No point blaming Roeder. Our players are awful...

[Wullie]

There was a point near the 68th minute where Butt had the ball in an advanced position. He was looking for someone to pass to and then gestured with both hands as if to say 'Nowhere to pass to', he turned and gave the ball to Bramble.

 

Bramble looked for all the world as if he considered passing it to the nearest AZ player, but the ball went slightly astray and went back to Butt. At this point the camera pulled out a bit and I saw the three front players. They were stood like statues without a ficking clue waiting for the ball to their feet when they were all marked like a man on a walk to the gallows. Not one of the muppets thought about moving to get it, or to create space and movement.

 

Now players can be tired, they can be disinterested and disheartened, but that was abysmal application at this level.

 

I don't know who's fault that is, but hopefully there is video dissections going on tomorrow and those three get a proper bollocking.

 

The clump of five Newcastle players stood together constantly on the edge of the penalty area in the last ten minutes was embarrassing, Jim Beglin rightly said you could have thrown a towel over them.

 

We needed to spread the play and we just got narrower and narrower as the game went on, meanwhile the main player in our squad who plays with his boots on the touchline was sat on the bench. Tactical genius. Least he'll be "rested" for the meaningless game at the weekend.

[BottledDog]

First, let me just say I think Glen did a very good job for most of last season, I don't want to take that away from him. I also think he's a decent bloke and I don't blame him at all for taking the job, and I'm sure he's working very hard and generally doing his best, (and I'm sure some will say this is kneejerk - and perhaps it is to an extent) but...

 

Being from Watford I remember when Roeder took them down. They were rubbish, boring and going down without a fight. Then Graham Taylor took over and the whole attitude changed. Won one game 6-3, one 5-2 and a couple of others. Couldn't save them but at least they went down fighting. This was a while ago of course, but I don't see much of a change now. It was this memory and especially the Man City game last season (I think it was them, the penultimate game anyway) that made me opposed to his appointment:

 

At the time it looked like we'd need a win there for a chance of the Inter-toto, otherwise a win against Chelsea. With the game level did we go for it and try and win the game? No, we sat back and played out a boring draw. As it happened things worked out, so fair play, but generally that attitude was, and is, wrong. It's indicative of Glen's cautious nature that doesn't suit Newcastle.

 

All season long we've been playing boring, hoof-it-long-to-Sibierski football. Long ball can be effective, but we're not even any bloody good at it; we hardly ever win the second ball. Must be about 30 times a game we give it straight back to the opposition through this tactic, and the most frustrating thing is that we have some good midfielders who can do something with the ball. Emre, Butt, Parker, Duff, Zoggy, Dyer, Solano, Milner, all of these guys are good players. They don't get nearly enough ball though because we're too busy hoofing it long to Sib. When we do get the ball then some people try and do too much. I appreciate that we've had a lot of problems through injuries, but most of the time we've still had a pretty good midfield, with at least 3 of these players being available, but we've still done nothing to try and use them, even when they were our strongest unit on the pitch.

 

Look at tonight's game (or most others). Their defence wasn't very good but we hardly tested it. We spent the whole first half whacking it down the middle. When we finally went behind, then we started passing it and actually made one or two opportunities. We can be a decent attacking side, but we still haven't grasped that fact yet. To me this is Roeder's responsibity.

 

Our team has no movement; when one of our players has the ball in midfield everyone's standing still. When we win it back people aren't streaming forward to cause problems, they saunter forward, they turn in circles, they have no options, they pass it back. A lot of this is down to poor coaching. Our team does not flow when attacking, it is not creative. This comes from a cautious mindset and a host of longballs from Shay.

 

Youth - Glen keeps saying he doesn't want to throw youngsters in at the deep end, but then injuries cause him to play youngsters in the biggest matches - Huntingdon (Chelsea?), Edgar (Man U). So far the only young defender who's impressed me this season is Edgar. Against Man U, (even without the deflected goal) I thought he played very well. And not just well for a young debutant, well by premiership FB standard. He was always looking around, knew where his man was, got in good positions, didn't make many mistakes and looked like he knew how to keep the ball and actually kept Ronaldo pretty quiet. Yet despite 2 good games he hasn't been given another chance. I'm not saying he's necessarily destined for greatness or anything, but his performances warranted more games to try him out - the fact he was prepared to go for that shot against Man U surely says something about his confidence/attitude.

 

Substitutions - I'm a believer that you can tell a lot about a manager's tactical ability from his use of substitutions. Substitutions aren't just to replace injured or tired players, they're used to change the pattern of the game, counter the opponent's tactics and gain the upper hand. Roeder rarely seems to change anything until the last 5-10 minutes of regulation time, and often by then it's too late. He waits and waits and waits, even when it's been obvious for half an hour that we're producing nothing. Look at Hiddink, almost all of his substitutions at the WC seemed to produce something, or Mourinho - if his gameplan's not working he's shown several times he has the confidence to change things by the half hour mark. Admittedly Roeder hasn't often had a strong bench to work with, but leaving Huntingdon on for 85 minutes??? Why? We needed to change things by 70 mins at the very latest, we needed pace and width and creativity, why wait to bring Zoggy on? Why take all the width out of our team when our success against them in the first leg came from taking on their fullbacks? Roeder in my opinion is very poor with substitutions and to me that reflects badly on his tactical prowess.

 

I'm not going to talk much about transfers; I don't have a problem with the ones he has made and to be honest I very much respect that he's more interested in waiting for the right long-term player than in panic buying to secure his position (assuming it was Glen and not Freddy who decided this). I just don't think Glen's the right manager for this club; he's too cautious, he doesn't appear to want to take a chance and he doesn't seem to be able to turn us into a decent attacking force- because his mindset is too cautious.

 

Again, I have nothing against Roeder personally, he seems like a good bloke. Indeed I hope he proves me wrong because that would mean success for United, but I just can't see him as a potentially successful long-term manager of our club. I can take us losing. I can take us getting knocked out of Europe and trophyless for another year. I can take us playing badly. I can't, however, take us playing badly with so little ambition, flair or fight. We're Newcastle United. If we lose a game we should lose it with a bloody big cannon volley, not with a pathetic, hoarse whimper.

 

Sorry for the length but I've been needing to get that of me chest for a while.

 

A very fair post.

[BottledDog]

There was a point near the 68th minute where Butt had the ball in an advanced position. He was looking for someone to pass to and then gestured with both hands as if to say 'Nowhere to pass to', he turned and gave the ball to Bramble.

 

Bramble looked for all the world as if he considered passing it to the nearest AZ player, but the ball went slightly astray and went back to Butt. At this point the camera pulled out a bit and I saw the three front players. They were stood like statues without a ficking clue, waiting for the ball to their feet when they were all marked like a man on a walk to the gallows. Not one of the muppets thought about moving to get it, or to create space and movement.

 

Now players can be tired, they can be disinterested and disheartened, but that was abysmal application at this level.

 

I don't know whose fault that is, but hopefully there is video dissections going on tomorrow and those three get a proper bollocking.

 

Three in a row along the edge of the box? Yup, noticed that at the time too. Hopeless.

[Mr Logic]

Good read Magic, thanks for that. Though little to raise any cheer, I cannot disagree with anything you wrote.

 

One wonders if Shepherd is aware of any of it. Does he have the next manager lined up, or does he think it's all a bed of roses?

[Guest toongimp]

Shocking stuff last night. No commitment from the players to win the match or put on a performance. We were happy to let AZ play football whilst we sat back. It was as if we wanted AZ to win! :'(  It seems that when the pressure is on we never hit our stride as with the FA cup match with Brum.

 

Worst offenders were: Sibbers for not even being anywhere near the goal posts. Dyer for being so easily tackled every time he had the ball. Bramble and Taylor. Duff for not showing up. Roeder for not motivating the players enough and screwing up our tactics - Yes, Roeder did play his part in our defeat.

 

I'm heading to Charlton on Sunday so I beg and plead Newcastle not to f**k up. Poor effort all round.

[Northern Monkey]

Of course Roeder shoyuld be blamed.

 

He shouldn't be in the job, but for as long as he IS, and he is at fault like he was last night, he will rightly be lambasted.

[Guest]

Picking Huntington at left-back...what a f*cking joke. Don't normally get like this, but any f*cker who'd sooner have the likes of him & Ramage ahead of Carr & Babayaro want their f*cking heads examined man. He was f*cking gang raped up the a*se so much last night it was almost paedophilic.

[Guest alex]

Don't blame Roeder for the individual errors perhaps. The tactics, selection and substitutions however.

[Guest]

Not putting Milner on, finally taking off Duff and putting Emre on to play out-of-position, leaving it until 5 minutes to go before putting Dyer up-front and putting N'Zogbia on, playing Huntington, f*cking utter disgrace. AZ were nowt special, we were just utter sh*te.

[Northern Monkey]

Picking Huntington at left-back...what a f*cking joke. Don't normally get like this, but any f*cker who'd sooner have the likes of him & Ramage ahead of Carr & Babayaro want their f*cking heads examined man. He was f*cking gang raped up the a*se so much last night it was almost paedophilic.

 

I would play Huntington ahead of Babayaro and Carr at left back, but only because he's not Carr or Babayaro - HE is poor, THEY are a fucking disgrace.

[Guest alex]

Picking Huntington at left-back...what a f*cking joke. Don't normally get like this, but any f*cker who'd sooner have the likes of him & Ramage ahead of Carr & Babayaro want their f*cking heads examined man. He was f*cking gang raped up the a*se so much last night it was almost paedophilic.

 

I would play Huntington ahead of Babayaro and Carr at left back, but only because he's not Carr or Babayaro - HE is poor, THEY are a fucking disgrace.

I'm not a fan of either but both are better fullbacks. Babayaro is certainly the better left-back.

[Guest]

Picking Huntington at left-back...what a f*cking joke. Don't normally get like this, but any f*cker who'd sooner have the likes of him & Ramage ahead of Carr & Babayaro want their f*cking heads examined man. He was f*cking gang raped up the a*se so much last night it was almost paedophilic.

 

I would play Huntington ahead of Babayaro and Carr at left back, but only because he's not Carr or Babayaro - HE is poor, THEY are a f****** disgrace.

I'm not a fan of either but both are better fullbacks. Babayaro is certainly the better left-back.

 

Precisement.

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

Picking Huntington at left-back...what a f*cking joke. Don't normally get like this, but any f*cker who'd sooner have the likes of him & Ramage ahead of Carr & Babayaro want their f*cking heads examined man. He was f*cking gang raped up the a*se so much last night it was almost paedophilic.

 

I would play Huntington ahead of Babayaro and Carr at left back, but only because he's not Carr or Babayaro - HE is poor, THEY are a fucking disgrace.

I'm not a fan of either but both are better fullbacks. Babayaro is certainly the better left-back.

 

 

both have been slagged to death before and Roeder urged to play anyone but them

 

make up your minds

[Guest alex]

Picking Huntington at left-back...what a f*cking joke. Don't normally get like this, but any f*cker who'd sooner have the likes of him & Ramage ahead of Carr & Babayaro want their f*cking heads examined man. He was f*cking gang raped up the a*se so much last night it was almost paedophilic.

 

I would play Huntington ahead of Babayaro and Carr at left back, but only because he's not Carr or Babayaro - HE is poor, THEY are a fucking disgrace.

I'm not a fan of either but both are better fullbacks. Babayaro is certainly the better left-back.

 

 

both have been slagged to death before and Roeder urged to play anyone but them

 

make up your minds

Where have I said that?

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

Picking Huntington at left-back...what a f*cking joke. Don't normally get like this, but any f*cker who'd sooner have the likes of him & Ramage ahead of Carr & Babayaro want their f*cking heads examined man. He was f*cking gang raped up the a*se so much last night it was almost paedophilic.

 

I would play Huntington ahead of Babayaro and Carr at left back, but only because he's not Carr or Babayaro - HE is poor, THEY are a fucking disgrace.

I'm not a fan of either but both are better fullbacks. Babayaro is certainly the better left-back.

 

 

both have been slagged to death before and Roeder urged to play anyone but them

 

make up your minds

Where have I said that?

 

the royal 'you'

 

i just quoted you for convenience

[Guest alex]

Picking Huntington at left-back...what a f*cking joke. Don't normally get like this, but any f*cker who'd sooner have the likes of him & Ramage ahead of Carr & Babayaro want their f*cking heads examined man. He was f*cking gang raped up the a*se so much last night it was almost paedophilic.

 

I would play Huntington ahead of Babayaro and Carr at left back, but only because he's not Carr or Babayaro - HE is poor, THEY are a fucking disgrace.

I'm not a fan of either but both are better fullbacks. Babayaro is certainly the better left-back.

 

 

both have been slagged to death before and Roeder urged to play anyone but them

 

make up your minds

Where have I said that?

 

the royal 'you'

 

i just quoted you for convenience

Lazy Vic, I expect better from you

[Guest shearer_united]

blame everyone. If the players really wanted to win the UEFA cup then they would have tried harder but they didnt. I think it proves carelessness.

[Parky]

First, let me just say I think Glen did a very good job for most of last season, I don't want to take that away from him. I also think he's a decent bloke and I don't blame him at all for taking the job, and I'm sure he's working very hard and generally doing his best, (and I'm sure some will say this is kneejerk - and perhaps it is to an extent) but...

 

Being from Watford I remember when Roeder took them down. They were rubbish, boring and going down without a fight. Then Graham Taylor took over and the whole attitude changed. Won one game 6-3, one 5-2 and a couple of others. Couldn't save them but at least they went down fighting. This was a while ago of course, but I don't see much of a change now. It was this memory and especially the Man City game last season (I think it was them, the penultimate game anyway) that made me opposed to his appointment:

 

At the time it looked like we'd need a win there for a chance of the Inter-toto, otherwise a win against Chelsea. With the game level did we go for it and try and win the game? No, we sat back and played out a boring draw. As it happened things worked out, so fair play, but generally that attitude was, and is, wrong. It's indicative of Glen's cautious nature that doesn't suit Newcastle.

 

All season long we've been playing boring, hoof-it-long-to-Sibierski football. Long ball can be effective, but we're not even any bloody good at it; we hardly ever win the second ball. Must be about 30 times a game we give it straight back to the opposition through this tactic, and the most frustrating thing is that we have some good midfielders who can do something with the ball. Emre, Butt, Parker, Duff, Zoggy, Dyer, Solano, Milner, all of these guys are good players. They don't get nearly enough ball though because we're too busy hoofing it long to Sib. When we do get the ball then some people try and do too much. I appreciate that we've had a lot of problems through injuries, but most of the time we've still had a pretty good midfield, with at least 3 of these players being available, but we've still done nothing to try and use them, even when they were our strongest unit on the pitch.

 

Look at tonight's game (or most others). Their defence wasn't very good but we hardly tested it. We spent the whole first half whacking it down the middle. When we finally went behind, then we started passing it and actually made one or two opportunities. We can be a decent attacking side, but we still haven't grasped that fact yet. To me this is Roeder's responsibity.

 

Our team has no movement; when one of our players has the ball in midfield everyone's standing still. When we win it back people aren't streaming forward to cause problems, they saunter forward, they turn in circles, they have no options, they pass it back. A lot of this is down to poor coaching. Our team does not flow when attacking, it is not creative. This comes from a cautious mindset and a host of longballs from Shay.

 

Youth - Glen keeps saying he doesn't want to throw youngsters in at the deep end, but then injuries cause him to play youngsters in the biggest matches - Huntingdon (Chelsea?), Edgar (Man U). So far the only young defender who's impressed me this season is Edgar. Against Man U, (even without the deflected goal) I thought he played very well. And not just well for a young debutant, well by premiership FB standard. He was always looking around, knew where his man was, got in good positions, didn't make many mistakes and looked like he knew how to keep the ball and actually kept Ronaldo pretty quiet. Yet despite 2 good games he hasn't been given another chance. I'm not saying he's necessarily destined for greatness or anything, but his performances warranted more games to try him out - the fact he was prepared to go for that shot against Man U surely says something about his confidence/attitude.

 

Substitutions - I'm a believer that you can tell a lot about a manager's tactical ability from his use of substitutions. Substitutions aren't just to replace injured or tired players, they're used to change the pattern of the game, counter the opponent's tactics and gain the upper hand. Roeder rarely seems to change anything until the last 5-10 minutes of regulation time, and often by then it's too late. He waits and waits and waits, even when it's been obvious for half an hour that we're producing nothing. Look at Hiddink, almost all of his substitutions at the WC seemed to produce something, or Mourinho - if his gameplan's not working he's shown several times he has the confidence to change things by the half hour mark. Admittedly Roeder hasn't often had a strong bench to work with, but leaving Huntingdon on for 85 minutes??? Why? We needed to change things by 70 mins at the very latest, we needed pace and width and creativity, why wait to bring Zoggy on? Why take all the width out of our team when our success against them in the first leg came from taking on their fullbacks? Roeder in my opinion is very poor with substitutions and to me that reflects badly on his tactical prowess.

 

I'm not going to talk much about transfers; I don't have a problem with the ones he has made and to be honest I very much respect that he's more interested in waiting for the right long-term player than in panic buying to secure his position (assuming it was Glen and not Freddy who decided this). I just don't think Glen's the right manager for this club; he's too cautious, he doesn't appear to want to take a chance and he doesn't seem to be able to turn us into a decent attacking force- because his mindset is too cautious.

 

Again, I have nothing against Roeder personally, he seems like a good bloke. Indeed I hope he proves me wrong because that would mean success for United, but I just can't see him as a potentially successful long-term manager of our club. I can take us losing. I can take us getting knocked out of Europe and trophyless for another year. I can take us playing badly. I can't, however, take us playing badly with so little ambition, flair or fight. We're Newcastle United. If we lose a game we should lose it with a bloody big cannon volley, not with a pathetic, hoarse whimper.

 

Sorry for the length but I've been needing to get that of me chest for a while.

 

A very fair post.

 

Spot on.

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

First, let me just say I think Glen did a very good job for most of last season, I don't want to take that away from him. I also think he's a decent bloke and I don't blame him at all for taking the job, and I'm sure he's working very hard and generally doing his best, (and I'm sure some will say this is kneejerk - and perhaps it is to an extent) but...

 

Being from Watford I remember when Roeder took them down. They were rubbish, boring and going down without a fight. Then Graham Taylor took over and the whole attitude changed. Won one game 6-3, one 5-2 and a couple of others. Couldn't save them but at least they went down fighting. This was a while ago of course, but I don't see much of a change now. It was this memory and especially the Man City game last season (I think it was them, the penultimate game anyway) that made me opposed to his appointment:

 

At the time it looked like we'd need a win there for a chance of the Inter-toto, otherwise a win against Chelsea. With the game level did we go for it and try and win the game? No, we sat back and played out a boring draw. As it happened things worked out, so fair play, but generally that attitude was, and is, wrong. It's indicative of Glen's cautious nature that doesn't suit Newcastle.

 

All season long we've been playing boring, hoof-it-long-to-Sibierski football. Long ball can be effective, but we're not even any bloody good at it; we hardly ever win the second ball. Must be about 30 times a game we give it straight back to the opposition through this tactic, and the most frustrating thing is that we have some good midfielders who can do something with the ball. Emre, Butt, Parker, Duff, Zoggy, Dyer, Solano, Milner, all of these guys are good players. They don't get nearly enough ball though because we're too busy hoofing it long to Sib. When we do get the ball then some people try and do too much. I appreciate that we've had a lot of problems through injuries, but most of the time we've still had a pretty good midfield, with at least 3 of these players being available, but we've still done nothing to try and use them, even when they were our strongest unit on the pitch.

 

Look at tonight's game (or most others). Their defence wasn't very good but we hardly tested it. We spent the whole first half whacking it down the middle. When we finally went behind, then we started passing it and actually made one or two opportunities. We can be a decent attacking side, but we still haven't grasped that fact yet. To me this is Roeder's responsibity.

 

Our team has no movement; when one of our players has the ball in midfield everyone's standing still. When we win it back people aren't streaming forward to cause problems, they saunter forward, they turn in circles, they have no options, they pass it back. A lot of this is down to poor coaching. Our team does not flow when attacking, it is not creative. This comes from a cautious mindset and a host of longballs from Shay.

 

Youth - Glen keeps saying he doesn't want to throw youngsters in at the deep end, but then injuries cause him to play youngsters in the biggest matches - Huntingdon (Chelsea?), Edgar (Man U). So far the only young defender who's impressed me this season is Edgar. Against Man U, (even without the deflected goal) I thought he played very well. And not just well for a young debutant, well by premiership FB standard. He was always looking around, knew where his man was, got in good positions, didn't make many mistakes and looked like he knew how to keep the ball and actually kept Ronaldo pretty quiet. Yet despite 2 good games he hasn't been given another chance. I'm not saying he's necessarily destined for greatness or anything, but his performances warranted more games to try him out - the fact he was prepared to go for that shot against Man U surely says something about his confidence/attitude.

 

Substitutions - I'm a believer that you can tell a lot about a manager's tactical ability from his use of substitutions. Substitutions aren't just to replace injured or tired players, they're used to change the pattern of the game, counter the opponent's tactics and gain the upper hand. Roeder rarely seems to change anything until the last 5-10 minutes of regulation time, and often by then it's too late. He waits and waits and waits, even when it's been obvious for half an hour that we're producing nothing. Look at Hiddink, almost all of his substitutions at the WC seemed to produce something, or Mourinho - if his gameplan's not working he's shown several times he has the confidence to change things by the half hour mark. Admittedly Roeder hasn't often had a strong bench to work with, but leaving Huntingdon on for 85 minutes??? Why? We needed to change things by 70 mins at the very latest, we needed pace and width and creativity, why wait to bring Zoggy on? Why take all the width out of our team when our success against them in the first leg came from taking on their fullbacks? Roeder in my opinion is very poor with substitutions and to me that reflects badly on his tactical prowess.

 

I'm not going to talk much about transfers; I don't have a problem with the ones he has made and to be honest I very much respect that he's more interested in waiting for the right long-term player than in panic buying to secure his position (assuming it was Glen and not Freddy who decided this). I just don't think Glen's the right manager for this club; he's too cautious, he doesn't appear to want to take a chance and he doesn't seem to be able to turn us into a decent attacking force- because his mindset is too cautious.

 

Again, I have nothing against Roeder personally, he seems like a good bloke. Indeed I hope he proves me wrong because that would mean success for United, but I just can't see him as a potentially successful long-term manager of our club. I can take us losing. I can take us getting knocked out of Europe and trophyless for another year. I can take us playing badly. I can't, however, take us playing badly with so little ambition, flair or fight. We're Newcastle United. If we lose a game we should lose it with a bloody big cannon volley, not with a pathetic, hoarse whimper.

 

Sorry for the length but I've been needing to get that of me chest for a while.

 

A very fair post.

 

Spot on.

 

'Roeder is shit' is not the issue

 

The issue is why he is here in the first place

[sempuki]

Groundhog day for usMar 16 2007

 

 

 

 

By Alan Oliver, The Evening Chronicle

 

 

Kieron Dyer confessed that the Newcastle United players let the club down in the way they went out of the UEFA Cup on away goals in Holland last night.

 

But the England midfielder refused to make any excuses and - unlike some of his colleagues - he at least had the bottle to face the music after yet another dismal night for United in Europe.

 

Some United players tried to sneak out of the back door to avoid facing the media, and the likes of Emre, Antoine Sibierski, Damien Duff and Oba Martins refused to be interviewed.

 

But a clearly emotional Dyer told me: "There are no excuses. We let ourselves and everyone associated with the club down. We twice had a three-goal lead in this tie and we have blown it again.

 

"It's like groundhog day and it always seems to happen to us, and now it is another season with nothing to play for.

 

"We have to get tougher mentally or we are going to get punished the way we always seem to do.

 

 

"So it was another disappointing end to what should have been a promising night."

 

 

Dyer has been at St James' Park since Ruud Gullit paid £6m to bring him from his home-town team of Ipswich Town in the summer of 1999.

 

 

And in that time he has known some good - and terrible - results, and last night ranked alongside the evening in Lisbon when United threw in the towel after Dyer had seemingly given his side a passage into the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.

 

 

However, he added: "Yes, we have had some bad nights because we have played badly, but I suppose that FA Cup semi-final defeat by Chelsea takes some beating because we played so well."

 

 

Reflecting on another bad night Dyer added: "We were second best on the night against AZ.

 

 

"Apart from Scott Parker and Shay Given, I don't suppose anyone can say they had a good game.

 

 

"And what makes it a lot worse is that we lost to a set-piece.

 

 

"This has been our Achilles' heel all season, and we just cannot get it right."

 

 

Dyer and Nobby Solano nearly got it right for United at 1-0 with a brilliantly-worked free-kick, which saw the England man shoot just inches wide.

 

 

He said: "We huffed and puffed a bit at the end and may be I should have scored and so should Oba Martins.

 

 

"As far as that free-kick is concerned, the manager told me before the game AZ push up in situations like this.

 

 

"So I pretended I wasn't interested and then I made it a dart for it.

 

 

"My first touch was good and I thought I had scored - but I could only watch as it went agonisingly wide.

 

 

"But I suppose that summed up our night.

 

 

"We were second best on the night and there was not a lot of quality out there, and we were made to pay."

 

 

United have no time to feel sorry for themselves as they head down to London tomorrow lunch-time for Sunday's game with Charlton Athletic at The Valley.

 

 

But Dyer concluded: "While we still have to try and win as many points as we can and climb up the League table, tonight will take a long time to get out of our system. I honestly believe that."