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Middlesbrough 0 - 0 Newcastle - 29/11/08 - post match reaction from page 17


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Turning into a side that is hard to beat. Would be nice to get a few more wins under the belt and move up the league.

 

This.

 

Just hope we start to play with more invention to get those wins. Also hoping that JFK keeps Bassong in the side.

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"If you can't win then make sure you don't lose". That was Robson's mantra when he first took over and we'll climb the table if we continue picking up points like this.

 

Good result and another clean sheet. Got to beat Stoke next week though.

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Guest optimistic nit

Blackburn and Sunlan have Liverpool and ManU next week, while we have stoke, so we should hopefully be out of the relegation zone next week even if blackburn win at pompey tomorrow (unlikely).

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Pretty hard to watch again overall (the fog didn't help like).

 

We seem incapable of putting good moves together, unfortunately.

 

Butt and Guthrie will do that to teams.

 

They'll always work hard, but at the very least we need Barton (or the class midfielder we all wanted in the summer) in there to provide some movement and imagination.

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Guest optimistic nit

Pretty hard to watch again overall (the fog didn't help like).

 

We seem incapable of putting good moves together, unfortunately.

 

we didn't have confidence in our final ball, but we were in a lot of good positions today. what annoyed me is we would get a promising move together then make one pass that destroyed the momentum.

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At least we didn't lose, viduka is back and we're defending well, especially bassong (altho I hear jose had a 'mare)

 

 

 

Not really a mare, but was a bit shaky from time to time. Going forwards it was Beye who had the mare.

 

Players who stood out positively:

N'Zog

Bassong

Martins

Viduka (although looked knackered)

 

Negatively:

Beye

Jonas (didn't contribute much at all)

Owen (why did Martins come off ahead of him?)

 

Disclaimer: I only saw highlights from the first half, saw second half in full.

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If we're gonna have a wing combo of Jonas and Zog, which i believe we should, then Geremi needs to be on the pitch imo. Neither of those two are particularly good crossers of the ball, nor are our wing-backs. Geremi is someone who can deliver and we need to balance pace and byline-running with genuine delivery.

 

That said, if Jonas continues to be ineffectual down the right then we really ought to switch it again and put him on the left. If that means Geremi being the right-winger then fair enough, but Jonas is someone you build your team around so we need to utilise him to the best of his ability. At the moment, that doesn't look like it's gonna come from down the right.

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Butt and Guthrie will do that to teams.

 

They'll always work hard, but at the very least we need Barton (or the class midfielder we all wanted in the summer) in there to provide some movement and imagination.

 

I agree, we still need creativity in the middle.

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The performance demonstrates the limitations of the players, not the limitations of the manager.  Taking off Oba, his only debatable decision, didn't exactly gift them the point did it?  We weren't playing well in the second half prior to that point.

 

I'm happy with the options in defence, but it's clear the squad needs some work.  I thought Guthrie, Butt & Zoggy did admirable, fairly competent jobs today, but that isn't good enough as a first choice.  Not in this league.

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Given 7

Enrique 4

Beye 6 (Downing MOTM imo)

Colo 7

Bassong 8

Gurthrie 6

Butt 6

Zog 5

Jonas 8

Martins 7 - Like Kinnear but that was a terrible decision taking him off

Owen - 6 - no service

Viduka - 5

 

Jonas 8, Zog 5 - which game did you watch?

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Guest magpies_rawk

Well, from the looks of it, a positive result. Surely, JFK's priority would be to strengthen the spine of our team. My only qualm is the inability of our attackers to produce the final ball. Viduka has shown that he will be an immense player for us for the season ahead if he can remain fit.  Shows the inadequacies we have to put up with in ameobi as a holding striker.

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Pretty hard to watch again overall (the fog didn't help like).

 

We seem incapable of putting good moves together, unfortunately.

 

Butt and Guthrie will do that to teams.

 

They'll always work hard, but at the very least we need Barton (or the class midfielder we all wanted in the summer) in there to provide some movement and imagination.

 

It's not just those two. Our whole team looks incredibly poor technically at the best of times (at least where passing is concerned.)

 

There's not much interplay/cohesion between the fullbacks and the wingers, the strikers weren't working in tandem at all (Viduka was better with Owen when he came on), the central midfielders treat the ball a bit like a hot potato at times.

 

It's frustrating because every time we seem to make progress on one aspect (which has been defending recently) we seem to struggle in other areas because of it. There's no balance at all between attacking/defending at the minute, it just seems like one or the other for the most part.

 

Happy enough with a draw away to 'Boro, especially considering their domination of the second half, but there's worrying signs everywhere for me as far as our performances go. Suppose we'll see how we go against Stoke at home with the same players available, but if we don't beat that lot at home and play some nice stuff along with it you've got to worry about our ability to do it against anyone.

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Guest Chris P

Nice to see the old North East still gets a decent sea Harr (correct the spelling). Amazing to see the fog spilling over the East stand.

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The performance demonstrates the limitations of the players, not the limitations of the manager.  Taking off Oba, his only debatable decision, didn't exactly gift them the point did it?  We weren't playing well in the second half prior to that point.

 

I'm happy with the options in defence, but it's clear the squad needs some work.  I thought Guthrie, Butt & Zoggy did admirable, fairly competent jobs today, but that isn't good enough as a first choice.  Not in this league.

 

Disagree there to some extent. The only genuine weakness represented in the side today was in centre-midfield, from a positive point of view anyway. Zog and Jonas didn't contribute loads but they still beat their men and pushed the side forward.

 

I have absolutely no idea what tactic was deployed for Owen and i think we'd probably have nicked it if Oba had remained on the pitch with Viduka.

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Guest Stephen927

Enrique worried me at times today, seemed to struggle defensively and gave the ball away a fair bit.

 

Would have obviously preferred to win but at least we have had two clean sheets on the bounce. To be fair, Stamford Bridge and the Riverside are tough away days.

 

Good to see Viduka back. I only hope he can stay fit for an extended period of time because I think him and Owen sing from the same hymn sheet.

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