Gallowgate Toon

We're only afew points away from 5th, Europe isn't that far away.

This.

Why would we buy three players for 10-20m each, all to play in the same position? No, but they would be immense in a 4-3-3.

Sam should never have started Butt imo especially against the likes of Derby, what's the point at home? use Emre and Barton our 2 more attacking Centre mids. Against the Big 4 play Butt as he creates pressure and lifts the crowd, but he leaves holes wide open because he runs around like a headless chicken and today Barnes had so much space to shoot because Nicky was too far away from him.

Criticism is pretty harsh tbh, today how many bad first touches did he have? hardly any that i can think of, in fact this whole season i can only remember one horror first touch that he did. Today he looked disinterested on the right but when he was moved up front with the 4-4-2 he set up our second goal and put emre through, Zoggy through with a back heel and got himself through too but some good defending stopped his shot, and this was all in 15 minutes of being moved up. He's a good striker but not a good right winger. He is not a bad footballer but at the moment he's lacking in confidence but we should be fair he has improved as a player this season, compared to last season. People on this forum are doing what they always do when a player isn't on great form just criticising them making them out to be alot worse than they really are.

1. Van Der Vaart would be excellent, 2. Arshavin would also be very good, 3. i know this last one is pushing the boundaries alot but i'd be ecstatic if Diego joined us.

He ran into blind alleys on a few occasions, and his rating was lowered for some dodgy defending. I've changed the Beye rating though he did have a very good game.

Why swap Barton? For me he was very good today apart from that tackle. I don't think people realise what he does for the team, some of his passing today was brilliant he is always a step ahead which in one or two cases today was apparent. If you watch him closely he is always shouting at players telling them to run into gaps and he is always moving around. We need him in the midfield, without him we would lack vision and finesse in the middle and what's wrong with having a bit of bite? so what, he hacked a player down every midfielder does it. It intimidates the opponent and shows them they aren't going to get past that easily and more importantly allows time for the team to regroup.

A very important result today, and i'm delighted we won. First half we were unlucky to concede, lapse in concentration from Roz. We turned it round though, but in the first half i was worried as for all of our possession and territorial dominance we lacked movement, vision and creativity so i was relieved to see Vid come on for Butt was a good decision imo. After the pen though we had them on the ropes even more and could've got another one in before half time. 2nd half we started off sleepy and inefficiently but after 60 minutes or so, we had them back under pressure and had the game i thought after that then the goal came from Beye with perfect timing. Given - 6.5 - Made a couple of decent saves, lacks some confidence though and its quite evident. Beye - 8 - He is excellent at tracking back and has a good sliding tackle. Godd header at the end too. Roz - 6 - After his early blooper, he became much better won some headers too. Distribution needs work though. Taylor - 7 - Solid performance individually, but he must communicate more with the whole defence. Zoggy - 6.5 - Mixed day for Zog offered a good attacking threat, still shaky defending but he is improving at LB, move him up though for next game, he was born to run at defenders. Geremi - 6.5 - A solid game and very efficient, he does hold our midfield together at times but his work is underestimated. Barton - 7- His vision and anticipation of the game is excellent and his passing is very good too, sometimes he is a bit too ahead of his team mates for example with a long pass to where Milner should have been, but he wasn't. For me a top class player who is always thinking but his rash tackle let him down. Milner - 8 - A typical grinding performance from Jimmy, some good crosses from him and some nice skill, my MOTM. Smith - 6 - Worked hard as ever, some nice short passing but was invisible for alot of the game. Martins - 6.5 - Seemed off the pace but unlike the Arsenal game today he didn't run into blind allies and did the intelligent thing and passed the ball, don't think he likes the right wing very much. Butt - For the time he was on got himself around a bit Viduka - 6 - Looked unfit and strangely his touch was a little off, needs more time to get fit. Emre - 6 - Wasn't on for very long got himself around looked for the ball, His free kick was handballed and decent delivery for Beye's goal. Enrique - Wasn't on long enough to do anything.

He got the assist. Did he even touch it after the Beye cross? He made a nuisance of himself though ill give him that, but in another thread (Post Arsenal thread i think) a poster mentioned he had a poor pass completion rate and if you watch the game again there were countless times he tried to hold up the ball and lost it.

David Bellion, Wes Brown, Kleberson... theres more too i'm sure.

Smith dosent deserve to be dropped Why not give him full 90 minutes tomorrow so he can get a goal and some confidence. Viduka should be our last option in attack. http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/Smileys/Lots_O_Smileys/laughs.gif Even if he dont score a single goal for rest of the season but still plays the passionate style like he did against Arsenal, i still would prefer him instead of Fatman Scoop. Viduka hasnt showed a shiiiit, he just looks fat and tired. wholeheartedly disagree on the viduka comment What kind of a message do we send in this time of revival if we drop or most passionate player though. Unless Smith is really knackered from Wednsday, he has to start. But apart from passion what does Smith offer, come on against Arsenal he wasn't productive at all, quite wasteful at times. A striker with just passion alone doesn't get you goals or create them, its good to play him against Arsenal as they create more space than teams like Brum so you need to defend from the front. Smith is ideal for this role, but Brum we should be in control of the game, with them defending from the front and against teams like this i'd prefer end product over work rate, as its the end product which gets the points. Smith is the best at the club work rate wise but what does he produce? unlike Viduka who in his limited appearances scored goals and will create something, as everyone knows its goals that win you games.

Given Beye Taylor Roz Enrique Geremi Barton Emre Martins Viduka Zoggy Might as well attack, its not as if Birmingham are going to try and bomb down the field. We can afford to have Viduka there tomorrow as Brum will be under the cosh so we need more quality compared to workrate therefore put Viduka instead of Smith. Use our pace too against their relatively slow defence put Zoggy and Martins there and use Barton & Emre's good passing to utilise the pace we have. That defence i feel is strong enough to hold off Brums attack but we must watch their danger man, Kapo. We should win, my guess is a 3-0 win. Martins with 2, Barton with 1.

Harsh on Martins i feel, he did some excellent long passes yesterday, some good skill, nice interchange outside the box, a couple good crosses, a dummy for the goal and a class run leaving half the arsenal side chasing him. He wasn't wasteful at all apart from when he should have passed to Geremi when he was clear through however he was good apart from that plus he was double marked in the second half too by Clichy and Traore(?) which is why he didn't do very much compared to the first half. Also did nobody see his take down from Butts long range pass he had it dead in one go, people need to stop saying his first touch is awful when really its not that bad, not the best touch in the world but certainly not the worst either. Don't forget he is still our top goalscorer this season with 6 goals thats very respectable for how far we are into the season.

Firstly Beye was MOTM today imo, Smith was good but too wasteful. Taylor and Rozy had to be tighter for their goal but both played fairly well. Zoggy well not his position but i can see why Sam put him there to combat their pace. Butt and Geremi broke down Arsenal. As for Geremi being wasteful sorry he wasn't he played well and kept it simple. Barton for me was excellent his game just went unnoticed because of Smith and Beye the way he creates his own space and picks a pass is great. Milner ran his butt off, and gave Sagna a tough time. Smith and Martins showed good signs together, Smith was full of passion yet a little wasteful and Martins had a good first half but a quiet second showed some good vision with nice passes and runs, scared their defence with his pace. Well done lads, and well in Sam.

I'm not annoyed at all tonight, eventhough we lost i couldn't care less because by the sounds of it we gave it a real go. All that matters really, if we keep doing what we did today, but with our strongest defence then the points are bound to come in.

8th and i would be happy with that, shows alot of progress imo.

The Booing today was pathetic and the people singing Big Sam for England are obviously totally inept at understanding football, i wouldnt be surprised if BS left the way our fickle fans have treated him, that would be horrific imo. Theres a bloke sitting behind me who pisses me right off, always on about how Sam hasn't got a clue when he thought Viduka should have gone off Barton. As for SA subs today, they weren't good decisions, but he had valid reasons for his decisions, Zoggy was having an absolute mare and Emre was just running into trouble, in fact i thought Barton was pretty good when he got on. He needs time, and i know we all want instant results but good things come to those who wait, we have to simply accept that BS needs more than 13 games.

Same i was at the game we were meant to get one, but i was late by 2 minutes and they ran out. Still it will be fantastic for our support to get lifted.

Does it matter? everyone knows what he is talking about. Nope not at all, Can someone tell me who the opposition was when we actually got the scarves?

Definately a good idea, should do the atmosphere some good. Also a minor point should it not be scarves?

we finished 3rd, 4th and 5th with Andy O'Brien, let's get him back Teddy Sheringham, been there and done that, let's sign him too Slight difference between O'Brien and Shay tbh. Shay single handedly won us alot of games to get us in that league position mainly thanks to O'Briens and Brambles silly mistakes. theres also a difference between a bit of experience and an OAP, Shay is only 32, Sheringham 41, whats wrong with Shay proving himself as a champions league keeper, as he has done, hence 'been there done that'.

We finished 3rd, 4th and 5th with Shay in net, how can we not get back to that level with him, he has already been there and done that.

Give him a chance, i doubt he has full fitness yet, because it certainly doesnt look like he is fully fit. However he has shown some glimpses of vision and skill, especially for that little intracate one-two with Milner before the goal, and a few passes and tackles spring to mind too.