Newcastle United 2 - 2 West Brom - 18/01/10 - post match reaction from page 27

[merlin]

A decent game to watch, esp for neutrals, but the weaknesses in the side were shown up for all to see - WBA left us for dead with their movement & passing for the first 20 mins and they had clearly worked out that the right side of Newcastle's defence is the weakest, which resulted in the first goal and numerous other dangerous situations - our Central defenders did well to keep them out at times.

 

Dorrans' looks streets ahead of any NUFC midfielder but the whole team looks to have benefited from Di Matteo's style of play.

Nolan sums up the pedestrianism that is Newcastle's midfield - if ever there was sacrilege, it was someone on this site a few months ago, attempting to compare him with Robert Lee ; unbelievable, and I reckon Nolan will have ceased to be able to play at the top level long before Lee did  - his fitness is poor but then, that could be directed at a number of players.

 

Credit to the team for sticking at it and getting a great equalizer from Guthrie(another who struggled against the WBA midfield) and I was pleased for Lovenkrands who showed great professionalism and strength of character by playing after his father's death - but the WBA keeper takes the blame for his goal, a header that should really have been saved, and many on here would have been slamming Harper if HE had let it in. Harper himself had a good match and almost kept Bednar out when he had no right to do so - how anyone can call him a pub keeper merely illustrates the ignorance of the person who said it.

 

The scoreline was probably fair in that there should have been at least 1 pen awarded to Newcastle, but nobody could have complained in WBA had won. Unless some additions are made to the squad in order to raise competition for places the side could start to fall away over the next few weeks ; Albion AND Forest(Davies was watching the match in the commentary box)will BOTH have taken heart from both the result and exposure of our limitations - promotion is far from certain at this point and with signings looking to be thin on the ground, a nervous 3 months beckons.

[Newcastle Fan]

Thought it was a decent game, either sides could've won it, we showed some good fight to come back twice from being a goal down but its a bit worrying to see us get out-played so easily at times by West Brom, they seemed a decent side but we are bound to meet much better sides when were back in the EPL so its not really comforting to see us fail to defened against the first semi-decent side we meet this season.

 

Thought some of our players were pretty poor yesterday, Shola and Nolan come to mind, Jonas was our best player imo but his lack of end product is really frustrating, he could've had a shot in the last attack of the game but instead he decided the give a poor low cross to (Andy Carroll was it?)  Jose Enrique was decent but he made a few mistakes, Guthrie's crossing from freekicks really needs to improve however that was one hell of a freekick.

 

All in all i'm not too botherd with the draw, after all it could've been worse had the ball fallen to anyone other than Ismael Miller,  hopefully our guys can learn from this one and give West Brom a beating in the F.A cup tie.

[Guest PJ87]

3 points against Palace are essential. Let's hope they've flogged Moses by then.

[Guest Wally_McFool]

Everything I was going to write about last night was summed up perfectly by merlin 3 posts up.

Ashley needs to get his finger out and get some players in to bolster the  squad for the rest of the season or WE WILL be overtaken by the Baggies and Forest.

[TRon]

A decent game to watch, esp for neutrals, but the weaknesses in the side were shown up for all to see - WBA left us for dead with their movement & passing for the first 20 mins and they had clearly worked out that the right side of Newcastle's defence is the weakest, which resulted in the first goal and numerous other dangerous situations - our Central defenders did well to keep them out at times.

 

Dorrans' looks streets ahead of any NUFC midfielder but the whole team looks to have benefited from Di Matteo's style of play.

Nolan sums up the pedestrianism that is Newcastle's midfield - if ever there was sacrilege, it was someone on this site a few months ago, attempting to compare him with Robert Lee ; unbelievable, and I reckon Nolan will have ceased to be able to play at the top level long before Lee did  - his fitness is poor but then, that could be directed at a number of players.

 

Credit to the team for sticking at it and getting a great equalizer from Guthrie(another who struggled against the WBA midfield) and I was pleased for Lovenkrands who showed great professionalism and strength of character by playing after his father's death - but the WBA keeper takes the blame for his goal, a header that should really have been saved, and many on here would have been slamming Harper if HE had let it in. Harper himself had a good match and almost kept Bednar out when he had no right to do so - how anyone can call him a pub keeper merely illustrates the ignorance of the person who said it.

 

The scoreline was probably fair in that there should have been at least 1 pen awarded to Newcastle, but nobody could have complained in WBA had won. Unless some additions are made to the squad in order to raise competition for places the side could start to fall away over the next few weeks ; Albion AND Forest(Davies was watching the match in the commentary box)will BOTH have taken heart from both the result and exposure of our limitations - promotion is far from certain at this point and with signings looking to be thin on the ground, a nervous 3 months beckons.

 

Exactly how I saw it. The midfield, particularly Nolan was a disgrace.

[Jayson]

3 points against Palace are essential. Let's hope they've flogged Moses by then.

 

Next few games in general very important. Have Cardiff & Leicester coming up, so they need to raise their game to stay top.

[Cheshire Mag]

A decent game to watch, esp for neutrals, but the weaknesses in the side were shown up for all to see - WBA left us for dead with their movement & passing for the first 20 mins and they had clearly worked out that the right side of Newcastle's defence is the weakest, which resulted in the first goal and numerous other dangerous situations - our Central defenders did well to keep them out at times.

 

Dorrans' looks streets ahead of any NUFC midfielder but the whole team looks to have benefited from Di Matteo's style of play.

Nolan sums up the pedestrianism that is Newcastle's midfield - if ever there was sacrilege, it was someone on this site a few months ago, attempting to compare him with Robert Lee ; unbelievable, and I reckon Nolan will have ceased to be able to play at the top level long before Lee did  - his fitness is poor but then, that could be directed at a number of players.

 

Credit to the team for sticking at it and getting a great equalizer from Guthrie(another who struggled against the WBA midfield) and I was pleased for Lovenkrands who showed great professionalism and strength of character by playing after his father's death - but the WBA keeper takes the blame for his goal, a header that should really have been saved, and many on here would have been slamming Harper if HE had let it in. Harper himself had a good match and almost kept Bednar out when he had no right to do so - how anyone can call him a pub keeper merely illustrates the ignorance of the person who said it.

 

The scoreline was probably fair in that there should have been at least 1 pen awarded to Newcastle, but nobody could have complained in WBA had won. Unless some additions are made to the squad in order to raise competition for places the side could start to fall away over the next few weeks ; Albion AND Forest(Davies was watching the match in the commentary box)will BOTH have taken heart from both the result and exposure of our limitations - promotion is far from certain at this point and with signings looking to be thin on the ground, a nervous 3 months beckons.

 

Exactly how I saw it. The midfield, particularly Nolan was a disgrace.

 

Why single Nolan out, Smith was twice as bad, IMO.

[PRL]

It's nothing that hasn't been said but our centre midfield just isn't mobile enough. We get overrun whenever we come up against any remotely decent opposition. Smith hasn't really shown much since the first few games of the season, bar a couple of desperate blocks / lunges he really brings nothing to the team. How he stayed out of the book last night is absolutely beyond me (that said, how they ended with 11 men I'll never know). Nolan at least seemed to be trying to get into positions and get involved in the game, dropping back on occasions. Smith doesn't even show for the ball when it's around the half way line. I find myself screaming at the television every time we have a throw in because barely anyone moves an inch, more often than not a throw in simply ends with us returning possession to the opposition. I hope against all hopes Barton comes back and makes the difference but we all know Hughton will not drop Smith or Nolan. At least if we play someone away from home he may be inclined to include all 3 of them, but that is likely to leave Ameobi up front on his own again, which is another disaster waiting to happen.

[BlueStar]

We both had our spells, but they looked the better side over all.  They knocked it about better and were much more threatening on the break for obvious reasons.  Simpson was run ragged by their number 14 all night.

 

What a fucking berk that ref was, wouldn't give a yellow card for anything first half and then when he finally did book a West Brom player it was for a challenge he'd had his back to

 

Players didn't know what he'd given half the time, only seemed to both telling the players in his immediate vicinity that he'd given a free kick so three or four times he was telling someone off for a foul and on the other side of the pitch people were still fucking playing!

[Guest guinness_fiend]

I think that some perspective is required here:

 

1.  We are still three points clear with a game in hand.  Not everyone can run away with the Championship (or any league, for that matter) and the festive period is notorious for breaking teams in two.  That we've not picked up any serious injuries is a miracle.

 

2.  Even though a win would have been preferable, we have kept a six point gap between ourselves and West Brom.  They're just as guilty as dropping points as we are, with arguably a better "footballing" team and larger squad.  We're twelve points clear of fourth place, so whilst it will be tight we're not exactly at panic stations yet.  There is half a season to go yet.

 

3.  We don't have the legs in midfield to ravage teams left, right and centre.  This is an unavoidable fact and despite being top of the table, I cannot blame players for not flocking here during the transfer window.  It is too much of a gamble, especially with Ashley in the driving seat.  What we do have is a number of players that are overperforming (Nolan, for instance, mostly, and Smith) and we are fortunate to be where we are.  To steal a joke from Jimmy Carr, "you can't polish a turd... but you can roll it in glitter."  That is exactly what we've done - made the most of a largely terrible squad.

 

4.  We've shown on a number of occasions that we are capable of coming back from behind and forcing a draw.  This is what got us relegated last season, the inability to shut up shop when we needed points.  Sure, back-to-back wins are what we all want but sometimes a draw does the trick.  Losing last night would have left us two points clear of Forest and three points clear of WBA.

 

5.  We're unbeaten in fourteen games.  Ok, so we haven't won in five league games but we haven't imploded just yet.  All it will take is for a few weeks' worth of results to go our way, we us winning/drawing and Forest and/or WBA dropping points and we'll be back to where we were before Christmas.

 

Whatever your opinions are on Hughton, I'm sure he's doing the best he can with the resources available.  We can all speculate on what team we'd each choose if we were in charge, but a casual watch of television coverage or listening of radio coverage shows that *everyone* has a different opinion on our best squad.  Taylor, a gladiator?  C'mon.  Nolan, reborn?  At a stretch.

 

I'm not saying that we shouldn't ask a lot of our team.  God knows that we deserve some success, but let us try not to berate them constantly. 

[Guest ProudToBeAGeordie]

Not getting beat paper's over cracks. We were 2nd best for large periods f the game last night, and we are crying out for new players, but it does not look like anybody will be coming in,  actually loosing Simpson which reduces the squad even further.  The style of our play is just pathetic, Wimbledon 80's  boot it up the pitch to a large target man,  which has been effective for most games this season, but we are having to scrap just to get the points, where as West Brom looked so good on the ball, just no end product, It would be worrying to think what if they had a decent striker,  they could have came away yesterday toking us 5 or 6 - 2.

 

The team and the squad is basically playing well above themselves this season, and it could catch up on us,  2nd best yesterday with what was our best team available (as almost everybody agreed with when the team was announced).  No investment in the team in the next 2 weeks = Bad Times

[AyeDubbleYoo]

There's a lot of good points there guiness_fiend.

 

Although I'm really scared that we're about to suffer a slow death, we haven't lost in ages and though we've been going through a difficult spell we've kept the scoreboard ticking over.

 

Undoubtedly the likes of Notts Forest will stumble at some point, and if we maintain our current form we could well pull away again.

 

We have a poor team, with a lot of weaknesses, so Hughton deserves his fair share of credit for getting it where it is.

 

 

[huss9]

the lack of a right back and right winger could really stop us getting promoted as it means rtaylor at right back and guthrie rw - leaving smith and nolan ineffective in the middle. an injury to either guthrie or raylor and we're fooked.

 

at least if barton is fit we'll have some legs in midfield - not a fan of his but he can at least move - our central midfield was abysmal last night.

[Guest toonlass]

I am feeling more positive this morning. We are still unbeaten at St James Park, unbeaten since Scunthorpe in October and although we have played 3 draws in the league over Christmas we could have easily lost more points, especially last night. Every team has a frustrating period of time, and if ours happens now, and the results are draws and not defeats then that is not too bad. We have managed to grind out points, and get wins and draws when we haven't particularly deserved them.

[Guest]

I think WBA will be more disheartened this morning than us. They played pretty much their best, and they still couldn't beat us, and were only saved by a referee's reluctance to give a penalty in the end.

[huss9]

am feeling more positive this morning but we have been really lucky with injuries and our best players will start to tire and pick up niggles as a result. GET SOME PLAYERS IN, ASHLEY - IT'S YOUR MONEY THAT GOES DOWN THE PAN IF WE DON'T GET PROMOTED!!!!!!

[huss9]

also what is it with refs in this league trying to show that they wont be intimidated at SJP and give the home decisions  - pathetic!

[Guest]

am feeling more positive this morning but we have been really lucky with injuries and our best players will start to tire and pick up niggles as a result. GET SOME PLAYERS IN, ASHLEY - IT'S YOUR MONEY THAT GOES DOWN THE PAN IF WE DON'T GET PROMOTED!!!!!!

 

Really? We had our worst spell of the season when Taylor & Colo were out, Barton's been injured nearly all season, Ameobi's just came back, Jonas missed about a month, Guthrie's had a spell out, Lovenkrands as well.

[Guest Roger Kint]

also what is it with refs in this league trying to show that they wont be intimidated at SJP and give the home decisions  - pathetic!

 

He bottled too many for me. The elbow into Loven in the first half looked a pen, another possible one not long after(would have been a bit soft like), the Carroll pen and when he booked their first a few minutes later he chopped down Loven after 2 kicks at him and the softcock gave a goal kick because he would have had to send him off.....

[huss9]

i think we have been lucky with injuries in as far as we havent had a few players injured at any one together for any length of time.  our back 4 have each played at least 20 matches each and most of the outfield players havent missed too many either. i think i'm just comparing to previous seasons when we've had real problems. this season though i dont think we would be able to cope as every position short other than the strikers picks it self with little or no back up available.

[Benwell Lad]

A decent game between two contrasting styles. Their's was definitely sweeter on the eye and it was the first time this season a team has taken the game to us at SJP which I think a few of our players could not get their head round early on.

That said, ironically they were also probably the dirtiest team we've played this season and how on earth Olsson,amongst others, stayed on the pitch is quite incredible and down to weak refereeing.

Although impressive, WBA's style will definitely work better away from home and I think their results bear this out.

 

Pointless repeating much that has already been said in earlier posts but I thought Harper's 1st half save after the deflection was truly superb and I really think we should start accomodating Guthrie in CM.

 

A win would have been nice but bearing in mind the league table, NOT losing was the most important thing.

We really need a strong performance against Palace and thereafter to make a fresh statement of intent to the rest of the league.

[Guest]

A win would have been nice but bearing in mind the league table, NOT losing was the most important thing.

 

Definitely agree with that. I know quite a few people were calling it a must-win game, but that could prove a massive point come May.

[Benwell Lad]

also what is it with refs in this league trying to show that they wont be intimidated at SJP and give the home decisions  - pathetic!

 

It really is.

Over the years many refs have been accused of being "homers" but this season we seem to have created the opposite as a succession of poor Championship referees have set out to prove they will not be swayed by a big crowd and end up letting that intention take over, giving nothing to us and letting the opposition kick lumps out of our players. (Particularly Jonas)

[Dr Venkman]

what do they do in training? if i was hughton i'd have Jonas practicing cutting inside and shooting for 3 hours a day, every day.

[Guest]

Agreed. If he simply couldn't do it fair enough but he's proven he can. The famous goal on Youtube, his goal against France, the one against Peterborough...Jonas should have it in him to get 8-10 of those a season the number of times he gets in those positions. Maybe it's simply a mental weakness in his game.