mozy Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 He battled them out of the game 2nd half, you are bound to lose the ball at times but what you have to do is winit back and Barton did this every time. You were watching a different Barton to me, the one I was watching was clueless. He rarely found a team mate when playing the ball and we ended up under pressure because of it. tbh barton didnt try n pass it that much, he looked to cross it and do something different, i.e. deft chip across the box. Personally i thught his passing was bad but didnt put the team under pressure because the passes normally went out/found the keeper. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I've now got the munchies for a Time Out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robster Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Keegan made the wrong decision when taking Martins off but at least he did or said enough at half time to turn the game around, I don't think that should be under estimated, a good second half has been a rarity this season. Excellent point. I bet Birmingham are very upset tonight having not won. I shall see when I speak to the lads at work tomorrow ut I can bet, what with out recent history, and their recent of fairly decent results/performances, they would have expected to win tonight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmonkey Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Faye needs to be moved into central midfield, where he's looked a real beast. Bring in a leader at the back to partner Taylor. Still gutted we missed out on Woodgate, because after him its going to be practically impossible to land a defender like that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 first half i actually thought we played some good stuff but the ball seemed to stop dead once we entered the final third. couldn't seem to make any space or deliver anything into the box. as SSR said viduka was probably the pick of the bunch first-half as he had the ability to quickly turn or show deftness of foot and create a bit of space. martins i thought was fairly poor in terms of link-play but even in the 1st half his pace was frightening birmingham a great deal. i also thought butt had a good first half breaking up the play and enrique looked very sensible on the ball. faye was poor for their goal and got turned too often by forsell and mcfadden but once jerome came on he looked more comfortable and relished the physical battle. also saw birmingham hit us on the break too many times and create 3 chances from set-pieces. 2nd was very different, absolutely pissed on them, dominated possession (something like 70% to 30% at times), pushed them back constantly and quickly sweeped up the ball whenever they cleared it. best player by a significant distance was martins. as bobyule has pointed out, i'm not sure if it was on keegan's orders or not but he drifted inside and had a lot of joy, pressed them back, dribbled, played it quickly and accurately, had a few potshots, culiminating in helping force our equaliser. owen's first miss was dreadful but at least he got into position and the goal showed how good his anticipation is. had 3 brum players in front of him when the shot was hit but ghosted in front of all of them. viduka held the ball up well but last half hour faded quite badly and should've been subbed. i can see where keegan was coming from keeping him on, far from being clueless he recognised that the shape of the team was good and viduka's 'stickability' was important and we wouldnt have that as much with owen and martins. however in practice our impetus died once martins wasn't on the pitch. n'zogbia stayed out wide and never had a touch. perhaps he could've subbed carroll on instead. all in all an excellent result perhaps the best 45 minutes (or at least 35 minutes) of the season. faye and barton disappointed, i think it was an exception for faye but barton hasn't put in a good shift all season. all his passes went astray, he made good runs but kept on fucking up once he had to move on the ball. i've seen some slate geremi and as a winger he wasn't great (poor delivery) but he helped us keep possession excellently and was always there to keep the ball moving. good to see the enrique detractors shut up, the lad is so cool on the ball, and most our attacks went down his side. also a gigantic, mammoth, titanic positive that Smith saw zero playing minutes today. i reckon keegan sees through the charlatan fucker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmonkey Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Keegan made the wrong decision when taking Martins off but at least he did or said enough at half time to turn the game around, I don't think that should be under estimated, a good second half has been a rarity this season. That, for me, is why Ashley/Mort made the correct decision to part ways with Big Sam (although not signing anyone is what may undo this decision). Had this been under Allardyce, we would have started the game ultra conservatively, conceded the first goal, then given up as we either collapsed, or just continued to play defensively. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I knew mcfadden would score tonight but I thought we'd at least get the winner. Our midfield created nothing as usual but with such a tiny squad, I've come to expect that. I really hope Owen is finding his scoring touch right now as he could potentially save our bacon big time. I was disappointed with Viduka tonight to be honest. We just have no pace whatsoever so its a piece of piss for the opposition to predict what we're going to do. Still think we'll beat fulham by a couple tho, heres hoping. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shaun11177 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 One of the golden rules of management-never take off your proven goalscorer, so those who wanted Owen subbed at half time quite simply got it wrong. As for Barton-he was well known at Man City for very rarely hitting a blue shirt, he simply isnt any good. Not convinced at all we should keep Viduka next season and unfortunately our best 2 players are the most likely to leave-Martins and N'Zogbia. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoU Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Btw has anyone mentioned it was the wrong decision to take martins off? I don't think anyone has but it certainly was. And btw Barton was piss poor today Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_69 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Look, the fact is our central midfielders are shite. We've known it since about 5 games into the season and nothing has changed since. Butt is passed it, Emre is inconsistent, lightweight and injury prone, Barton is awful in every way possible and Geremi needs someone to do his running for him, although i'd still have him in the team before any of the other three. It's pointless disecting their performance after every game because it will always be the same - rubbish! We stopped the rot tonight. We've picked up a valuable point away from home against a resurgent team and their was no sign of Alan Smith - Major positives as far as i'm concerned. Oh, and Martins is a fucking hero! Our most dangerous player by a country mile. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Lucky i thought tonight. Could've been at lot worse at HT since we failed to turn up in the first half. Barton, Taylor and Faye being particularly gash. Played a lot better second half although Birmingham were as poor as we were in the first. Fair result overall which I'd have taken b4 we started, just a shame Owen didn't finish that first chance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 22bnw Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Just seen Keegan's post match comments on SSN, most convincing talk he's given in 9 games back in charge, I believed in what he said. Up until now hes just been spouting football cliché crap. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Geordie Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I'm happy enough with the point. First half was rubbish - the lack of creativity when playing 3 strikers was startling. 2nd half was better and we deserved the draw. However, how Barton remained on the pitch for the whole 90 was perplexing. He was shocking and needs to be replaced by N'Zogbia for Saturday's game. Also pleased to see that KK has dropped Smith and Duff. Just need to let Barton get on with his business off the field instead of us carrying a passenger on it when he plays. 3 points against Fulham are a must. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakka Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Well, it was a much better second half! – glad we got a point here, think there may have been a sniff of 3 points on another day. At least we didn't fold after letting a goal in. Harper – 7/10 Was happy with his performance in goal. Didn’t have much to do in 2nd half. Enrique – 6/10 Was quite poor in first half, gave away possession at times, hit his passes against the man he’s trying to beat. He did have some good moments though where he recovered well. He hit a great long ranger in 2nd half. Promising, just wish he linked up a bit better on the left when going forward. We can be quite exposed when his attacks get caught out. Faye – 5/10 At fault for first goal, other than that was not bad. Wins a lot in the air still. Taylor – 5/10 Thought he was a bit reckless at times. Did enough I guess. Beye – 6/10 Really want to see this guy at centre back one day, he’s strong and quite fast. Plays decent passes too. He had a few slip-ups and missed passes, but think no more than the next player. Barton – 5/10 Sometimes he did well, sometimes he was poor. When will this lad start to control games? He can’t focus his aggression on bossing a midfield without the need to cause a foul (or nearly a foul!). He needs to be finding better attacking passes on the ground and shoot more. He spent a lot of time linking up with Enrique on the left in first half, which I felt left a gap in the centre preventing us to spread play across the pitch. Butt – 5/10 What Butt does well in tackles and breaking up play he lets down in stupid long chip passes. He needs to keep his passes VERY simple. It’s pointless winning possession to lose it straight away with an over-ambitious pass. Geremi – 7/10 Thought he did very well considering he was only midfielder consistently doing something positive, even if it wasn’t the best. He got up and down the pitch and was always trying to keep us going. Owen – 5/10 He got the goal we needed so fair play, could have had a two but forced a good save before the goal. Other than these two incidents, I was disappointed with his overall attacking play. He should be more of a threat when on the ball. I will say his link up play when he is in a deep position is sensible, he usually keeps it simple with a safe pass instead of doing something silly like Butt does. Martins 7/10 Wish he stayed on tbf. He looked lively and he wanted to score, think he may have if on the pitch for 90 minutes. Viduka 5/10 Poor really. He tried taking on too many players at times, when a simple pass would suffice. When he was running at goal with Owen or Martins either side of him he should have passed it. He should have made way for N’Zogbia instead of Martins. Overall 6/10 We did well to get a point after going a goal down. We need to keep the ball on the ground longer and especially in the final third. So many wasted passes! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robster Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Just seen Keegan's post match comments on SSN, most convincing talk he's given in 9 games back in charge, I believed in what he said. Up until now hes just been spouting football cliché crap. Yeah. Even had a little laugh at the Martins incident saying "I wont take him off again". Good to see. Hopefully this will transfer to the players in training over the next coupdle of days and then on to the pitch on Saturday Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 22bnw Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Just seen Keegan's post match comments on SSN, most convincing talk he's given in 9 games back in charge, I believed in what he said. Up until now hes just been spouting football cliché crap. Yeah. Even had a little laugh at the Martins incident saying "I wont take him off again". Good to see. Hopefully this will transfer to the players in training over the next coupdle of days and then on to the pitch on Saturday He also explained the tactical reason for taking him off...the fact we were losing shape. Surely he could just have told Martins to stay in position though? Edit: saying that though its probably easier said than done in the heat of a game situation Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Need to continue the way we finished as soon as we start the Fulham game, take the lead and its game over i reckon, given their fragility away from home. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 22bnw Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 i'm spending £150 to get to the fulham game, they better bloody win Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EthiGeordie Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Gutted for Martins he was awesome Keegan was wrong and for the lad moral as well. I hope he keeps smith out from the starting line up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 i'm spending £150 to get to the fulham game, they better bloody win They? You are coming all that way and want Fulham to win? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlucky Luque Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Shouldve brought Zog and Carroll on for Barton and Viduka at the 70th minute... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 At least the signs are encouraging, coupling tonight with the Blackburn performance,we should have too much for a poor,travelling Fulham outfit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
black_n_white Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 A decent point, after some horrific scorelines recently especially away from home!! Its against the bottom half teams we have to pick up points. You can see the gulf in class though....v's the top 4 teams we get torn apart and v's the bottom 6 teams we look like a reasonable team..plenty to build upon and lets hoe for 3 points saturday!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 er why isnt anyone commenting on geremi... he was absolute shite... martinss? coming off (our best threat!!) somit wrong Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I think everyone is forgetting the main point. We got that point today because Stozo was there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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