Gallowgate Toon

If Oba aint' available then it has to be a straight swap for Loven, we need pace it's a necessity in today's game.

Although Carroll played well, I think a lot of credit has to go to Jonas cause we seemed a lot sharper when he came on, shame it was Guthrie that was taken off for him.

seems strange as to why he'd pull out when he didn't miss the game, he was in the stands.

 

Chances are we were down there last night so he'd hardly travel back by himself.

I know but what's the gain from that? I'd be more suspicious of feigning if he'd missed it altogether but on the day? Very strange indeed.

seems strange as to why he'd pull out when he didn't miss the game, he was in the stands.

I feel sorry for him like i do with many other players when they come here claiming this is their big move, especially as there looked to be a realistic chance we might actually push for Europe this season. Must make him sick seeing Depor only 5 points from the Champions League spot and we're 3 points from safety, could be the reason for his poor form tbh.

I'd like to see Nolan play alongside someone other than Nicky Butt before i make a real judgement on him.

Terrible couple of errors from Colo leading to the first goal, but i put the blame squarely on Duff for playing the ball back into the center when it was safe out on the wing. Duff just took the easy route when he was pressured, and he didn't even try to work the ball up the line. Duff - turn left - blocked, turn right - blocked. No worries, lets just hook in back into the top of the Penalty Area and let the D figure it out.  My U13s would have got a right earfull -had they made that mistake.

 

Shocking defensive work from Colo, but an incredibly stupid move from Duff.

 

Jesus christ.  One of the most ridiculous posts I've ever read on on this forum.  Well done.

 

Coloccini makes 2 glaring errors, yet it's all Duff's fault for playing it simple.  I feel sorry for the kids you manage.

 

I already said that Colo made dreadfull errors, but the ball was safe out on the touchline, and instead was hooked into the top of the Penalty area. One bounce (and a poor touch) and the Anelka was all over Colo.

 

If you think "playing it simple" means putting the ball into a dangerous area in such a way that it requires a one-time hoofing clearance than I'm glad you're not coaching my kids.  That's an even dumber a statement than you think mine was.

 

The way the ball came in to Colo (in hindsite) he should have hoofed it out of there, instead took a touch, bobbled it and then was in deep ****.

 

I expect more from both players.....better control and touch from Colocini and not passing the ball into dangerous places.

It's hard to disagree with some of what was said there, Duff could clearly see that Anelka was running at Colo before he even passed the ball, so it was stupid to play it back.

It's a shame really because he'd been having a very good game before the mistake and it would have been interesting to see people's reactions had he not done it. He in general plays a lot better without Bassong, it's just a little too late atm because he's lost so much confidence.

Taylor looked canny in his first few games imo, agree that since the Man U game he's gone down a lot. Nolan meh, he's better than Butt cause he can pass but he's not better than Barton or Guthrie.

Nolans been shocking since he signed. It's hard to think of anything positive he's contributed.

I still think i'd rather see him and Guthrie start next game over Butt, who in my opinion put in one of the worst performances i have ever seen yesterday.

I think the hesitancy in distribution was more down to our tactics of containing Chelsea and not potentially getting ripped a new one if we stretched the game.

Thought we did well in the 1st half and I don't believe that it was a coincidence that Duff's arrival on the field signalled the team's surrender.

 

Duff was abysmal.

 

He did his usual trick of standing on the byline waiting for the ball, very rarely trying to find some space.  He was woeful tracking back, often leaving Enrique exposed as he slowly trotted back after losing possession.  Duff was that bad during the game that I half wish we'd brought Smith on instead since he'd have actually tried.

 

Taylor was crap, just crap.  His set pieces were a complete waste of time, his passing was poor and his marking was often non-existent.

 

I didn't think that Martins was anywhere nearly as bad as some people have made out, he had a couple of chances but he needs about 5 good chances to score anyway, had the midfield managed to produce more opportunities then I'm sure that he and Owen would have had done better.

 

Owen looked far more interested in the game than he's looked for months but once the supply dried up in the 2nd half he was largely ineffective.

 

I'm not sure what was going on when we should have been counterattacking, but on a number of occasions when Harper picked up the ball we'd have 7 players on the edge of our own box and they'd all be slowly jogging out.  The midfielders should have been charging up the field to try and start an attacking move.

 

Our problems are all largely in the midfield, they don't create enough chances and they don't break up play well enough when required.  It's been the same since Sir Bobby left but no one has really managed to deal with the problems there.

Agree with the last line, when Guthrie came on we looked so much better. Butt and Nolan yikes, they got over run by a more athletic midfield yesterday, their marking was abysmal.

Imho we were more creative and played better against arsenal and yesterday i saw zero improvement and those players looked like they were playing for Hughton and not a new manager and that worries me more than anything with the games coming up.

I honestly think the pressure got to them yesterday though, they were built up to start playing like a CL team, no wonder they flattered to deceive. Stoke will be a much better indication of how the team reacts to Shearer.

Absolutely no point in dropping Martins, otherwise we're as slow as shite and we'll never win (1 in 23 if you need more convincing) and secondly there's no point in playing them physically we don't have the players. Ball on the deck, straight to feet playing Owen and Martins behind and we'll get a result we have to play to our strengths, although Caroll is tall he's remarkably shit at headering the ball and never wins them so there's no point in the 'big man little man'.

He was class against Man City home, the best defenders performance i've seen this season, and bar the goal against Everton i remember Lien saying he looked our best player. Away to Chelsea him and Bassong were both good. People are being fickle really and totally forgetting that he was pretty damn good for the first couple of months, especially considering circumstances.

Colo's confidence has dropped dramatically, that is obvious and imo it's because of the way he's been told to defend. He isn't a sweeper, he's a front line defender and before everyone starting bumming Bassong that was the way Colo was playing and he was playing it well. Bassong came in though and Colo gets moved to a sweeper role and since then it's been downhill. Yesterday bar the goal, Colo imo was having a good game, he hadn't put a foot wrong until the mistake (which Duff is avoiding a lot of blame for here), he looked good, he was the leader and Beye was the sweeper, he looked a bit more confident.

He probably does need a rest he's played every game for the last 2 seasons and lets not forget how demanding this league is to a new player. Like Rich said you don't lose ability and quality you lose form and confidence, and Colo has a chronic case of that. He just needs time, but all these people who want to see Taylor at CB be warned you'll end up more disappointed than you are now, he might look alright at RB but that's easy compared to CB.

He put a canny good one in yesterday with his right.

Can we put to bed the myth that Martins is a good Premiership player now? He's a one trick pony, said trick being able to rip the back of the net out every half a dozen games with a thunder bolt. We need more than that from him but his lack of a first touch, a footballing brain or the ability to finish means he's never going to be the 15-20 goal a season striker we need him to be. I know he's the darling of some of our fans because he's a bit quirky and seemingly gives his all but he's not good enough. We should've sold him to Arsenal when we had the chance.

 

I'm sharp running out of patience with Colo too. When he came he looked decent but he makes glaring error after glaring error. Even more irritating is that he was a brilliant little player in Spain but he can replicate his form here. I hope Shearer gets on the pitch and roughs him up a bit because at the minute he couldn't take an elbow off Alison Lapper never mind a Premiership striker. I never thought i'd say this but Saylor is a better option in the middle at this moment in time.

 

Ryan Taylor and Kevin Nolan are f***ing atrocious footballers. Watching those two saunter around the pitch makes me feel throughly ripped off. I'd rather have a huffy N'Zogbia than those two any day of the week.

 

Stoke is crucial. A win would be nice but we need at least a draw and to put in a decent performance otherwise we're going to struggle to stay in touch with the Mackems.

 

I actually agree with that. I love Oba but I'm getting increasingly frustrated with his inconsistency. The lads got a fantastic pair of springs in his legs, blistering pace, two good feet, a thunderbolt of a shot and a good header. So, those said ingredients are a fantastic combination to have a top class striker- but the more I see Martins play, the less I think he is, or will be a top class striker. Like, how many times have we seen Oba use his pace to get in behind defenders and set himself through on goal? Not near enough. Some might argue that we dont give him good enough service but I'd disagree. If he had a real football brain then he'd do this more often and he'd be unstoppable!

Now, he can come up with those moments of glory when your least expecting it and win you the game but those moments are few and far between.

 

I'm not going to go into a big f*** off rant about the lad now, I'll do that some other time, but I do agree with David Icke.

I'm going to disagree with the bit in bold because Oba's record has been near 1 in 2 this season (7 in 17 iirc) that can't be the sign of a poor standard footballer. And when you consider the games of match fitness recovery etc then i think you're being a little harsh. Nobody played well today everybody looked extremely edgy and tense.

Didn't think the performance was all that bad really. Thought Michael and Oba did pretty well when given the opportunity. Seen there's been quite a bit of vitriol toward the two of them, which honestly has surprised me. Neither was one of our main problems and both managed to threaten Chelsea's defence a few times. Thought the midfield 4 put in a good shift against a vastly superior group of players. I think Guthrie really has potential to be a class player if we can keep him around. The defensive performance is typical of the way the defence has performed all season. They were doing a good job, and doing fairly easily as well. Really keeping Chelsea at bay. Then, one error, and it all goes to hell. Something is seriously wrong with Coloccini mentally. He has talent, but his confidence is shattered. You could tell this by how much worse he played AFTER his initial error. That whole Boumsong syndrome seems to affecting him, and that's not something we can afford. Really a shame we couldn't get even a point from the Man U, Arsenal, and Chelsea matches as we've been competitive in all three.

 

I'd agree that the overall performance was better than most people are saying here. The players looked more relaxed and positive and I think that's down to Shearer. I also thought that, after the goals went in, it was notable that the heads didn't drop and we kept going. We lost because they're better than we are.

 

We were getting the ball forward a lot quicker, and cutting out the timid passing that's only designed to keep possession. It didn't always come off, but at least the players looked like they knew what they were supposed to do. It looked like a team effort all round.

 

Colo was at fault in both goals but shouldn't shoulder the entire blame. Duff put him in a bit of trouble for the first, and the second was mainly caused by Beye losing his header and exposing Taylor two on one. In general though, he's not looked strong enough for the Premiership all season. Beye did better than I was expecting at CB and I imagine he'll keep his place there and Colo will be replaced by Bassong or Steven Taylor when either are fit.

 

Having watched the game, I actually feel more positive about avoiding the drop. There will be a lot of negative headlines because of the result, but Shearer has to keep them confident.

Really, i thought we played horribly today. We created nothing and defended ok until the hour mark, which seems to be the story of our season. To me the players bottled it, maybe they felt that all the attention Shearer got was being put onto them and they were being made out by a lot of the media and fans to play like a CL side all of a sudden or maybe they just weren't used to the atmosphere. Speaking of the atmosphere i found it very tense, like an air of expectancy around the place that never quite materialised.

We looked so much better when Guthrie came on but i'd rather have seen Nicky Butt taken off.

I'm going to take a gamble here and blame Al for the loss today. I haven't seen his interview but i read here on via a previous post that he said he didn't want to play too open so we wouldn't be destroyed. In a way it makes sense because it's his first game etc don't want to get trounced but if he'd been watching close enough this season he'd have seen that we've played well when we've gone at the top 4 opposition bar Liverpool. We can't afford to play it safe anymore it's either cut your losses and go for it or you're screwed tbh.

I know we won't probably go down and that Al was the right choice imo but i fear a little bit that if his tactic today was to play it safe, what will he do for the away games like Stoke?

Was a lifeless display tbh. The players looked like rabbits in headlights and it turned out to ne a real anti-climax. Nicky Butt was dire and I'd much rather see Nolan with Guthrie who looked good when he came on. Duff was shocking, that is all.

Thought he was playing well today apart from the mistake, he wasn't at fault for the 2nd either. The first goal came from todays big problem, the midfield, Butt and Nolan were abysmal, the worst CM pairing i've ever witnessed.

It's different when the player loves the club imo, because other great players i.e Roy Keane don't put their heart and soul into it because they love their other club too much, and they're waiting for the opportunity to take that one over instead. Recent history suggests that a Newcastle man is the only one that can really manage the team.

I wouldn't mind Oba taking pens when he's scoring goals regularly, but when he hasn't scored for a couple of months he's the last person i'd want to take one.

It's strange how much things have chnaged when you read the first few pages of this...

http://www.deportivo-la-coruna.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6227&highlight=coloccini

One of the worst performances I've seen from a centre-back in a long time. Bramble and Boumsong esque at their worst would describe his "effort" yesterday. He was like a headless chicken and constantly ball watched and once again which is becoming a weekly routine of his he left his position time and time again, hence several blocks by the right-back (Taylor) who seeing a gap in the centre (reading the game) moved over to cover. My initial opening post was a knee-jerk reaction to a few poor performances admittedly but even then I saw enough chinks in his game to foresee what we are all starting to see now. Taylor gets an awful lot of stick on here and often rightly so due to his previous but he is a better defender than Colo and much less of a liability. He is a soft touch in all areas of his game and it infuriates me when he turns his back on the man or ball, constantly backs off and ball watches and then turgidly tries to get back or cover.

 

He was taking the piss after his mistake in trying to rally others. If I were Harper I would have slapped him in the dressing room for trying to play-off-side when he was at least several feet behind his fellow defenders, something which Harper noticed with a few "what the f*** are you doing" looks. Indeed. An unmitigated flop thus far and our weakest link in defence. Hopefully Beye will regain some sharpness and the two mugs on the touchline will see some sense and play him in Colo's place, keeping Taylor at right-back who hasn't put a foot wrong since moving there.

 

Rubbish and how short you rmemory is. A few good games by Taylor and a few bad games by Coloccini and the former is suddenly a better defender.  You need to cast your memory to some of the goals we conceded earlier in the season to make a better comparision. Yes Taylor has been good in the last couple of games and Yes Colo has been off form, but to say that Taylor is the better player overall is laughable

 

Colo is weak as piss in the air, in the tackle and at marking players and backs off constantly, ball watches and drops far too deep, often while his fellow defenders are trying to hold their line or trying to play off-side, so yeah Taylor who is good in the air, strong in the tackle, isn't a soft touch physically and who can read play (covering for Colo for example when he goes on his constant walk-about) is a better defender and with it not as much of a liability.

 

As for a few bad games... he's been piss poor all season except for one or two decent games. Nearly every forward he has faced, has given him a tough time. He was absolutely shocking yesterday and showed zero heart on several occasions, turning his back on the man or ball like a tart.

 

I noticed after the break he put his body in the way a few times, something must have been said in the dressing room and rightly so. Harper looked furious with him several times throughout the match.

The last line i agree with, he was much improved for the first fifteen minutes of the half until the 2nd goal.

I think it was interesting how he changed after half time. He came out and until the 2nd goal went in, he was looking pretty good he made some very good interceptions, won some headers against Bendtner and he looked more confident without Bassong, after the second though his head totally dropped like everyone else's.

I don't think it is as much Bassong that is making him play badly but perhaps the way he's being told to defend, it's very possible that Hughton and co. have been asking him to defend a particular way when partnering Bassong. Colo doesn't look like a sweeper to me, he's very much a front line defender, he'll nick the ball head on from a runner and make interceptions and will challenge for headers etc and he did this a lot pre-christmas. Yesterday he seemed to perform this role again after half time and he looked totally different. I think there's a lot more to this than meets the eye with this as he seemed to have settled well at the beginning when he was the 'main' defender but has gone downhill since then.

Some of Taylor's heroics yesterday however prove that the goal against Bolton was his fault. When Arshavin was clean through and Taylor blocked it from the RB position, that's exactly what he should have done with Gardner.

 

And the Setanta commentator Burley? proved that's what Taylor should have done with the comment to do with Gael Clichy 'that's exactly what a fullback should do, be fully aware of runners, not be on their heels watching play from the side instead tracking runs to prevent goals'.

He was probably talking about leftbacks tucking in to track runs down the left, not rightbacks running across the central defence to track runs down the opposite flank.

No because it was when Clichy blocked Lovenkrands who was on the right side of the penalty area, which is the opposite side he was meant to be defending on.

Again, I'm not defending his performances of late but some people seem to have a problem appreciating not everyone's career starts with NUFC. Coloccini was quality for Deportivo and Argentina, that makes it even worse for me to be honest, as he's more of a disappointment.

Was he?

 

 

Was he not?

Coloccini was an absolute beast for Depor especially in his last 2 seasons. Last season gets a special mention because he was brilliant.

In what way was he beast? Was he making thunderous challenges? Was he dominating opponents in the air? Was he commanding the back four with his lovely perm?

Yes.