them 1-1 Us - 10/11/07 - Official match thread (Post-match reaction from p15)

[Cronky]

Draw was a fair result. We looked much better when we had to equalise and showed a bit more aggression. Viduka did well all game.

 

There were some promising signs, but we looked like a team under pressure. Not really positive enough.

 

Geremi should have started in the middle with Smith. We looked a bit lightweight defensively with Emre there.

 

Barton - a bit of a disappointment, because I had high hopes of him. I didn't realise he was that slow. He looks good when he has a bit of space, but he found it hard to find the pace of the game. He needs to be in a centre midfield three.

 

And Martins is not the answer.

[Yorkie]

We could have won that if we wanted to.

 

Not bringing Enrique/Martins on immediately after we scored = total joke.

 

A point's a point, though. Just thoroughly disappointing that he couldn't go into the most important game of the season for Newcastle fans with a winning mentality.

[Guest JamesD]

If it's all down to tactics, how do you explain the better performance when they went behind?  You can field an attacking side but it won't do much good if Barton & Milner play like they did in the first 45.

and how are either of them going to play to their full ability when they're being played out of position? I agree that player performance matters a lot, but with the way the team was set up today, they didn't have a chance.

[The Bonk]

If it's all down to tactics, how do you explain the better performance when they went behind?  You can field an attacking side but it won't do much good if Barton & Milner play like they did in the first 45.

 

Just what is Sam telling them to do with the ball?  I don't fucking get it, I thought Barton had more guile than what he's shown.  Hasn't looked good going forward, at all. 

[Dr Spectrum]

Maybe its to be expected from a derby but that was a pretty poor game and aside from a few exceptions - perhaps the Sunderland centre halves, Jones, and Nzogbia - a shitload of poor performances individually on both sides. (Barton was especially hopeless which delights me no end) You were lucky to get a point. They got a good goal, you got a fluke, they had other chances, you didnt. You looked a poor side really.

[Nobody]

We could have won that if we wanted to.

 

Not bringing Enrique/Martins on immediately after we scored = total joke.

 

A point's a point, though. Just thoroughly disappointing that he couldn't go into the most important game of the season for Newcastle fans with a winning mentality.

Agree with that.

[EthiGeordie]

Ohh last minutes Martins he was a fraction offside.....  It is insane though not to play our leading goal scorer regardless.

[Menace]

Fuck off.

 

Barton RM?

 

Smith DMC?

 

N'Zogbia LB when Enrique is more than good enough, so why not have an attacking midfield instead of trying to play for a point?

 

Taylor is a horrible RB, so why choose him ahead of Beye?

 

Big Sam's got questions to answer.

[The Bonk]

Draw was a fair result. We looked much better when we had to equalise and showed a bit more aggression. Viduka did well all game.

 

There were some promising signs, but we looked like a team under pressure. Not really positive enough.

 

Geremi should have started in the middle with Smith. We looked a bit lightweight defensively with Emre there.

 

Barton - a bit of a disappointment, because I had high hopes of him. I didn't realise he was that slow. He looks good when he has a bit of space, but he found it hard to find the pace of the game. He needs to be in a centre midfield three.

 

And Martins is not the answer.

 

What exactly did Viduka do?  He took that elbow to the face like a champ, nowt much else.  Martins looked more a threat in the 10min he was on than Viduka did all game. 

[Karjala]

We were utter fuckin shit til Milner scored, then we looked lively.

 

Allardyce can fuck right off, hope Ashley listens to what he would have heard today. Tactics and selection were shocking. We got away with it today, but thats another bottom 6 team we've lost points to.

[Optimistic Nut]

Got away with that one. Can't believe how negative we were upto their goal, and after ours. They were there for the taking in the last half-hour but we didn't go for it.

[Guest eyeball_tickler]

when was the last time we dominated a whole game against the mackems? it rarely, if ever, happens. we could have the best manager in the world and it'd still be fairly even, despite the obvious class difference. just be grateful we got a point. it could have been worse.

[Baggio]

Ohh last minutes Martins he was a fraction offside.....   It is insane though not to play our leading goal scorer regardless.

 

Viduka should have put that ball through earlier than he did tbh.

[NSG]

Absolutely shite first half. Improved second half. Played our only real football when we were 1-0 down. After we scored we seemed to go back to the hoof it long mentality. It's amazing what you can do when you pass it about, isn't it lads?

[The College Dropout]

R

Draw was a fair result. We looked much better when we had to equalise and showed a bit more aggression. Viduka did well all game.

 

There were some promising signs, but we looked like a team under pressure. Not really positive enough.

 

Geremi should have started in the middle with Smith. We looked a bit lightweight defensively with Emre there.

 

Barton - a bit of a disappointment, because I had high hopes of him. I didn't realise he was that slow. He looks good when he has a bit of space, but he found it hard to find the pace of the game. He needs to be in a centre midfield three.

 

And Martins is not the answer.

 

Fair result? We barely created any chances all game. How many times did we test Gordan? The goal was also a bad cross.. Sunderland had 4 or 5 good opportunities to score.

 

I agree with you on Barton though. Although he played out of position, he looked thoroughly shit. lost the ball countless times.

 

We looked horribly disjointed and i'm losing faith in Sam's continuous negative tactics.

[Baggio]

Mike Ashley!

 

 

[Numbers]

Maybe its to be expected from a derby but that was a pretty poor game and aside from a few exceptions - perhaps the Sunderland centre halves, Jones, and Nzogbia - a shitload of poor performances individually on both sides. (Barton was especially hopeless which delights me no end) You were lucky to get a point. They got a good goal, you got a fluke, they had other chances, you didnt. You looked a poor side really.

 

The save from owen i must have dreamt up then eh?

 

We were piss poor in the first half,slightly better in the second..

[Guest optimistic nit]

enrique and martins should have been brought on around 65 mins. milners goal was a total fluke, we needed zog in the final 3rd and our top scorer.

[Optimistic Nut]

R

Draw was a fair result. We looked much better when we had to equalise and showed a bit more aggression. Viduka did well all game.

 

There were some promising signs, but we looked like a team under pressure. Not really positive enough.

 

Geremi should have started in the middle with Smith. We looked a bit lightweight defensively with Emre there.

 

Barton - a bit of a disappointment, because I had high hopes of him. I didn't realise he was that slow. He looks good when he has a bit of space, but he found it hard to find the pace of the game. He needs to be in a centre midfield three.

 

And Martins is not the answer.

 

Fair result? We barely created any chances all game. How many times did we test Gordan? The goal was also a bad cross.. Sunderland had 4 or 5 good opportunities to score.

 

I agree with you on Barton though. Although he played out of position, he looked thoroughly s***. lost the ball countless times.

 

We looked horribly disjointed and i'm losing faith in Sam's continuous negative tactics.

 

Reminded me of the 1-1 up here in the 2001-2 season but the other way around.

[The College Dropout]

f*** off.

 

Barton RM?

 

Smith DMC?

 

N'Zogbia LB when Enrique is more than good enough, so why not have an attacking midfield instead of trying to play for a point?

 

Taylor is a horrible RB, so why choose him ahead of Beye?

 

Big Sam's got questions to answer.

 

Beye looks kinda shit tbh.

[Taylor Swift]

Firstly, what a game of football. So tense, so exciting. Fucking Anthony Stokes you fucking diving cunt fuck off and go back to Arsenal you cunt. Now that that's out of the way, it was a really really exciting game, loved it myself. Bad goal to lose again, we're too slow to react but it started with Faye not really thinking before passing so when he saw that no one was actually there he just, it was weird, I dunno what he did but it wasn't good. Apart from that he was a rock and from what I've seen, he's our best CB. What the fuck was Taylor doing after Faye went off? All I say was loads of shouting and pointing but whenever he had to defend, he messed up. Misjudged the ball on more than a few occasions and just generally nervous defending and tackling. Needs to learn to calm the fuck down.

 

However, after losing the goal I thought we dominated. It was a lucky goal from Milner. Great cross! Then after that we had a really good 10 minute spell. I thought Emre was class in the second half. Everything we did went through him. Seriously. Did anyone else notice that we did not have one single good attack after he went off? Sure there was like 6 or 7 mins left but our attack disappeared when Emre went off. He was the link between the defenders and the strikers. He was what most of us probably envisioned him doing in every game for us. Great game from the little Turk. Viduka was class as well; his holdup play was up to his usual standard but today he was actually getting to those balls hoofed up to him and flicking them on to Owen - who also had a good game.

 

Overall I think it was a deserved draw (okay I'm biased). We were shit in the first half, very lucky to get in at 0-0 but in the second half the performance probably merited a draw. Anyway, for those who used to complain about Shay's kicking, did they see how fucking poor Harper's is? Even if you forget the lackadaisal manner in which he takes his goal kicks, you're still left with the fact that he cannot kick the ball straight when one of our defenders passes it back to him; slices the ball everytime like a spaz because he's too nervous. Had a decent game otherwise, and so did the rest of the defence.

 

At least we seem to be over the lifeless performances in the past few weeks and we can start again now, looking forward to the Liverpool game I am.

[Guest JamesD]

enrique and martins should have started. milners goal was a total fluke, we needed zog in the final 3rd and our top scorer.

corrected your post.

[Guest optimistic nit]

i thought faye had a really good game, zog was ok as was enrique. owen looked quite good.

[The Bonk]

Maybe its to be expected from a derby but that was a pretty poor game and aside from a few exceptions - perhaps the Sunderland centre halves, Jones, and Nzogbia - a shitload of poor performances individually on both sides. (Barton was especially hopeless which delights me no end) You were lucky to get a point. They got a good goal, you got a fluke, they had other chances, you didnt. You looked a poor side really.

 

Agree with most of what you said, we looked decent playing for the tying goal, but nowt much else.  Sam still has my faith, but those tactics were shocking.  I hope he figures this team out sooner rather than later.

 

Also Specky, I seem to recall a certain Derby not too long ago where a team was thoroughly outplayed most of the match yet scrapped a win out due to some lucky bounces and Kasper The Ghost haunting the goal.  Nowt mentioning names, though. 

[Syrette]

Pathetic amount of kneejerkers present in this thread. I'm not happy with a lot of Sam's decisions (indeed I'm frankly baffled by a few of them) but I'm not calling for his head 12 games in. If we'd lost all 12 and were rooted at the bottom of the table á la Spurs under Jol then maybe I'd be more on the side of getting rid. See what shape we're in in a few games time. Bolton didn't get in the top 8 4 years in a row through luck.