Newcastle 3 - 2 Everton - 07/10/07 - Post match reaction from page 16

[merlin]

This game brought home some harsh truths to many NUFC fans - those who have put Martins & Given on a pedestal(i.e can do no wrong)have had a huge wake-up call today.

Martins' control is little short of abysmal - if he had a first touch, he might be worth 10m quid - as it is, I wouldn't pay anything like that sort of money for him ; Allardyce had it spot-on when he said he was a scorer of great goals rather than a goal-scorer...

 

Positives - Smith much better as a front-man, and his link-up play with the others was very good, but you can see why he will never score many goals - too unselfish in the area.

 

that's funny, cos Martins' movement, control, passing and link up play was just as good as Smith's was. there were two or three slack moments through the entire game but every player has these, Smith included who misjudged a few passes out wide and put in a poor pull-back into the box when Martins was in space, in the move that led up to the goal. Smith's best contribution to the match was a great through-ball to Martins, but Martins timing, anticipation and run were impeccable on that occasion. then again Martins played a lovely first-touch layoff, with his back to goal holding off an everton player, to Smith about 5 mins before the goal went in, that Smith had deflected wide. maybe you forgot that. weird that some people always feel a need to slag Martins off, even when he has a decent match. his problem yesterday was missing a great chance and fading badly in the 2nd half (along with smith and most of our side!) and i think your just mindlessly rejurgitating generic complaints rather than looking at this specific game. i'm not a smith fan at all and have slagged him off mercilessly before, but i'll not pretend he didn't have a good game just cos i don't rate him overall.

 

I hope that the booing which occurred when Martins was subbed wasn't aimed at his being replaced by Owen, but I suspect some of it was, and that is a disgrace.

 

i didn't hear much booing but it seemed aimed at bringing Martins off and not at bringing owen on, who received a rapturous applause when he ran onto the pitch. nothing disgraceful about that.

 

I don't 'mindlessly regurgitate' anyone's comments ; you are entitled to your opinion, and I, along with many other fans on this site who don't rate Martins as a top player, are entitled to ours.

 

In my opinion, he is NOT top-quality - end of...

His general control, over a full game , is woeful for a player who cost 10m, and he plays purely by instinct.

As for your comments about Smith, he also is NOT a top striker, but he WILL contribute more effort to a game than Martins will. If you thought Martins had a good game, I would hate to see him in a bad one ;

I KNOW he can score some eye-catching goals, but he misses far more than he gets - any comparison should be between him and Owen, rather than him and Smith,and in that case, he is definitely second-best; no doubt about it.

[Cajun]

Thanks for that johnny

[Guest BooBoo]

Was going to make a seperate thread for this, but instead i'll just stick it in here- where the hell was Viduka?! I dont think anyone will doubt his ability but since Boro he's not played two consecutive games. Its no good if he's unable to play more than once a fortnight.

 

I thought defensively we did much better yesterday with Cacapa and Faye looking strong at the back although to be fair they didnt have a great attacking threat to deal with. Beye and Enrique were steady and to habve Rozehnal and Taylor on the bench shows we have a bit of strength in depth.

 

Even though we reverted to 4-4-2 we still did not stretch the play once and looked very narrow, both the Zog and Milner had fairly anonymous games. The introduction of Emre showed what we have been desperately lacking this season, some drive and creativity in the middle and his jinking run into the box, where he may have won a pen, has been all too absent so far.

 

Oba showed once again that he's such a confidence player, one bad miss early on and he had a stinker. I wish he could lift his head at times, its inconceivable that Owen would have missed the target from such a position.

[Guest alex]

Viduka is injured.

[NSG]

Was going to make a seperate thread for this, but instead i'll just stick it in here- where the hell was Viduka?! I dont think anyone will doubt his ability but since Boro he's not played two consecutive games. Its no good if he's unable to play more than once a fortnight.

 

I thought defensively we did much better yesterday with Cacapa and Faye looking strong at the back although to be fair they didnt have a great attacking threat to deal with. Beye and Enrique were steady and to habve Rozehnal and Taylor on the bench shows we have a bit of strength in depth.

 

Even though we reverted to 4-4-2 we still did not stretch the play once and looked very narrow, both the Zog and Milner had fairly anonymous games. The introduction of Emre showed what we have been desperately lacking this season, some drive and creativity in the middle and his jinking run into the box, where he may have won a pen, has been all too absent so far.

 

Oba showed once again that he's such a confidence player, one bad miss early on and he had a stinker. I wish he could lift his head at times, its inconceivable that Owen would have missed the target from such a position.

 

Calf strain, back for Spurs.

[Cronky]

Without getting into the ongoing debate about Oba, I was impressed with what I saw of Owen. He's come back slower since his injury, but his technique on the ball and his link up play really has improved. At one point, he sprayed out a 40 yard long pass to the left wing into Enrique's path, and the weight on the ball was perfect. It was the kind of ball that Owen never even attempted three years ago, let alone brought off.

[Menace]

Did Emre kiss the badge btw?

[NG32]

Did Emre kiss the badge btw?

 

Sort of grabbed his shirt and rubbed his face in it.

 

 

[Keefaz]

Probably the best goal Butt's ever scored, tbh.

[Nobody]

Did Emre kiss the badge btw?

 

Sort of grabbed his shirt and rubbed his face in it.

 

 

Quality celebration, IMO.

[toptoon]

Is Smith suspended for Spurs?

[Nobody]

Is Smith suspended for Spurs?

Yes he is

[NG32]

It was a good celebration  

[STM]

Late but here goes:

 

Given-6 Should have kept there second out.

 

Beye-6.5 Out of positi8on for the goals but made some good tackles and supported the wide players well.

 

Cacapa-9 Outstanding barely put a foot wrong all game and led the back line superbly.

 

Faye-8 Impressive, i didn't realise how good he is on the ground. Drove from the back.

 

Jose Enrique-7 Made a few good crosses, which suggested he is good technically. A couple of sloppy passes but he made up for them, good home debut.

 

Milner-7 Not one of his best days but he gave 100% and never lost possestion.

 

Butt- 7.5 From magnificent to idiotic sometimes. Not the greatest passer of the ball but a good DM performance.

 

Geremi-7 Didn't influence the game massively but work well with Butt.

 

N'Zogbia-7.5 A couple of good runs and worked hard.

 

Smith-8 Held up the ball brilliantly and his best performance yet for us.

 

Martins-7 Should have scored, thats his job. Ironically he looked electrfying sometimes.

 

Subs: Owen 8 Emre 8

[Guest optimistic nit]

Without getting into the ongoing debate about Oba, I was impressed with what I saw of Owen. He's come back slower since his injury, but his technique on the ball and his link up play really has improved. At one point, he sprayed out a 40 yard long pass to the left wing into Enrique's path, and the weight on the ball was perfect. It was the kind of ball that Owen never even attempted three years ago, let alone brought off.

 

 

anyone notice how the only 2 goals he's scored for us this season have been in the last minute before an international break

[Guest optimistic nit]

Probably the best goal Butt's ever scored, tbh.

 

didn't he score some kind of scissor/bicyle kick against brum?

[Guest alex]

Probably the best goal Butt's ever scored, tbh.

 

didn't he score some kind of scissor/bicyle kick against brum?

Away to them about 3 seasons ago.

[Guest optimistic nit]

People keep going on as if we played shit. IMO Everton created fuck all except their first goal, the second being a fluke.

 

On the other hand, we've stuck it in the net three times, Oba's missed a sitter and we've had numerous attempts at goal throughout the match, especially one's in the first 30mins drawing one top class save from Howard.

 

and everton are at least as good as us if not better.

 

 

butt also scored quite a handy goal against spurs last season. not as good but i was still pretty good.

[Guest optimistic nit]

The two worst parts of the game again was the lack of quality in the crosses from Milner and Zoggy and how poor Zoggy looked when he was played wide right in the 2nd half.

 

Both of our Fullbacks played well both going forward and backing up play and in their defensive duties too, Enrique can put in a decent cross also.

A lack of concentration from Zoggy and a massive deflection gave them their two goals, other than that I thought we coped very well with what they had to throw at us. We looked much brighter in midfield they played with more spirit and fight, Smith is much much better through the middle like that rather than outwide.

Emre was class, scored a great goal and put in a quality free-kick for Owens goal, Emre needs to start every game if he stays fit but Sam has to give Martisn and Owen a chance together.

I really hope Martins does not think that booing was aimed at him, it was all about the fact he was being taken off for Owen.

 

it would probably save missunderstandings if we just didn't boo tbh.

[Guest optimistic nit]

faye was very good, cacapa less so, i have been less than impressed with him so far

I'm actually quite embarrassed for you.

 

 

nice. you could always not cut my post off there and leave it to go on to the bit where i say he's our best defender but whatever. there's no need to be so fucking rude unlike wullie for instance.

[Dragon55544]

I think its quite refreshing that a few times this season we have gone 1 ahead then dragged back to 1-1 but then gone on to win, A few times last season our heads dropped and we went on to lose the game.

 

Tbf we aint creating much but we have managed 13 goals in 8 games which aint to bad concidering the likes of Manu and Chelsea have scored less.

[Guest NUFC4]

she's a witch i tell you! BURN HER!!!!

[S.S.R.]

Anyone see the Chronicle's player ratings?

 

Martins got a 5. What has Alan Oliver got against him?

[Guest BooBoo]

Anyone see the Chronicle's player ratings?

 

Martins got a 5. What has Alan Oliver got against him?

 

Thats not really relevant as a) Martins was poor yesterday and b) Lee Ryder wrote the match report.

[Guest newcastle4life]

Good win was quite impressed with the defence Faye and Cacapa Beye and Enrique were decent could be good signings. Hope emre starts next game if he plays to his potential he can be  quality the team need in that position and with Barton soon back could make a difference.