Newcastle 1 - 3 Man City - 26/12/2010 - Post-Match Reaction From Page 15

[The Merse]

Routledge was really good today and had that kolarov all over the place

[Mick]

I agree. However I also thought we looked far more like scoring once we took him off, but hey ho.

 

We looked more like scoring once Routledge went off because Nolan was no longer in the middle.

[Guest neesy111]

Thought the performance was good and we were the better team all game.  Awful errors by Krul and Tiote which simply you can't do in this division.

 

Was next to 4 fucking idiots moaning on all game about Routledge's performance and saying we were shit.  Fucking clowns they are and people like that should stay well away from St James'.

 

Carroll and Barton were both good, Routeldge did alright, Nolan invisible until he went into midfield and Jonas simply can't cross a football for his life.  Ranger made an impact again.  Ref had an absolute shocker.

[ponsaelius]

I agree. However I also thought we looked far more like scoring once we took him off, but hey ho.

 

We looked more like scoring once Routledge went off because Nolan was no longer in the middle.

 

You mean because Nolan was in the middle?

 

I agree, our most functional line-up is the one with Barton wide and Nolan in midfield rather than wherever he was playing today.

[Shayno]

Krul 4 Distribution was poor all day, and i don't think he does enough in one on ones. IN the same way Tiote hugely put us behind the 8-ball against Blackburn I think Krul's early mistake put getting anything from the game into real doubt.

 

Enrique 6 Put in a few decent crosses from deep areas that Carroll and Ranger got on the end of, outmuscled Milner and Tevez a few times but i can recall too many sloppy passes going forward.

Taylor 6.5 Thought he and Colo backed off from Tevez too much outside the box. Can't think of too many situations where he was caught out of position or lost the ball.

Coloccini 6.5 Don't think a Premier League centre back should be turning his back the way he did for their third. May not have made a difference though. Perhaps he was caught a little on his heels for Tevez's first but Carlos had got himself into a good position Fab may not have been able to prevent. Otherwise solid as usual on the ball and did get some good tackles and good interventions.

Simpson 6.5 I'm struggling to think of anything he did today, which is probably the sign of a solid defensive effort. The balls he put into the box were pretty meh.

 

Jonas 5.5 He just isn't a dangerous enough player offensively. His crosses on his left are substandard but when he cuts in on his left his shots aren't anywhere near the standard to trouble the keeper. In saying that he beautifully left Boateng on his arse 3 or 4 times during the game but proceeded not to do anything with it.

Tiote 7.5 Decent game in which he passed the ball around reasonably well and won the midfield battle.

Barton 7.5 Like Tiote he was comfortable retaining possession while playing CM, and worked hard enough for us to win the midfield battle. I think we lost a threat when he moved out to the right wing in which he played the majority through the centre.

Routledge 7.5 Was our best player in the first half in which he was able to beat Kolarov a few times and got a few good balls in to Carroll. Didn't agree with the decision to take him off though he probably was fading. He is a fit lad though and think he had more to offer in the last 1/2 hour.

 

Nolan 5.5 Not good enough to permanently be the second striker the club is craving right now. Considering how many headers Carroll and Ranger won today I think he will be disappointed to not have got on the end to some of them. Lost the ball in acres of space while standing on the penalty spot after a rare good ball from Jonas which was annoying. Morale and work ethic amongst the team today was great which is suppose as captain he can take some credit for.

 

Carroll 8 Won a shiteload of headers including the one in which he scored from. Needs a full time second striker to get on the end of his knock-downs. If he can get some chemistry with someone it will be happy days on Tyneside. Sliced one or two chances from outside the box into the stands which he does more than he should. His shots from outside the box are very hit and miss which I find frustrating. Had more poor moments on the deck than we are used to today, but considering he was up against Kompany who who is a great CB he did very well.

 

Ranger 6.5 Had a decent impact in which he definitely was more threatening up front than Nolan. Not the long term answer to be Carroll's strike partner as i feel they are too similar.

 

Pardew 6.5 Played the formation i was calling for but Nolan up front didn't work the way I hoped it would. Sloppy first up and perhaps a quick session was in order yesterday to keep the players sharp. Didn't agree with the sub but it was a proven one throughout the season. Not sure who he had on the bench but i would have like to see a striker come on after their third.

 

Team 7 1-3 isn't an accurate scoreline. We had plenty of the ball and the players definitely put in alot of effort today. One big mistake then the inability to quickly regroup has cost us. First 5 minutes were sloppy and we couldn't get any luck throughout the match.

[Guest toonlass]

Thought Barton, Carroll and Routledge were good today. Taylor shouldn't be in ahead of Williamson. The ref was abysmal. The first 5 minutes were stuff nightmares are made of. I hate Man Citeh fans but was disgusted at our fans for throwing bottles at them. No need for that. Saying that I cannot stand Man Citeh fans, and aye it's probably jealousy, and aye I would be happy if we were in their position with squillions of pounds at our disposal and able to buy any fucking player that blinks. I still can't feel my toes.

[Guest ObiChrisKenobi]

1st Premiership return match for Colo and Taylor. How do you think it went?

[Guest neesy111]

1st Premiership return match for Colo and Taylor. How do you think it went?

 

Did all right for me.  Better than having Sol at the back.

[Shayno]

1st Premiership return match for Colo and Taylor. How do you think it went?

Certainly not at fault for the loss today.

[cubaricho]

1st Premiership return match for Colo and Taylor. How do you think it went?

 

Taylor doesn't compliment Colo as well as Williamson does.

[PM]

Terrible mistakes for the first two goals left us with a mountain to climb but we made a great fist of it and deserved at least a point.  Sadly not to be.

[Shayno]

1st Premiership return match for Colo and Taylor. How do you think it went?

 

Taylor doesn't compliment Colo as well as Williamson does.

Disagree to a point, Taylor offers all the physicality Williamson does and is quicker. However Taylor is a more aggressive defender than Williamson and will get drawn further up the pitch than where Colo likes to sit. This is evident in the third goal where Colo keeps Tevez onside, but it was probably the right line for the Cb's to be playing in that instance. They haven't had anywhere near the time, game time or training time as Colo and Willo to build an understanding. I firmly believe Taylor is a more talented individual than Williamson and therfore the partnership has more potential but whether the partnership will work well enough to be a top 10 defense in the premier league is yet to be seen.

[Guest ObiChrisKenobi]

Yeah, I did notice the lack of understanding between them this game. The offside line was all over the place, compared to when Colo and Willy are playing. They've got the line and step up sorted pretty well.

[johnnypd]

 

Simpson 6.5 I'm struggling to think of anything he did today, which is probably the sign of a solid defensive effort. The balls he put into the box were pretty meh.

 

 

agree with your post. As for Simpson, the one good thing i remember is a fantastic diving interception as they broke away from a set-piece. Tevez wouldve been free and away had he not got to that.

[ChrisMcQuillan]

1st Premiership return match for Colo and Taylor. How do you think it went?

 

Taylor doesn't compliment Colo as well as Williamson does.

Disagree to a point, Taylor offers all the physicality Williamson does and is quicker. However Taylor is a more aggressive defender than Williamson and will get drawn further up the pitch than where Colo likes to sit. This is evident in the third goal where Colo keeps Tevez onside, but it was probably the right line for the Cb's to be playing in that instance. They haven't had anywhere near the time, game time or training time as Colo and Willo to build an understanding. I firmly believe Taylor is a more talented individual than Williamson and therfore the partnership has more potential but whether the partnership will work well enough to be a top 10 defense in the premier league is yet to be seen.

 

They had at least half a season together in the 08/09 season.  Can't say that went very well either.

[olliemort]

Need to start Colo and willi our defensive looked solid when they were playing beside each other.I think the Taylor bashing is a bit harsh,I would probably play him right back if anywhere he doesnt have the brains to play inn the centre

[midds]

We aren't a good enough side to give teams like City a 2 goal headstart and expect to get something out of the game. We made 2 mistakes and they scored each time. We got away with it last season but they rightfully punished us for being sloppy.

 

After that I think they (knowing they were playing again in 48 hours time) sat back safe in the knowledge that they'd already scored enough to win the game. 85 minutes of training ground football where they kept their shape, got men behind the ball and soaked it up whilst conserving energy for the upcoming games. We huffed and puffed and I can't fault our effort or commitment and enjoyed plenty of the ball but Hart barely had a shot to make tbh. 

 

Once we scored you could see City's attitude change as they were forced to come out and get a killer third goal. They pressed and the back 4 pushed 15 yards further up the park and clinched it.

 

Not sure what the game proved that we didn't already know - City are better than us, we make individual mistakes and some of our lot aren't quite good enough. Our season doesn't hinge on taking points from City and the like and it's not the end of the world but we need to beat the poor teams and continue picking up the odd win away too. Spurs will be tough and I'm not expecting anything there either. West Ham is huge now.   

[hakka]

We aren't a good enough side to give teams like City a 2 goal headstart and expect to get something out of the game. We made 2 mistakes and they scored each time. We got away with it last season but they rightfully punished us for being sloppy.

 

After that I think they (knowing they were playing again in 48 hours time) sat back safe in the knowledge that they'd already scored enough to win the game. 85 minutes of training ground football where they kept their shape, got men behind the ball and soaked it up whilst conserving energy for the upcoming games. We huffed and puffed and I can't fault our effort or commitment and enjoyed plenty of the ball but Hart barely had a shot to make tbh.   

 

Once we scored you could see City's attitude change as they were forced to come out and get a killer third goal. They pressed and the back 4 pushed 15 yards further up the park and clinched it.

 

Not sure what the game proved that we didn't already know - City are better than us, we make individual mistakes and some of our lot aren't quite good enough. Our season doesn't hinge on taking points from City and the like and it's not the end of the world but we need to beat the poor teams and continue picking up the odd win away too. Spurs will be tough and I'm not expecting anything there either. West Ham is huge now.   

 

Great post, agree with all of that.

[Guest BooBoo]

Krul- 5- desperate error and one that will see him replaced at Spurs

Simpson-6- Decent

Enrique-7- better and more consistent with his passing.

Colo-6- Ok

Taylor-6- As above

Routledge-7- Lively in spells, unlucky to be hooked.

Jonas-5- Frustrating, struggling to remember his last good game.

Barton-7- Battling performance.

Tiote-6- Terrible mistake then a good performance.

Nolan-6- Never stopped trying.

Carroll-8- Huge performance despite Kompanys MOTM showing.

 

Ranger-6- Did okay.

[Dave]

We aren't a good enough side to give teams like City a 2 goal headstart and expect to get something out of the game. We made 2 mistakes and they scored each time. We got away with it last season but they rightfully punished us for being sloppy.

 

After that I think they (knowing they were playing again in 48 hours time) sat back safe in the knowledge that they'd already scored enough to win the game. 85 minutes of training ground football where they kept their shape, got men behind the ball and soaked it up whilst conserving energy for the upcoming games. We huffed and puffed and I can't fault our effort or commitment and enjoyed plenty of the ball but Hart barely had a shot to make tbh.

 

Once we scored you could see City's attitude change as they were forced to come out and get a killer third goal. They pressed and the back 4 pushed 15 yards further up the park and clinched it.

 

Not sure what the game proved that we didn't already know - City are better than us, we make individual mistakes and some of our lot aren't quite good enough. Our season doesn't hinge on taking points from City and the like and it's not the end of the world but we need to beat the poor teams and continue picking up the odd win away too. Spurs will be tough and I'm not expecting anything there either. West Ham is huge now.

 

 

We were 2-0 down before we got to our seats.

 

Good to see Routledge getting some praise, I thought he was our best player aside from Carroll and was unlucky to be taken off. He was sacrificed because there wasn't really any other way of doing it though.

[Frazzle]

Good ratings Otter but I think Pardew has already confirmed Krul will start against Spurs.

 

midds, I agree with some of your points but I don't think you can say Man City were doing what they were doing to conserve energy; defending like that really takes it out of you.

[Dave]

I can't quite put my finger on why (or even point to a particular incident in this game that proves this correct) but for some reason I felt more nervous with Taylor/Colo than I did earlier in the season with Willicini. Okay it was their first game together this season but it just all felt a bit 'seat of your pants', nowhere near as composed as before.

[Guest BooBoo]

Good ratings Otter but I think Pardew has already confirmed Krul will start against Spurs.

 

midds, I agree with some of your points but I don't think you can say Man City were doing what they were doing to conserve energy; defending like that really takes it out of you.

 

I didn't realise Pards had spoken but it's a nightmare when your game plan is sent south within 90 seconds by a rookie keeper making an appalling error.

[madras]

midds has already nailed it. i'd also like to know why joey barton sits so deep when playing in the middle, quite often when we were attacking i'd look about to find him behind tiote, forcing tiote to go further forward than is good for our team. yet again we had no central midfielders willing to commit to attack or risk getting on the end of a knock down or clearance.

[Incognito]

I'm fairly sure the reason we didn't win is because it was Dave's turn with the ST.