Newcastle 4-4 Arsenal - Saturday 5th February K/O - 3:00pm

[Happy Face 29]

The name and avatar you have chosen are to do with wearside the area and a man who lives there.

 

Unfortunately i do not live there so quite frankly the effort has failed.

 

unlucky.

 

Shame I can see your IP address, eh?

 

Besides you're evidently a Mackem and a pathetic one at that so it suits you down to the ground

 

I am Jack. I see you are still having no luck catching me.

FYP

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Biased yet at times rational Arsenal blog post.

 

http://gunnerblog.com/?p=2738

 

When Cheick Tiote volleyed home Newcastle’s fourth goal and equaliser, I promised myself I would take 24 hours off from football. 24 hours to recover from the sickening churning in my stomach, provoked by yet another Arsenal collapse.

 

But, as the existence of this post demonstrates, I can’t. I’ve got too many gripes to air. So, here we go.

 

Arsene’s post-match comments were relatively tame. The reason for that is he doesn’t want to make today feel any more damaging than it already does. If he comes out fuming and spitting, the press will be able to say that he and his team have “lost it”.

 

If the “it” in question were the Premier League title, they might just be right. Champions do not lose a four goal lead, however circumstances conspire against them.

 

I understand and agree that the referee was appalling. On twitter, I jokingly suggested that we finally know what Newcastle spent the £35m they received for Andy Carroll on: Phil Dowd. On the subject of bribery, it’s also likely that Cesc’s altercation with the officials in midweek had a part to play - referee’s are known to round on those teams who question their integrity.

 

Dowd’s list of offences includes ignoring the Joey Barton ‘tackle’ that prompted Abou Diaby’s reaction and sending off, failure to punish Kevin Nolan for grabbing Wojciech Szczesny by the neck, two dubious penalty awards, and the disallowing of a seemingly good goal by Robin van Persie. His decisions were infuriating and often inexplicable. I sincerely hope his performance is reviewed by the powers that be. I sincerely doubt that it will be.

 

However.

 

Dowd also denied Leon Best a perfectly good goal. He was also correct to dismiss Diaby. And he only contributed directly to two of Newcastle’s four goals. As much as it hurts, we simply have to look at ourselves. Again.

 

The fury at the referee is palpable. And understandable. But Dowd was not the referee when we threw away the lead against Wigan. This happens to us far too consistently to put it down to him alone. Arsenal simply did not do enough in the second half. We were unprofessional.

 

At half-time, Gooners were rightly crowing about a seemingly insurmountable four goal lead. We were clinical going forward, and Newcastle were dreadful at the back. It was easy.

 

The terrible, unforgivable truth of it is that Newcastle got back in to it as easily as we had seemingly put them out of sight.

 

There were warning signs in that first-half. Despite our dominance, Laurent Koscielny had to show concentration and awareness to keep Newcastle at bay. We completely failed to heed that warning, and our start to the second half was almost as awful as our opening to the game had been blistering.

 

Ill-fortune contributed. Losing Johan Djourou to injury was a real blow. There’s no word yet on how serious his injury is - but to be honest, at 4-0 up withdrawing him could well have been merely a precautionary move. Still, it meant the introduction of Sebastien Squillaci, who is looking increasingly like the natural successor to Mikael Silvestre. Worrying indeed.

 

The second incident that sparked our downfall was the sending off of Abou Diaby. Let’s go through it, shall we? It started with a horrible, dangerous lunge by Joey Barton. The tackle alone was probably worth at least a booking - albeit one that never came.

 

Diaby jumped up, grabbed Barton by the neck, and shoved him, before pushing the encroaching Kevin Nolan for good measure. He lost the plot. The referee, in my opinion, had no choice but to show him the red card.

 

It’s easy to see what contributed to the red mist descending over Diaby. After the injuries he has suffered in his career at the hands of ‘footballers’ like Dan Smith and Paul Robinson, he is understandably sensitive to poor challenges.

 

However, he is a also professional footballer. He is now 24 years old. He will encounter many more bad challenges in his career - some malicious, some mistimed. If he is psychologically unable to cope with being on the receiving end of those tackles, then that is a problem. A big problem.

 

His actions were thoughtless. Stupid, even. Because Joey Barton got exactly what he wanted. He got Diaby sent off, and brought his team back from the dead, scoring twice in the process. We might think him scum, but Joey Barton probably doesn’t care. The scoreboard certainly doesn’t care. The only way to exact punishment on these thugs is to beat them. At the point Barton leapt in at Diaby, we were 4-0 up. In their home ground. We were humiliating Barton and his team. If Diaby had kept his head he could have helped rub salt in to already gaping wounds.

 

Instead, he lashed out, and was rightly dismissed. With both Alex Song and Denilson unavailable, it left us incredibly vulnerable. What followed had was horribly predictable, especially with the referee so inclined towards the home team.

 

I’m furious with Diaby and Dowd. I don’t want to go through each goal we conceded - suffice to say, two were very soft penalties and another a screamer. But we didn’t do enough to win. A football match lasts ninety minutes, not forty-five.

 

As I write this, it’s too early to say how big an impact on our league position it will have. At half-time, Wolves are currently beating Manchester United by two goals to one.

 

I almost expect United to claw it back, and secure victory from the jaws of defeat.

 

That, after all, is what Champions do. Watch and learn, Arsenal.

 

My next post will be more positive. I promise.

[Ayatollah Hermione 13762]

Imagine if the 5th had rightfully stood? I'm actually gutted we didn't win.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Imagine if the 5th had rightfully stood? I'm actually gutted we didn't win.

 

 

Said this already but just imagine the scenes. It would have to go down as the best NUFC match ever if we'd won it.

 

 

Didn't Shearer say that the game IS his new favourite?

[Guest You FCB Get Out Of Our Club]

What a tool @1979Gooner is.

 

I tell you what it is, Best was painfully bad in the first half, but the second half showed he's got a big heart, he never gives up. Good lad.

[LeazesMag 0]

we were thinking about other comebacks after the game.

 

1. QPR away, 1985, 5-5 when we were leading 4-0 at half time

 

2. Leicester home, 1990?, won 5-4 after being 4-1 down

 

3. Charlton home, Ardiles last home match as manager, lost 4-3 after being 3-0 up at half time

 

Was at all 3 of these games, can't recall any others. Does anybody know any more ?

 

Young lad (16) in the pub after the game (friend of my mates sons mate or something) fucked off and missed all of yesterday. He says he will never do that again.

 

In 46 years, only the Leicester game comes close to that, by virtue of yesterday being a top flight game against a top club challenging for the title.

Edited February 6, 2011 by LeazesMag

[Tooj 17]

 

This was pretty epic.

[Monroe Transfer 0]

Diaby has previous with us, don't forget. Sort of.

 

[The Fish 10674]

Stevie, what's your twitter?

[The Fish 10674]

Came back from the dead loads of times under Sir Bobby. We also famously came back from 3-1 down at home to Leicester, where Shearer got his 15 minute hat-trick.

[Lazarus 0]

[Ketsbaia 0]

The high pitched "fucking hell"

[Monroe Transfer 0]

That's his voice gone then for the next few weeks.

[luckyluke 2]

Just seen the highlights, Nolan was just trying to get the ball back, never a yellow. I can see what has prompted the moaning about Barton's tackle - it was nowhere near as risky but the way his thighs clattered into Diaby's leg reminded me of De Jong plowing through Ben Arfa. Still, the reaction was inexcusable.

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

There's fuck all rational about that Arsenal blog. Let's take a look:

 

"Dowd’s list of offences includes ignoring the Joey Barton ‘tackle’ that prompted Abou Diaby’s reaction and sending off, failure to punish Kevin Nolan for grabbing Wojciech Szczesny by the neck, two dubious penalty awards, and the disallowing of a seemingly good goal by Robin van Persie. His decisions were infuriating and often inexplicable. I sincerely hope his performance is reviewed by the powers that be. I sincerely doubt that it will be."

 

1. Dowd didn't ignore Barton's tackle, he was in full view of it and deemed it to be a clean and legal challenge, which it clearly was.

 

2. He did punish Nolan for his manhandling of Szczescunt, with a yellow card. This was a decision in consistency with his punishment of Diaby who received a red card for two aggressive acts.

 

3. Dowd awarded the first penalty after a clumsy and illegal challenge on Best in the box. The linesman awarded the second after Rosicky's push on Williamson, therefore blaming Dowd for this decision is completely irrational.

 

4. Robin Van Persie was offside when he scored his goal, which was subsequently disallowed; again, a good decision by the officials.

 

 

Dowd's decisions were consistent and easily explained when one understands the rules of football, the game the two teams were playing yesterday. If Dowd's performance is reviewed, the conclusion will be that he had a good match and was consistent in his officiating. The officials did make some poor errors, such as disallowing Best's onside goal, however NUFC as a club towers over the likes of Arsenal when it comes to conducting one's self in a dignified manner. That is why you will not hear us wallowing in self-pity after suffering a poor decision which would have otherwise meant victory - again I refer to Best's disallowed goal. That is why our team can claw a result from the most difficult of circumstances, such as being 4-0 down at half-time to a side challenging for the league title (albeit failing in that challenge, as they have now for several years): they display a good competitive attitude in keeping with the spirit of the game and get on with it. Joey Barton was the epitome of this yesterday and a credit to the sport. The same cannot be said of Arsenal and this is why they will not win the league this season: they are losers at heart.

Edited February 6, 2011 by Kevin S. Assilleekunt

[Barney 0]

Watching it again here. Simpson played very well. Commentator is a mong, said that the ref got the disallowed Best goal correct.

 

Smashing technique from Nolan late on for his strike. Very unlucky.

[Barney 0]

A couple of other things :

 

Tiote and his range of passing are amazing. He drags us from a bottom 4 team to a top half team.

 

Ricky had a superb 2nd half after a dodgy 1st.

 

Jonas crossing/passing were very good all game.

[Toon_Man 0]

Who the hell is Ricky?

[Christmas Tree 4676]

Just woke up and still haven't seen the game. Praying the full match has now downloaded.

 

Still grinning and still bemused how your feelings for nufc can go from zero to hero in 24 hours.

 

Only ever at Newcastle.

[LeazesMag 0]

There's fuck all rational about that Arsenal blog. Let's take a look:

 

"Dowd’s list of offences includes ignoring the Joey Barton ‘tackle’ that prompted Abou Diaby’s reaction and sending off, failure to punish Kevin Nolan for grabbing Wojciech Szczesny by the neck, two dubious penalty awards, and the disallowing of a seemingly good goal by Robin van Persie. His decisions were infuriating and often inexplicable. I sincerely hope his performance is reviewed by the powers that be. I sincerely doubt that it will be."

 

1. Dowd didn't ignore Barton's tackle, he was in full view of it and deemed it to be a clean and legal challenge, which it clearly was.

 

2. He did punish Nolan for his manhandling of Szczescunt, with a yellow card. This was a decision in consistency with his punishment of Diaby who received a red card for two aggressive acts.

 

3. Dowd awarded the first penalty after a clumsy and illegal challenge on Best in the box. The linesman awarded the second after Rosicky's push on Williamson, therefore blaming Dowd for this decision is completely irrational.

 

4. Robin Van Persie was offside when he scored his goal, which was subsequently disallowed; again, a good decision by the officials.

 

 

Dowd's decisions were consistent and easily explained when one understands the rules of football, the game the two teams were playing yesterday. If Dowd's performance is reviewed, the conclusion will be that he had a good match and was consistent in his officiating. The officials did make some poor errors, such as disallowing Best's onside goal, however NUFC as a club towers over the likes of Arsenal when it comes to conducting one's self in a dignified manner. That is why you will not hear us wallowing in self-pity after suffering a poor decision which would have otherwise meant victory - again I refer to Best's disallowed goal. That is why our team can claw a result from the most difficult of circumstances, such as being 4-0 down at half-time to a side challenging for the league title (albeit failing in that challenge, as they have now for several years): they display a good competitive attitude in keeping with the spirit of the game and get on with it. Joey Barton was the epitome of this yesterday and a credit to the sport . The same cannot be said of Arsenal and this is why they will not win the league this season: they are losers at heart.

 

exactly.

 

Said to my mate yesterday at half time, "what can Pardew say to them ? 4-0 down, after the week we have had ?"

 

Well, I quite like Pardew, I've said this before, I think he is well capable of putting a good team together with the right backing [meaning he won't here under Ashley before someone quotes this in future when he is sacked for not succeeding], but at half time yesterday, he must have really did his stuff. Probably assisted by the 2 leaders on the pitch, Nolan and Barton, whatever they did had a profound effect, even though it took the sending off to give us a helping hand. I hope after yesterday people can see that he deserves a break, it isn't his fault he took over from someone who was popular.

 

I think Best too played with a lot of spirit yesterday, credit to the lad.

 

We also think Ranger needs some goals, he is only 19, but there is something about him, he is raw, aggressive and quick, it's up to him to show the right attitude and learn.

[Barney 0]

I think it was a half time bollocking. Fair play to him anyway.

 

Also, watching it again, Best looks like he's got a bad tear. He doesn't come off as a precaution, looks like there might be some bad damage.

[LeazesMag 0]

I think it was a half time bollocking. Fair play to him anyway.

 

Also, watching it again, Best looks like he's got a bad tear. He doesn't come off as a precaution, looks like there might be some bad damage.

 

who knows. As for Mike Williamson, some people quite liked him at first [because they don't like Steven Taylor ?] but he now is looking like a rabbit caught in headlights sometimes.

[Barney 0]

I think it was a half time bollocking. Fair play to him anyway.

 

Also, watching it again, Best looks like he's got a bad tear. He doesn't come off as a precaution, looks like there might be some bad damage.

 

who knows. As for Mike Williamson, some people quite liked him at first [because they don't like Steven Taylor ?] but he now is looking like a rabbit caught in headlights sometimes.

 

I think Pardew breifly mentioned it in one of the post match interviews.

 

Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew branded his players a "disgrace" - for their first-half showing - after yesterday's amazing 4-4 draw with Arsenal.

 

Pardew admitted Andy Carroll's sale to Liverpool did have an influence on their shoddy first 45.

 

Pardew said: "You must be kidding. Yes.

 

"That was part of what I said at half-time: 'If you are going to feel sorry for yourself, if you are going to think, okay, it's been a tough week, lost at Fulham, lost a really good young player and take that out into that kind of arena, then you are going to be embarrassed', and they were embarrassed.

 

"They were a disgrace in some things that we did. The second half, though, more than made up for it.

 

"It's one of the most remarkable games I have ever been involved in in my life - and I am talking about Sunday mornings as well, 7-7s, I have had, everything."

[LeazesMag 0]

I think it was a half time bollocking. Fair play to him anyway.

 

Also, watching it again, Best looks like he's got a bad tear. He doesn't come off as a precaution, looks like there might be some bad damage.

 

who knows. As for Mike Williamson, some people quite liked him at first [because they don't like Steven Taylor ?] but he now is looking like a rabbit caught in headlights sometimes.

 

I think Pardew breifly mentioned it in one of the post match interviews.

 

Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew branded his players a "disgrace" - for their first-half showing - after yesterday's amazing 4-4 draw with Arsenal.

 

Pardew admitted Andy Carroll's sale to Liverpool did have an influence on their shoddy first 45.

 

Pardew said: "You must be kidding. Yes.

 

"That was part of what I said at half-time: 'If you are going to feel sorry for yourself, if you are going to think, okay, it's been a tough week, lost at Fulham, lost a really good young player and take that out into that kind of arena, then you are going to be embarrassed', and they were embarrassed.

 

"They were a disgrace in some things that we did. The second half, though, more than made up for it.

 

"It's one of the most remarkable games I have ever been involved in in my life - and I am talking about Sunday mornings as well, 7-7s, I have had, everything."

 

OK mate. Haven't watched any highlights or anything yet.

[trophyshy 7066]

I think it was a half time bollocking. Fair play to him anyway.

 

Also, watching it again, Best looks like he's got a bad tear. He doesn't come off as a precaution, looks like there might be some bad damage.

 

who knows. As for Mike Williamson, some people quite liked him at first [because they don't like Steven Taylor ?] but he now is looking like a rabbit caught in headlights sometimes.

 

Hamstring, withdrawn from the Ireland squad. http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20110206/be..._medium=twitter