Middlesbrough 2 - 2 Newcastle - 26/08/07 - Post match reaction from page 18

[Guest Hodgson09]

I was disappointed with the way we played, and would like to see us start with something different a 4-4-2 would be nice as the 4-3-3 seems to smell of "I'll fit as many of my strikers as possible on the field" mentality. Martins/Owen and Viduka/Ameobi depending on who is in form.

 

Butt has been disappointing IMO some weak square passes etc that annoyed me a bit. The midfield has really not created a thing to speak of, really frustrating to watch, and I hope it changes when Barton and Emre are fit. Smith was non existent, I didn't even notice he was playing.

 

If Ramage is thinking why me in regards to his injury well I know I was thinking break your leg everytime he came near the ball, he is a terrible player.

 

What was everyones opinions on the linesmen? I thought they got Midos goal wrong, it was offside in my interpretation of the rule.

 

It was nice to see Mike Ashley watching us in a toon top no suits for him it seems.

 

Early days yet Allardyce is still new in this relationship with Newcastle and whoever was expecting instant success needs their head examined. 

Glad to be undefeated, would have loved three points but we didn't deserve it.

 

This is a major overhaul of a stale depressing squad it will take time to get it right.

 

Howay the lads.

[Guest Pie]

To be honest I like that we're now harder to beat. As people have already pointed out you can't expect us to be amazing going forward with three defensive midfielders (and that's all we have available to us at this point). With Cacapa and Rozehnal in the centre, Enrique coming in at left back with Zoggy being pushed further forward combined with the return of Emre, Barton and hopefully a rejuivanted Duff and Owen our team will look a lot more exciting in future.

 

I like the fact that Sam says he's gonna have to be active in the market. Hopefully a new right back .

 

I agree with that.

 

I am not really that unhappy at how things are as they are partly down to circumstances. Still it shows that we are still lacking depth (and of course quality) in the creative department. The only thing I don't understand is why a player like Solano isn't considered at all at the moment (he is still our player).

Seems like we have resigned ourselves to the fact he is leaving. He is the only (fit and available) winger we have with the ability to create something.

[stozo]

N'Zogbia did one thing that Miulner didn't do today and that was concede a goal. Zog stood their in the middle of the penalty area for the 2nd goal with nobody aorund him and didn't bother to close down the ball.

[Guest bluegeordie]

For mine, and for the second game running, our midfield looked totally bereft of ideas (apart from Milner, of course, when we switched to 4-4-2). In short, I felt that Geremi, Butt, and Smith all had extremely poor games, and Barton's, Emre's, or even Nobby's introduction can't come soon enough.

 

On the positive side, apart from the obviously excellent performances of Zoggy and Milner, I still like the look of Rozenhal, and Cacapa looks the business too. In addition, maybe the injuries to Carr and Ramage will see us buy a right back in what remains of the transfer window (even if it does represent something of a panic buy, at this stage I'd be prepared to accept that - Ashley has the dosh, after all).   

 

In sum, and even though we led twice, when your midfield barely shows up away from home in a (sort of?) derby, a draw is in many ways more than you can expect.

Tell me you're pissed. Please.

Afraid not (it's an off-pay week), but although (as usual) Milner left me feeling frustrated with the quality of his final ball, I thought he was the only player in our midfield (when we went 4-4-2) who provided us with any width, or who caused their defenders any concern whatsoever, by attacking them with his dribbling. 

[Thespence]

Aas the 4-3-3 seems to smell of "I'll fit as many of my strikers as possible on the field" mentality.

 

In the 3 games so far we have started with Oba & Viduka in the 433, which I reckon is the same amount of strikers we would start with in a 442.

 

 

[Guest Pie]

We should play Enrique left back and move N'Zogbia to the wing next game and definately drop Milner. He's the one who always picks the ball up with the most space to run it into but never does anything with it. Frustrating as f***.

 

Milner was poor today but thats complete and utter bollocks! He is often the only outlet we have!

 

I bet you were sitting there tugging away everytime N'Zog tried to take on 6 players and lost the ball though.

N'Zog was a light year ahead of Milner today and if you can't see the difference in quality between the two players you had better give up tugging yourself tbh.

 

I was pointing out how one player will get nothing but praise no matter how much he does! Scored a fantastic goal and put in at least one quality cross so he pissed all over Milner today but he still has a big problem trying to do too much, losing it which leads to us being under pressure again.

 

You wont see this though because Milner is s**** and N'Zog is just the greatest little player ever! Apparently....

Really? I can't recall anyone saying that. Milner isn't good enough for a first team place at a club aiming to achieve something though. N'Zogbia could be. Both are decent squad players.

 

[ohmelads]

Jesus, what a poor performance.

 

I know, I know. 3 games in, jesus wept, fickle, embarrassing fans, I'll throw the stock phrases in now so we can get on with talking about today's match.

 

We were second best for most of the game. We need to determine what we're about. If we're aiming for top 6 or even top 8 we need to buck our ideas up and fast because we blagged a point today against a poor Boro outfit. If we're aiming to survive relegation or consolidate a mid-table position then that kind of head-tennis might be the right way to go, in which case it's a point well earned. I think with the team we've got, we should be producing more than that.

 

We were away, and all things should be judged in context. But why are we playing a formation which does not suit our best players? Martins clearly doesn't like it and Owen is a penalty box player, leaving Milner once again as our only outlet, and once again he simply had too much to do on his own - he's not Maradona. I hate to say it, I don't want to say it, but we're looking increasingly like Bolton mk II on a bad day.

 

An awful lot of work to be done. I don't want to criticise Sam because you can see what he's trying to do, but he still seems to have no idea what his best team is and that's a bit worrying. The true measure of him will be how he rectifies the problems we have, which popped up at Villa and were in clear evidence today. We simply can't seem to go forward without leaving the back door open and we end up just punting it long and fighting for the second balls, the scraps. When Sam joined many of us questioned whether he could change his ways with a bigger budget and better players, the jury is still very much out on that one. He'll need plenty of time to implement his ways, we needed to be playing 4-4-2 today and I hope he's man enough to accept that.

[Cajun]

We should play Enrique left back and move N'Zogbia to the wing next game and definately drop Milner. He's the one who always picks the ball up with the most space to run it into but never does anything with it. Frustrating as f***.

 

Milner was poor today but thats complete and utter bollocks! He is often the only outlet we have!

 

I bet you were sitting there tugging away everytime N'Zog tried to take on 6 players and lost the ball though.

N'Zog was a light year ahead of Milner today and if you can't see the difference in quality between the two players you had better give up tugging yourself tbh.

 

I was pointing out how one player will get nothing but praise no matter how much he does! Scored a fantastic goal and put in at least one quality cross so he pissed all over Milner today but he still has a big problem trying to do too much, losing it which leads to us being under pressure again.

 

You wont see this though because Milner is s**** and N'Zog is just the greatest little player ever! Apparently....

Really? I can't recall anyone saying that. Milner isn't good enough for a first team place at a club aiming to achieve something though. N'Zogbia could be. Both are decent squad players.

 

 

Cant be arsed to get into another Milner debate but he is good enough for us at the moment. He is far far far away from being our worst player but for some reason he seems to be the current scapegoat for some.

[M4]

N'Zogbia did one thing that Miulner didn't do today and that was concede a goal. Zog stood their in the middle of the penalty area for the 2nd goal with nobody aorund him and didn't bother to close down the ball.

 

wow... any excuse to have a go... Not only would that be pretty unfair given the nature of the second goal, but it's also completely untrue

 

ridiculous

[Guest Hodgson09]

Smith is a striker isn't he? or is that my mistake? no pretty sure he considers himself a striker.

[Mr Logic]

Can't find any fault in that post ohmelads, summary is spot on for me.

 

Couldn't believe the amount of time and space Rochenbau and Arca were given in the first half, particularly the former. If Sam had been on the ball he'd have been down on the touchline before twenty minutes were up getting things changed to close them down.

 

This 4-3-3 is getting tedious already, fine, play it if you have the players for it but it's not working now. And now is all that really matters.

[Begbie]

Tbh I dont think we will be any better with Emre in the team, when has he really been the creative midfielder for us? I have big hopes for Barton, but i havent really watch him played, so if he is creative or not i cant say. But I hope he will take the central role in midfield and can control the bunch.

 

We did well scoring 2 goals, but its to bad that we conceeded 2, especially thinking that we played with 3 defensive midfielders. I like that Big Sam stick to the system he knows, and i bet our players will adjust to it, but it will take some time. All i can say is that we need to give him time to work his magic, it will take time to get so many new players to know each other on the pitch.

 

I think we should start next game with Taylor(or a new rb) on RB, Cacapa an Rozenahl in the middle, and Zoggy or enrique on the LB. And i hope to god that we dont play with 3 defensive midfielders at the same time. Milner looks like he lacks confidence, Martins seems afraid of going for the ball when a defender is close to him. What is it with Geremi running into our own players and getting the ball, and taking all freekicks, and throw ins?  It never works chipping in the ball from 40 meters from a freekick, we need someone to do like robert, shoot the ball into the box, getting a head or a foot on it, then it will be a goal.

[Guest Pie]

The most disappointing thing about this season is that we have seldom looked like a cohesive unit. Obviously it takes time but we need some life in our play. It's all one-paced with no end product. Martins and Milner together would have the attributes of one good footballer. Unfortunately both have some fairly hefty flaws in their game, particularly in a 4-3-3.  Boro weren't the greatest today but we were second best. The goals were the result of individual talent rather than team play. We rarely looked like threatening them. No doubt things will change over time....

[stozo]

N'Zogbia did one thing that Miulner didn't do today and that was concede a goal. Zog stood their in the middle of the penalty area for the 2nd goal with nobody aorund him and didn't bother to close down the ball.

 

wow... any excuse to have a go... Not only would that be pretty unfair given the nature of the second goal, but it's also completely untrue

 

ridiculous

Have you seen the goal? Watch where Zog is standing, he is marking nobody and makes no attempt to to close down the people on the edge of the box.

[Guest Pie]

N'Zogbia did one thing that Miulner didn't do today and that was concede a goal. Zog stood their in the middle of the penalty area for the 2nd goal with nobody aorund him and didn't bother to close down the ball.

 

wow... any excuse to have a go... Not only would that be pretty unfair given the nature of the second goal, but it's also completely untrue

 

ridiculous

I was going to say something similar but didn't think it deserved a reply. As a work of fiction it was amusing though.

[Skeletor]

I think the right balance for 4-3-3 with the players we have in our squad would be:

 

----------------------------------Given------------------------

New Right Back---Cacapa-------Rozehnal-----Enrique

-----------------Geremi---------------Emre-------------------

-----------------------------Barton-----------------------------

--------Duff-----------------Viduka----------N'Zogbia-------

 

Obviously this means leaving Martins and Owen out of the team which will cause problems. It's up to Sam to find the right balance. Maybe train the players to play different formations and use them accordingly. 4-4-2 at home 4-3-3 (as above) away maybe. I think we have some good options though with everyone fit.

[Guest Pie]

We should play Enrique left back and move N'Zogbia to the wing next game and definately drop Milner. He's the one who always picks the ball up with the most space to run it into but never does anything with it. Frustrating as f***.

 

Milner was poor today but thats complete and utter bollocks! He is often the only outlet we have!

 

I bet you were sitting there tugging away everytime N'Zog tried to take on 6 players and lost the ball though.

N'Zog was a light year ahead of Milner today and if you can't see the difference in quality between the two players you had better give up tugging yourself tbh.

 

I was pointing out how one player will get nothing but praise no matter how much he does! Scored a fantastic goal and put in at least one quality cross so he pissed all over Milner today but he still has a big problem trying to do too much, losing it which leads to us being under pressure again.

 

You wont see this though because Milner is s**** and N'Zog is just the greatest little player ever! Apparently....

Really? I can't recall anyone saying that. Milner isn't good enough for a first team place at a club aiming to achieve something though. N'Zogbia could be. Both are decent squad players.

 

 

Cant be arsed to get into another Milner debate but he is good enough for us at the moment. He is far far far away from being our worst player but for some reason he seems to be the current scapegoat for some.

Disagree. I would prefer we actually stood a chance of achieving something. We're not going to with that sort of quality as a first teamer.

[Guest sittingontheball]

Dodgy first goal for them, but lots of dodgyness in the fixture.  The snow game and Fat Eddie Murphy punching it in.

 

Shame we didn't win, but we probably didn't deserve to.

 

Although we have three "destroyers" in midfield, it would be nice to see a bit more destruction.  Their second equaliser came on a second ball. That is exactly when you want someone to get stuck in. The first one was offside.

 

Still, early days yet.  Hopefully an RB to come and Enrique will let us play the Zog further up. Cacapa looked good too.

[WhatTheFunk]

After this and the villa game, if we don't inject any real pace into that midfield! We can say bye bye to 6th place at the very least!

 

2 games i've watched on setanta and to of the most mind boggling boring football i've witnessed!

 

We looked a joke against villa and a f****** joke against so called strugglers!

 

Nothing has changed! Apart from maybe drawing as opposed to losing, but who in there right mind would even consider putting Ramage on? 

 

We are f***** if we don't sign anyone creative!  Smith was as shocking as i'd thought he'd turn out to be, when we signed him!

 

Was better watching football under roeder, FACT! i've never been as bored or less optimistic as i am right now, f****** 4-3-3 again? What did he think would happen!

 

Fuckwits!

 

 

i really hope you're on the wind up! Otherwise...

 

[M4]

N'Zogbia did one thing that Miulner didn't do today and that was concede a goal. Zog stood their in the middle of the penalty area for the 2nd goal with nobody aorund him and didn't bother to close down the ball.

 

wow... any excuse to have a go... Not only would that be pretty unfair given the nature of the second goal, but it's also completely untrue

 

ridiculous

Have you seen the goal? Watch where Zog is standing, he is marking nobody and makes no attempt to to close down the people on the edge of the box.

 

Fucking hell... yes i've watched the goal several times.

 

He had just ran out as the ball was first cleared to not play anyone onside, then stood his ground, yes, as the left back. What was he supposed to do? dive 15 feet accross the penalty box to block Arca's shot?

[Cajun]

We should play Enrique left back and move N'Zogbia to the wing next game and definately drop Milner. He's the one who always picks the ball up with the most space to run it into but never does anything with it. Frustrating as f***.

 

Milner was poor today but thats complete and utter bollocks! He is often the only outlet we have!

 

I bet you were sitting there tugging away everytime N'Zog tried to take on 6 players and lost the ball though.

N'Zog was a light year ahead of Milner today and if you can't see the difference in quality between the two players you had better give up tugging yourself tbh.

 

I was pointing out how one player will get nothing but praise no matter how much he does! Scored a fantastic goal and put in at least one quality cross so he pissed all over Milner today but he still has a big problem trying to do too much, losing it which leads to us being under pressure again.

 

You wont see this though because Milner is s**** and N'Zog is just the greatest little player ever! Apparently....

Really? I can't recall anyone saying that. Milner isn't good enough for a first team place at a club aiming to achieve something though. N'Zogbia could be. Both are decent squad players.

 

 

Cant be arsed to get into another Milner debate but he is good enough for us at the moment. He is far far far away from being our worst player but for some reason he seems to be the current scapegoat for some.

Disagree. I would prefer we actually stood a chance of achieving something. We're not going to with that sort of quality as a first teamer.

 

Bollocks.

[Guest Pie]

I think the right balance for 4-3-3 with the players we have in our squad would be:

 

----------------------------------Given------------------------

New Right Back---Cacapa-------Rozehnal-----Enrique

-----------------Geremi---------------Emre-------------------

-----------------------------Barton-----------------------------

--------Duff-----------------Viduka----------N'Zogbia-------

 

Obviously this means leaving Martins and Owen out of the team which will cause problems. It's up to Sam to find the right balance. Maybe train the players to play different formations and use them accordingly. 4-4-2 at home 4-3-3 (as above) away maybe. I think we have some good options though with everyone fit.

Other than Smith or Butt for Emre, I'd agree with that. Not convinced by Emre. Some will blame the managers etc for his poor showings so far, I prefer to blame the player.

[Guest Pie]

We should play Enrique left back and move N'Zogbia to the wing next game and definately drop Milner. He's the one who always picks the ball up with the most space to run it into but never does anything with it. Frustrating as f***.

 

Milner was poor today but thats complete and utter bollocks! He is often the only outlet we have!

 

I bet you were sitting there tugging away everytime N'Zog tried to take on 6 players and lost the ball though.

N'Zog was a light year ahead of Milner today and if you can't see the difference in quality between the two players you had better give up tugging yourself tbh.

 

I was pointing out how one player will get nothing but praise no matter how much he does! Scored a fantastic goal and put in at least one quality cross so he pissed all over Milner today but he still has a big problem trying to do too much, losing it which leads to us being under pressure again.

 

You wont see this though because Milner is s**** and N'Zog is just the greatest little player ever! Apparently....

Really? I can't recall anyone saying that. Milner isn't good enough for a first team place at a club aiming to achieve something though. N'Zogbia could be. Both are decent squad players.

 

 

Cant be arsed to get into another Milner debate but he is good enough for us at the moment. He is far far far away from being our worst player but for some reason he seems to be the current scapegoat for some.

Disagree. I would prefer we actually stood a chance of achieving something. We're not going to with that sort of quality as a first teamer.

 

Bollocks.

So those achieving are fighting themselves to buy him? Good squad player Jon, not good enough for a team aspiring to better things. You need to let your head rule your heart on this one.

[Skeletor]

I think the right balance for 4-3-3 with the players we have in our squad would be:

 

----------------------------------Given------------------------

New Right Back---Cacapa-------Rozehnal-----Enrique

-----------------Geremi---------------Emre-------------------

-----------------------------Barton-----------------------------

--------Duff-----------------Viduka----------N'Zogbia-------

 

Obviously this means leaving Martins and Owen out of the team which will cause problems. It's up to Sam to find the right balance. Maybe train the players to play different formations and use them accordingly. 4-4-2 at home 4-3-3 (as above) away maybe. I think we have some good options though with everyone fit.

Other than Smith or Butt for Emre, I'd agree with that. Not convinced by Emre. Some will blame the managers etc for his poor showings so far, I prefer to blame the player.

 

I'd have Emre in there. He's one player who can pick the ball up from the defenders and drive forward with it, something that's clearly lacking at the moment. I wouldn't put an emphasis on either Emre or Barton to THE creative one, but simply to share forward responsibilities.

[Mr Logic]

I think the right balance for 4-3-3 with the players we have in our squad would be:

 

----------------------------------Given------------------------

New Right Back---Cacapa-------Rozehnal-----Enrique

-----------------Geremi---------------Emre-------------------

-----------------------------Barton-----------------------------

--------Duff-----------------Viduka----------N'Zogbia-------

 

Obviously this means leaving Martins and Owen out of the team which will cause problems. It's up to Sam to find the right balance. Maybe train the players to play different formations and use them accordingly. 4-4-2 at home 4-3-3 (as above) away maybe. I think we have some good options though with everyone fit.

Other than Smith or Butt for Emre, I'd agree with that. Not convinced by Emre. Some will blame the managers etc for his poor showings so far, I prefer to blame the player.

 

From what I saw today I'd have Butt ahead of Geremi and Barton a shoe-in for Smith, welcome back Emre.