robbo_11

Sure Breno was going to go to Real Madrid, but there was a discrepancy about his actual age and Madrid wanted him to take a test to prove his age, but he was against this and the move broke down.

He always tries to get sly digs in like after the Wigan game when he said "Obafemi Martins and Jose Enrique walked straight onto the team bus while Milner, Duff and Taylor faced the press".

We played well with a spirited and battling performance against a Chelsea side dangerous on the break. Obviously the second goal should not have stood and once you see it on MoTD tonight it will further infuriate you. My ratings: Given - tested on a few occasions and made numerous good saves - 7 Beye - made a few forward runs and a few defensive clearances. - 6 Taylor - looked our worst defender and was caught out a few times. At fault for the first goal. - 5 Cacapa - was composed and excellent at breaking down Chelsea's attack. Offered excellent cover and able to read the game well. - 8 N'Zogbia - did well and was at the heart at some of our best attacks. Defensively is not the best, but Cacapa helped him out. - 7 Smith - rarely involved in the game - 5 (Rozehnal - looked better at the back - 5.5) Faye - looked impressive at DM and an eye for a through ball. - 8 Butt - played well and broke up Chelsea's attacks efficiently - 6.5 Duff - did well when involved and looks better than last season - 6 (Viduka - n/a) Martins - a few chances, but lacked composure. Improved performance after the half time - 6 (Owen - never really threatened - 5.5)

Kalou was basically in the 6 yard box while our players were on the penalty spot, how it was not given I do not know.

Worst decision ever!! He is miles offside.

Chelsea fans booing Owen. Have played really well and its an open game, still anybodies.

Smith off for Rozehnal

Glorious opportunity, a toe away from taking the lead.

Pizarro for Joe Cole, 4-4-2 Chelsea?

Nearly took Smith's head off!

Might be an OG from Cole. Great play from N'Zogbia and good flick from Martins.

Calm down brother, calm down ... Where's the posession play? the team work? We have 11 individuals out there looking like their playing hide and seek. So unorganized that I'm surprised they even know the names of each other. Posession play against Chelsea? If we try that we're likely to conceed. I don't think they have looked unorganized and the formation has prevented Chelsea from dominating the midfield.

The last chance Martins had he would have had to pull off a Tottenham away strike to score. It wasn't a one on one as the ball was played towards the corner flag. Newcastle haven't played bad, infact the performance has been quite good. Chelsea's goal was fortuitous, but they do look dangerous when attacking down the flanks. Martins should have scored at least one of the two clear chances he had and Duff had the chance to cross early on with his right but didn't. Faye, Cacapa, Butt and Beye (3 of Sam's signings) have all had good games. Smith has rarely been involved as has Duff and Taylor along with Milner have been average.

Looked a blatant obstruction on Martins but he went down to easily.

N'Zogbia had a few more runs forward, has he moved to a Wing back role along with Beye?

Taylor let the ball run across him in the 6 yard box and Essien had an easy finish. Touch of fortune about the goal as it was deflected by Kalou's hand after a mishit from Ballack I think. Taylor was wrong footed but still should have cleared it.

Chelsea increasing the pressure, deflected shot saved well by Given.

Nicky Butt has looked solid in the middle in this opening 20 minutes.

Get the ball forward quick enough and Martins will get behind the back two.

That was awful from Ballack, cleared the stand.

Hilario Belletti Alex Ben-Haim Bridge Essien Ballack Obi Mikel Wright-Phillips Kalou Cole Subs: Sidwell, Pizarro, Sinclair, Ferreira, tbc

Duff - Players must take blame Damien Duff admits that the Newcastle players must take the blame for the club's poor Christmas form. The Magpies have taken just a single point from their two festive games against lowly Derby and Wigan, and have picked up maximum points in only two of their last 10 games. Manager Sam Allardyce looked as though he had silenced the boo-boys when Newcastle put a four-game unbeaten run together, but he was again the target for abuse from the away support during the disappointing 1-0 defeat at Wigan on Boxing Day. Republic of Ireland winger Duff, who has only recently returned to the side after a career-threatening foot injury, believes that the fans should take their frustration out on the players though, not the manager. Blame "We are behind him and we just want to put it right for him. He cannot take all the flak," he said. "We are the ones on the pitch, so don't hammer him, hammer us. "The players have to stand up and be counted as well. "It's a massive club, but you cannot just blame the gaffer. We are the ones out on the pitch, so we are all in it together. "As far as I'm concerned, he's a brilliant manager. I get on great with him. "Up until recently, I was buzzing to get back on the pitch and starting working for him, so from that point of view, he has been great for me. "Now we just need to knuckle down and start getting positive results, because we owe it to him."

They certainly are on the forums: Given = s***, past it, cant save from distance, cant command area Harper = s***, unambitious, lazy Rozehnal = s***, weak, caught out too much Taylor = s***, stupid, slow, wannabe hero Enrique = spanish flop, s*** against Liverpool Geremi = s***, cant do anything, as bad as Faye (Amady) Milner = s***, cant cross, slower than my nan, beats a man too many times, misses sitters Barton = s***, cant pass, gives it away Butt = s***, past it, can't pass it Owen = crock, s*** Smith = s***, only knows how to get booked, cant score, awful midfielder Martins = s***, cant control, thick Viduka = s***, fat, lazy, crock Ameobi = s***, cant do anything at all, controls the ball harder than he shoots Probably a summary of comments you will find from some/the majority (for certain players). Great summary, just shows big sam is doing a cracking job! so surely its a managers and a coaches job to highlight these failings and work on them in training. isnt this the kind of thing we always see them jotting down. For instance, Martins' touch. Surely therefore, they should be concentrating in training to give him 1-2-1 training on improving this. They say Beckham honed his ability for free kicks and dead balls by just kicking ball after ball after ball when training had finished. I would be interested to know if Sam has sat down with Oba and asked him to stay behind to practice controlling balls that are whacked at him. Do this for an hour after training every day and any one of us would improve. Footballers wont look at themselves and admit they have failings. Its the job of the manager to spot the flaws and to help them improve. My guess would be that our players just arent practicing hard enough at what we arent best at. Be most interestd to know if this statement is wrong or not Its an interesting debate. Beckham was motivated enough to stay behind after training to practice his freekicks, whereas forcing a player to stay behind to work on his flaws is not likely to produce beneficial results. A player must be self motivated enough to want to improve their own game. Essentially it comes down to natural ability, but some skills can be learned rather than innate. Skills can be described as OPEN (changing environment) or CLOSED (fixed environment) and iwith football it will be OPEN skills. This is the reason why natural ability is integral and why staying behind after training and having a ball passed to the player 1000 times is not going to improve him. Steiner's model of group productivity: Actual productivity = Potential productivity - losses due to faulty processes. Recent examples are Chelsea and Real Madrid. They have had massive resources to build world class squads, yet for other reason have been unable to perform to their potential. A major reason for Newcastle United to have not performed well in past seasons was injuries. This year the faulty processes is because we have had whole sale changes within a matter of months and there has been no familiarisation between players. Throw in a few indifferent performances from Cacapa (Pompey h), Rozehnal and Barton and the team can't produce to its maximum potential. Social loafing, a performer 'hides' during a match, could be used to describe a few of our players with Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen being examples. For 80 minutes they will hardly be involved in the game, a few touches or occasional run with the ball, but they score a goal every few games and so they are great. They are two terrific players on their day, but have offered little else in recent games they have been involved in.

Great post

I would hope so, whether some players a psychologically capable of being able to handle the pressure is another thing. With Allardyce putting pressure on the players after the Wigan game you would expect a positive response, but it will depend on how they take this deserved criticism. Preparation will have to be similar to the Arsenal game, but after a few games it would lose effect. Hopefully by then the team would be in the norming stage and winning matches. If Barton was to criticise the fans before every game to try and get a reaction like Blackburn away it would end up with the fans turning on him and having the opposite effect with regards atmosphere. There was a positive response from fans for a few games because of the positive response by players after Liverpool. This has slipped in recent games and it is up to players to improve this again with a performance. I think if a manager takes all the pressure like Roeder did towards the end of the reign, it has a negative effect as the players don't respond as much. The mentality of "Oh well its not my job that will be lost". When Given and Harper had to release a statement the players were involved and therefore needed a performance to show all was fine under Allardyce.