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


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There isn't a player less suited to that in-the-hole role than Kevin Nolan man. Given his tendancy to disappear, regardless of his starting position, it's just inevitable that the whole game's gonna pass him by. I honestly reckon it should be upfront or nowhere when it comes to him. He hasn't got anything like the mobility/stamina to hold down a central-midfield role, nor the passing ability or vision. What he does have is decent anticipation... he's good at cottoning onto the fact there's a chance lurking somewhere in the build-up... and he can finish like a striker. Anywhere else, in this division, he's surplus.

 

I've got a horrible feeling he's gonna be this season's Butt.

 

Totally, seems to me that playing Nolan in the hole was a just a way of saying "we have this player who's a big name and we don't want to drop, but doesn't have the stamina or mobility to actually play in midfield".

 

Just seems like an excuse to get him in the team because he's supposedly good at "arriving in the box".

 

In the Premiership he's guaranteed to offer next to nothing.

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Wasn't as bad as it could have been, too many passengers in our team but we'll see how we do against worse teams.

 

Harper - Only had 2 shots to save in the first 80 minutes and didn't have a chance with either really, Andy Gray's mighty analysis suggests he was too far over but he could have been in the middle of the goal and wouldn't have saved it.

Perch - Gash, absolutely no confidence in this fella. Hopefully he'll fare better against worse teams. Constantly too narrow but not helped by Routledge I suppose.

Enrique - Average, some stupid mistakes and couldn't get forward. Was never raped though, so hurray for that.

Coloccini - Alright, nothing glaringly obvious

Williamson - Big, didn't do badly at all.

Routledge - Good start, good outlet. Then faded badly, didn't track back well and it led to one of their goals. I'm beginning to think those who said playing with 2 wingers was ging to bite us in the arse, may well be accurate.

Jonas - Poor, offered nothing bar one surprisingly good cross.

Smith - Good, by his standards. No booking!

Barton - Dross. Can't pass and got booked early on so couldn't be his usual self. Get used to this, he will get booked a lot because of who he is. Awful free kicks but some decent corners.

Nolan - Gash. Better without him.

Carroll - Worked his arse off, deserved a goal but missed his big chance. Still though, encouraging if he stays out of prison.

 

Subs:

Shola - Usual Shola lark

Xisco - Well why not

 

Sky - Paul Scholes might be a great player BUT IT IS NOT FUNNY THAT HE CANNOT TACKLE.

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Guest BlacknWhiteArmy

I didn't think Smith was that bad, but still didn't play "well". He did make a few good interceptions and blocks, but he wasn't as huge of a liability as some are making out, IMO.

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Not quite sure why Colo's getting some stick tbh didn't really see an awful lot he did wrong but Williamson who made a glaring error is getting positive reviews? I'll put it down to surprise that he wasn't raped in his first PL game.

 

You was watching a different game to me then.  Colo was pretty bad out there - his game was littered with errors.  Williamson was our second best player.

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I didn't think Smith was that bad, but still didn't play "well". He did make a few good interceptions and blocks, but he wasn't as huge of a liability as some are making out, IMO.

 

The fact that Scholes had all the time he needed to pick his passes says it all. I'm not sure if Butt was any less mobile either.

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I didn't think Smith was that bad, but still didn't play "well". He did make a few good interceptions and blocks, but he wasn't as huge of a liability as some are making out, IMO.

 

The game just passed him by I thought - him, Barton and Nolan combined couldn't get anywhere near Scholes. I know Scholes is class, but they're supposed to be protecting the defence.

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Guest BlacknWhiteArmy

Not quite sure why Colo's getting some stick tbh didn't really see an awful lot he did wrong but Williamson who made a glaring error is getting positive reviews? I'll put it down to surprise that he wasn't raped in his first PL game.

 

He was generally pretty shakey and did make errors. I liked Williamson's display a lot, I'd agree also he was our second best player.

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Guest prestonj1989

On another note, Xisco didn't look out of his depth with the few touches he had on the ball.

 

This. Possibly deserves more than coming on for 10 mins on the wing considering his decent (admittedly short) pre season performances.

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Guest BlacknWhiteArmy

I didn't think Smith was that bad, but still didn't play "well". He did make a few good interceptions and blocks, but he wasn't as huge of a liability as some are making out, IMO.

 

The game just passed him by I thought - him, Barton and Nolan combined couldn't get anywhere near Scholes. I know Scholes is class, but they're supposed to be protecting the defence.

 

Aye, I agree on that.

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Not quite sure why Colo's getting some stick tbh didn't really see an awful lot he did wrong but Williamson who made a glaring error is getting positive reviews? I'll put it down to surprise that he wasn't raped in his first PL game.

 

You was watching a different game to me then.  Colo was pretty bad out there - his game was littered with errors.  Williamson was our second best player.

What errors are you referring to? I remember him making tackles, interceptions and winning headers, he played alright. Williamson was also decent but he gave the ball away in the box to a clinical striker and if Berbatov had scored after megging Williamson i'm sure the reaction would have been a lot different. Also his lack of pace is a massive worry, if someone makes a run off his shoulder he's fucked at least Colo has some pace (see foot race with Hernandez).

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Hard to assess that performance as I was always worried that a midfield of Smith, Barton and Nolan would be over-run by Man U's quick movement. In the circumstances we stuck at it quite well. We lack quality, that much is obvious, but against the better teams we haven't got a prayer with that trio clogging up the centre.

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Went as expected tonight. We looked pretty solid as a unit without really offering any threat bar Carroll (who I thought did very well on his own) Can't understand as to why Hughton didn't put anyone on Scholes because he ran the game. Naive on Hughton's part perhaps? Kevin Nolan turned in another invisible man performance. He has to realize that he has to contribute more as him hiding will become more evident in this league than the Championship.

 

All in all, I'm not disappointed. One of the hardest away trips is out of the way now and we can look forward to getting a win against Villa on Sunday (another very tough game I might add)

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Guest BlacknWhiteArmy

Not quite sure why Colo's getting some stick tbh didn't really see an awful lot he did wrong but Williamson who made a glaring error is getting positive reviews? I'll put it down to surprise that he wasn't raped in his first PL game.

 

You was watching a different game to me then.  Colo was pretty bad out there - his game was littered with errors.  Williamson was our second best player.

What errors are you referring to? I remember him making tackles, interceptions and winning headers, he played alright. Williamson was also decent but he gave the ball away in the box to a clinical striker and if Berbatov had scored after megging Williamson i'm sure the reaction would have been a lot different. Also his lack of pace is a massive worry, if someone makes a run off his shoulder he's f***ed at least Colo has some pace (see foot race with Hernandez).

 

I don't think Colo is much faster than Williamson in all honesty, neither are the quickest,

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Barton I wouldn't mind having there. He did track back as required, was relatively calm on the ball considering the circumstances and just did the basics reasonably well. Then again, that could have been Nolan and Smith making him look good.

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Guest prestonj1989

Not quite sure why Colo's getting some stick tbh didn't really see an awful lot he did wrong but Williamson who made a glaring error is getting positive reviews? I'll put it down to surprise that he wasn't raped in his first PL game.

 

You was watching a different game to me then.  Colo was pretty bad out there - his game was littered with errors.  Williamson was our second best player.

What errors are you referring to? I remember him making tackles, interceptions and winning headers, he played alright. Williamson was also decent but he gave the ball away in the box to a clinical striker and if Berbatov had scored after megging Williamson i'm sure the reaction would have been a lot different. Also his lack of pace is a massive worry, if someone makes a run off his shoulder he's f***ed at least Colo has some pace (see foot race with Hernandez).

 

I also think Colo had a good game - not worried about him this season at all. Was suprised how good Williamson was tbh. I am happy with our centre back options.

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Nolan is a waste of time.

 

Smith at fault for their first goal, his man was Scholes and he was hiding in defence.

 

Second goal a combination of Perch and Bartons fault, Perch should be aware of what's around him and Barton should have spotted Evra's run quicker and got out to him.

 

Third goal was nice and we looked jaded, nobody closing Scholes down.

 

Not bad though, plenty of positives imo. Carroll must have won over 70% of his headers and at no point did their heads go down.

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Not quite sure why Colo's getting some stick tbh didn't really see an awful lot he did wrong but Williamson who made a glaring error is getting positive reviews? I'll put it down to surprise that he wasn't raped in his first PL game.

 

You was watching a different game to me then.  Colo was pretty bad out there - his game was littered with errors.  Williamson was our second best player.

What errors are you referring to? I remember him making tackles, interceptions and winning headers, he played alright. Williamson was also decent but he gave the ball away in the box to a clinical striker and if Berbatov had scored after megging Williamson i'm sure the reaction would have been a lot different. Also his lack of pace is a massive worry, if someone makes a run off his shoulder he's f***ed at least Colo has some pace (see foot race with Hernandez).

 

I don't think Colo is much faster than Williamson in all honesty, neither are the quickest,

Never said they were, just said Colo had some pace compared to no pace at all.

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Get a decent foil for Carroll and I think we've got a real player on our hands there. Fighting a lone battle today and yet was still excellent, so give him some help and he'll do great. Even with Shola alongside him we instantly improved. Hughton just has to realise Nolan cannot cut it at this level, and especially not as a fucking trequartista.

 

Please Ashley, get us Ben Arfa and get us a striker at the bare fucking minimum.

 

A RB and a new midfield would be canny aswell though  :thup:

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