Coventry 2 - 3 Newcastle (CC) - 26/08/08 - post match reaction from page 36

[junkhead]

Enjoyed the whole thing to be honest, nearly ruined by some incredible commentary though.

 

By the way, what a f***ing ball by Enrique for Owen, missed that.

absolutely, that's what you call a killer ball..

hopefully, this game will give Keegan confidence to start Enrique at LB with N'Zogbia in front of him

[James]

Probably put less effort in over 120 minutes than we would in 90 minutes of a Premier League game.

 

A very unproffesional performance by some.

[Guest Toon1981]

wow, can't believe people are genuinely unhappy about that!

 

we won, played some good football, showed heart when the breaks went against us, battled, dug in despite having a bunch of players with little to no pre-season together and a good few missing...

 

seems a few people have forgot how dire things were not long ago (or, more likely, are never happy unless they have something to twist about)

 

 

 

This.  Anyone seething with vitriol after a game like that needs to get some perspective.  And open their vitriol-valve, obviously.

[Baggio]

We should have wrapped it up long before the 90 minutes were up, we probably would have too if we had a striker or two on from the start.

 

Lots of good build up play but nobody to put the ball away.

[STM]

Some defenders are just blessed with a natural poise. You just know that when they are on the scene mor egood than bad is going to happen for your team. Coloccini has that kind of presence and it is invaluable.

 

Another one of our young defenders is showing that sort of trait also, and it sure as hell ain't Taylor I will tell you that.

 

I agree. I've been sticking up for Taylor but i thought Bassong looked bloody composed today compared to him. I would like to see him against prem opposition though.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

What a f***ing joke that was, they weren't even attacking yet they forced us  to extra time.

 

By far one of the most frustrating games i've seen in ages, the ref was a c***, Coventry were just awfull, really really bad yet they somehow scored 2, wish we could just kill a f***ing game for once..should've been over since we scored this 2nd goal.

 

Geremi was s***, Beye's mistake is the reason we had to play 120 min..other than that i think the rest all played well, special mentions to Zoggy, Milner and Enrique for giving it all throughout the game.

Rubbish

 

Care to explain?

 

So 2 players were s***, the rest were good, but it was a f***ing joke?

 

It was a joke in terms of how shit they were yet they still manged to score and force us to play 30 extra mins

 

 

Expert back-tracking

[QBG]

Don't know what people are on about with Beye to be honest, he put one foot wrong throughout the game, looked alright to me.

[Guest Toon1981]

Some defenders are just blessed with a natural poise. You just know that when they are on the scene mor egood than bad is going to happen for your team. Coloccini has that kind of presence and it is invaluable.

 

Another one of our young defenders is showing that sort of trait also, and it sure as hell ain't Taylor I will tell you that.

 

I agree. I've been sticking up for Taylor but i thought Bassong looked bloody composed today compared to him. I would like to see him against prem opposition though.

 

Be interesting to see who starts Arsenal in terms of how highly Keegan rates Taylor, as Bassong did not much wrong at all tonight.

[Guest sicko2ndbest]

Probably put less effort in over 120 minutes than we would in 90 minutes of a Premier League game.

 

A very unproffesional performance by some.

 

WUM

[Guest Toon1981]

Don't know what people are on about with Beye to be honest, he put one foot wrong throughout the game, looked alright to me.

 

I think we got some goldfish posting, can only remember the one foot he put wrong late on when tired and not the other 120 mins of very competent stuff.

[STM]

Some defenders are just blessed with a natural poise. You just know that when they are on the scene mor egood than bad is going to happen for your team. Coloccini has that kind of presence and it is invaluable.

 

Another one of our young defenders is showing that sort of trait also, and it sure as hell ain't Taylor I will tell you that.

 

I agree. I've been sticking up for Taylor but i thought Bassong looked bloody composed today compared to him. I would like to see him against prem opposition though.

 

Be interesting to see who starts Arsenal in terms of how highly Keegan rates Taylor, as Bassong did not much wrong at all tonight.

 

Na, Keegan will stick with Taylor, which i don't really mind because Bassong still needs to be eased into our league. However, he's promising all the same.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

Thought Guthrie played very well, showed his age a bit at times but can certinatly ping the ball aout.

[Guest optimistic nit]

if football matches were 80 minutes i would have said we were absolutely fantastic. we switched off towards the end of the half in both halves, mainly imo because we were playing coventry (thats not an excuse) as we didn't do it against manchester united, but i cant see keegan letting us do it again. beye's mind was in the dressing room for the first goal, and the whole team switched off at 80 minutes until the 94th minute.

 

ratings:

 

Given-7 could do nowt for the first, could have taken the second imo (you cant score from a throw in, so why didn't he just stand on the 6 yard box for that throw?) very good save from their sub though. that was hit low and with power and he did excellent imo to get down and get a very strong hand too it (and great presense of mind to react when he spilled it in injury time).

 

Beye: 5.5 was absent all game. some good defensive work, but gave the ball away way too much and was at fault for the first goal.

 

Colo: 8: was a training session for him, men against boys stuff, apart from the 93rd minute.

 

Bassong: 7.9: very good performance, was comfortable all game. should be within of a shot of starting against arsenal, if keegan has no worries about starting 2 new centrebacks together, which has to be the only reason he isn't starting already.

 

Enrique: 7.5 looked good attacking and defending. excellent ball to set up owen, but like taylor (but to a slightly lesser extent) is a good defender but one who will cost you goals if he plays a full season. lapses in concentration almost cost us, but because it was coventry he recovered from them all pretty well and usually won the ball back after giving it away. possible start against arsenal, but i would feel more comfortable if he was left on the bench.

 

Butt: 6: as always, some good contributions overshadowed by the obvious fact that he's just not quick enough physically or mentally to play at the top level any more.

 

Guthrie: 6: same as the last 2 games, and similar to butt, some good contributions, but overshadowed by him getting caught on the ball on quite a few occasions. i think we have what could become a really good player here, but it will take a full season for him to show that, maybe 2.

 

Milner: 8.7: great performance. i'm not his biggest fan, but he showed how he can play tonight. unfortunately he hasn't played like that in the league for a while, but coventry couldn't handle him. 2 assists/ 1 assist and a goal.

 

Zog: 8.5: was he tackled all game? coventry couldn't do anything to stop him running apart from fouling him (see jonas vs manu), end product was hit and miss, but once enrique is up to speed he should definately have his left wing position back.

 

Jonas: 8.9: my motm. in my opinion he's the only reason butt and guthrie is working as well as it is. defensively he was brilliant today, and how he keeps the ball when he has 3 players circling him is amazing. we have butt and guthrie who are both often guilty of giving the ball away a bit too much and jonas was there to bail them out on several occasions. was very good attacking as well, but he's not going to win a header if he has no defenders within 20 feet of him, not that i really care about that.

 

 

geremi: 7: an ok performance, but all the attacking work was done by the above 3.

 

Owen: 8: we would have gone to penalties had he not been on the field.

 

 

dont think i missed anyone. what i enjoyed most about the performance (apart from the passing maybe) is how i never questioned how we would react, both of the times we conceded in injury time. we came out at the second half and took the game to coventry, and we did the same thing in the first half of extra time. our heads didn't drop, we still knew we would win.

 

also i thought sam allardyce was supposed to know a thing or two about fitness. obviously not as much as our current setup, because we looked the fitter team by miles today, they made 3 subs, we made 1, in 120 minutes, and that was to bring a player on who isn't yet fit enough to play 90 minutes anyway. that imo, is keegan's greatest acomplishment so far. even viduka looks fit ffs.

[Tooj]

How pedantic does Optomystyc Knight want to be with his ratings?

[Guest optimistic nit]

and i forgot to mention for the first 60 minutes the ref and both lindsmen were a fucking joke. 3(!!!!) bad offside decisions, and how the fuck was that not a penalty? they had a good second 60 minutes if we forget about that extra minute appearing from thin air at the end of the second half.

[Guest Toon1981]

Some defenders are just blessed with a natural poise. You just know that when they are on the scene mor egood than bad is going to happen for your team. Coloccini has that kind of presence and it is invaluable.

 

Another one of our young defenders is showing that sort of trait also, and it sure as hell ain't Taylor I will tell you that.

 

I agree. I've been sticking up for Taylor but i thought Bassong looked bloody composed today compared to him. I would like to see him against prem opposition though.

 

Be interesting to see who starts Arsenal in terms of how highly Keegan rates Taylor, as Bassong did not much wrong at all tonight.

 

Na, Keegan will stick with Taylor, which i don't really mind because Bassong still needs to be eased into our league. However, he's promising all the same.

 

Probably.  Wonder if we'll be after another centre-half, or happy to stick with the four we got.  More likely to be the latter with Bassong looking promising and assured.  Christ, better tonight than Boumsong looked in 90% of his games.  Not hard to do mind.

[Willow]

Great game, I thought we were great.

 

Obviously we should've walked away with the points much earlier but a freakish throw-in and a superb finish kept them in it.

 

Jonas is one of the tidiest players i've seen play for us so far, pure class. Colo was just fantastic, such a natural defender and I thought Bassong also had a excellent game, could be a steal.

 

Milner never stopped, same goes for guthrie and butt, who performed great.

 

We all knew that it was going to be extremely difficult getting goals tonight, with literally NO strikers - bar owen who was only meant to play 15 minutes.

 

I'm really, really impressed with how our team is shaping up. Fingers crossed we get some players in, especially a striker and midfielder, before the window shuts.

 

:thup:

[Guest optimistic nit]

How pedantic does Optomystyc Knight want to be with his ratings?

 

well aye. i just wanted to make the point that colo was slightly better than bassong, and jonas was slightly better than milner and zog, in my opinion.

[Chris_R]

 

By the way, what a f***ing ball by Enrique for Owen, missed that.

 

Yeah, fantastic through ball with the outside of the left foot over the top of the defence to play him in on goal. Whilst Enrique was far from perfect today, I thought he had a very good game and think he should be at left back from now on. Hopefully Keegan will see the same positves and will move Charlie up the pitch and bring Jose in at the back.

 

I'd score it as follows:

 

Given: 6 - Made a couple of decent saves but didn't have a lot to do. Hard to fault him for either goal

Enrique: 8 - Thought he played really well, did some good stuff going forward and in defence

Beye: 6 - He's played a lot better for us

Bassong: 7 - Composed, played a good game

Coloccini: 7 - Decent performance

Butt: 7 - I'm not his biggest fan and think generally he should be dropped but he played well tonight, broke up a lot of their attacks

Guthrie: 6 - Tidy, looked quick across the ground. Unspectacular though

Geremi: 5 - Nothing terrible, but he's got no pace and can't beat a man. Offered very little going forward

Gutierrez: 7 - Energetic, ran round a lot but didn't do anything spectacular. Decent performance though

Milner: 8 - Lots of energy, played well

Charlie: 8 - Looked threatening whenever he got the ball

 

Owen: 7 - Looked sharp. Scored a good goal with his only real chance but linked up well with other players and looked to have some pace as well.

 

Overall, I enjoyed the game. Sure they scored a couple of goals with their rare forays into our half but you always run the risk with Keegan's sides that this may happen. It's just nice to see us go out to create rather than to destroy.

[Guest Toon1981]

How pedantic does Optomystyc Knight want to be with his ratings?

 

Tell me about it!  Are decimal places really neccesary?  Is he taking an average of his many opinions on each player?

[ElDiablo]

The linesman were terrible but thought the ref did alright apart from the extra 1 minute he got from somewhere at the end of the 90. One particular shocking decision which resulted in Geremi being flagged when he was actually being played onside by about 4/5 players.  :colo:

[Tooj]

How pedantic does Optomystyc Knight want to be with his ratings?

 

Tell me about it!  Are decimal places really neccesary?  Is he taking an average of his many opinions on each player?

 

[Fatwax]

I can't believe some people are throwing their dolls out of the pram over this match. We played well overrall and 2-3 quality signings will take us to the next level.

 

Considering we went 75 minutes without a striker on the pitch we did fucking well.

[QBG]

Don't know what people are on about with Beye to be honest, he put one foot wrong throughout the game, looked alright to me.

 

I think we got some goldfish posting, can only remember the one foot he put wrong late on when tired and not the other 120 mins of very competent stuff.

 

Exactly, his normal dependable self.

 

Ratings:

Given 7  Positioning was awful for the Coventry's second, a few errors but other than that he was solid.

Beye 7  Solid, dependable defending

Bassong 7 Looked strong throughout, very good for his debut

Coloccini 7 Got beat in the air for their second and slipped on their first, but that was more an error on Butt's part anyway

Enrique 8  A few minor mistakes at the back but other than that very solid and a fantatic ball for Owen's goal

Geremi 4  Words can not describe how absolutely cack he was.

Butt 5      First half good, apart from the error for Morrison's goal, Second half god awful

Guthrie 7 1 misplaced pass in the entire game that I can recall, says it all tbh

Jonas 7   Very dangerous going forward, superb pass to Milner to set up the first.

N'Zogbia 8 Was effective throughout, caused them alsorts of problems with his pace.

Milner 9     Don't know why so many have been keen to get rid of him, pace is nowt without ball control and passing and Milner has both of these in abundance.

Owen 8    1 shot, 1 goal nuff said.

 

 

[robm]

Spot on about the fitness levels Optomystyc Knight noticed that at Manure.