Kevin Keegan's Black and White Army 0-0 Bolton - 19/1/08 - Reaction from Page 18

[Syrette]

.com report

 

Two teams tainted by the influence of Sam Allardyce slugged out a goalless draw at St. James' Park as a helter-skelter week ultimately had an anticlimactic ending.

 

After such a hysterical build-up, not even King Kev could combat the ginger prince's team of bare-knuckle brawlers as the Trotters hoofed their way in and gatecrashed the party.

 

Keegan's first Newcastle game as a player was a pretty poor game against Q.P.R., memorable only for his debut goal (and a streaker in fluorescent socks) and from the start this looked like it would have to follow suit.

 

There was certainly no way it could match his first game as manager, when Bristol City were dispatched 3-0, as Gary Megson's Bolton came for a goalless draw and almost snatched a win.

 

In Gavin McCann and Kevin Davies, Bolton possess two players seemingly disinterested by the round object that everyone else seems to be chasing. Both spent the afternoon practising wrestlemania moves.

 

Add to that, the constant niggling and whingeing of Kevin Nolan, the time-wasting of Jussi Jaaskelainen and the persistent head-clutching by Lubomir Michalik and it made for a miserable evening's viewing.

 

It was no surprise that the game couldn't live up to the hype but where there's Keegan, there's often some magic and you couldn't help feeling a winner might just pop up from somewhere. Captain Michael Owen, perhaps. Alas, it wasn't to be.

 

It didn't and in the end the only magic dust in Kev's pocket was used to miraculously restore the supposedly knackered knee of Shola Ameobi.

 

In the end, the big striker played the full game and put in a reasonable shift but for a player not seen since November to have to come in and do that showed how few options Keegan had.

 

Kazenga LuaLua came on for Damien Duff and looked as dangerous as anybody but as Keegan admitted afterwards he was struggling to use anyone from his inexperienced subs bench.

 

In the end, though, it was a Wanderers replacement who almost snatched victory when Jlloyd Samuel almost scored from close range but thankfully Shay Given made a smart low block with his leg.

 

So the Keegan bubble has already burst, we hear. Good. Perhaps the media folk can crawl back under the stones and leave us to start the rebuilding work properly.

 

Bolton are one of only three sides to beat Manchester United this season, so this might not prove to be such a bad a result, especially given our lengthy list of absentees.

 

The bold bit is pure brilliance. Found myself agreeing with everything else too.

[Tsunami]

We tried to play football today but couldn't put the players out to do it. Emre needs a right kicking for getting sent off against Stoke.

 

Enrique at one point gave Given a blasting when he was about to hoof it up field. We need ball playing midfield players.

[Karjala]

Does anyone know if any of the websites have posted a video of the Keegan entrance before KO? Would love to see it again.

 

I know there are some fans versions on youtube.

[James]

Does anyone know if any of the websites have posted a video of the Keegan entrance before KO? Would love to see it again.

 

I know there are some fans versions on youtube.

 

It's a free video on .co.uk

[bobbydazzla]

how mint were the tunes in the ground y'day. I Am The Reserection and if memory serves A House Is Not A Motel for the first tune at half time. Although I was so spectacularly pissed that I may have just imagined them....

[magpie418]

how mint were the tunes in the ground y'day. I Am The Reserection and if memory serves A House Is Not A Motel for the first tune at half time. Although I was so spectacularly pissed that I may have just imagined them....

 

This Charming Man went down well over here.

[Cajun]

There was a bloke ranting away about Keegan at half-time today! Telling anyone who would listen that the football hadn't improved so Keegan should get sacked!! 

 

I shit you not.

 

One of the microphones must have been right near some moaning twat, kept hearing this older sounding gentleman complain about EVERYTHING

[Guest Johan]

Given: 7 - Did nothing wrong, great save in the end.

 

Enrique: 6 - Looked pretty solid, perhaps some problem with the tempo.

 

Cacapa / Taylor: 6 - Not that much to do, didnt really do anything special, good or bad.

 

Carr: 5.5 - Tried and actually looked like something similar to an athlet. No quality though

 

Rozenhal: 6 - See some people think he was pretty good. Think he was part of the problem, no creativity and no real tempo.

 

Zoggy: 6.5 - Tried to get stuff going, hopefully a good cm in the making.

 

Duff: 6 - Not as bad today as some would say.

 

Milner: 5.5 - Not much space to work in, didnt do enough though.

 

Owen: 4.5 - Was he playing?

 

Ameobi: Dont know how to rate him, looked like a donkey but was involved. Playing a lone striker against that wall of Bolton defenders cant be easy.

[wyn davies]

thought maybe caroll would of been brought on as ameobi is totally cr*p. Ros good ball delivery to Owen and believe was playing in a position which he did with PSG.Owen off day maybe due to service.

[bobbydazzla]

how mint were the tunes in the ground y'day. I Am The Reserection and if memory serves A House Is Not A Motel for the first tune at half time. Although I was so spectacularly pissed that I may have just imagined them....

 

This Charming Man went down well over here.

 

fnaar fnaar...

[Gallowgate Toon]

Given: 7 - Did nothing wrong, great save in the end.

 

Enrique: 6 - Looked pretty solid, perhaps some problem with the tempo.

 

Cacapa / Taylor: 6 - Not that much to do, didnt really do anything special, good or bad.

 

Carr: 5.5 - Tried and actually looked like something similar to an athlet. No quality though

 

Rozenhal: 6 - See some people think he was pretty good. Think he was part of the problem, no creativity and no real tempo.

 

Zoggy: 6.5 - Tried to get stuff going, hopefully a good cm in the making.

 

Duff: 6 - Not as bad today as some would say.

 

Milner: 5.5 - Not much space to work in, didnt do enough though.

 

Owen: 4.5 - Was he playing?

 

Ameobi: Dont know how to rate him, looked like a donkey but was involved. Playing a lone striker against that wall of Bolton defenders cant be easy.

Taylor?

[Baggio]

I didn't think Rozehnal had a bad game yesterday, some of his passing was off and the back pass to the defence without looking was dangerous but some of his long range passing looked really good, if it wasn't for Milner, Owen and Duff being too slow then they could have been put in by 50 yard passes from him.

[Mick]

I didn't think Rozehnal had a bad game yesterday, some of his passing was off and the back pass to the defence without looking was dangerous but some of his long range passing looked really good, if it wasn't for Milner, Owen and Duff being too slow then they could have been put in by 50 yard passes from him.

 

I thought Rozenhal was by far our worst player.

[Gallowgate Toon]

I wasn't surprised with a draw tbh. Keegan has only really taken one training session so he can't implement his philosophy to the players yet. But you could see he changed one thing using CB's as the extra man going forward forcing Bolton deeper  but offering another option and surrounding the box. He needs more time and his own team before the Entertainers are back.

[Geordie Boot Boy]

I didn't think Rozehnal had a bad game yesterday, some of his passing was off and the back pass to the defence without looking was dangerous but some of his long range passing looked really good, if it wasn't for Milner, Owen and Duff being too slow then they could have been put in by 50 yard passes from him.

 

I thought Rozenhal was by far our worst player.

 

I thought he was the worst player but not by far the worst.  Enrique and Ameobi looked canny shite to me too. 

 

It's a little unfair to criticize Owen IMO because his game needs service and he didn't get any at all.

[Mick]

 

I thought he was the worst player but not by far the worst.  Enrique and Ameobi looked canny s**** to me too. 

 

It's a little unfair to criticize Owen IMO because his game needs service and he didn't get any at all.

 

I thought Enrique did OK, agree about Shola.

[greydos]

I can't believe some of the views in this thread. Amazing.

 

We may not have got a result against bolton at home, but the intent we played with was miles better than under sam. SA would have had us sat in our own half, long-ballin it to ameobi, and seeing it come back on us, and they would have penned us in as we would have no attacking intent, and eventually broken us down for a goal. Our retaining of possession yesterday was, whilst not being perfect, miles better than anything we have seen in the last year.

 

Enrique was decent yesterday too. Did well with clearances, dropped his right shoulder and beat his man on a couple of occassions and passed it reasonably well. He didn't have many options but used those he had open to him in neat triangles. The worst player yesterday by far was Ameobi who, even though he has been out for a long time, does not have any ounce of vision in him whatsoever, and if he did, he wouldn't have the physical ability to pull off the pass/shot/cross that he sees. Roz did well playing out of position. He didn't get forward but that wasn't his job. His job was to prevent the bolton midfield 3 running through the middle of us and shooting at goal, an bolton didn't have much joy down the middle all match (admittedly partly because they didn't really try to put anything together down the middle). He won some good headers, and sprayed some nice passes. That's all you can ask of a CB come DM.

 

the intent is there on the pitch, now we just need the acknowledgement and time from the fans.

[Baggio]

The worst players on the pitch for me were Milner and Duff, these are the players who should be creating and making things happen but they're doing neither.

 

Enrique looked solid defensively but didn't make any attempt to go forward or overlap, the strange thing is in his first few games his link up play going forward looked decent, It's up to Keegan to get him to forget about what Allardyce taught him and top be more open when going forward.

[johnnypd]

The worst players on the pitch for me were Milner and Duff, these are the players who should be creating and making things happen but they're doing neither.

 

Enrique looked solid defensively but didn't make any attempt to go forward or overlap, the strange thing is in his first few games his link up play going forward looked decent, It's up to Keegan to get him to forget about what Allardyce taught him and top be more open when going forward.

 

agree about Milner and Duff, made very little happen, tho i actually thought Owen was the worst player.

[Gallowgate End]

I can't believe some of the views in this thread. Amazing.

 

We may not have got a result against bolton at home, but the intent we played with was miles better than under sam. SA would have had us sat in our own half, long-ballin it to ameobi, and seeing it come back on us, and they would have penned us in as we would have no attacking intent, and eventually broken us down for a goal. Our retaining of possession yesterday was, whilst not being perfect, miles better than anything we have seen in the last year.

 

the intent is there on the pitch, now we just need the acknowledgement and time from the fans.

 

Spot on.

[Karjala]

Does anyone know if any of the websites have posted a video of the Keegan entrance before KO? Would love to see it again.

 

I know there are some fans versions on youtube.

 

It's a free video on .co.uk

Cheers. He really is a legend, not often something makes me cry, but that did on Saturday, he belongs at SJP. Him and Shearer (as well as us fans) desperately deserve a trophy with the club they love.

[TRon]

The worst players on the pitch for me were Milner and Duff, these are the players who should be creating and making things happen but they're doing neither.

 

Enrique looked solid defensively but didn't make any attempt to go forward or overlap, the strange thing is in his first few games his link up play going forward looked decent, It's up to Keegan to get him to forget about what Allardyce taught him and top be more open when going forward.

 

agree about Milner and Duff, made very little happen, tho i actually thought Owen was the worst player.

 

The worst players on the pitch for me were Milner and Duff, these are the players who should be creating and making things happen but they're doing neither.

 

 

 

it would help if they just stuck to their positions, out wide. At one point yesterday you had Ameobi wide crossing to Duff in the middle.

 

 

[chicago_shearer]

Interesting statistic in the Telegraph match report.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;jsessionid=O1S2LLXLO13SHQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/sport/2008/01/21/sfnnew121.xml&page=2

 

Percentage of accurate passes:

 

Enrique 69%

Cacapa 91%

Taylor 85%

Carr 78%

Duff 86%

Rozehnal 72%

Owen 73%

Ameobi 73%

Milner 41%

[ShearMagic]

That's why we need a winger to replace James Milner.

 

He just doesn't cut it IMO.

[gazza ladra]

Interesting statistic in the Telegraph match report.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;jsessionid=O1S2LLXLO13SHQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/sport/2008/01/21/sfnnew121.xml&page=2

 

Percentage of accurate passes:

 

Enrique 69%

Cacapa 91%

Taylor 85%

Carr 78%

Duff 86%

Rozehnal 72%

Owen 73%

Ameobi 73%

Milner 41%

 

Quite interesting. Lends some support to those who felt that Roz did well on Saturday. Made a few really canny passes from distance. He was the least of our worries.