Good Signs?
Well we come away from a local derby at home against the Smogs with only a 1-1 draw. Perhaps both teams can say they should have won it?
BUT I have to say as Newcastle fan feel a bit hard done by and the press/media jumping on the oh its poor for KK.
Newcastle should have been 1-0 up early on through a wrongly chalked off goal from Michael Owen after pudding Schwarzer dropped the ball at Owens feet. Mike Dean who I thought along with his officials had a poor game with some bizarre decisions at times, appeared to claim Owen had commited a foul? Dunno what he thinks is a beating then?
That would have probably meant a different game completely as the first half turned into a no show from both teams.
Newcastle though rode their luck a little early second half but showed good signs down the left side with Duff becoming more active with Zogbia.
It paid off when Zogbia was fouled out wide for Emre to whip the ball in for Owen to pinch a poachers goal for the first time in the Premier League since October.
The relief on the players could be seen. We then went on to create further chances. Duff had a goal ruled out for offside which I am yet to see again but it must have been tight.
It still at that stage should have been 2-0 but because it was 1-0 we found ourselves under pressure trying to get to full time and the pressure counted when Boro had got a goal through Huth which should have been ruled out for 2 offside players… TYPICAL!
Boro then had another freekick in injury time in which Downing hit the woodwork and the rebound was put in by Arsenal reject Alliadiere to realise he was offside.
It wasn’t without chances for us to nick it. Viduka most notably taking a 2nd touch when a first time shot would have likely meant all 3 points still going to the black and whites.
A game the media will jump on wherever possible but good signs for the fans who actually got a little bit to cheer about in the 2nd half at times as we conjured up some attacking chances.
A special mention to players Owen who lead the line with a battling display all over the pitch, Zogbia once again getting forward and giving young a torrid time, Cacapa who bar one or two edgy moments put in some good last ditch tackles and it perhaps settling a little bit more now and Barton surprisingly having possibly his best match in a black in white. He was relatively quiet and head down working but put in some good balls going forward and showed some good ideas if sometimes other team mates were not on same wavelength.
We now have a tough set of matches to try and scrap something out of in the coming weeks against Villa, Man U, Blackburn and Liverpool. We really do need to get some points on the board.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
You’re right, it’s going to be a tough few weeks but if we can play to the best of our abilities we’ll scrape together a few points and won’t go down. Pity we didn’t win yesterday, we had plenty of chances (plus a perfectly good first goal) but then again we could have lost it at the death. I’ll be happy to see Faye and Beye back, although Carr has actually looked back to his best days at Tottenham all those years ago under Keegan bizarrely! I’d still pick Beye but it’s good to know Keegan can motivate any player to produce their best…
As for Butt, we need to replace him in the summer, he gets caught in possession too much at the moment, is getting slower and isn’t one for the future. I think Smith did well up front and Emre had a few really positive moments, particularly in the first half (I think he’s lacking fitness so an out of steam later but that’ll come), he’s obviously enjoying playing for Keegan too. Taylor was good too, make a few big blocks - we really, really need to give that lad a long, long contract…
February 4th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Hmmm, it sounds like we’re buying up some great young players left right and centre, often without it even being reported widely… Great to see, hopefully it’ll start paying dividends in 2-3 years! Either way, with Krul in there as well we won’t be short of a decent replacement when Given finishes…
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3108060,00.html
February 4th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Yeah great news snapping up these youngsters and good to see we considering future goalkeeping position as Given certainly isnt looking great ever since his injury at West Ham last season. Certain times he seems to not even react but just ball watch. Wondering whether it could possibly be he doesnt feel confident in his injury recovery. Just hasnt looked right for a while.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Yeah, did notice he really didn’t seem to move for that goal, could have maybe got a hand to it if he’d been on his toes… Still, if he needs to be replaced Keegan will definitely do it, plus he’s still a pretty top shot stopper even if he’s not at his very best these days