Manchester Utd 3 - 0 Newcastle Utd - 16/08/10 - post match reaction from page 36

[Keefaz]

As an aside: the bird said she was going to the corner shop about 50 minutes ago and hasn't come back.

 

Shagging the shop keeper.

 

Turns out she's been making a toasted cheese sandwich for about half an hour.

[Yorkie]

I'm absolutely begging for us to sign another striker. If we don't, it'll only dilute the potential of Carroll - when it's blatantly obvious there's an excellent chance he will make the step up this year.

[Tachikoma]

Perch was nervous as hell at the start, but started looking alright as the game progressed.

 

Smith on the other hand is essentially culpable for at least, half the goals they scored and the utter domination they had over our midfield. Smith didn't track any runs, didn't try to intercept any passes, didn't offer himself for passes and the space he gave Scholes ... well we may as well have played Barton alone in midfield, because that would have prevented Smith from trying to break Rooney's rut at least.

[Tisd09]

Yes we got well and truly beat but we had some shockers out there tonight. Routledge was shocking. The full backs were under so much pressure, they are not going to get challenged like that again until we play. Man Utd again. Colo was ropey. Nolan well was Nolan.

 

Really impressed with Andy Carroll and the whole teams work rate. Loads of room for improvement.

[JH]

Positives:

 

- I think Williamson had a very very good game. He's an underrated and forgotten about players at times - it felt like he was doing the job of his entire backline with some of the mistakes that were being made.

 

- Carroll was fucking immense. Did everything right, unlucky not to score. Let down by the lack of support he had. The ground he covered in the game was unreal. He came back to our own area, won the ball, passed it on, ran up, flicked the ball on and chased it down

 

- We contained them well in the first 30 minutes of the 1st half and at points in the second half - all things considered, 3-0 is a respectable scoreline.

 

Negatives:

 

- Nolan was woeful. He looked off the pace, behind play, he let the entire side down in attacking. Was supposed to be the link between midfield and attack and there's no suprise we looked so much better after he went off.

 

- Barton was just as bad. He couldn't get a pass right, his set pieces were terrible and he gave the ball away on a ridiculous amount of occaisons - and some people said he's the best CM we have.

 

- Smith was non-existent.

 

- Perch looked shaky and the amount of space him and Routledge were leaving on that right hand side was terrible. It's no wonder Giggs scored when we gave him about 15 yards to himself.

 

- Jonas and Jose were questionable but I put that down to the lack of space they had. They constantly had two men on them each.

 

Overall, not too downheartened but I can't help but feel we gifted them all three of their goals. We should have scored from at least one of those three brilliant chances in the first half.

[Cronky]

Can't believe nobody has singled out Routledge yet. He had an absolute shocker. He was at fault for both the 2nd and 3rd goals and gave Evra a free run all night while providing little or no defensive cover for Perch.

 

 

I'd agree he was very frustrating. His passing and crossing is poor. His only weapon is pace, but having said that, against lesser sides, that can be effective.

 

 

[Guest Spark]

Despite my praise of Carroll I still can't believe that missed header. In this league we've simply got to take chances like that. Who knows what could have happened if that had gone in, though saying that it would probably have just made them angry.

 

Yeah, that's his bread and butter really. I'm sure he's kicking himself, too. Good movement to get on the end of it, though, and he was generally very good. Needs someone less useless up front with him, though. Or a midfielder within 20 yards.

[KaKa]

Williamson was impressive, even more so when you take into account it's his first PL game and his team-mates in defense were crap today. 

 

He's a good defender, and more importantly things tend to go his way the majority of the time. I feel more comfortable when he's out there than when Taylor is for sure.

[Thespence]

Promising in the fact we weren't annihilated. Clearly a case of being beaten by a vastly superior team. A hammering would have dented the confidence from the word, so even though 3-0's disappointing, in some respects i'm relieved.

 

We're still aching for more firepower, though. The bench didn't bare looking at.

 

Old news now i would imagine, but where were Guthrie and Lovenkrands?

 

The scoreline is not showing a Chelsea wipeout but we were annihilated.

 

Christ. If we'd have lost 8-0, confidence would have been at an all-time low from the very beginning. It wasn't, it was respectable, and we'll fight on from here.

 

Not many teams lose by 8 do they. MUFC controlled the whole of the 2nd half we were never in it. That wasn't respectable man MUFC never had to move anywhere the top gears while our chaps were chasing shadows.

[BONTEMPI]

Very impressed with Carroll. Will be a massive player for us this season. Fought for everything today and troubled Evans and Vidic a lot. Very few players will cope with him in the air.

 

I agree

 

Get a quick partner up front and a tricky player in behind and I think he'll reach his potential.  If we carry on with the current midfield that gives the ball away so cheaply he'll never get a sniff.

[midds]

I'd have probably settled for that before the game.

 

The goals came through individula errors but I think Man U forced the errors by pushing high up the field and not letting us have any time or space. Their movement was fantastic and we got pulled all over the place for 10 or 15 minutes before we eventually conceded. As the half went on we chased them and our back 4 were pushed further and further back.

 

Carroll was superb, our heads didn't go down, we created genuine chances, no-one got injured and our season starts on Sunday.

[Novocastrian]

 

Dont think Carroll is suited to playing up front on his own though, he needs support.

 

The players who thrive up front by themselves are the all singing all dancing types who can make their own chances, score headers, outside the box etc.

 

That's why the likes of Drogba are indespensible.

 

Would much rather see AC with a strike partner.

[ChrisMcQuillan]

Harper - 7 - Most of what went in wasn't his fault at all.  Could have done better for first.  Saved a couple of decent opportunities for them.

Perch - 3 - Exposed.  Utterly.  He looked nervous and out of his depth in the first half.  Only less so in the second because they went after Enrique more.

Coloccini - 6 - Shaky.  Decent in actual defending largely but looked nervous also, as a matter of fact.

Williamson - 7 - Good in the air.  Probably our most solid defender tonight.

Enrique - 6 - He's better than that.  Hopefully just rusty.

Smith - 7 - Not understanding all the hate.  Did his job, and much better than Butt would have.

Barton - 6 - Potential is there.  Hopefully it'll continue to grow. 

Nolan - 3 - Anonymous.  Did he do a single thing apart from slow everything down?  Only noteworthy incident was when his balls got crushed in the wall for their free kick.  TBF, he's hard to miss.

Jonas - 5 - Poor.  A shadow of how he played at OT two seasons ago.  Hopefully he sharpens up soon.

Routledge - 6.5 - Looked like he was determined, and level-headed, but lacked that grit in the final third.  Maybe because there was rarely anyone ahead of him.

Carroll - 7 - Led the line well, never gave up on anything and did cause them a few problems.  Should have taken that header tho.

 

Ameobi - 6 - Not much time on the pitch.

Xisco - 6 - Ditto, but decent in the few touches he did have.  Should have tracked back to help Enrique more, though, from that position.

[johnnypd]

Carroll was very good, but still, he should've done better with the headed chances he had, and he frequently tried to do too much when he had the ball at his feet, ignoring some good passing opportunities and attempting to take players on (something that he'll admit is not his strength). i think once he calms down and we get into the season he'll be more composed. first game back in the premiership and as number 9 never mind at OT means he would've been playing on adrenalin.

 

The wide men were disappointing - Routledge started well and tried to be positive but after half an hour or so the man utd lot seemed to suss him and would put a defender 10 or so yards from him to take advantage of his loose touch on the ball and/or run him into corners.

 

Jonas was just shite and i don't think we'll ever see an improvement from him. the end product for passing, crossing and taking a shot just isn't there, never has been and never will be. can still play a part as a squad member but i hope we get in better, ie ben arfa.

[Karjala]

Decent performance, manure werent worth 3-0.

 

But fuck, Colo, Barton and Smith wont help us this season. Or Shola or Xisco...

[Tachikoma]

 

- Barton was just as bad. He couldn't get a pass right, his set pieces were terrible and he gave the ball away on a ridiculous amount of occaisons - and some people said he's the best CM we have.

 

 

The thing is, he was, this game.

[Guest BlacknWhiteArmy]

Williamson was impressive, even more so when you take into account it's his first PL game and his team-mates in defense were crap today. 

 

I thought he did very well today, I'd put him ahead of Colo if we had Campbell fit to be in contention

[KaKa]

In hindsight I'm happy this was the ifrst game. Should really wake people up from the outset. This is the level you are at now, and it is no joke. At the same time it shouldn't get too much worse than this so take advantage of the lesser teams.

[leffe186]

Only saw the last twenty-five minutes. Thought you looked OK (much better than, say, West Ham), but Man U seemed so half-arsed it was difficult to tell how well you were doing. The next two games will be telling - a good side at home then the kind of away game you should be looking for a point from. Carroll looked dangerous.

[JH]

I'd have probably settled for that before the game.

 

The goals came through individula errors but I think Man U forced the errors by pushing high up the field and not letting us have any time or space. Their movement was fantastic and we got pulled all over the place for 10 or 15 minutes before we eventually conceded. As the half went on we chased them and our back 4 were pushed further and further back.

 

Carroll was superb, our heads didn't go down, we created genuine chances, no-one got injured and our season starts on Sunday.

 

Pretty much agree with that

 

We're pretty much a ST to play alongside Carroll (Bellamy-esque) and an AM to plug that gap (Ben Arfa-esque) away from mounting a serious challenge to stay up IMO.

[Tachikoma]

Harper - 7 - Most of what went in wasn't his fault at all.  Could have done better for first.  Saved a couple of decent opportunities for them.

Perch - 3 - Exposed.  Utterly.  He looked nervous and out of his depth in the first half.  Only less so in the second because they went after Enrique more.

Coloccini - 6 - Shaky.  Decent in actual defending largely but looked nervous also, as a matter of fact.

Williamson - 7 - Good in the air.  Probably our most solid defender tonight.

Enrique - 6 - He's better than that.  Hopefully just rusty.

Smith - 7 - Not understanding all the hate.  Did his job, and much better than Butt would have.

Barton - 6 - Potential is there.  Hopefully it'll continue to grow. 

Nolan - 3 - Anonymous.  Did he do a single thing apart from slow everything down?  Only noteworthy incident was when his balls got crushed in the wall for their free kick.  TBF, he's hard to miss.

Jonas - 5 - Poor.  A shadow of how he played at OT two seasons ago.  Hopefully he sharpens up soon.

Routledge - 6.5 - Looked like he was determined, and level-headed, but lacked that grit in the final third.  Maybe because there was rarely anyone ahead of him.

Carroll - 7 - Led the line well, never gave up on anything and did cause them a few problems.  Should have taken that header tho.

 

Ameobi - 6 - Not much time on the pitch.

Xisco - 6 - Ditto, but decent in the few touches he did have.  Should have tracked back to help Enrique more, though, from that position.

 

What? You mean by being lucky not to give away a penalty and fuck all else?

 

_I_ could have done better than that.

[The Prophet]

As good as Carroll  was he really has to put chances like that away regardless of the opposition.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Not that bad really, just a lot of sloppy mistakes... especially an inexplicable inability to clear the ball from defence. I'll never understand that one.

 

Nolan was bad, but then he always is. In the Championship he can get away with it because the opposition is so much worse. I really hope we drop him if we get Ben Arfa in. Smith was also pretty poor most of the time.

 

I saw enough to think we can do better than terrible this season, if we'd had Guthrie for a bit of passing and maybe Loven for a bit more threat up front, we might have tested them more.

 

Would've loved Carroll to have scored, he had a good game and is unplayable a lot of the time.

[Guest Chris P]

Carroll was a total beast. Hope it continues, he could have a great season.

 

Hope he keeps looking out the corner of his eye's. Some one soon is gonna be told "first five minutes, take Carroll's legs out"

[Yorkie]

I've only seen the third goal but Man Utd are just another tier when it comes to turning a mistake into a gift.

 

The last goal, when Jose gave the ball away:

 

Championship - no repercussions.

 

Stoke/Wigan/Bolton type - probably get away with it 9 times out of ten.

 

Top 8 - could turn it into a goalscoring opportunity.

 

Man Utd - a gift.

 

 

I know that's quite a mechanical and generic way of looking at it, but you catch my drift. Had we have lost 3-0 on the opening day to Wolves or Villa or something, it'd have been really disheartening. The mistakes we made were somewhat inevitable... it's going to take us time to acclimatise to this league, especially when we've had literally everything all our own way for the last 12 months. Making those mistakes against Man Utd, in hindsight, were probably bound to happen. The good thing is though, there was no cardinal errors - it's stuff that can and will be worked on.

 

We'll improve from here.