Newcastle United 0 - 2 Blackpool - 11/9/10 - post match reaction from page 20

[Guest malandro]

 

On another day, the ball would have hit the post and bounced in, giving Williamson his first goal in Toon colours, and more than likely handed us 3 points.

On another day Carew would have buried his pen in the back of the net, not in the fuselage of a passing 737. One another day the ref at Moulineux would have spotted Perch’s blatant pen and we’d have been 2-0 down against Wolves. When it comes to getting the rub of the green we’re 2-1 up so far this season.

 

If we weren’t making chances I’d be seriously worried, but sticking the ball in the net is what matters and if you take the freakish result against a gutless Aston Villa out of the equation we’ve managed one goal in three games. We’ve also picked up just one point from a possible six against potential relegation rivals. Lose at Goodison and we’re looking at four points from a possible fifteen which is relegation form, making the game against Stoke a high pressure fixture. I’m not trying to be negative, but Hughton’s NUFC have never been under real pressure and we might be about to enter unchartered territory.

 

[Stifler]

After seeing what was shown on MOTD I think we were unlucky. Went a goal down because of Smith being a little bit reckless, we should have had a pen of our own I thought when Carrol got taken down by their keeper. Their keepr had one of those games when everything he did went his way, we created chances and good ones aswell. Their second was down to them catching us out at the end when we were going all out to level and I have to say the finish was pretty good, but he shouldn't have had that much room on the ball. All in all I think it was a case of a similar story at Old Trafford and against Wolves where nothing fell for us. We need that little  bit of luck in games which is going against us at the moment, the Villa game was a good example of what happens when a little bit of luck goes our way.

[Guest palnese]

The Carroll incident was never a penalty. Not even close.

[Dave]

The Carroll incident was never a penalty. Not even close.

 

[Guest malandro]

The Carroll incident was never a penalty. Not even close.

Nor were we unlucky at OT. And Gilks didn’t have one of those games were everything went his way, unless you count clear cut chances being hit more or less straight as his body as lucky.

[Keefaz]

Crap result. Have only seen the highlights but it looks as though we had chances. Were we that bad? How many chances did Blackpool have?

[Keefaz]

We were complacent today, no urgency at all in the first half we just strolled about casual as anything. Unfortunately they got the pen and then just sat back and absorbed the pressure from then on and we didn't have the creativity to open them up. We missed 2 glorious chances and a couple of other good half chances but we really need to be making more at home aginst teams like this.

 

All the movement and nice passing we've seen so far was non-existent, instead we just hoofed it up to Andy when we couldn't find another way through. I especially felt really sorry for Barton and Jonas, Barton constantly looked for the ball but when he got it, who was there? There was no movement so it's no wonder he played some wayward passes. It was the same for Jonas, he'd go past a few players look up to see 4 Tangerine shirts in front of him with no NUFC player within 10 metres, it was embarassing at times and he was wrongfully taken off.

 

For Barton's chance though he (Jonas) doesn't even make a run off the ball. There's a golden throughball on and he's not even looking for it. It was only by chance Barton got through on goal.

[Ronaldo]

4-1 against Pompey most certainly wasn't a worse result than this one. Pompey were a good side at the time, Blackpool are shite.

[garth]

Harper 7, kept us in it on 12 minutes when Williamson was out of position and Harper had to make a double save.

Perch 6, was often playing right wing with Routledge nowhere to be seen.

Jose 6, tried his best but had nothing to aim at when he got forward.

Coloccini 7, probably our best defender but could have been shown a red card.  His tackle was one of those tackles which sometimes get the team going but he was playing with a very poor team today who just didn't react to it.

Williamson 5, didn't have a good game and looked worried that he might be about to lose his place.  If he has more games like that then that's exactly what will happen.

Smith 1, Pile of s****, chased and rarely got anywhere near the ball.  I counted him on the ball 3 times and the ball always went backwards or to the side.  The rest of the time he was chasing shadows.

Barton 5, he played far too many balls straight to the opposition but he did get involved and had nothing around him to lay the ball off to so was always looking for a pass which wasn't really on.

Routledge 5, had a bit of a mare, I don't think he found a team mate today but he kept trying.  He got upset over what looked like a nothing challenge.

Jonas 6, he tried and was all over the place, he did try too much at times but he had nothing to aim at far too often.  Both he and Enrique were struggling to find anybody in space.

Nolan 2, he's an abortion of a footballer and although Smith was worse I think the position Nolan has been given and failed to play made him worse because we had no link between midfield and Carroll.

Carroll 6, I felt sorry for him having to play with Nolan backing him up, or trying to.

Lovenkrands 3, a stupid substitution and one which started us off looking lost.  Bringing him on for Smith was madness as we had to try and change too much for 1 change.

HBA 6, he looked like he had a good turn of pace but Messi would have struggled today, he must replace Nolan.

Shola 4, why?  I wouldn't even have him on the bench as he offers nothing and when we had 3 forwards on they were within a few feet of each other and we had holes all over the pitch.  Playing 3 forwards resulted in us letting the 2nd goal in as we were like a group of kids having a game of kick and rush on a school field.

Hughton 0, I can't think of anything which he did right today and he needs to do something different for our next game as we've just handed Blackpool a massive 3 points.

 

 

Absolutely spot on.

[alpal78]

All this talk about their keeper having one of those games is off imo, the only shot that could/would have been a goal was Carrol's shot that hit his legs. The Routledge shot that was cleared off the line was more like bobbling towards the goal, any decent defender would have cleared that and Barton's shot when one on one was too near the keeper, nothing outstanding about that save really. All the other shots especially from Loven was just piss poor.

[merlin]

Mick's player summary was spot-on.

 

When I posted on the pre-match thread 10 days ago, I warned about complacency against Blackpool ; I thought they would run like men possessed and, if they got their noses in front, that they would fight for everything to defend it and sadly, this is exactly what happened.

 

They fully deserved their win. They outfought Newcastle in the first half and, as has been noted by Mick and one or two more, Hughton was found badly wanting in his tactical approach.

We had a warning when Harper saved our skins early on, and it became increasingly obvious that Barton and the woeful Smith were being outplayed in midfield. Smith compounded his poor showing with a reckless tackle to give away the pen and he should have been replaced by Tiote.

 

Hughton left it far too late to bring on Ben Arfa, whose one good run and dribble should have resulted in an equalizer but nobody was in the right place.

It was odds-on that we would be caught by a sucker-punch as the team got increasingly-desperate in going for an equalizer, and that is what happened.

 

I do not subscribe to the view that we had loads of chances - loads of HALF chances maybe, and some bad finishing, but very few clear-cut chances ; Gilkes may have played well, but that is what he is there for and lack of really clear chances was the reason we failed to score.

 

The club failed to buy a decent, mobile striker to back up Carroll and as Mick says, you have to feel sorry for Andy because he is almost solely responsible for getting goals. Nolan was again living proof that a player who gets goals in the CCC will not always do it in the Prem and his lack of movement is terrible.

 

The big question has to be whether Hughton is too close to players like Nolan and Smith to be ruthless enough to make necessary adjustments to the side. He has a difficult job because he should have been given enough funds to get a new striker in, but he knew the limits when he took the job. He is going to have to learn fast because without a big budget, tactics will have a big say in whether we stay up or not.

 

This is a massive loss - not in terms of goals but in the fact that this game was a virtual 6 pointer - we have given a huge boost to a side who will be rivals for avoiding relegation and probably caused doubts to rise in the back of players - and fans - minds.

With a very tough game at Everton to come, there will have to be some hard decisions made by manager and coaches. Although we only lost 0-2, a better team than Blackpool would have taken us apart in the second half..think Chelsea.....

 

Big reality check for those who were forecasting 3-0 + wins yesterday and it will be VERY interesting to see how the team react at Goodison next week......

[garth]

After watching the Arsenal game, I'm dreading the thought of having an immobile Nolan and a useless Smith playing. They are going to run rings around us, unless Hughton has the balls to drop both of them we are in deep trouble. 

[EthiGeordie]

  i am not a fan of them but there is always a scapegoat in this football club...

[thorin]

Embarrassing!

 

Where's our missing striker?! Ameobi? Give me a break...

 

Also, we need o'Neill to cover the defensive tactics...shit!

[macca888]

I only saw the first half but the dye was set from the kick off with Blackpool keeping possession for over a minute and creating a great chance for Campbell in the 2nd minute.

 

Their tactics were good. They stifled our wingers and ended up thumping aimless balls down the middle to Carroll all the time. We were unlucky with Williamson hitting the post and Nolan should have scored when clean through but they also had chances, particularly Harpers double save early on.

 

I thought they troubled our central defenders when Adam knocked those balls over the top and we looked a bit cumbersome. Also thought Enrigue was well off colour and Perch was as weak as piss. The effort he made on Varney for the penalty was wank and although Smith brought him down, he DID get the ball first. Replays supported that.

 

In my opinion, Nolan is a liability. He played much further forward but his lack of pace is a serious problem when he plays this role. Smith was well off colour and I was surprised to find he wasnt substituted. Unfortunately, our wide men have little or no end product and if we are to supply Carroll, we will need them to supply a lot more accurate balls in.

 

I also thought Blackpool got their tactics spot on and fully dderserved thewir first half lead. As I said, I didnt see the 2nd half so cannot comment on that.

[Guest BooBoo]

Embarrassing!

 

Where's our missing striker?! Ameobi? Give me a break...

 

Also, we need o'Neill to cover the defensive tactics...shit!

 

Chortle.

[Guest BooBoo]

I've got a bad feeling we'll be talking about this result all season. I just hope it isn't as vital as that Hull defeat proved to be in 08/09.

[David28]

After seeing the highlights of that match I'm more optimistic tbh. We've created enough chances for at least 3 goals to beat them. Their second goal was just because we had every man forward.

Enrique looked a bit poor for their second, too.

 

Barton, Carroll, Nolan all should have scored, can't believe how they didn't - but those games just happen to every team.

 

Williamson's ball off the post was also very unlucky. Harper made two great stops at the start of the game - I don't think he had a chance today with any of the goals.

 

 

If we drop Smith and Jonas and bring in Tiote and Ben Arfa, I'm sure we can get a good result against Everton. Don't know if we should start Campbell though.

[David28]

I've got a bad feeling we'll be talking about this result all season. I just hope it isn't as vital as that Hull defeat proved to be in 08/09.

 

The season is frightening similar to the 08/09 so far btw.

 

One 1-1 draw, one 3-0 defeat, one home win and one home defeat to a side similar to Hull (shit team on paper, but having a surprisingly good start.)

[joeyt]

Knew when Williamson hit the post it wasn't going to be our day.

[joeyt]

I was hoping Colo would have gone towards the ball for the second goal yesterday, therefore playing Harewood and Campbell offside, instead of backpedaling 20 yards

[9]

Had to laugh when HBA tried to link up with Ameobi, he played a ball a few feet ahead of shola wanting him to run onto it and push forward and shola looked so flat footed and shocked at having to do this.

[Disco]

DJ Campbell's goal almost identikit to Marlon Kings a couple of year back.

[merlin]

I only saw the first half but the dye was set from the kick off with Blackpool keeping possession for over a minute and creating a great chance for Campbell in the 2nd minute.

 

Their tactics were good. They stifled our wingers and ended up thumping aimless balls down the middle to Carroll all the time. We were unlucky with Williamson hitting the post and Nolan should have scored when clean through but they also had chances, particularly Harpers double save early on.

 

I thought they troubled our central defenders when Adam knocked those balls over the top and we looked a bit cumbersome. Also thought Enrigue was well off colour and Perch was as weak as piss. The effort he made on Varney for the penalty was w*** and although Smith brought him down, he DID get the ball first. Replays supported that.

 

In my opinion, Nolan is a liability. He played much further forward but his lack of pace is a serious problem when he plays this role. Smith was well off colour and I was surprised to find he wasnt substituted. Unfortunately, our wide men have little or no end product and if we are to supply Carroll, we will need them to supply a lot more accurate balls in.

 

I also thought Blackpool got their tactics spot on and fully dderserved thewir first half lead. As I said, I didnt see the 2nd half so cannot comment on that.

 

Disagree about the pen Macca - from replays I saw, it looked FROM THE FRONT as if Smith got the ball, but when you saw it from the side, he caught the guy's leg at the same time. We got away with Perch's tackle at Wolves, so its all square in my book..you are right about Perch though because Smith had no choice after Perch lost out and I reckon the guy would have scored if Smith hadn't tackled him.

 

[ponsaelius]

If we drop Smith and Jonas Nolan and bring in Tiote and Ben Arfa, I'm sure we can get a good result against Everton. Don't know if we should start Campbell though.