Newcastle 1 - 1 Middlesbrough - 03/02/08 - Post match reaction from page 15

[Yorkie]

Just got back.

 

You can blame the referees for giving everything their way, you can blame us not having a first choice team out there, and you can complain about the goals that should have stood - but that's a disgraceful result and i'm pretty livid. Boro are a decent side who are on a good bit of form, but after this, i just don't know where the next win is coming from.

 

I'm sick of Butt, he's rubbish. I'm getting pretty fed up of Given too, tbh. Harper to start from now on. More horrific kicking and i don't have a fucking clue what he was doing for the goal. Carr was pretty Carr-ish, and Smith was pretty Smith-ish. Those are the stand-out woeful performances from an individual point of view, but i thought we played well in spells.

 

I thought Barton and Duff were both quite dangerous. They connected well down the left-hand side when Barton had moved into the middle. Is Emre injured again? He was decent, i'd have him starting with Barton in the middle at Villa. Owen was a bit better aswell, needs a decent strike partner.

 

But all in all, Boro were worth their point because you could tell they were going to equalise as soon as we scored. So annoyed. My heart absolutely sank when they did score.

 

Nonetheless, we'll improve when our African players are back, aswell as Enrique. Three of our four first choice defenders were missing today, but i'm only really talking about future games. We had good enough defenders to handle fucking Jeremie Aliadiere and Dong Gook Lee today ffs.

 

On another note, the atmosphere up in Level 7 was really good i thought. The Boro fans were decent, which meant our fans were decent. Infact, the day out would have been great in general (absolutely amazing view imo), but for their equaliser.

 

Gutted.

[ElDiablo]

What's my evidence? Erm...his career? He's not the player he was but a few misses hardly means he's lost the ability to finish. Strikers miss chances and go through spells like this. If he's still doing it over the next 5 matches you might have a point.

 

Exactly, Owen IS in a poor run of form finishing wise. Only way you can get out of that is to score. He may get decent chance a game atm. That's shit really.

[oldtype]

Owen could have had 4 recently pending decisions

 

sshh...don't let the facts get in the way of a good slagging.

 

Give your head a shake man for God's sake.

 

Sorry but I don't see the point in complaining about Owen when he's scored two goals even though our attacking play was blunt at best.

 

I'm not just talking about today. In the Premiership, your centre forward has to be able to do more than just score the odd from a set piece. With the ball at his feet these days, Owen is totally impotent. He just won't put chances anymore. It's a matter of accepting that rather than categorising it as "a good slagging."

 

I find it insanely comical that the only goal Michael Owen seems capable of scoring these days is a header.

 

He's like shorter pre-WC2006 Miroslav Klose

 

Yes cos he's missed SO many chances on the deck hasn't he? About 3. Who cares what his goals are like? So what if they're headers? f*** me.

 

I just find it funny that what used to be a small part of his game (his superb set-piece positioning) is just about all he has left to score goals.

 

The worrying thing isn't that he's missing chances on the deck, it's that he has no ability whatsoever to create them anymore.

 

Even then, he's missed far more than three easy chances with his foot this season.

 

Honestly mate, what do you expect a player to do when the ball is constantly played to him in front of the defence? We next to never really get in behind teams, Owen gets the ball 'in the whole' because he's forced to drop in search of the ball. Owen in a team like Tottenham would be awesome. That's what they try to do every attack. Get the winger in behind and lay or chip a ball in. He ffeds off s****. He isn't the same player as when he joined us even, but still has it.

 

Have you considered that he's only getting the ball in front of the defence because he's not fast enough/not mobile enough to make piercing runs in behind them anymore? Our central midfield may be incompetent, but they're not completel idiots. If Owen moves into a good position they will try the thru pass. It just hasn't happened a lot and when it has, it hasn't worke dout.

[black_n_white]

Why is everyone having a pop at Owen?!!! He scored our goal today ffs! He's a confidence player and lets be honest this current crop of players won't give anyone confidence!!! Its hard to see where the next win is coming from...i get a funny feeling it could be very nervous times come the last few games if things dont improve!

[jimmymag]

Owen could have had 4 recently pending decisions

 

sshh...don't let the facts get in the way of a good slagging.

 

Give your head a shake man for God's sake.

 

Sorry but I don't see the point in complaining about Owen when he's scored two goals even though our attacking play was blunt at best.

 

I'm not just talking about today. In the Premiership, your centre forward has to be able to do more than just score the odd from a set piece. With the ball at his feet these days, Owen is totally impotent. He just won't put chances anymore. It's a matter of accepting that rather than categorising it as "a good slagging."

 

Owen is still a good finisher IMO, but he doesn't offer much else, that much I agree with. The problems are much more concern in other areas of the pitch for me. Right wing, playmaker and central defence for a start.

 

What's your evidence that he's a good finisher? Apart from a couple of scrappy tap ins (today and Stoke), he's scored one goal with his feet this season - against Barnsley. You can say we're not creating, but today, against Arsenal in the cup and against Man City off the top of my head, he's had chances that your typical Premiership striker should bury without a second thought. Had loads earlier in the season too (two simple ones against Wigan spring to mind).

 

It's fucking laughable that Owen's getting a slagging, fact is he's been injured almost continuously since he arrived here, he's now on his longest run of games in our colours, he is getting sharper and will gain in confidence and will get back to somewhere near his best form if he can stay fit. Duff has also been suffering from injuries, but he looked something like his old self today.

 

Some people don't appreciate that it takes 6 or so games for players to get their match fitness and sharpness back following lengthy injury lay offs, and I'm confident that Owen and Duff will continue to improve throughout the rest of this season and will be big players for us in our battle against relegation.

[ElDiablo]

Owen could have had 4 recently pending decisions

 

sshh...don't let the facts get in the way of a good slagging.

 

Give your head a shake man for God's sake.

 

Sorry but I don't see the point in complaining about Owen when he's scored two goals even though our attacking play was blunt at best.

 

I'm not just talking about today. In the Premiership, your centre forward has to be able to do more than just score the odd from a set piece. With the ball at his feet these days, Owen is totally impotent. He just won't put chances anymore. It's a matter of accepting that rather than categorising it as "a good slagging."

 

I find it insanely comical that the only goal Michael Owen seems capable of scoring these days is a header.

 

He's like shorter pre-WC2006 Miroslav Klose

 

Yes cos he's missed SO many chances on the deck hasn't he? About 3. Who cares what his goals are like? So what if they're headers? f*** me.

 

I just find it funny that what used to be a small part of his game (his superb set-piece positioning) is just about all he has left to score goals.

 

The worrying thing isn't that he's missing chances on the deck, it's that he has no ability whatsoever to create them anymore.

 

Even then, he's missed far more than three easy chances with his foot this season.

 

Honestly mate, what do you expect a player to do when the ball is constantly played to him in front of the defence? We next to never really get in behind teams, Owen gets the ball 'in the whole' because he's forced to drop in search of the ball. Owen in a team like Tottenham would be awesome. That's what they try to do every attack. Get the winger in behind and lay or chip a ball in. He ffeds off s****. He isn't the same player as when he joined us even, but still has it.

 

Have you considered that he's only getting the ball in front of the defence because he's not fast enough/not mobile enough to make piercing runs in behind them anymore? Our central midfield may be incompetent, but they're not completel idiots. If Owen moves into a good position they will try the thru pass. It just hasn't happened a lot and when it has, it hasn't worke dout.

 

Don't give me that, seriously. You probably think Martins is better cos he runs fast.

[Guest float one in]

Positives for me include good performances from Barton, Emre and especailly Duff, who was really lively and indicated that he could still be capable of playing the way he used to 3-5 years ago, which would be absoutely tremendous for us. Emre still playing too deep, meaning he couldn't open up many chances, but hopefully Keegan will get him playing further forward over the coming months. On the other hand Barton showed some good touches going forward so maybe the way to play is him doing a box to box role and Emre sitting deeper in the Michael Carrick/Sep Guardiola role! Smith put in a good shift up front and Owen scoring was great to see - also got himself into a handful of dangerous positions. Carr has been much improved over the last few matches - whether that's due to a Keegan-induced positive attitude or the effects of Sam's fitness work is impossible to know.

Faye is going to make a massive difference in defence, and for all Carr's improvement I'd rather have Beye in there. Will be interesting to see what Keegan can get out of Martins. 

It was a pity we conceded, especially in the way we did, but I am encouraged overall!

[Dr Venkman]

Owen could have had 4 recently pending decisions

 

sshh...don't let the facts get in the way of a good slagging.

 

Give your head a shake man for God's sake.

 

Sorry but I don't see the point in complaining about Owen when he's scored two goals even though our attacking play was blunt at best.

 

I'm not just talking about today. In the Premiership, your centre forward has to be able to do more than just score the odd from a set piece. With the ball at his feet these days, Owen is totally impotent. He just won't put chances anymore. It's a matter of accepting that rather than categorising it as "a good slagging."

 

I find it insanely comical that the only goal Michael Owen seems capable of scoring these days is a header.

 

He's like shorter pre-WC2006 Miroslav Klose

 

Yes cos he's missed SO many chances on the deck hasn't he? About 3. Who cares what his goals are like? So what if they're headers? f*** me.

 

I just find it funny that what used to be a small part of his game (his superb set-piece positioning) is just about all he has left to score goals.

 

The worrying thing isn't that he's missing chances on the deck, it's that he has no ability whatsoever to create them anymore.

 

Even then, he's missed far more than three easy chances with his foot this season.

 

Honestly mate, what do you expect a player to do when the ball is constantly played to him in front of the defence? We next to never really get in behind teams, Owen gets the ball 'in the whole' because he's forced to drop in search of the ball. Owen in a team like Tottenham would be awesome. That's what they try to do every attack. Get the winger in behind and lay or chip a ball in. He ffeds off s****. He isn't the same player as when he joined us even, but still has it.

 

Have you considered that he's only getting the ball in front of the defence because he's not fast enough/not mobile enough to make piercing runs in behind them anymore? Our central midfield may be incompetent, but they're not completel idiots. If Owen moves into a good position they will try the thru pass. It just hasn't happened a lot and when it has, it hasn't worke dout.

 

Don't give me that, seriously. You probably think Martins is better cos he runs fast.

 

every time someone says to me 'martins would have got that' my response is 'aye, he'd have missed it aswell though'

[Cronky]

Looking at the last four games, Owen just doesn't contribute enough. A very good goal today, but most of the time it's like we've got 10 men, because he doesn't create much, doesn't do that much work, and loses the ball in the build up a lot. You can say we should be creating more chances for him, but even then his sharpness has gone and he's missing quite a few chances. His presence also means that we lack pace in attack and can't hit teams on the break.

 

Today, we were outnumbered in midfield and struggled in that area. We really needed a Beardsley or a Bellamy to drop off and link effectively with the midfield. Instead, we're playing a kind of old-fashioned 4-4-2 where one striker is looking for flick-ons from the other.

 

[oldtype]

Owen could have had 4 recently pending decisions

 

sshh...don't let the facts get in the way of a good slagging.

 

Give your head a shake man for God's sake.

 

Sorry but I don't see the point in complaining about Owen when he's scored two goals even though our attacking play was blunt at best.

 

I'm not just talking about today. In the Premiership, your centre forward has to be able to do more than just score the odd from a set piece. With the ball at his feet these days, Owen is totally impotent. He just won't put chances anymore. It's a matter of accepting that rather than categorising it as "a good slagging."

 

I find it insanely comical that the only goal Michael Owen seems capable of scoring these days is a header.

 

He's like shorter pre-WC2006 Miroslav Klose

 

Yes cos he's missed SO many chances on the deck hasn't he? About 3. Who cares what his goals are like? So what if they're headers? f*** me.

 

I just find it funny that what used to be a small part of his game (his superb set-piece positioning) is just about all he has left to score goals.

 

The worrying thing isn't that he's missing chances on the deck, it's that he has no ability whatsoever to create them anymore.

 

Even then, he's missed far more than three easy chances with his foot this season.

 

Honestly mate, what do you expect a player to do when the ball is constantly played to him in front of the defence? We next to never really get in behind teams, Owen gets the ball 'in the whole' because he's forced to drop in search of the ball. Owen in a team like Tottenham would be awesome. That's what they try to do every attack. Get the winger in behind and lay or chip a ball in. He ffeds off s****. He isn't the same player as when he joined us even, but still has it.

 

Have you considered that he's only getting the ball in front of the defence because he's not fast enough/not mobile enough to make piercing runs in behind them anymore? Our central midfield may be incompetent, but they're not completel idiots. If Owen moves into a good position they will try the thru pass. It just hasn't happened a lot and when it has, it hasn't worke dout.

 

Don't give me that, seriously. You probably think Martins is better cos he runs fast.

 

No, Martins actually has the exact same problem because he doesn't have the footballing brain to pick out spots to run into. Can't finish either, but he's ridiculously agile and has a fuck hard shot, so he gets random goals sometimes.

 

They're both horribly frustrating players.

[Guest BooBoo]

Given 4

Carr 6

NZogbia 6

Cacapa 6

Taylor 6

Butt 4

Barton 4

Emre 5

Duff 6

Owen 6

Smith 4

 

In a word: drivel.

[9]

As much as Owen did nothing very positive today, he was working alot harder than ive seen him do before, chasing and just genrally looking intrested.

 

 

[S.S.R.]

Just seen their goal on tv. Looked nothing wrong with it, Given was statuesque with Taylor and Cacapa in no-mans land.

[The College Dropout]

Owen could have had 4 recently pending decisions

 

sshh...don't let the facts get in the way of a good slagging.

 

 

 

facts are, he's scored 3 league goals this season, 2 of which were headers. A similar tally to Lescott.

[Dr Venkman]

fucking hell, just seeing the replay of their goal now and thats a SHOCKING decision

[plenum]

Typical Keegan always attacking. Why can't Newcastle ever defend a lead against a schitty side like Boro? Agree that Smith and Butt must go. Smith cant play midfield nor up front and he knows it hence the mischief and agro he´s showing. Very sad all of this. Summary - Circus x 2.

[Wullie]

I thought Cacapa was immense personally, especially second half. Has more ability on the ball than any of our midfielders for a start.

[Wullie]

Typical Keegan always attacking. Why can't Newcastle ever defend a lead against a schitty side like Boro?

 

What a load of nonsense.

[ElDiablo]

No, Martins actually has the exact same problem because he doesn't have the footballing brain to pick out spots to run into. Can't finish either, but he's ridiculously agile and has a fuck hard shot, so he gets random goals sometimes.

 

They're both horribly frustrating players.

 

Agreed, Owen is frustrating but you know he will pop up with a goal. You don't have that confidence in Martins. I think we need 2 new strikers.

[Guest BooBoo]

Fair goal or not, Boro deserved at least a point. In fact we're fortunate we didnt lose.

[fredbob]

Disappointd with the result, thought there were a few positives to take out the game, primarily the effect of keegans approach starting to take effect, thought there was a some excellent periods of play by both teams, Boro posed no more attcking threat than we did but looked better overall because of there defensive stregth which i think we lack massively, extremely unorganized and Butt offered very little protection, O'neil was found in a lot of space because of Zog absences at times.

 

I personally thik our weakness lie with the defensive organisation, Cacapa was good today, but he's being applied in the wrong way, he needs to play the ferdinand role and leave Taylor to play the Terry role. Was left exposed too often and fortunately for us his ability got us out some sticky situation.

 

Butt was invisibe inthe second half, exceptionally poor, though Emre wasgood, just what we needed to be honest, kept the ball really well, cant think of too many times he gave the ball away, looked to get forward at all times and linked up play quite well. Barton wasnt great, wasnt very effectivein the wide role.

 

Though Duff was excellent, has been very good since being back from injury, very direct, always looking to attack, links up realy really well with Zog, those 2 would be my first choice on the left flank if Zog was so defensively poor, thought Zog could cut it in the Cm but starting to think otherwise, Zog ofrers more going forward than any other left back in the premiership, Evra and Clichy are miles ahead defensivel but attacking wise Zog is superb because of the space he finds himself in.

 

Owen was very good today, made some good runs. We didnt create many chances today again but he was usually very close to being on the end of any half chances we created. Did well for his goal.

 

Smith just doesnt cut the mustard as a first team striker unfortunately, i think he gets picked on by refs though a bit, which is very annoying.

 

Viduka looked like the sort of player we need, from what little i saw of him.

 

Overall, there are big improvements to be had as an attacking unit. Looked a bit unbalanced as an attacking unit, and we dont keep pressure sustained in the opposition half which can only be done with players like Emre and Duff who retain the ball exceptaionlly and look to find space.

 

Our major problem is our defensive organisation, Butt was very poor, Zog went missing at times, Carr was ok, but not solid enough and Taylor and Cacapa just dont look good together, i personally think Taylor is the weaker defender out the 2. Cant wait for Faye to get back.

 

If i was Keegan, i would drop Butt, and play Barton exclusively as a DM, Beye for Carr, my big dilemma would be who to drop out of Duff, Zog and Enrique would also drop Smith, and play Viduka.

[Wullie]

No, Martins actually has the exact same problem because he doesn't have the footballing brain to pick out spots to run into. Can't finish either, but he's ridiculously agile and has a fuck hard shot, so he gets random goals sometimes.

 

They're both horribly frustrating players.

 

Agreed, Owen is frustrating but you know he will pop up with a goal. You don't have that confidence in Martins. I think we need 2 new strikers.

 

Speak for yourself. Martins has more goals than Owen this season from less games up front.

[JH]

Typical Keegan always attacking. Why can't Newcastle ever defend a lead against a schitty side like Boro?

 

What a load of nonsense.

 

If anything, we didn't attack enough. We should have went on for number two after Owen's first.

[S.S.R.]

Fair goal or not, Boro deserved at least a point. In fact we're fortunate we didnt lose.

 

Definitely. At least Boro came here with the intention of having a go, unlike most of the sides this season.

[Wullie]

Fair goal or not, Boro deserved at least a point. In fact we're fortunate we didnt lose.

 

Definitely. At least Boro came here with the intention of having a go, unlike most of the sides this season.

 

You're joking surely. 4-5-1 and kick the shit out of the opposition anti football, which is what Southgate always says he doesn't do (and usually doesn't tbf).

 

They had a go when they had to at 1 down.