The grim reality after all the hype and euphoria

Posted by: Clarky · April 4, 2009

Well, after all the hype and euphoria the grim reality settled back in this afternoon. In many respects this was very similar to the recent games v ManU and Arsenal – once again we competed really well for an hour before conceding a soft goal that knocked the stuffing, and the fight, out of the team.

Having said that we competed for an hour, the stark reality is that yet again we created virtually nothing, with Petr Cech being virtually unemployed. We did have one chance cleared off the line in the 2nd half – I think from Owen – and there are suggestions the ball was over the line. I guess that’s the way it goes when you’re down at the bottom.

The decisive goal that totally changed the game was once again the result of pure comedy defending, with Coloccini yet again culpable. Hopefully, Shearer will dump this clown as soon as he has two alternative CB choices.

Although we did creditably for an hour, tbh I’m struggling to think of one player who actually played well for us. Habib Beye did quite well defensively, although he was involved in several early mix ups caused by poor communication between our players. Nicky Butt had a reasonable game, despite his usual quota of shocking distribution. Michael Owen worked his socks off between m/f and up front, but in truth with little impact.

On the negative side, Enrique was back to being infuriatingly inconsistent, Duff – a 1st half substitute for Lovenkrands – was hopeless, as was Martins, and even Jonas was a disappointment. Nolan and Ryan Taylor worked hard for the cause, but the bald truth I’m afraid is that they simply have not improved the team. For completeness, Harper made a couple of good saves, but once again his kicking was generally poor.

Worryingly, Lovenkrands left the field on a stretcher connected to an oxygen cylinder. It looked like a rib injury, and he seemed to be struggling to get his breath. Hopefully, it isn’t as bad as it looked.

Perhaps the expected anti-climax to a few days that have provided some temporary hope. However, we were playing a very decent Chelsea team today, and we now need the players to dig deep against the lesser teams. It’s not looking good.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Alan Shearer, Game Review, Newcastle United. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed, or trackback from your own site.

Comments

One Response to “The grim reality after all the hype and euphoria”

  1. IvolandNo Gravatar on April 19th, 2009 6:40 am

    I want to say couple things.
    First – i like Newcastle..
    Second i am west ham supporter
    Third – i don’t want to Newcastle be relegated
    i am very happy that Shearer become new manager , because his football knowledge is far more better that manager before .
    i cannot understand why newcastle, who has so many great players, like owen, obi (superb class) are standing in such a position in table
    it must to be manager.

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