Newcastle United 3 - 1 West Ham - 23/09/07 - Post match reaction from page 14

[Lenny]

Someone said a while ago that they are yet to see us be better than the opposition other than when the opposition was playing poorly. I thought we did that today. Its easy to forget that its so early on and that shit like the Derby game is going to happen from time to time whilst the players all learn about each other. Allardyce even said that the back four that was on today was new to him, so it just shows that its going to take time.

[GM]

Harper - 7

N'Zogbia - Defensively, 5. Offensively, 9.

Cacapa - 6 (Taylor - n/a)

Rozehnal - 6.5

Beye - 7.5

Milner - 6

Geremi - 6.5

Butt - 7

Smith - 6.5

Viduka - 8 (Enrique - n/a)

Owen - 6 (Martins - 6)

 

So are you calling that a "7" for N'Zogbia overall then, or what?

[Guest black n white]

better......a whole lot better.......wet ham had some great spells....but come 74 mins enrique comes on, nzog moves up, milner on the right and smith up top with martins and our team looked balanced, viduka had a great game

[Superior Acuña]

I thought today looked like a game with 2 good teams.  Happy, though i wanted 4

[James]

Harper - 7

N'Zogbia - Defensively, 5. Offensively, 9.

Cacapa - 6 (Taylor - n/a)

Rozehnal - 6.5

Beye - 7.5

Milner - 6

Geremi - 6.5

Butt - 7

Smith - 6.5

Viduka - 8 (Enrique - n/a)

Owen - 6 (Martins - 6)

 

So are you calling that a "7" for N'Zogbia overall then, or what?

 

Attack is more important than defence when it comes to winning matches, so he can have an 8.

[Skirge]

Miles better today

Still a few things we did wrong and let them control the game for a while but everyone was much better today.

Beye looks a real class act, can't wait to see him fully fit, we seen the good and bad of the Zogg today, a couple of cracking crosses and a decent goal but he did give the ball away way to much. Smith was milessss better today also, he actually contributed a lot today.

 

On a negitive note Owen was like a ghost and really do hope it is all down to his hernia problem, felt sorry for Martins when he came on, he maybe tried to hard instead of just taking a breath and having a think at time, his work ethic again was mint though, he just needs to learn to take a gamble and get into the box more..

I AM HAPPY THOUGH

 

[johnnypd]

Harper 7 - solid

N'Zogbia 8 - poor in defence, stunning in attack

Cacapa - 5 - dominated

Rozehnal - 5 - likewise

Beye - 7.5 - very comfortable, good going forward

Milner - 4 - a nothing performance

Geremi - 6 - solid, nowt special

Butt - 6 - likewise

Smith - 6 - one or two good runs in the first half, decent control and movement, a good performance by his standards, but still pretty poor for his position

Viduka - 9 - excellent apart from a 15 minute period in the first half

Owen - 5 - rubbish apart from one good run and cross

 

Martins - 7 - would've been an 8 but for horrendous miss

[TRon]

The football was a lot better today, we didn't lump it long and that was the key to Viduka's performance. He was immense with the ball played to his feet. Owen did well while he was on, and Smith looked much better up front, as did Zog in midfield. Milner has good tricks but doesn't get beyond the full back. I thought we looked a bit shaky in defence today, but we just about coped.

 

 

[Guest Magic]

Harper - 8 - Couple of good saves, looked very secure throughout. Kicking was accurate, although would have preferred fewer long balls.

Beye - 8 - Very impressive. Looks good positionally, very fast and athletic, got stuck in, no-nonsense when needed, looks comfortable on the ball. The crosses he put in weren't the best though.

Rozenhal 6.5 - No real mistakes, but outmuscled quite a bit.

Cacapa - 6 - Some composed defending mixed in mith a couple of mistakes (eg miskick in own 6 yard box). Also bullied in the air.

Zoggy - 8 - a goals and 2 assists, great stuff. Made a few unforced errors in the first half. Second half looked much more solid and won a lot of 50/50s. Not able to affect play as much as we would like though. Needs to be played in midfield.

Smith - 5 - Did bugger all for most of the game. He's not a winger, kept drifting in and leaving us exposed on the right. Looked better when moved up front. Managed not to get himself booked.

Butt - 6.5 - Apart from the one stupid tackle and hand to face moment that he could have been booked for he had a decent game. Got all over the pitch breaking things up. Kept things simple

Geremi - 6 - Won a few headers, kept things ticking over. Nothing special.

Milner - 5.5 - Quiet game from Jimmy. Squeezed out a bit as he was our only real attacking midfielder.

Viduka - 8.5 - Played really well. Great first touch, brought other guys into play. Superb header for the first goal. Grabbed a second too. Only negative is that he wasn't able to unlock the defence himself. MOTM.

Owen- 6 - Good first touch, linked up play well. Didn't look like scoring today though. Got injured too. b******.

 

Subs:

 

Martins - 6.5 - Looked quite lively. Tried to get involved. Had a couple of wayward pops at goal. Set up a goal. Missed an open goal, although it wasn't a total gimme, it was still a 9 times out of ten chance. Looked like he might make something happen.

Taylor - 6 - Brought on for a bit of no-nonsense physical precence. Did his job.

Enrique - 6 - Not on for very long, looked like he wanted to get forward. Should have knocked the ball behind for a corner rather than tap it to Harps when he was shielding it near his 6 yard box.

 

 

Overall - Hit and miss. We badly needed genuine width on the right as we lacked any creativity in the middle. To many long balls. We never dominated for long spells. Still, when we tried to pass it around and use the whole width of the pitch we looked quite good.

 

Allardyce - 6.5 - For lots of this game we looked at best no better than West Ham. We don't have a game changer in the centre of midfield at the moment so use of width is important (as our goals today show). BSA should play Milner on the right and Zoggy on the left. Two genuine wingers who will provide width and directness. Smith should be a useful squad player for us, but not out wide. Still, we played with some steel and our new players generally look very good. We looked a bit more solid after half time.

[spizz energi]

Harper 8 - Very assured. Deserves his chance imo.

Beye 8 - Class.

Rozehnal 7 - Ashton gave him a 'mare but at least he clears better than Shambles 

Cacapa 7.5 - Fantastic to see him bellowing advice at Zog.   

N'Zogbia 9 - Awesome going forward. Not a defender tho. HAS to play midfield every game.

Milner 5 - Didn't turn up. 

Butt 7 - Effective.

Smith 5 - He'll never be effective in midfield. Shows heart tho.

Geremi 6 - Average at best.

Viduka 8.5 - Superb at holding up the ball today, his lay-ons were class. 

Owen 5 - Just not happening is it.

 

Martins 7 - Lively and causes panic in the opposition. Should be ahead of Owen in the pecking order.

Taylor 6

Enrique 6.5

[McCormick]

see what a difference it makes when ameobi isn't on

[Dave]

Harper - 8 - Couple of good saves, looked very secure throughout. Kicking was accurate, although would have preferred fewer long balls.

Beye - 8 - Very impressive. Looks good positionally, very fast and athletic, got stuck in, no-nonsense when needed, looks comfortable on the ball. The crosses he put in weren't the best though.

Rozenhal 6.5 - No real mistakes, but outmuscled quite a bit.

Cacapa - 6 - Some composed defending mixed in mith a couple of mistakes (eg miskick in own 6 yard box). Also bullied in the air.

Zoggy - 8 - a goals and 2 assists, great stuff. Made a few unforced errors in the first half. Second half looked much more solid and won a lot of 50/50s. Not able to affect play as much as we would like though. Needs to be played in midfield.

Smith - 5 - Did bugger all for most of the game. He's not a winger, kept drifting in and leaving us exposed on the right. Looked better when moved up front. Managed not to get himself booked.

Butt - 6.5 - Apart from the one stupid tackle and hand to face moment that he could have been booked for he had a decent game. Got all over the pitch breaking things up. Kept things simple

Geremi - 6 - Won a few headers, kept things ticking over. Nothing special.

Milner - 5.5 - Quiet game from Jimmy. Squeezed out a bit as he was our only real attacking midfielder.

Viduka - 8.5 - Played really well. Great first touch, brought other guys into play. Superb header for the first goal. Grabbed a second too. Only negative is that he wasn't able to unlock the defence himself. MOTM.

Owen- 6 - Good first touch, linked up play well. Didn't look like scoring today though. Got injured too. Bastard.

 

Subs:

 

Martins - 6.5 - Looked quite lively. Tried to get involved. Had a couple of wayward pops at goal. Set up a goal. Missed an open goal, although it wasn't a total gimme, it was still a 9 times out of ten chance. Looked like he might make something happen.

Taylor - 6 - Brought on for a bit of no-nonsense physical precence. Did his job.

Enrique - 6 - Not on for very long, looked like he wanted to get forward. Should have knocked the ball behind for a corner rather than tap it to Harps when he was shielding it near his 6 yard box.

 

 

Overall - Hit and miss. We badly needed genuine width on the right as we lacked any creativity in the middle. To many long balls. We never dominated for long spells. Still, when we tried to pass it around and use the whole width of the pitch we looked quite good.

 

Allardyce - 6.5 - For lots of this game we looked at best no better than West Ham. We don't have a game changer in the centre of midfield at the moment so use of width is important (as our goals today show). BSA should play Milner on the right and Zoggy on the left. Two genuine wingers who will provide width and directness. Smith should be a useful squad player for us, but not out wide. Still, we played with some steel and our new players generally look very good. We looked a bit more solid after half time.

 

Can't disagree with a word of that analysis, though I thought N'Zogbia just edged Viduka as he made all three goals.

[Optimistic Nut]

While I think that Cacapa & Rozehnal should be first-choice centre-backs, I feel Taylor would have been better than Rozehnal against Ashton today. For someone who normally likes to base his team selection on the opposition he faces, I'm surprised he didn't go with him. Overall though, good recovery after the Derby debacle.

[Dave]

While I think that Cacapa & Rozehnal should be first-choice centre-backs, I feel Taylor would have been better than Rozehnal against Ashton today. For someone who normally likes to base his team selection on the opposition he faces, I'm surprised he didn't go with him. Overall though, good recovery after the Derby debacle.

 

Aye, we struggled with Ashton all day. He looks a good player.

[Guest Magpiecn]

Our defence was solid(N'Zogbia should play in LM),add Enrique and keep the defence form.

[thomas]

see what a difference it makes when ameobi isn't on

He's like a lamp post brought to life with an inner ear infection.

[KaKa]

Another reason to start Martins. In Viduka we have a legitimate finsher who would actually benefit from playing alongside Martins, who will do a lot more running and leg work than Owen does. Defenders will be more occupied by Martins, which will allow a lot more space for Viduka, which would be very dangerous.

[Dave]

Another reason to start Martins. In Viduka we have a legitimate finsher who would actually benefit from playing alongside Martins, who will do a lot more running and leg work than Owen does. Defenders will be more occupied by Martins, which will allow a lot more space for Viduka, which would be very dangerous.

 

It's nice to have some options.

[Guest Dev]

Re Owen, limping off injured again:

 

How long is it going to take for this club to send Owen off for some serious, sustained, world class analysis on everything from his running action to his preparation to his muscle state? We're paying the man 100k a week, surely it makes sense next time he is 'fully fit' to not throw him into a game but to instead send him off to the best biomechanist, physio, strength conditioner etc we can find, wherever they are in the world.

 

There is clearly some underlying problem going on. It's simply beyond belief that Allardyce, who is supposed to be cutting edge in the physical rehab side of the game, can't see that a string of groin, hamstring and knee problems are not simply flukey 'bad luck'. You can't just say he needs a run of games and a bit of luck. It has become exceedingly obvious that it isn't just bad luck, there is a source to all these problems and the staff at nufc don't know how to fix it. Send him over to America, China, Zimbabwe, wherever the hell the best biomechanist we can get our hands on is. If he needs to change his running style slightly, work on a muscle group, use a different pre match routine, follow a different diet, so be it. Get him out to the experts to find out. 

 

 

<- suffered groin, knee, hamsting problems consistently for years until I finally went and saw a good (and expensive) physio, who sourced it all back to a lower back that was functioning incorrectly. Took a solid 6 months to retrain the muscles to work in the right directions etc, played a full season for the first time in years last year. I have no idea what the problem is with Owen but the physio setup at nufc clearly do not have any kind of handle on the situation.

[Parky]

Harper - 8 - Couple of good saves, looked very secure throughout. Kicking was accurate, although would have preferred fewer long balls.

Beye - 8 - Very impressive. Looks good positionally, very fast and athletic, got stuck in, no-nonsense when needed, looks comfortable on the ball. The crosses he put in weren't the best though.

Rozenhal 6.5 - No real mistakes, but outmuscled quite a bit.

Cacapa - 6 - Some composed defending mixed in mith a couple of mistakes (eg miskick in own 6 yard box). Also bullied in the air.

Zoggy - 8 - a goals and 2 assists, great stuff. Made a few unforced errors in the first half. Second half looked much more solid and won a lot of 50/50s. Not able to affect play as much as we would like though. Needs to be played in midfield.

Smith - 5 - Did bugger all for most of the game. He's not a winger, kept drifting in and leaving us exposed on the right. Looked better when moved up front. Managed not to get himself booked.

Butt - 6.5 - Apart from the one stupid tackle and hand to face moment that he could have been booked for he had a decent game. Got all over the pitch breaking things up. Kept things simple

Geremi - 6 - Won a few headers, kept things ticking over. Nothing special.

Milner - 5.5 - Quiet game from Jimmy. Squeezed out a bit as he was our only real attacking midfielder.

Viduka - 8.5 - Played really well. Great first touch, brought other guys into play. Superb header for the first goal. Grabbed a second too. Only negative is that he wasn't able to unlock the defence himself. MOTM.

Owen- 6 - Good first touch, linked up play well. Didn't look like scoring today though. Got injured too. Bastard.

 

Subs:

 

Martins - 6.5 - Looked quite lively. Tried to get involved. Had a couple of wayward pops at goal. Set up a goal. Missed an open goal, although it wasn't a total gimme, it was still a 9 times out of ten chance. Looked like he might make something happen.

Taylor - 6 - Brought on for a bit of no-nonsense physical precence. Did his job.

Enrique - 6 - Not on for very long, looked like he wanted to get forward. Should have knocked the ball behind for a corner rather than tap it to Harps when he was shielding it near his 6 yard box.

 

 

Overall - Hit and miss. We badly needed genuine width on the right as we lacked any creativity in the middle. To many long balls. We never dominated for long spells. Still, when we tried to pass it around and use the whole width of the pitch we looked quite good.

 

Allardyce - 6.5 - For lots of this game we looked at best no better than West Ham. We don't have a game changer in the centre of midfield at the moment so use of width is important (as our goals today show). BSA should play Milner on the right and Zoggy on the left. Two genuine wingers who will provide width and directness. Smith should be a useful squad player for us, but not out wide. Still, we played with some steel and our new players generally look very good. We looked a bit more solid after half time.

 

Can't disagree with a word of that analysis, though I thought N'Zogbia just edged Viduka as he made all three goals.

 

Agree. Zoggy ran it for us and had a hand in everything...Even some good tackles. What a player!

[Baggio]

An improvement on recent weeks but still a few things we need to improve on. Impressive home debut for Beye.

[Beren]

Re Owen, limping off injured again:

 

How long is it going to take for this club to send Owen off for some serious, sustained, world class analysis on everything from his running action to his preparation to his muscle state? We're paying the man 100k a week, surely it makes sense next time he is 'fully fit' to not throw him into a game but to instead send him off to the best biomechanist, physio, strength conditioner etc we can find, wherever they are in the world.

 

There is clearly some underlying problem going on. It's simply beyond belief that Allardyce, who is supposed to be cutting edge in the physical rehab side of the game, can't see that a string of groin, hamstring and knee problems are not simply flukey 'bad luck'. You can't just say he needs a run of games and a bit of luck. It has become exceedingly obvious that it isn't just bad luck, there is a source to all these problems and the staff at nufc don't know how to fix it. Send him over to America, China, Zimbabwe, wherever the hell the best biomechanist we can get our hands on is. If he needs to change his running style slightly, work on a muscle group, use a different pre match routine, follow a different diet, so be it. Get him out to the experts to find out. 

 

 

<- suffered groin, knee, hamsting problems consistently for years until I finally went and saw a good (and expensive) physio, who sourced it all back to a lower back that was functioning incorrectly. Took a solid 6 months to retrain the muscles to work in the right directions etc, played a full season for the first time in years last year. I have no idea what the problem is with Owen but the physio setup at nufc clearly do not have any kind of handle on the situation.

 

He went to America and Germany. Saw the granddaddy of all injuries that is Dr Steadman.

[Optimistic Nut]

Harper - 7

Beye - 7

N'Zogbia - 8

Rozehnal - 6

Cacapa - 6

Smith - 6

Milner - 5

Butt - 6

Geremi - 6

Owen - 6

Viduka - 8

 

Martins - 6

 

[Guest Magic]

Can't disagree with a word of that analysis, though I thought N'Zogbia just edged Viduka as he made all three goals.

Yeah, I was a bit torn too. I gave Viduka more though as he was really the key to our attack. Almost everything started or went through him at some point. Zoggy too looked really good offensively and produced a handful of great moments, but becuase of the position he was playing, attack-wise I felt he was in and out of the game for much of it.

 

I agree about Ashton too, he looked class. If Enrique wasn't ready to start today maybe we could have pushed Cacapa or Rozzy out to LB and Taylor at CB. We needed a bit more physical presence there today. Don't know how either of those two would play at FB though.

[Guest Dev]

 

He went to America and Germany. Saw the granddaddy of all injuries that is Dr Steadman.

 

But that was while he was crocked iirc?

 

He needs to be assessed when he is 'fully fit'. Can't assess someones running action when they are carring a shot knee or a muscle tear.