Newcastle United 0-0 Portsmouth FC

[Park Life 71]

The truth is that "the situation" we are in, is making alot of players look a lot worse than they are. You could sprinkle three good players into that team and it would look and play much better. (This ofcourse harks back to what KK and everyone with any sense knew in the summer).

 

My point is that its easy to turn on some of our players who would have performed much better under different circumstances.

 

Dont know if that makes sense but hey ho.

I'm more of the view that it's hard to single any players out this season. That's how bad they've been.

 

Bassong is my player of the season.

He's mine too. You take my point though. I said in the bar after the game that for all the stick he's got Butt isn't far off player of the season. Obviously you'd have Bassong ahead of him but there aren't many others ahead of Butt. And Butt's been poor to say the least.

 

I know it's bewildering.

[trophyshy 7083]

The strikers have been made to look worse because of no creativity in midfield.

 

The defensive midfielders have looked bad because they have been trying to be creative.

 

The defense have looked bad because the the defensive midfielders have been trying to be creative rather than defensive.

 

Steve Harper has looked crap because he is crap.

 

Harsh on Harps. He made a couple of decent saves last night.

[ChezGiven 0]

Thought Tim Sherwood was spot on after the match when he said no-one wanted to take responsibility, pick the ball up and try the killer pass.

 

For most of the second half, there were either long balls from the back or tight threaded balls to feet to players marked in advanced positions. As has been noted, the one player taking some responsibility and trying things was Nicky Butt, who doesnt have the ability (thought his break up play was excellent though last night).

 

A note on Owen is that if he is going to play in the 'hole' he needs to look for possession instead of just standing in a less advanced position than the other strikers. The striker in the hole drops deep to pick the ball up, advances the play and then makes runs into the box and even gets beyond the striking partners. His movement in midfield is shit basically, which exacerbated the general midfield problem.

[Nyff 0]

I thought Harps was alright last night. He didn't have a lot to do, but he did the job he needed to do well enough.

[Park Life 71]

Thought Tim Sherwood was spot on after the match when he said no-one wanted to take responsibility, pick the ball up and try the killer pass.

 

For most of the second half, there were either long balls from the back or tight threaded balls to feet to players marked in advanced positions. As has been noted, the one player taking some responsibility and trying things was Nicky Butt, who doesnt have the ability (thought his break up play was excellent though last night).

 

A note on Owen is that if he is going to play in the 'hole' he needs to look for possession instead of just standing in a less advanced position than the other strikers. The striker in the hole drops deep to pick the ball up, advances the play and then makes runs into the box and even gets beyond the striking partners. His movement in midfield is shit basically, which exacerbated the general midfield problem.

 

Agree with the Owen analysis.

 

Traditionally the ghost striker needs pace and movenent see Zola.

[Guest alex]

Should have caught about 3 of the ones he tipped over the bar though.

[Guest alex]

Thought Tim Sherwood was spot on after the match when he said no-one wanted to take responsibility, pick the ball up and try the killer pass.

 

For most of the second half, there were either long balls from the back or tight threaded balls to feet to players marked in advanced positions. As has been noted, the one player taking some responsibility and trying things was Nicky Butt, who doesnt have the ability (thought his break up play was excellent though last night).

 

A note on Owen is that if he is going to play in the 'hole' he needs to look for possession instead of just standing in a less advanced position than the other strikers. The striker in the hole drops deep to pick the ball up, advances the play and then makes runs into the box and even gets beyond the striking partners. His movement in midfield is shit basically, which exacerbated the general midfield problem.

 

Agree with the Owen analysis.

 

Traditionally the ghost striker needs pace and movenent see Zola.

Doesn't need pace imo, but needs a footballing brain / vision superior to Owen's. And movement obviously. I know Owen still makes good runs in advanced positions (even if his lack of pace makes it harder to pick him out) but that's different to the movement needed for the player in the 'hole'.

[foreverer 0]

The bloke before the game with a mic was embarassing.

we need to learn from this

[Guest alex]

The bloke before the game with a mic was embarassing.

Cringeworthy wasn't he? At half-time as well when they were running out for the second half. Tbf, I think he was mortal by that point.

[maggiespaws 0]

I'd have to agree with a lot of the stuff said so far. One of my biggest frustrations was Oba. It seemed every time we made a move and broke, when the ball reached him he'd turn around back to goal or try and run past 4 players across the pitch rather than play the ball forward. Especially as the likes of Duff had run forward expecting the flick on. No awareness from him at all.

 

Losing Enrique was a big blow for us too. For all some of his passing was astray - he and Duff were causing problems down the left. He'd just come back and was obviously rusty, but there was plenty of effort there and I thought at some point one of them would come off. Pushing Duff to LB back meant we lost a lot of our impetus.

 

We had a number of chances and taking a positive note - we created more chances in that game than we have in the last 6+ games imo. That in itself is an achievement. I honestly thought whilst watching the game, "at least we are creating, one of them will go in eventually". Might be a case of too little, too late now though

 

I still refuse to believe we are down, but jesus it's not looking good.....

 

We had 70% possesion in the first 25 min, we lost our chance to win it by not scoring during this period imo.

 

Totally agree. It's no coincidence that this spell was whilst Enrique was on the pitch and making those overlapping runs with Duff. Duff was much improved last night I thought. I hope Enrique just tweaked it and it's just sore because we need him back. Him and Duff on the left look like they could work.

[Park Life 71]

I'd have to agree with a lot of the stuff said so far. One of my biggest frustrations was Oba. It seemed every time we made a move and broke, when the ball reached him he'd turn around back to goal or try and run past 4 players across the pitch rather than play the ball forward. Especially as the likes of Duff had run forward expecting the flick on. No awareness from him at all.

 

Losing Enrique was a big blow for us too. For all some of his passing was astray - he and Duff were causing problems down the left. He'd just come back and was obviously rusty, but there was plenty of effort there and I thought at some point one of them would come off. Pushing Duff to LB back meant we lost a lot of our impetus.

 

We had a number of chances and taking a positive note - we created more chances in that game than we have in the last 6+ games imo. That in itself is an achievement. I honestly thought whilst watching the game, "at least we are creating, one of them will go in eventually". Might be a case of too little, too late now though

 

I still refuse to believe we are down, but jesus it's not looking good.....

 

We had 70% possesion in the first 25 min, we lost our chance to win it by not scoring during this period imo.

 

Totally agree. It's no coincidence that this spell was whilst Enrique was on the pitch and making those overlapping runs with Duff. Duff was much improved last night I thought. I hope Enrique just tweaked it and it's just sore because we need him back. Him and Duff on the left look like they could work.

 

Yup.

[Asprilla 96]

we're gone now. can't see us getting the 9 points or 10 points we to survive need now from the next few fixtures. last night was last chance saloon and we bottled it.

Have a word. Do you honestly think the teams around us are going to win all their games too?

[Andrew 4783]

we're gone now. can't see us getting the 9 points or 10 points we to survive need now from the next few fixtures. last night was last chance saloon and we bottled it.

Have a word. Do you honestly think the teams around us are going to win all their games too?

 

where are people getting this 9 or 10 point line from? do they honestly expect hull or sunderland(it only need to be one of them) to get 6 or 7 now?

 

I honestly think 35 or 37 points with our goal diff will be enough and I think we're capable of it

[Asprilla 96]

The truth is that "the situation" we are in, is making alot of players look a lot worse than they are. You could sprinkle three good players into that team and it would look and play much better. (This ofcourse harks back to what KK and everyone with any sense knew in the summer).

 

My point is that its easy to turn on some of our players who would have performed much better under different circumstances.

 

Dont know if that makes sense but hey ho.

I agree with that.

[The Fish 10900]

the "9 or 10" points thing is just a line people used to signify what would get us to safety with the minimal amount of stress and hair loss. As long as we finish 17th we're safe, regardless of points and goals. The trouble is that if we accumulate 9 points it's in our hands and we needn't fret over the results of the other teams. Now every weekend is going to be a distasteful sandwich of hurried mathematics and swearing.

[Ketsbaia 0]

I'm certain six would be enough, I just don't know where they're coming from.

[Fop 1]

the "9 or 10" points thing is just a line people used to signify what would get us to safety with the minimal amount of stress and hair loss. As long as we finish 17th we're safe, regardless of points and goals. The trouble is that if we accumulate 9 points it's in our hands and we needn't fret over the results of the other teams. Now every weekend is going to be a distasteful sandwich of hurried mathematics and swearing.

 

For the last couple of seasons when the inevitable relegation thread appeared, I've always been able to see where we'd get plenty of points to get us clear.

 

I'm really struggling to see where we're going to get more than 2 points from the remaining games at the moment (more "we could of/should of won" matches just don't help).

 

Hopefully I'm completely wrong, but it seem to me we've going to be struggling to have the chance of our fate in being anybody else's hands at the moment.

[Happy Face 29]

No music at full time?

 

Hang the DJ.

[Dr Gloom 22020]

6 points might be enough but we'll be relying on other teams' doing us a favour on the last day of the season.

 

9 points will almost certainly secure our survival.

 

the problem is that after last night's no-show, i can't see us winning any of our remaining fixtures except perhaps boro.

 

my most optimistic forecast for our remaimg games would be: lose to liverpool, beat boro and draws to fulham and villa. that would put us on 35 points, almost certain to be too few to survive.

 

west ham went down on 41 points a few season ago

[Asprilla 96]

6 points might be enough but we'll be relying on other teams' doing us a favour on the last day of the season.

 

9 points will almost certainly secure our survival.

 

the problem is that after last night's no-show, i can't see us winning any of our remaining fixtures except perhaps boro.

 

my most optimistic forecast for our remaimg games would be: lose to liverpool, beat boro and draws to fulham and villa. that would put us on 35 points, almost certain to be too few to survive.

 

west ham went down on 41 points a few season ago

 

That's because the team above them had 41 points and a better goal difference... It's irrelevant how many points you get numerically it only matters that you have more than three other sides.

[sammynb 3375]

Should have caught about 3 of the ones he tipped over the bar though.

 

I'd rather he tipped them over the bar than be like Gomez and push them into the back of the net or at the striker's feet

Edited April 28, 2009 by sammynb

[Matty 0]

Should have caught about 3 of the ones he tipped over the bar though.

 

I'd rather he tipped them over the bar than be like Gomez and push them into the back of the net or at the striker's feet

 

 

Just like he did at Tottenham last week?