Newcastle v Arsenal Sat 13th August Kick Off 5.30pm

[Kid Dynamite 7025]

Cabaye needs to be our new set piece taker btw, joey was woeful with his corners.

[Gemmill 44853]

Cabaye needs to be our new set piece taker btw, joey was woeful with his corners.

 

Just like that? I'm confident he hasn't forgotten how to take a corner for good.

[Kid Dynamite 7025]

No room for sentiment. Cabaye took them for Lyon didn't he?

 

One of the most frustrating things in football is watching a professional consistently hit the first man

[wykikitoon 20129]

Its the first game of the season FFS, if it was as bad as it was today after 6 games, then change.

[Kid Dynamite 7025]

We've played 5pre season games and it got changed at Leeds. Joey spat his dummy out and rapey backed down

[McFaul 35]

No room for sentiment. Cabaye took them for Lyon didn't he?

 

One of the most frustrating things in football is watching a professional consistently hit the first man

He'd have a hard job considering hes never played for Lyon.

[ToonMarshy 2]

Posted in they 'style thread' but i'll dump here for relevancy, I really rated what i saw of Obertan yesterday, I knew he had a bit of pace on him etc - but didn't realize just HOW fast he was.

 

There was one point where a dead ball went over to their corner flag with the defender jogging after it, Obertan Lashed it from the half way line , beat the defender, nicked the ball, kept it in and passed it off. Was probably the biggest roar from the crowd in the entire match! Had a lovely little flick pass in their area to Cabaye as well!

 

Cabaye showed flashes of what i saw at the leeds match, lots of committing tackles, lots of ground covered, but just looked a little out of it yesterday tbh. Hopefully with a couple more games he'll get used to PL play but i liked what i saw, bar a couple of misplaced passes.

 

Barton was great for maintaining the ball but christ he gave away more daft passes than anyone else yesterday, and his free kicks/corners were very under par. Again, hopefully something that will warm up as we go on.

 

Defence was outstanding though, Simmo stood off a bit too much (as usual) but Coloccinni and Staylor looked more solid than i've ever seen, had an answer for EVERY Arsenal attack - That being said, if they'd not decided to take too many touches in the area and actually pulled the trigger a few times, they would have probably scraped a goal, which highlights our main issue for this season.

 

Ba STILL looked rusty as fuck, where the hell are our goals coming from :/

[The Fish 10856]

For me, we just looked like we haven't had a decent pre-season preparation.

 

Don't think we'll really see where we are until after 3 or 4 games, the derby won't reflect our actual quality (or lack thereof)

[Kitman 2204]

No room for sentiment. Cabaye took them for Lyon didn't he?

 

One of the most frustrating things in football is watching a professional consistently hit the first man

He'd have a hard job considering hes never played for Lyon.

 

That's my fault. I said Lyon above when I meant Lille. Or some French team beginning with L

[manc-mag 1]

...

 

1 shot on target for the whole game.. 5 off target.. and we were at home..

 

So is the master plan to draw every game? We're screwed if we go 1 down..

 

are you serious? we were playing arsenal, that side that have been in the top 4 for how many years running? who play in the CL every season, who play their kids in the CC and still do well in it. luxuries we can hardly boast.

 

a 0-0 draw v them is a good result, we defend like that against lesser attacks while playing against lesser defences and we'll be just fine this season.

 

They could (and should) have scored a couple. They basically gave us the chance to defend by constantly taking the extra touch. Not that I'm complaining - we can usually find a way to ship a goal even when the opposition aren't pressing. 0-0 was a great result.

 

They played five in midfield so dominated the game, but never look like scoring.

 

That's because they didn't shoot. If they shot on occasion (rather than kept passing ad infinitum) they would have had significantly more chance of scoring. We defended well but only in the context of an opponent which kept looking to take up a shooting position from no further than 6 yards out-you get infinitely more chances to intercept when that happens.

[hostile_statue 0]

Colo was massive. If we lose him it'll be worse than losing any other player, simply beacuse it will be damn hard to replace him. Good CB's don't grow on trees and they often need at least one season to adapt; remember Colo being shite his first season with us.

Edited August 14, 2011 by hostile_statue

[Jusoda Kid 1]

That's an incredible head on that poor lad, fuck me i've seen nowt like that before.

 

Your ex's mate, that Christine had a sizeable napper on her.

[Deano 0]

Reading some of the unbelievable drosh spilling out onto some peoples keyboards is shocking really.

 

0-0 at home against a team who have finished top 4 for years and who are pushing for the league this year is a decent result, not bad, not good....decent. A clean sheet too.

 

We defended very well but unfortunatly that was all our game plan contained. We had nothing going forward and that is a slight worry but then again it was the 1st game of the season against tough opposition.

 

Im pretty sure that given 4-5 games we will see a brand of football develope.

 

Colo, S.Taylor and Jonas had good games. Tiote and Cabaye were OK. Will be a beast of a midfield pairing once they get used to each other. Tiote sitting deep and letting Cabaye get forward and create.

 

Obertan and Best looked lively when they came on. Best should be ahead of Shola. Ba looks like he could come good with a bit more service.

 

On the subject of service....there was none. I thinks its going to become a problem who to play on the flanks. Marveaux, Jonas, Obertan and Barton...nice to have options though and when all are fit we will have a pretty strong bench.

 

Team for mackems?

 

---Krul---

Simpson---Taylor---Coloccini---Pieters

Barton---Cabaye---Tiote---Jonas

---Best---Ba---

 

Bench: Forster, R.Taylor, Williamson, Gosling, Marveaux, Obertan and Shola

[StevenL 0]

I can't fucking believe it. He's done that thing with the players again.

 

One of the biggest mongs I've came across on forums. Him, Deadman and Nick. Atleast the latter have excuses for acting that way.

[DEADMAN 0]

i like acting like a total prick here it sets everyone off hehehehe <_< <_< :rolleyes: :happygirl: :happygirl:

[Dr Gloom 21915]

Reading some of the unbelievable drosh spilling out onto some peoples keyboards is shocking really.

 

0-0 at home against a team who have finished top 4 for years and who are pushing for the league this year is a decent result, not bad, not good....decent. A clean sheet too.

 

We defended very well but unfortunatly that was all our game plan contained. We had nothing going forward and that is a slight worry but then again it was the 1st game of the season against tough opposition.

 

Im pretty sure that given 4-5 games we will see a brand of football develope.

 

Colo, S.Taylor and Jonas had good games. Tiote and Cabaye were OK. Will be a beast of a midfield pairing once they get used to each other. Tiote sitting deep and letting Cabaye get forward and create.

 

Obertan and Best looked lively when they came on. Best should be ahead of Shola. Ba looks like he could come good with a bit more service.

 

On the subject of service....there was none. I thinks its going to become a problem who to play on the flanks. Marveaux, Jonas, Obertan and Barton...nice to have options though and when all are fit we will have a pretty strong bench.

 

Team for mackems?

 

---Krul---

Simpson---Taylor---Coloccini---Pieters

Barton---Cabaye---Tiote---Jonas

---Best---Ba---

 

Bench: Forster, R.Taylor, Williamson, Gosling, Marveaux, Obertan and Shola

 

please please please stop. you are becoming a caricature of yourself

[ChezGiven 0]

Leave him alone man.

 

Anyway, how did that lack of fighting spirit concern pan out yesterday?

[Noelie 103]

Team for mackems?

 

---Krul---

Simpson---Taylor---Coloccini---???????

Only signed players.

Barton---Cabaye---Tiote---Obertan

Give him a start.

---Best---Ba---

 

Bench: Forster, R.Taylor, Williamson, Gosling, Jonas and Shola

[Andrew 4748]

if we dont have a proper left back in and raylor plays again then we'd have to be mad no to play jonas, he'll be needed at the back.

[Deano 0]

if we dont have a proper left back in and raylor plays again then we'd have to be mad no to play jonas, he'll be needed at the back.

 

Im pretty sure we will have Pieters for the mackem game like, if not then Jonas would do a job at LB. Marveaux or Obertan just infront of him.

[Tom 14011]

Peiters should be signed early next week.

[Andrew 4748]

if we dont have a proper left back in and raylor plays again then we'd have to be mad no to play jonas, he'll be needed at the back.

 

Im pretty sure we will have Pieters for the mackem game like, if not then Jonas would do a job at LB. Marveaux or Obertan just infront of him.

 

no

[ChezGiven 0]

Anyway, how did that lack of fighting spirit concern pan out yesterday?

?

[Monroe Transfer 0]

That's an incredible head on that poor lad, fuck me i've seen nowt like that before.

 

Your ex's mate, that Christine had a sizeable napper on her.

 

 

Pic?

[David Kelly 1244]

An absolutely painful performance from most of them tbh. I'm not judging anyone on one performance but Ba looked less useful than Shola but that's hardly surprising given that Tiote was poor, Caybye was just passed by and Jonas barely touched the ball.

Obertan looked pretty good but didn't really manage to produce anything. We've seen players with pace come in before and impress initially but then become more and more frustrating when they get no where.

The defence was the obvious plus with Colo pretty much faultless and Saylor getting better and better throughout. I actually even thought Raylor did ok considering he was playing out of position and he's usually shite in his own position.

Overall I was happy with the way they stuck at it which I was worried about our ability to do without Nolan (if we lose Barton however I really do think we will suffer) and if you'd offered me a draw before the game I'd have snapped your hand off. But our attacking play was completely non existant and if this is what we have to look forward to it's going to be a fucking long season. For now though I'll go with the idea that you have to consider the standard of the opposition (even without two of their best players) and the hope that things will improve when the team gels, gets fitter and the imports get used to the league.