Shak Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Sarcastic question, obviously, but looking at that second half it really didn't seem like we made any attempt to actively chase the game whatsoever. We were good first half, held our own and the game was going well I thought. Once they scored however the onus was on us to take more chances and push on a bit, and we were playing well enough to do it in my opinion. But no, we just stayed the same and let the game more or less die. City had no need to chase it so they were happy to sit back and let that be the case. We finally made a switch after 75 minutes, a good half hour after City had gone in front. By that time the game had descended into scrappiness and it never really had an effect. We've seen the midfield trio of Smith-Geremi- Butt is incapable of opening teams up on a few occasions, so why stick with it? Take a chance. Worst thing is that Viduka and Martins played quite well, so with some service they could have gotten a goal or two. Overall the performance was alright, and we're certainly moving in the right direction, but we really need a to start being a bit more aggressive when we go behind. It was the same against Derby, no risks. C'mon Sam, grow some balls. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karjala Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Seems like we go away from home and know we are gonna get beat, get a draw if we are lucky. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spider Jerusalem Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Aye in the eyes of the management according to the lack of movement or changes to try and turn things around Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parky Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Would have buying at least one creative player been a good idea? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spider Jerusalem Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Seems like we go away from home and know we are gonna get beat, get a draw if we are lucky. Exactly - the Souness / Roeder tactics of try not to lose by too many today lads Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shak Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Would have buying at least one creative player been a good idea? How grammatically shoddy. Exactly it though, hopefully things will improve once Barton gets back. But a playmaker to go alongside Barton and Butt/Geremi would have to be high on our list of priorities. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parky Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Would have buying at least one creative player been a good idea? How grammatically shoddy. Exactly it though, hopefully things will improve once Barton gets back. But a playmaker to go alongside Barton and Butt/Geremi would have to be high on our list of priorities. Trying to ape the thread title you see........... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keefaz Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Would have buying at least one creative player been a good idea? Parky, man, bugger off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shak Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Would have buying at least one creative player been a good idea? How grammatically shoddy. Exactly it though, hopefully things will improve once Barton gets back. But a playmaker to go alongside Barton and Butt/Geremi would have to be high on our list of priorities. Trying to ape the thread title you see........... Oh, I see. Not bad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohmelads Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 I made the point a day or two ago about people saying a draw would be a good result because I didn't feel it was the right attitude to be taking into a game against Manchester City. If we're going to judge ourselves by past inferiority then we'll get what we deserve, which is nothing. We looked like we would be happy with a draw today and we got what we deserved, nothing. The team lineup was uninspiring and the body language of our players was pretty poor, and that's without even talking about the actual football. We didn't look like we believed in ourselves at all. Man City are nothing but a decent side with a few good players, they play to their strengths. They'll have a decent season, but I think they'll be a bit surprised at how easy it all was today. They were enjoying it. Some will take issue with this statement, perhaps because they don't want to admit what it says about this Newcastle team. Allardyce believes in his style of football, he tries to turn players into machines, playing balls into zones, fighting for second balls, never letting the ball bounce in our own half and all the rest of it. I saw three Newcastle players crash into each other today challenging for the same ball. At the end of the day, we were beaten by a team who just wanted to get the ball on the floor and play football, a team who worked the ball to their better players in space and worked from there. I think there a lot of Newcastle fans who aren't prepared to accept what they see or to call a spade a spade, because the truth on this occasion does hurt. The brutal truth is that we're not playing very good football and teams who do that get found out sooner or later. We've had an easy start to the season and at the first sign of decent opposition, we're found out. Next up is Everton and then Tottenham. It isn't a doomsday scenario, but Allardyce has to make some changes, I think we can all agree on that. Waving the white flag with two defensive midfielders doesn't help, Emre and Barton coming into the fold will hopefully change that. I don't know why Enrique didn't start today, but starting him and moving Zog further forward will give us more pace and width in attack, with Milner replacing Smith on the other flank. Allardyce really needs to decide whether we keep going down this long ball route or whether we play a more open game. My main concern with the transfer window is that we didn't really equip ourselves with the players to change it around and we're lacking flair and pace to play 4-4-2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 No loss is ever a good result so the answer to the question is no. I'm not even sure we played that well in the first half, at times it was just a long ball knocked up from the back, even in the firt half we were guilty of bypassing the midfield far too often. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cajun Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Would have buying at least one creative player been a good idea? Would have spending the £6m paid for Smith on a creative player been a good idea? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Would have buying at least one creative player been a good idea? Would have spending the £6m paid for Smith on a creative player been a good idea? Or spending the £6m on anyone other than Alan Smith, i still for the life of me don't know why we bought him or what purpose he serves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 a defeat is a defeat, i wouldve been happy with a draw but its a shame the players didnt turn up in the 2nd half Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Would have buying at least one creative player been a good idea? Would have spending the £6m paid for Smith on a creative player been a good idea? Or bringing on a creative player with 3 minutes to go when we are 3-1 down Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Synthespian Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 Aye in the eyes of the management according to the lack of movement or changes to try and turn things around Definite lack of movement. And some very sloppy passing at times. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmymag Posted September 30, 2007 Share Posted September 30, 2007 Sarcastic question, obviously, but looking at that second half it really didn't seem like we made any attempt to actively chase the game whatsoever. We were good first half, held our own and the game was going well I thought. Once they scored however the onus was on us to take more chances and push on a bit, and we were playing well enough to do it in my opinion. But no, we just stayed the same and let the game more or less die. City had no need to chase it so they were happy to sit back and let that be the case. We finally made a switch after 75 minutes, a good half hour after City had gone in front. By that time the game had descended into scrappiness and it never really had an effect. We've seen the midfield trio of Smith-Geremi- Butt is incapable of opening teams up on a few occasions, so why stick with it? Take a chance. Worst thing is that Viduka and Martins played quite well, so with some service they could have gotten a goal or two. Overall the performance was alright, and we're certainly moving in the right direction, but we really need a to start being a bit more aggressive when we go behind. It was the same against Derby, no risks. C'mon Sam, grow some balls. I said midway through the second half that it looked like we were defending a 2-1 defeat. We were strolling around like we were in front, there was no sense of urgency at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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