the 4-33- was planned, but I'm not so sure.

It just looked like Martins decided to stop playing out wide in the second half because he wanted to try and score to get us back in the game.

I didn't one time see Owen or Viduka drifting wide right as you would expect the other wide forward to do.

Wes Brown would be good but I would like him in along with someone else.

Wes Brown alongside Taylor or Faye and I'm not sure if that would be enough to improve us back there.

Well it didn't look like a 4-3-3 to me at all.

Geremi was clearly wide right all the time with Beye, Owen never came out wide and neither did Viduka.

Martins joined in through the middle and Enrique didn't have any support wide left and so for the most part kept punting it up the pitch.

That was what the second half looked like.

In the first half however, Martins was out wide the majority of the time and I didn't see anything happening upfront between Viduka and Owen. We had one shot on goal the whole of the first half!

Certainly looked like Martins just decided to stay through the middle in the second half to me.

If it was a 4-3-3, which striker was playing wide right then? Certainly not Owen or Viduka.

I'm concerned about our formation to say the least.

We have one left back at the moment and so I wouldn't see this as the end of Enrique, but rather some competition.

Not that many great left backs out there, but if Keegan wants an attacking left back who is built for the premiership, with a shot even more venomous than Riise's then he should be ringing up Marseille pronto for Taye Taiwo.

However, I fully expect this from Keegan. The old premiership experienced spiel will be replayed over and over again this summer.

Expect the likes of Riise and Wes Brown for sure.

Unfortunately, both Sam and Keegan seem to want to play a bigger striker up front, so it does seem as though it will be a case of either Martins or Owen.

Keegan went with a 4-4-2 yesterday with Martins on the left and it was poor in the first half, as Oba stayed wide.

In the second half, due to his frustration with our poor play and the fact we were getting beat, Martins basically decided to play upfront with Viduka and Owen, and didn't stay wide at all. It led to us getting a goal back, but then we started losing shape and so Keegan took off Martins.

At no point was it Keegans intention to play a 4-3-3.

Therefore, if Martins stays out wide does the second 45 minutes then resemble the first 45? Would we then have folded as per usual?

I was happy/relieved by the result yesterday, but I am worried that the formation didn't really work till Martins essentially decided to vacate his position, which Keegan didn't appear to want him to do. If Martins didn't do it though, I think we would have played like we did in the first half and lost.

So yes, Keegan ought to pay Martins and Owen, but he will want either Viduka or Smith up there with one of them, and for me it has to be Martins.

Simple.

Quote from: KaKa on Today at 12:32:32 AM

If Keegan wanted another body in midfield he should have taken off Owen.

 

 

Take the one player off who looked capable of troubling their keeper....fantastic logic.

 

You really are a f*ckwit aren't you?

Oh yeah, because Martins didn't look capable of troubling the keeper right?

What a stupid thing to say! Actually Martins looked more capable of troubling the keeper than Owen did.

Stop making stuff up in your head man.

His touch was good, his passing was sharp and he absolutely flew past defenders on a couple of occassions, as well as making some decent runs.

I maintain there is an even better player in there than what we have seen so far, and I really hope we stay up and we keep him and find him a decent strike partner not named Owen.

If Keegan wanted another body in midfield he should have taken off Owen.