sempuki Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Outfought, outplayed and outMar 16 2007 By Alan Oliver, The Evening Chronicle Well, you would not want some of this lot in the trenches alongside you would you? When it comes to bottle, some of them must have been standing at the back of the queue when it was handed out. Newcastle United, I am talking about. How could players who were absolutely brilliant at St James' Park seven days earlier be so pathetic in the DSB Stadium last night as United said goodbye to Europe for another season? In fact, on the evidence of what I saw in Alkmaar last night, make that seasons. Glenn Roeder said before the match he needed every one of his players to produce on the night in what he expected to be a difficult game - and he was right. Ironically, it was Roeder's two signings, Obafemi Martins and Damien Duff, who were the two passengers along with young Paul Huntington, who looked out of his depth at left-back. As was the case at St James' Park, Martins missed a one-on-one with AZ goalkeeper Boy Waterman in the last 10 minutes - and when he is doing this and not scoring he may as well stay in the dressing room. The only nifty footwork he showed at the DSB Stadium came when, after the game, he neatly side-stepped the waiting media who had the temerity to want to know why he was so ineffective. Then there was Duff. They tell me that, despite all his success, the Republic of Ireland international thrives on kind words and an arm around his shoulder. Well he ain't going to get either after last night. I said after the debacle at Wigan Athletic I hoped I never saw Huntington, or any of United's young central defenders, used at left-back again but, with Celestine Babayaro and Stephen Carr having their permanent berths in the treatment room and Olivier Bernard not coming up to scratch, that is what happened again in Holland. I felt sorry for the kid who clearly does not want to play at full-back. Roeder did not agree with me, but I felt United were always going to have to score in the DSB Stadium if they were going to go through because I could not see them stopping Louis van Gaal's men at the other end. As it happens, since they were beaten in the semi-final of the UEFA Cup in Marseille three years ago, United have only failed to score away in Europe on one occasion in 14 trips - and that was in a game that did not really matter in Frankfurt last year. When they needed a goal last night they could not muster one. To be fair to Kieron Dyer, he was only inches away from one in the 54th minute after a superbly-worked free-kick with Nobby Solano. Two minutes later, AZ grabbed their second goal and it was really all over. The best that can be said of last night is the fact United were still in with a chance of going through to today's quarter-final draw right to the last kick. One lucky bounce or one bad refereeing decision would have done it. Unfortunately, the worst refereeing decision went against United when it was difficult to work out why Scott Parker's "goal" was disallowed in the closing stages. Really, because AZ deserved to win so much, it is not worth making an issue over. The difference between Roeder and van Gaal is the fact the controversial but talented Dutchman has sold a team and bought his own. In contrast, Roeder is still mainly working with other people's players. Clearly, some of them are not good enough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Stil blaming it on Souness then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Duff deserves singling out. If I was manager, I would have announced on live television that I expected Duff to pay back the fans for not only their tickets, but also their travelling expenses. Hell, I'd probably even make Duff compensate them for having to even watch such dross. Martins on the other hand was completely unsupported by his team-mates, although I felt he could have pressed the opposition more last night, but it looked like he had been instructed not to. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest smoggeordie Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Wish he'd pull a punch into his own face tbh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 I'd pay to see that NSG. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sempuki Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 To single out Martins and Duff is ridiculous. I honestly can't pick one player who played well. But then again we can expect this kind of s*** from AO... just because they refused to speak to him after the match. He seems to have a grudge against Martins. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parky Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Stil blaming it on Souness then. Aye.....and kinda almost absolving Roeder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Dont see how he's blaming Souness as only two of the players that featured were signed by Souness. Sounds more like he's blaming the chairman. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 good article ruined by the last 3 lines where he says the only difference between roeder and van gaal is the freedom to make transfers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gray Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 racist tbh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toptoon Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 To single out martins is very harsh on the lad. We didn't carve out the openings for him. The blame should be laid at Roeders feet s his tactics were way off. We should have gone there to score goals not try and defend we invited them on to us then bottled it. If your looking for a player to blame then you can't look much further than Bramble, he played them onside for the first goal when all the other defnders stepped up to play them offside leaving us open. He lost his man for their second goal, who went on to score. Should have given a penatly away, should have been sent off, passing was diobolical as usual as was decision making etc. This man could make John Terry look bad alongside him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Invicta_Toon Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 was Martins ever one of Olivers 'sources inform me that we are after....' ?? could explain his axe to grind Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NUFC06 Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 To single out martins is very harsh on the lad. We didn't carve out the openings for him. The blame should be laid at Roeders feet s his tactics were way off. We should have gone there to score goals not try and defend we invited them on to us then bottled it. If your looking for a player to blame then you can't look much further than Bramble, he played them onside for the first goal when all the other defnders stepped up to play them offside leaving us open. He lost his man for their second goal, who went on to score. Should have given a penatly away, should have been sent off, passing was diobolical as usual as was decision making etc. This man could make John Terry look bad alongside him. I don't really think it was down to tactics. It was more about our players inability to keep the ball and string passes together all game. That is Roeder's fault too not myne because im not the manager and im not training these guys every day Roeder is fucking joke Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Monkey Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Duff deserves singling out. If I was manager, I would have announced on live television that I expected Duff to pay back the fans for not only their tickets, but also their travelling expenses. Hell, I'd probably even make Duff compensate them for having to even watch such dross. Martins on the other hand was completely unsupported by his team-mates, although I felt he could have pressed the opposition more last night, but it looked like he had been instructed not to. Martins was poor in general, and his control of the ball almost nonexistant. but then, only fools have been saying he's the finished article. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Limpy Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 I don't really think it was down to tactics. It was more about our players inability to keep the ball and string passes together all game. This, the only saving grace for me is i didn't haul my old tired arse there, unlike lisbon, that still pi**es me off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newcastle Fan Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 This article started nicely,then Alan Oliver reminded us of who he really is.... a cunt.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Snrub Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 The difference between Roeder and van Gaal is the fact the controversial but talented Dutchman has sold a team and bought his own. The difference between the 2 is that van Gaal is a good coach and Roeder is a gutless, inept shitbag, you stupid tosser. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
womblemaster Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 martins was poor last night, he did very little in the 2nd half. he just gave up trying after 60mins, and hed been piss poor up till that point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Anal forgets that Martins has already scored more from open play than Shearer Managed in his last 2 seasons, all the while he constantly reminded us of what an 'outstanding player' he was. f****** prick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Pull the punches is exactly what he does. Blame the players ahead of his mate as usual, prick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggs Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 voice of anal oliver " well glen can you explain your starting line up and tactics to the fans who travelled over to watch that spineless bunch of leaderless morons surrender without a fight ,and the timing and personnel used in your ineffective substitutions " oh forgot you dont critisise roeder do you COWARD.boils my piss Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest magpies_rawk Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Duff deserves singling out. If I was manager, I would have announced on live television that I expected Duff to pay back the fans for not only their tickets, but also their travelling expenses. Hell, I'd probably even make Duff compensate them for having to even watch such dross. Martins on the other hand was completely unsupported by his team-mates, although I felt he could have pressed the opposition more last night, but it looked like he had been instructed not to. Martins was poor in general, and his control of the ball almost nonexistant. but then, only fools have been saying he's the finished article. yes, he never had the greatest first touch and he always takes a few touches too many. However, his shot technique is pretty good. Any striker thrives on support and while martins has the ability to turn the game by himself, 1-2 decent defenders watching you tightly can defuse that threat. harsh on martins. duff ... crap, nuff said. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtype Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 It actually sounds like Olivier is taking an indirect jab at Roeder to me. Perhaps he's seeing the changing tides and severing ties with his "pal" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BooBoo Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Who's Oliver talking about when he whinges about the players who Roeder didnt buy who let the club down? Dyer and Bramble? For me, Oliver is right however,in pointing out Martins and Duff. They should be our two most potent players yet both were pathetic last night. The paper palces the blame squarely on the players and conveniently forgets about mangerial accountability. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Spark Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 What a ridiculously contradictory article. First he picks out Martins and Duff as poor performers, then states that the only difference between Roeder and Van Gaal is that Roeder is working with other people's players. If Roeder's own players (Martins and Duff) are, according to Anal, the worst on the pitch, we should probably be grateful that he hasn't been able to buy his own team. Oliver always licks Roeder's arse. He's basically saying Roeder is as good a coach as Van Gaal. Oh how I would love to smack that bastard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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