Golfmag

Thought we really bottled it in the last half hour. Played as if we were happy with a point, wouldn't be surprised if Kinnear is chuffed he got one. I clearly watched a different last half hour to you two.

Funny that because I watched the game and Jonas ran rings around Hull in the second half, put some dangerous balls into the box with one being chested down by Duff for Owen to fire over from 8 yards out. Strange to see you moaning about midfielders creating much when you were a massive fan of Milner and Parker.

I watched it and I would give Jonas 8. Oh, and in terms of creating nothing, he created two gilt-edged chances for Carroll. Still, lets not let the facts get in the way of prejudice.

Can I ask what Duff did (other than being unpopular) to deserve a 4? He lost the ball almost every time and he didn't put in a good cross all game. That is just not true.

It really wasnt that bad. And i'm not shy slagging performances and players when they dont produce. Was a good entertaining game. In the league, I'd have been happy with the result, but as a cup tie, I felt Kinnear has missed a great chance to try and win it. Aye, he wasnt particularly adventerous. Maybe Kazenga could have come on for one of the central midfielders. Overall though I think Kinnear will spout the "happy to put the Liverpool game behind us....put in a good shift....pleased to get them back to St James'" And he would be right.

I don't know what he's thinking. I honestly didn't see the early games when Xisco was playing, so I can't comment on how he looked, but it's absolute madness to not put him on today, considering that he has scored goals for us. He can't be that bad in training can he? I never saw him play in Spain but he was shocking in his few appearances for us in September. Agreed

That is incredibly unfair imo and I was (am) at the game. I give credit to Kinnear for a positice selection, and for his tactics, and to the team for attacking whenever they could. Bassong, Given and Jonas superb, Guthrie too until he faded. Butt now so slow as to be a real liability. Defence looks a zilion times better with Bassong part of it. Ref wasn't perfect and Owen looked like he was denied a stonewall penalty but generally ref stood up to horrible, wingeing, fouling Hull. i couldn't watch them every week and without Geovvani, they would be f....d. I now also understand why Guthrie lost his temper with Fagan at SJP. Pretty impressive performance all in all imo. I think we could have made a much better fist of winning the game with Kazenga, Xisco or Geremi thrown in during the latter stages. I understand the point but we were almost completely on top for the last 20 minutes (apart from the last 3 minutes of the game) and were virtually attacking at will anyway.

That is incredibly unfair imo and I was (am) at the game. I give credit to Kinnear for a positice selection, and for his tactics, and to the team for attacking whenever they could. Bassong, Given and Jonas superb, Guthrie too until he faded. Butt now so slow as to be a real liability. Defence looks a zilion times better with Bassong part of it. Ref wasn't perfect and Owen looked like he was denied a stonewall penalty but generally ref stood up to horrible, wingeing, fouling Hull. i couldn't watch them every week and without Geovvani, they would be f....d. I now also understand why Guthrie lost his temper with Fagan at SJP. Pretty impressive performance all in all imo. Forgot to add that on most other days, Owen would have taken at least one of those chances and that you can like or not like Duff, but he did not deserve a 4. Rest assured that if we drive him out of the club like we did Parker, then lots of other Premiership Ccubs will be happy to take him.

That is incredibly unfair imo and I was (am) at the game. I give credit to Kinnear for a positice selection, and for his tactics, and to the team for attacking whenever they could. Bassong, Given and Jonas superb, Guthrie too until he faded. Butt now so slow as to be a real liability. Defence looks a zilion times better with Bassong part of it. Ref wasn't perfect and Owen looked like he was denied a stonewall penalty but generally ref stood up to horrible, wingeing, fouling Hull. i couldn't watch them every week and without Geovvani, they would be f....d. I now also understand why Guthrie lost his temper with Fagan at SJP. Pretty impressive performance all in all imo.

Caddyshack

My Spanish ex-Santander player mate said WHEN we signed him that he is a good player but not physical enough for the Premiership......

My mate in Spain who used to play for Santander said when we signed Colo and Jonas, that we would love Jonas because he runs forward and back all day and that Colo is a good player but not physical enough for England. I repeat that he said this when we signed them, not after, and I think he has been pretty much spot on.

Spot on, word for word. Duff and Owen deserved more than 3 each.

That bassong sending off wasn't a split second decision. Go and see the incident before commenting, you little prick. Don't see the need to be personal and actually I do think that managers use referees far too often to mask the inadequecies of themselves/their players. However you are dead right on your point, it wasn't a split-second decision in this case and I was sitting with the Wigan fans about 5 yards from where it all happened.

Just back from the match and have only read the last few posts: - Duff did play well. Fact. Actually, It's not a fact, it's just my opinion and it needs further clarification, because that did look a very good chance he missed in injury time. - Can't quite believe the Jonas feedback. I feel priviledged watching that man play for us. Didn't have a great second half but was a class act in the first. As per usual. - I told my daughter before the game that Mike Dean is one of our better referees, but that was one of the worst refereeing performances I think I have seen. That's why we lost the game today, not because of some of the stuff I've read here. - Oh, almost forgot, Butt WAS almost unbeliveably poor today. A mixture of no pace and poor distribution that had to be seen to be believed makes him a real libaility.

Stopped reading after that. The Independent's article similarly starts with "Michael Owen plunged Newcastle United into further chaos yesterday when he gave the clearest signal yet that he will be leaving the club in the summer." Eight games is a fair number to judge, so lets look at the last eight. Top of the Table pundit-darlings Liverpool FC Won 3 Drawn 4 Lost 1 Scored 12 Conceded 6 Team "Chaos" (NUFC) Won 3 Drawn 4 Lost 1 Scored 12 Conceded 7 No one in the press will ever make the comparison, but Man U spunked a bigger fortune on Owen Hargreaves who has started all of sixteen games in one and a half seasons. Of course, he's been injured and in their minds, that's just desperately bad luck. Liverpool paid double what Robbie Keane was worth, and Chelsea, well take your pick. The obvious one is Shevchenko. Good post.

I didn't know whether to give Enrique a 4 or an 8 for how he handled Lennon yesterday. My only real conclusion at this stage is that Enrique is bloody quick for a full back, particulalry one who doesn't look like he's going to have pace.

Kinnear's fault that the linesman and ref made an appalling decision for the free-kick of course.

Harsh to the point of being ridiculous. Whats harsh? I watched all 90 minutes of that drivel. I guess you were set with an internet stream. Yeah..I watched it on this internet stream which just so happens to be 100 percent legitimate and legal But I still watched all 90 minutes. don't know how that prevents me from doing so in all honesty. I think all your ratings are too low. Even the simple things of giving Cacapa and Viduka 3's are just spiteful, nasty, and wrong. The rating of N'Zogbia being higher than Owen, Oba, and Jonas tells me that if you were at the match, you were sitting behind a pole or something. He deserves a pole stuck up him for those ratings.

For Christ sake, if everthing post half time is Kinnear's fault, then following the same logic, he derserves for the way he set up the team in the first half and the way they played. Oh, and following the same logic. presumably Kinnear is reponsible for Guthrie's injury. I'm as disappointed as everyone else with the second half display but get some bloody perspective (unbeaten in four) and give Kinnear some bloody credit. Even Southgate of the smogs said today that we are far better organised since his arrival.

That's the first sensible post I've read in the last few pages, aside from the last sentance, as I'll reserve judgement on the substitutions until I've heard Kinnear's explanations. I don't know how many of you were there, but we were as good in the first half as we were bad in the second. Bottom line, imo, is that we wouldn't have lost that match if Guthrie hadn't been injured. ps Beye and Jonas were just sublime in the fist half.

Jonas 8, Zog 5 - which game did you watch? He probably saw the whole game Still I'd agree they shouldn't be that far apart, they had pretty similar performances really. To be fair to him he only really started to struggle once the fog rolled in on his corner of the pitch. Just my opinion but I would stand by those marks and I saw the whole game. Zog is a liability on far more occasions than he is an asset, He loses the ball time and time again, whereas Jonas beats his man more often, particulalry in tight spaces, virtually never gives the ball away and tracks back better. Zog can only beat a man where he has space and can use his pace. The one time he did this well today, he hit a very weak shot, when a pass to Owen would have led to a goal.

I agree. Granted, there are times when you would like to see him come out more, but when he does his catching or punching are invariably faultless.

Watching it, I really thought he was the best player on the pitch, apart from bloody Downing.

Given 7 Enrique 4 Beye 6 (Downing MOTM imo) Colo 7 Bassong 8 Gurthrie 6 Butt 6 Zog 5 Jonas 8 Martins 7 - Like Kinnear but that was a terrible decision taking him off Owen - 6 - no service Viduka - 5