Newcastle United 1 - 4 Portsmouth - 03/11/07 - Post match reaction from page 21

[Guest JamesD]

Utter crap 

 

Anyone gonna have a go at some player ratings?

harper- 6- nothing really to do except pick the ball out of the net. made a nice near post save on a header though.

taylor-6-yeah, he had an OG, but its not like it lost us the game. Did ok getting forward and was generally solid at back

faye-5.5-no bad mistakes which lead to goals, but he was shakey. Kanu made him look foolish a couple of times.

cacapa-1-was on the field for 15 minutes and was responsible for 2 goals.  If it was bramble or ramage who did what he did, i'm sure there would be talks of a lynching being shot about. Hopefully he'll recover and regain his early form.

rozenhal-7-don't remember him doing anything wrong. was solid and won a good amount of headers. His forward runs scare me though.

enrique-6-not bad, not great either.  Would like to see less long balls coming from him though.

milner-5.5-poor free kick taking, and was wasted on the left. Johnson had him contained all game. If he plays, it has to be on the right.

barton-5-yeah, he's short on match fitness, but regardless he was still very poor. Gave the ball away too much, and didn't really do anything going forward. I thought he would be the one driving through the middle towards goal, guess i was wrong.

butt-6-steady in the middle as usual. But why on earth is he getting forward to a position where he is trying to make the final pass. Needs to stick to what he knows, which isn't percision passing.

emre-7-should have started, and should have been on earlier. We're a much better team when he's on his game. his short passing, ball retention and work rate/desire was really nice to see after this crappy dispaly.

n'zogbia-6-as with milner on the left, he is absolutely wasted on the right. Often lost to the 3rd man after beating two, but was at least positive and had some goes at goal.

martins-6-denied a goal by a great save, he looked lively as always. Possibly should be getting the nod over owen.

owen-6-good movement, but late crosses from 30 yards out into the box against campbell and distin are a complete waste of his abilities.  He's a great player, sam just can't figure out how to use him.

smith-6-didn't offer much, so hopefully viduka will be fit soon. At least he looks like he gives a shit.

allardyce-5-can't really blame him for cacapa's mistakes as he's been a solid player.  But for a team with michael owen, charles n'zogbia and obafemi martins, we have no cutting edge. poor selection regarding the wings. I think emre should have replaced barton, as milner did much better than him.  Lets hope he gets it right for sunderland next week, because a performance like today their would be devestating.

[Cronky]

There were worrying signs in the team selections for this and last week that Sam isn't backing his own judgement. This is what can happen when a manager is under pressure at a bigger club. Last week, it was dropping Smith. This week it's playing Zoggy and Milner. Those are choices that a lot of people were wanting him to make, and you wonder whether he's been influenced by all that.

 

He's got to stick to his beliefs and call it as he sees it.

 

Good point. I was genuinely shocked he could start with such an attack minded approach today, against such a threatening team.

 

It didn't look like a Sam Allardyce selection at all. Normally, he's a very shrewd customer and he doesn't give a shit what anyone thinks.

[Robster]

never mind the top 4, Newcastle have a huge challenge to keep up with Man city, Portsmouth, Everton and Blackburn.

 

That was always the case.

 

Exactly. Anyone expecting higher that 8th is deluded.

 

The club is Fucked. Killed by bad management. Its going to take more than a season to fix it.

 

More than 4/5 months as an awful lot of people on here are thinking it should have been done alread 

[Guest justin99.]

good post yorkie-geordie, totally agree.

 

Haven't worked out where Smith fits in the team. Don't Allardyce or Smith himself knows either.

[Shayno]

top post yorkie-gordie

 

While i personally wasn't too happy with the appointment of Sam, i think he should stay until he can actually change things with the side. I.e team built around a 4-3-3.

[Robster]

good post yorkie-geordie, totally agree.

 

Haven't worked out where Smith fits in the team. Don't Allardyce or Smith himself knows either.

 

from what I remember, Owen and Martins together last weeks wasnt a total disaster. Was just about the defence.

not sure why he replaced Oba for Smith

[Shayno]

btw. My Croatian friends are absolutely peeved about Barton. 

 

"barton is a fukn dirty hack, on 3 occassions he went in late on niko.(Kranjcar) two feet studs up, and two late challenges from behind..." lol

 

Don't think we will be seeing much from him in terms of quality for a month or so yet.

[hakka]

Atleast looking on here cheers you up after a very bad day. Long post warning, btw.

 

"Allardyce out", ffs.   Aye - rubbish tactically for the last couple of games, but Jesus.

 

We were dogshit today. There was about two decent performances, from Butt - who did most of what was asked of him - and i thought Rozehnal was good when he came on, too. Enrique was alright from an attacking point of view. However, the rest of the team were hopeless, much of it Allardyce's doing.

 

First of all - the strikers. Did Sam give them roles? Because both of them sat on the edge of the box and did nowt for the entire game. Neither of them came deep to retreive the ball. Neither of them took up positions in the box.

          And something that i've noticed all season, that is increasingly frustrating; there is never anyone following up re-bounds, because there's no fucker else in the box other than the actual player with the attempt. Martins added flair when he came on and was majorly unlucky with a header, but it was too late by then.

 

The midfield was rubbish to be honest. Milner on the left/N'Zogbia on the right... total and utter waste of talent there, regarding N'Zogbia anyhow. Milner has just been s**** all season anyway and he was s**** today. Anyhow, i guess the philosophy here is that it allows them both to cut in, but when Pompey have got so many players behind the ball, and their general shooting ability is erratic anyway, why bother? Get them on their f****** proper wings and get them running at people and playing balls in. We've got two good headerers of the ball in the shape of Owen and Smith - give them something to head.

 

Speaking of which, aerially, were we playing long-ball or what? We seemed to phase in and out of it, and yet, was a ball ever once aimed at Smith?

 

In terms of centre-midfield, like i've said Butt was good - Captain material or not (something i'll come on to) i'm not sure - but he dug in and actually used grit to effect. Look closely at your teammate, Barton, Smith, et al. Barton is clearly not ready and should have been withdrawn sooner/not started.

 

Defensively, obviously, the first 11 minutes utterly destroyed us. First goal - freak. Second goal - get a grip Caçapa you ponce, totally uncharacteristic flimsyness. Third goal - hurrendous positioning from everyone, including the goalkeeper. Rozehnal came on and we sured up a hell of a lot, there was organisation and balance and they didn't trouble us at all. The fourth goal though... well, i'm struggling to decipher who was to blame, but the wall should have been bigger and Harper should have been positioned better.

 

We were rubbish in every department, and Portsmouth were well worth their win. They're going to do well this season, but it's an embarrassing defeat. We're in the same bracket as them, and we should be beating them at home. We were s**** and deserved to lose heavily, but i still think it's a freak result. It's not as if we're "miles behind performance" in the long run, as we were for ninety minutes today.

 

About the Captaincy... Butt played well from a footballing perspective - but we really lacked a leader to spur us on. After going 1 and 2-0 down, we should have been absoltuely driving at them from the very off. But we continued to fanny about for the seconds that were in-between each goal. And after 3-0, well, there's not really a lot of point. Now... i'm not saying Geremi is especially that leader, but it wasn't Butt - and this is a concern.

 

FTR...

 

Harper - 5. Hopeless attempt for the third goal. Not really sure what the plan was with the fourth. Bad day at the office.

 

Taylor - 6. Got forward well. Didn't defend well.

Caçapa - 2. Whoops.

Faye - 5. Naff.

(Rozehnal) - 7. Did well.

Enrique - 6. I thought he was decent going forward; it's unfortunate for him that Allardyce has pinned the 'long-ball merchant' label on him.

 

Milner - 4. Hopeless.

Butt - 7. Won a lot and showed real determination.

Barton - 4. Rubbish.

N'Zogbia - 4. Hardly in it and very ineffective when he was; not all his doing that, though.

(Emre) - 5. Made no impact.

 

Smith - 4. He was playing?

Owen - 5. Ditto, but was his movement (the only good attacking run in the game from us) won the goal.

(Martins) - 6. Brought a bit of flair but what did we really expect him to do? Should haves started.

 

I have faith in Allardyce, though. People have forgotten that it's our best start to a season since Keegan. Every team goes through a bad run. We're in one, but i believe that Sam will know that the need for a win is absolutely vital now - and he'll play it right against the Mackems. Doesn't mean to say i'm especially looking forward to it, though...

 

Nice post.

[Decky]

I honestly think SJP is our problem, its no suprise we we havent been that good since it was expanded, i say we try a few home games at the reserve ground just to see if it helps.

[Yorkie]

I honestly think SJP is our problem, its no suprise we we havent been that good since it was expanded, i say we try a few home games at the reserve ground just to see if it helps.

 

Please God, let me be whooshed.

[Guest justin99.]

I honestly think SJP is our problem, its no suprise we we havent been that good since it was expanded, i say we try a few home games at the reserve ground just to see if it helps.

 

why not go further and change the strip colours. I hear pink's pretty fashionable right now

[Guest 1nol]

Dear me, that was quite horrible to watch. Now dreading next week.

[The College Dropout]

I honestly think SJP is our problem, its no suprise we we havent been that good since it was expanded, i say we try a few home games at the reserve ground just to see if it helps.

 

 

Why? Because the players are pussies?

[Guest Scorpius]

Atleast looking on here cheers you up after a very bad day. Long post warning, btw.

 

"Allardyce out", ffs.   Aye - rubbish tactically for the last couple of games, but Jesus.

 

We were dogshit today. There was about two decent performances, from Butt - who did most of what was asked of him - and i thought Rozehnal was good when he came on, too. Enrique was alright from an attacking point of view. However, the rest of the team were hopeless, much of it Allardyce's doing.

 

First of all - the strikers. Did Sam give them roles? Because both of them sat on the edge of the box and did nowt for the entire game. Neither of them came deep to retreive the ball. Neither of them took up positions in the box.

          And something that i've noticed all season, that is increasingly frustrating; there is never anyone following up re-bounds, because there's no fucker else in the box other than the actual player with the attempt. Martins added flair when he came on and was majorly unlucky with a header, but it was too late by then.

 

The midfield was rubbish to be honest. Milner on the left/N'Zogbia on the right... total and utter waste of talent there, regarding N'Zogbia anyhow. Milner has just been s**** all season anyway and he was s**** today. Anyhow, i guess the philosophy here is that it allows them both to cut in, but when Pompey have got so many players behind the ball, and their general shooting ability is erratic anyway, why bother? Get them on their f****** proper wings and get them running at people and playing balls in. We've got two good headerers of the ball in the shape of Owen and Smith - give them something to head.

 

Speaking of which, aerially, were we playing long-ball or what? We seemed to phase in and out of it, and yet, was a ball ever once aimed at Smith?

 

In terms of centre-midfield, like i've said Butt was good - Captain material or not (something i'll come on to) i'm not sure - but he dug in and actually used grit to effect. Look closely at your teammate, Barton, Smith, et al. Barton is clearly not ready and should have been withdrawn sooner/not started.

 

Defensively, obviously, the first 11 minutes utterly destroyed us. First goal - freak. Second goal - get a grip Caçapa you ponce, totally uncharacteristic flimsyness. Third goal - hurrendous positioning from everyone, including the goalkeeper. Rozehnal came on and we sured up a hell of a lot, there was organisation and balance and they didn't trouble us at all. The fourth goal though... well, i'm struggling to decipher who was to blame, but the wall should have been bigger and Harper should have been positioned better.

 

We were rubbish in every department, and Portsmouth were well worth their win. They're going to do well this season, but it's an embarrassing defeat. We're in the same bracket as them, and we should be beating them at home. We were s**** and deserved to lose heavily, but i still think it's a freak result. It's not as if we're "miles behind performance" in the long run, as we were for ninety minutes today.

 

About the Captaincy... Butt played well from a footballing perspective - but we really lacked a leader to spur us on. After going 1 and 2-0 down, we should have been absoltuely driving at them from the very off. But we continued to fanny about for the seconds that were in-between each goal. And after 3-0, well, there's not really a lot of point. Now... i'm not saying Geremi is especially that leader, but it wasn't Butt - and this is a concern.

 

FTR...

 

Harper - 5. Hopeless attempt for the third goal. Not really sure what the plan was with the fourth. Bad day at the office.

 

Taylor - 6. Got forward well. Didn't defend well.

Caçapa - 2. Whoops.

Faye - 5. Naff.

(Rozehnal) - 7. Did well.

Enrique - 6. I thought he was decent going forward; it's unfortunate for him that Allardyce has pinned the 'long-ball merchant' label on him.

 

Milner - 4. Hopeless.

Butt - 7. Won a lot and showed real determination.

Barton - 4. Rubbish.

N'Zogbia - 4. Hardly in it and very ineffective when he was; not all his doing that, though.

(Emre) - 5. Made no impact.

 

Smith - 4. He was playing?

Owen - 5. Ditto, but was his movement (the only good attacking run in the game from us) won the goal.

(Martins) - 6. Brought a bit of flair but what did we really expect him to do? Should haves started.

 

I have faith in Allardyce, though. People have forgotten that it's our best start to a season since Keegan. Every team goes through a bad run. We're in one, but i believe that Sam will know that the need for a win is absolutely vital now - and he'll play it right against the Mackems. Doesn't mean to say i'm especially looking forward to it, though...

 

Nice post.

 

Yeah, good post Predator 

[Baggio]

never mind the top 4, Newcastle have a huge challenge to keep up with Man city, Portsmouth, Everton and Blackburn.

 

That was always the case.

 

Exactly. Anyone expecting higher that 8th is deluded.

 

The club is Fucked. Killed by bad management. Its going to take more than a season to fix it.

 

Yet the games we've lost against to the likes of Derby, Reading and Portsmouth have been down to bad management by Allardyce, not because the players we have are not good enough.

 

His tactics have been shocking at times.

 

[Yorkie]

Atleast looking on here cheers you up after a very bad day. Long post warning, btw.

 

"Allardyce out", ffs.   Aye - rubbish tactically for the last couple of games, but Jesus.

 

We were dogshit today. There was about two decent performances, from Butt - who did most of what was asked of him - and i thought Rozehnal was good when he came on, too. Enrique was alright from an attacking point of view. However, the rest of the team were hopeless, much of it Allardyce's doing.

 

First of all - the strikers. Did Sam give them roles? Because both of them sat on the edge of the box and did nowt for the entire game. Neither of them came deep to retreive the ball. Neither of them took up positions in the box.

          And something that i've noticed all season, that is increasingly frustrating; there is never anyone following up re-bounds, because there's no fucker else in the box other than the actual player with the attempt. Martins added flair when he came on and was majorly unlucky with a header, but it was too late by then.

 

The midfield was rubbish to be honest. Milner on the left/N'Zogbia on the right... total and utter waste of talent there, regarding N'Zogbia anyhow. Milner has just been s**** all season anyway and he was s**** today. Anyhow, i guess the philosophy here is that it allows them both to cut in, but when Pompey have got so many players behind the ball, and their general shooting ability is erratic anyway, why bother? Get them on their f****** proper wings and get them running at people and playing balls in. We've got two good headerers of the ball in the shape of Owen and Smith - give them something to head.

 

Speaking of which, aerially, were we playing long-ball or what? We seemed to phase in and out of it, and yet, was a ball ever once aimed at Smith?

 

In terms of centre-midfield, like i've said Butt was good - Captain material or not (something i'll come on to) i'm not sure - but he dug in and actually used grit to effect. Look closely at your teammate, Barton, Smith, et al. Barton is clearly not ready and should have been withdrawn sooner/not started.

 

Defensively, obviously, the first 11 minutes utterly destroyed us. First goal - freak. Second goal - get a grip Caçapa you ponce, totally uncharacteristic flimsyness. Third goal - hurrendous positioning from everyone, including the goalkeeper. Rozehnal came on and we sured up a hell of a lot, there was organisation and balance and they didn't trouble us at all. The fourth goal though... well, i'm struggling to decipher who was to blame, but the wall should have been bigger and Harper should have been positioned better.

 

We were rubbish in every department, and Portsmouth were well worth their win. They're going to do well this season, but it's an embarrassing defeat. We're in the same bracket as them, and we should be beating them at home. We were s**** and deserved to lose heavily, but i still think it's a freak result. It's not as if we're "miles behind performance" in the long run, as we were for ninety minutes today.

 

About the Captaincy... Butt played well from a footballing perspective - but we really lacked a leader to spur us on. After going 1 and 2-0 down, we should have been absoltuely driving at them from the very off. But we continued to fanny about for the seconds that were in-between each goal. And after 3-0, well, there's not really a lot of point. Now... i'm not saying Geremi is especially that leader, but it wasn't Butt - and this is a concern.

 

FTR...

 

Harper - 5. Hopeless attempt for the third goal. Not really sure what the plan was with the fourth. Bad day at the office.

 

Taylor - 6. Got forward well. Didn't defend well.

Caçapa - 2. Whoops.

Faye - 5. Naff.

(Rozehnal) - 7. Did well.

Enrique - 6. I thought he was decent going forward; it's unfortunate for him that Allardyce has pinned the 'long-ball merchant' label on him.

 

Milner - 4. Hopeless.

Butt - 7. Won a lot and showed real determination.

Barton - 4. Rubbish.

N'Zogbia - 4. Hardly in it and very ineffective when he was; not all his doing that, though.

(Emre) - 5. Made no impact.

 

Smith - 4. He was playing?

Owen - 5. Ditto, but was his movement (the only good attacking run in the game from us) won the goal.

(Martins) - 6. Brought a bit of flair but what did we really expect him to do? Should haves started.

 

I have faith in Allardyce, though. People have forgotten that it's our best start to a season since Keegan. Every team goes through a bad run. We're in one, but i believe that Sam will know that the need for a win is absolutely vital now - and he'll play it right against the Mackems. Doesn't mean to say i'm especially looking forward to it, though...

 

Nice post.

 

Yeah, good post Predator 

 

... interesting.

[chicago_shearer]

1. Why can't we pass like other teams at this level?

2. Why does everyone but the manager and the players see that Owen and Martins are 5ft tall and incapable of dealing with long balls?

3. Pompey have a better squad.  Good team.  Doesn't excuse how poor we were though.

[Yorkie]

3. Pompey have a better squad.  Good team.  Doesn't excuse how poor we were though.

 

Will be interesting to see what their January fixture list looks like, though...

[Baggio]

1. Why can't we pass like other teams at this level?

2. Why does everyone but the manager and the players see that Owen and Martins are 5ft tall and incapable of dealing with long balls?

3. Pompey have a better squad.  Good team.  Doesn't excuse how poor we were though.

 

Portsmouth don't have a better squad than us.

[Yorkie]

1. Why can't we pass like other teams at this level?

2. Why does everyone but the manager and the players see that Owen and Martins are 5ft tall and incapable of dealing with long balls?

3. Pompey have a better squad.  Good team.  Doesn't excuse how poor we were though.

 

Portsmouth don't have a better squad than us.

 

Agreed. They just have a better system.

[Alberto2005]

Allardyce on SSN after break.

[Ronaldo]

just got back, yes the defence was shit but the attack just as bad

 

Milner on the left, N'zogbia on the right? WHY you fucking joker?

 

Enrique off, N'zogbia goes to LB? does that make any sense to anybody else?

 

constant long balls being played to men of no phsyical strength/stature, Owen doesn't have a chance

 

Butt and Smith being played whatever the weather, but hard workers but neither creates anything going forward

 

 

I'm a fan of Allardyce, but 2 weeks in a row he's got it horribly, horribly wrong and everyone watching can see it

[Guest sicko2ndbest]

Premiership success is easy:

 

You need a strong trustworthy defence, and fast powerful midfielders and strikers. We have neither apart from Martins

[oldtype]

Premiership success is easy:

 

You need a strong trustworthy defence, and fast powerful midfielders and strikers. We have neither apart from Martins

 

So basically teams with better players will be more successful? Shocking.

 

On a more serious note, I honestly can't figure out for the life of me why Sam insists on the switching-up-the-wingers thing. Does that make any tactical sense at all?

[chicago_shearer]

1. Why can't we pass like other teams at this level?

2. Why does everyone but the manager and the players see that Owen and Martins are 5ft tall and incapable of dealing with long balls?

3. Pompey have a better squad.  Good team.  Doesn't excuse how poor we were though.

 

Portsmouth don't have a better squad than us.

 

They might have a better system too.  But I'd swap several of our lot for theirs at the moment, especially the midfielders.