Newcastle were beaten by Reading 2-1 at the Madejski stadium this afternoon and the home side thoroughly deserved their win and it could, and probably should have been by a bigger margin. This was because Reading missed multiple chances, and certainly not because Newcastle defended well. They didn’t.
In fact the Newcastle defending was abysmal again - just when we thought our defense was improving they remind us again they are still hopeless - it really was that bad. And we are not going to pull any punches on this performance.
Reading created enough chances in the first half to have been comfortably ahead but the break came with the teams level at 0-0. However, after just 8 minutes into the second half Reading finally went ahead when Kitson hit a beautiful left foot shot high over Given into his left hand corner, giving the Irishman no chance.
Allardyce then tried to change the game and brought on Smith for Martins and N’Zogbia for Butt after 58 minutes, and Newcastle started to come back into the game. Milner was brought on for Faye, who had been given a yellow card and then James did really well on the right hand corner to win a free kick after 74 minutes.
Emre took the resulting free kick and curved the ball beautifully into the goal. Michael Duberry then amazingly chested the ball into his own net. After being outplayed for most of the game Newcastle found themselves all square with just 15 minutes to go. This in itself was amazing.
Newcastle had somehow put themselves into a position to even steal all 3 points and at least get a draw - which they hadn’t deserved. But then some absolutely disgraceful defending gave a goal away. Reading brought on Shane Long with just 8 minutes to go and within 30 seconds of being on he had put Reading ahead.
A high ball was played into the Newcastle penalty area and amazingly it wasn’t cleared with several Newcastle players attempting to play the ball. Shane Long, with his first kick of the game, put the ball past Given. It was a terrible goal to give away and can be used in the future as a perfect demonstration of how not to play a high ball into the box. It was that bad.
Manager Sam Allardyce has to be furious with the defending by his team today, because it cost Newcastle the game. With a bit of luck, which away teams often get when the home teams squirms so many chances, Newcastle could have stolen all 3 points. They didn’t deserve any but they were 1-1 with 6 minutes to play and had no reason to be even level.
But this display was as bad as the Derby and Manchester City defeats, and puts the Newcastle defense back into the limelight - and it’s back to the drawing board. Sam will have to change the defense around and David Rozehnal has to be fancied to force his way back into the team for the next game against Portsmouth at St. James’ Park next Saturday. A win then now becomes even more important with our away form being so terrible.
This display has to be disappointing to all those involved with the Newcastle club, since Reading were the better team from the off and outplayed and even out-fought Newcastle. It looked more on the day that Reading were the Sam Allardyce team on the field. Reading of course deserve great credit but Newcastle did nothing to thwart them.
Lack of communication at the back is costing Newcastle too many goals and too many points and it has to be stopped and stopped quickly. With points like these thrown away our defense just has to come together more if Sam is going to take Newcastle into Europe next year. A TV shot of Sam Allardyce just before the end told it all - as Sam had his hands in his head - and even looked like he could do with a good cry.
Everything Sam has said this week about defending better and not letting our guard down seems to have gone completely unheeded by the defense, who have cost Newcastle goals and points again in this away fixture. This is not good.
On looking at the other results today and trying to find something positive to cheer us up, we’ll just mention that Manchester City were hammered 6-0 at Chelsea. They may have worse problems in defense than even Newcastle. There - we feel better about things now.
There is one good thing to finally end on though - it cannot get much worse than this- before it just has to get better.
Reading (4-4-2): Hahnemann; Murty (c), Shorey, Duberry, Sonko; Gunnarsson, Harper, Doyle, Hunt; Kitsonm Lita
Subs: Federici, Ingimarsson, Rosenior, Convey, Long
Newcastle (4-4-2): Given, Beye, Enrique, Cacapa, Faye; Barton, Butt, Geremi (c) Emre; Martins, Owen
Subs: Harper, Rozehnal, Milner, N’Zogbia, Smith
Ref: P Dowd
Attendance: 24,119
Comments welcome.
Loading ...
71 responses so far ↓
1 AlexW // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:22
i think i would rather be a mackem
2 AlexW // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:22
wait, thats a bit silly really :P, but seriously shocking today newcastle
3 wsq // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:24
What’s wrong with the attitude and mentality of the players we have! What’s wrong with going away? Play simple football without losing shape.
4 wsq // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:26
HOWAY THE LADS! right…. AWAY THE LADS! more like…
5 wsq // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:27
Bring back Steven Taylor. Cacapa is just another boumsong. Get 4 in midfield with two wingers! C’mon!
6 wsq // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:29
Cacapa is making stupid mistakes, we will lose more games, mark my words, you’ll see it when we play against teams with better strikers drogba. Lita had a stroll in the park!
7 wsq // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:30
how are you suppose to break down the opponents with 4 CM in midfield!! how tell me how!!might as well put beye and enrique as wingers and barton and geremi in lb and rb!
8 wsq // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:31
im so sick of this frustrating football. when we have the players to play normally we choose not to. When we had injury problems we did!! arghh so frustrating!
9 wsq // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:32
no wonder shearer says top 8 is good enough.. WTF.. might as well sit back and not watch them! we are going for 8th anyways!!!!
10 wsq // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:33
who has reading got!! huh!! this sucks losing to players with no skilll with no talent.! spurs has more talent than reading! wtf!!!
11 Sinead // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:35
There was no shape and like Reading fully deserved the win. They would have felt completley cheated if they hadn’t won. Cacapa can be good at time but he’s a liablitly, the miscomunication between Given and him in the match kinda summed it up. Given could scream at him for an hour and he still wouldn’t get it, cause of the language barrier, most be so infuriating for both I suppose.
The defense was horrible, Given had no chance for either of the goals, he’d a decent enough game other then that, I think he’s the only one I can say about that. Defend like that and Doyle, Lita, Hunt, Long..etc. Will have a walk in the park..sorry did have a walk in the park.
Formation was wrong, attitude was wrong, everything was just bad. There’s the old Newcaslte for ya.
12 valle // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:36
Getting things right will take time, and hopefully most supporters will actually be “supportive” about that (got it?)
13 wsq // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:37
I dont dare imagine what will happen when we visit old trafford, stamford bridge and anfield. Don’t show it live i beg of u. Might as well admit me into an asylum. 6-0 10-0 5-0 respectively. Oh no……..
14 Rich // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:38
Sam made it clear we were going for a 0 - 0 draw !!! How disgraceful is that ??? Would any of the “Big 4″ go to Reading looking for a draw ???
15 wsq // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:40
More like lets get things wrong beforehand. This is not a science experiment. The tactics of winning football has been laid down for centuries. These players have been playing for decades! Still need time to get it right???!!! 4-4-2 and width gets you trophies! and more doubleyous!!! No chances created no goals simple 1+1=2!
16 Sinead // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:43
wsq..
“who has reading got!! huh!! this sucks losing to players with no skilll with no talent.! spurs has more talent than reading! wtf!!!”
That’s kinda unfair isn’t it??
Not only did Reading finish well ahead of Newcastle last season they’ve a lot of talented, young, hard working, honest players. With the likes of Doyle, Hunt, Long, Lita..etc. There’s no massive names in there like but they could say the same about Newcastle. Except who Given fine, but up front, Owen, Martins. They could easily argue that Doyle and such are better.
17 valle // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:44
Wsq… What part of “the best start in 10 years” is that u dont get?… Try to look at things a tad more realistic, rome wasnt build on one day.
18 Southern_Magpie // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:49
wsq it’s getting silly now. We’re all disappointed but if you’re a real toon fan you will learn to get behind the club, even in times like this. Poor performance or not, just be glad Freddy Shepherd has gone and we have a decent manager in charge ffs. Things will take time, we’re still recovering from the turmoil Souness, and to a lesser extent Roeder caused.
19 valle // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:52
Southern_Magpie… Exactly!, we are already in a much lighter position than the dark times of Souness and we’re only getting started.
20 Chappa // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:54
really startin 2 P*SS me off newcastle like!!! GRRRRRR! so inconsistant WTF!
21 apan // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:54
wsq ur being overdramatic chill
for me the first biggest mistake is not playin zogbia or milner on our wings, we have only 2 shots on target if im not mistaken, that shows how poor our attackin is today, and defending i guess there’s stil lack of communication aka language barrier, come on send them to intensive courses or tuiton classes asap! we could not risk losing all our away games! 0 point in 3 away games, thats horrible
22 Ashton // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:55
Deserved win by reading they have a clever manager unlike us we have the stupidest manager in EPL
23 valle // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:58
Apan… We did look much brighter when the wings came on, tho i see it as a complete off day from the whole team, we simply didnt stand up to the physical and pressing play of Reading
24 Todd B // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:59
I was nervous before the game when Sam was more focused on a clean sheet than winning the match. And neither one happened. I only hope they bounce back from a bad result.
25 Sy // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:59
Patience is a virtue and yet again it looks like a virtue Newcastle fans haven’t got! I can believe all the negativaty, this is pretty much a new team, the back 4 have done well in the last coupe of games, not brilliantly but well……. What happens? Everyone starts to hype them up beyond belief and then low and behold, a poor result and we start calling for heads to roll. A top 10 finish this season will be a good result, we need to start taking the rough with the smooth. There will be more bad results over the season, but Im sure there will be more good than bad in the long run. Come on the Toon.
26 callum // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:01
I havent seen the game but it sounds awful i love big sam but you have to wonder were taylor has gone because he was probably our best player last season and now we are playin 2 brand new defenders IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER
27 Ed W // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:03
Haven’t seen any of it but did we really start with 4 central midfielders?? what a joke. Zogs and Milner have been outstanding so far… and we put that midfield out!
28 Alex // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:03
There is definately something wrong in the heads of the newcastle players when we play away games . This was as pathetic as the derby game, at home we look like a team that could gain a CL place, away we look like relagation material.Our defence today looked as bad as last season our midfield was completely outplayed and our strikers never had a chance with no service.The problems away from home need to be resolved quickly or we will finish no higher than last season. For the first time i am begining to doubt big Sam . His tactics are to defensive ,to score goals you need width yet today both Milner and n zogbia were on the bench our only two talented wide players!!Wake up Sam goals win games not clean sheets.
29 Sy // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:07
ZZZZZZ Staggering really no wonder we haven’t won anything for so long. So I suppose if we lose next week it will be ‘Allardyce out’? Sad. Really sad.
30 craig chisholm // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:08
listen to you bunch of moaning, dripping fair weather supporters. we are on our best start in donkeys years and just cos we loose to reading 2-1 you are all calling sam shit and anyone else you can think of. as fans you are classic examples of the newcastle team itself. . we win a few games, find ourselves with 2 points of champ league spot and then wot happens, you lot (along with the players) start thinking we are the dogs bollocks and act all shocked when we get a loss. wake up lads and smell the coffee. we are still a long way away from being a top six contender. you lot want to stop dreaming. you sing sams praises when we beat spurs and within a week want to sack him. you are all a joke and crap as supporters. i guess you are the same lot the boo owen too. go and support the mackems cos you sure aint supporting us.
31 Ross // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:11
alex..im impressed you can use a computer if your brain is telling you turning to the mackems would be a decent idea
ha
but calling BSA an idiot, stupid, shouting about him being sacked, i think thats pretty ridiculous. every manager makes mistakes. i can understand, he got it all wrong today, and we showed nothing. but come on guys, its not like any of us are shocked to have to say that after watching our lads on saturday afternoon, its not the first time something like this has happened!
i agree, i couldnt understand not starting milner and zogs, for me theyre the best option for creating chances we have.
we need to play 4-4-2 away from home. playing at st james, we have shown, with a full strength 11 out we can be very good. i think if we take it away from home, we’d see similar results. rozy needs to get back in the team, and i cant wait for mark viduka to return, owen and martins need someone to play the ball to their feet.
all in all, a disappointing day for the mags, but lets not get ahead of ourselves, reading wanted it,and deserved their win. doesnt mean we need to go for the throat. bar today and derby, we’ve looked good this season. its early days with allardyce and the new squad and things can only get better.
glad we didnt have chelsea today. putting 6 past man city? ouch.
32 Sy // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:13
Couldn’t have put it any better Craig, well said.
33 Tripp // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:14
Sy, couldn’t agree more. Top half finish should be the goal this season. There are far too many new cogs in the machine to expect greatness out of the gate. It’s just not realistic. We’re not a top flight side… yet. It’s going to take time for people at all levels of the team to sort things out. Incessant whinging about results is just a bloody waste of time.
34 Haway man // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:24
Someone made a good point on Century radio tonight that if you’re playing well at home and getting results why change when you play away especially at places like Reading its not exactly Old trafford.
35 briss // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:26
i wouldn’t have mind the defeat today if we played well, if not descent. Everyone on the pitch besides maybe shay and owen played horrible, defenders gave them chances, midfield couldn’t create anything and the limited oppurtunies we did create we couldnt finish! dissapointing to say the least. Nicky Butt was horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i would have been happy with a point after that match
36 carl // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:27
big sams lost the plot, why on earth did he play 4 centre midfielders. sorry big sam but its you who lost us this one
37 briss // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:28
Big Sam is doing well, he’ll correct the problems
38 gordon // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:39
wsq what a knob you are.
39 Darren // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:40
Half of you lot on here a an effing disgrace - call yourselves Newcastle fans, go swivel!
We are not going to win the league
We are not going to finish top 4
We have a brand new defence getting used to each other.
We ARE improving on last season.
You lot calling Cacapa shite must be on drugs, maybe he had a bad game - SO WHAT!!
Every England player had a bad game in Russia, Rooney has bad games, Shevchenko had a bad season, I remember Beardsley, Shearer, Hibbett, MacDonald, Ginola & Waddle all having bad days - all players have off days! You lot are like Man City fans, fickle as fcuk.
Go support Man U/Chelsea/Arsenal if you expect victory after victory
40 Sinead // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:41
I’ve never been a great fan of Sam’s when he came first I just didn’t see why all of ye were so hyped up with and obbsesed with defending an ok manager. I never thought he was great. He’s seemd to be doing something right though. But sometimes he either puts too much empahsis on the forwards or like today on keeping a clean sheet. Sometimes concentrating too much on keeping a clean sheet can be costly and it was today. He needs to get the balance right before anything can happen. Reading outplayed and outbattled Newcastle all around the park today and they were deserving winners.
If Sam can get the balance right then things will click more so and the clean sheets will come. You can’t force them. Too much emphasis on it can be costly, playing negatively is what they did today and it didn’t work.
41 hadrian // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:42
shocking to give away the draw once we had it .
sick of hearing about this best start malarky , take your head out your rear ends and look at the fixtures , bar man city we shouldnt have dropped any points .
we bloody well better be having the best start in ten years cos all we’ve played so far are poor teams .
we have got a GREAT team , this team on paper should win things .
sam went for the clean sheet instead of trying to win the game like reading , what chance did we have of a clean sheet sitting back all game like that when our back 4 has known each other for going on a couple month .
42 Alex // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:45
Ross
It s Alex W that is turning to the mackems and not Alex i.e me.also i wrote that i was douting Big Sam i did not call him stupid or an idiot and i dont want him sacked .What i do want is for him to play the same sort of tactics away as at home after all if its good enough to beat teams 3-1 at home then why change?plus it was not just Derby and today, Man city was not great either was it?Our home record so far is the best it has been since the Keegan days so why not take that to away games.
43 milnerfan // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:49
look on the bright side, best start in 10 years, unbeaten at home. Best squad in years. And a gr8 manager, id be hapy with top 8 finish this season. Dont be to quick to judge, at least hold bad remarks til next season!!!!!
44 Darren // Oct 27, 2007 at 18:53
This site should be renamed …
“nufcplasticfansblogwrittenbyablokeintheusawhopinchesarticlesfromalloverthenetyetstillfeelsentitledtopassjudgementandletmuppetstalkutterbolloxaboutgamestheyhaventevenseen.com”
45 Humpty Dumpty // Oct 27, 2007 at 19:10
Dear Mr Allardyce,
I dont care if Newcastle let goals in as long as we score more at the other end.
Your obsession with keeping clean sheets is to put it mildly “dreary”.
A 5-4 win at Sunderland will do me nicely thank you very gladly!
Toodlepip
46 Ross // Oct 27, 2007 at 19:26
sorry alex, i did mean alexw, and wasnt specifically talking about you (or alexw for that matter) regarding people calling bsa an idiot etc, i’d just seen it kicking about on a few comments!
and i entirely agree with you regarding formation. like i’ve said, we can look a very good team at home with 4-4-2, and if we take that to away grounds, and start milner and zogs, i think the results would appear!
47 Alex // Oct 27, 2007 at 19:28
Darren its plain to see you cant take it when fans criticise the team when they play shite .Trouble is they were shite today .Yes we are beter than last season so far, but thats not exactly worth shouting about .And if you really think this web site should be renamed with that name, then you should be the one that F**ks off.Everyone has the right to voice there thoughts and put there opinions foward thats the piont of this blog W**ker.
48 Alex // Oct 27, 2007 at 19:38
Hi Ross no offence taken mate.when you read the comments it looks like most agree we should take home tactics to away games.Lets hope we do that from now on starting at the stadium of shite. I belive that is our next away game
49 Ross // Oct 27, 2007 at 19:48
the stad d’shite would be the most perfect place to take our home game. i dunno what i’d do if BSA decided to use some new unorthadox formation over there and something went horribly wrong,haha.
aye after seeing the games at home at the potential we have, i think we need to give it a bash away, i’d be confident enough to say there’d be an improvement on what we’ve seen so far.
tbh, im really pleased at the start we’ve made this season, and i think we have bags of potential in every position. its just disheartening to see games like today, games that we could have taken 3 points from, but everything just goes wrong and we look like we have in the past, which has been very poor.
50 ToonKing // Oct 27, 2007 at 19:53
Okay after the game i needed a couple of drinks………..
It was a bad performance today, but i’m not worried yet, as long as we do well at home we will eventually get some points on the road too and that is more than enough for a good season.
Who knows why Sam started 4 CM today he probably had good reason for it but it didn’t work. 4-4-2 isn’t a superpower otherwise every team in the world would play that. Sam tried something different today, it went wrong, it happens.
And i don’t know why u people are jumping on Cacapa’s back. He made a few mistakes today but it wasn’t that bad…..i’ve seen much worse in the last couple of seasons. It will all be better in a month or two when every on of them will speak basic english.
The only problem i have is the Oba - Owen partnership, it’s not working. We need either Viduka or Smithy up there.
I have no idea why we are so poor on the road, i think Sam will have to put he’s psychology team on this one. I played professional basketball for 10 years and we never had trouble playing away. In fact i honestly say i enjoyed playing on the road even more then home. The teams that beat us away would have probably beaten us home too, so the only explanation i got is that this is some kind of mental block.
Summa summarum things are not all that bad, were still 8th and we got a very competent squad and manager so all you moaners and whiners can get the **** out of here find some other and support the Gooners.
51 apan // Oct 27, 2007 at 19:56
BSA needs to fix the language barrier asap, its too obvious that its a communication prob
52 apan // Oct 27, 2007 at 20:00
fair weathered fans can u whine somewhere else? we want a healthy discussion or rather a useful comments, not blaming sacking chantin or watever crap that is
our defenders arent gelling yet all 4 new faces playing together with different languages, only given, emre and well u could say owen/martins are the players that played for us last season so its a whole new faces in our team, time needed, but agreed we are horrible from st james park, 3 lost in a row
53 Andy H // Oct 27, 2007 at 22:01
Everyone is talking about a language barrier in the defence but at all times today there were three players who could speak french and only Enrique would have a problem. As a team we had on off day and the defence should never have come under that much pressure, but we just can’t pass the ball well enough even with 4 central midfielders. Until now everyone has been praising Cacapa and Faye - and Rozenthal - they are all much better than the shit we have had over the years. Until today, I have to say that I thought Cacapa was the first truly class defender we’ d had in since Woodgate and one game is not going to change my opinion based on one poor performance . Faye will be great this season and over the time any problems will be ironed out.
Apart from the lack of clean sheets, it has been the defence that has looked the strongest part of the team so far this season and definitely the most improved. Just little errors really apart from today and Man City - (away from home). The amount of goals we have scored masks some real problems in the rest of the team. The midfield lacked any movement, spark or creativity at all until Emre came back and having Geremi as captain means every week a more capable player will miss out - Big Sam’s first big mistake.
We rely too much on a long ball strategy, especially away from home that is just pathetic. What can Owen and Oba do with shit service. Even Viduka when he was playing had balls to his head and we think he’ll when because he’s taller but as far as target men go he is a genius with the ball at his feet.
I can see one of Oba and Owen forming a great partnership with Viduka because he is such an intelligent player and that will make it easier to make chances. I am worried that the little men can never work together - away especially and that with only Smith to cover we could be in trouble if Viduka misses much of the season. Smith has been described by some people as a target man but he is’nt really. More of a link up man with the midfield - he shows some nice touches but only to feet.
Overall, the midfield needs to retain the ball much better away and be able to get the ball into the strikers - then we can get it wide or build again. Martins needs to learn how to control the ball and when he does have it - when to get rid of it. He is really raw and I am sure he can mature into a great player here. Owen should get more involved and look more interested because he is good on the ball. We can’t carry him on the off chance he’ll score a tap-in.
We need width and what Big Sam did today in choosing 4 centre mids was criminal especially when N’Zogbia and Milner are such talented and exciting young wingers. I think he is probably one of the least tactically astute managers in the premiership and needs to realise that we will get the results with 4-4-2 and the right attitude because as far as the first team goes we have one of the strongest outside the top four. We need to be patient and let the new players gel and not expect too much this season. We will be inconsistent for a while.
54 Dragoner // Oct 27, 2007 at 22:03
i cant stand SINEAD and his biased comments about given, yes we know he is good, so are a lot of our other players
55 Dragoner // Oct 27, 2007 at 22:06
whats the point of beating teams like tottenham and everton if we lose to teams like reading and derby who are struggling hard this season, we will never be respected whilst losing to teams like that
56 Andy H // Oct 27, 2007 at 22:12
Shit. That was a long post. Basically I was trying to say was that with all the new players we will be inconsistent andread that lot we need to be patient, like anyone who could be bothered to read my essay.
57 squid // Oct 27, 2007 at 23:32
darrens a twat
58 ChrisL // Oct 28, 2007 at 0:53
Given = Great Keeper
Owen = Great Striker
But while I believe Owen will probably score a decent tally of goals this season, he’ll never truly excel in a BSA team. I honestly believe that he’s a fantastic striker, I just think he would do much better elsewhere & that we should move on.
Given v Harper. Man for man Given is the better keeper, but he’s been rotten this season so far. Most importantly in terms of picking up points & of how likely the team is to concede goals, I think that we looked safer at the back with Harper between the sticks.
The team were certainly not worthy of the toon army today. I had to sit with the home fans today & about the only joy I got all through the match, was listening to the boys(& girls) singing their hearts out.
p.s. The Reading fans were sh*t till they scored.
59 Rob // Oct 28, 2007 at 0:55
Don;t you think if we played attacking football for 19 away matches in a season we may win 5 games with a few goals, rather than playing for 0-0 draws and with 20 minutes left try to snatch a goal to win 1-0? it’s not Seria A.
play with width, with players in there natural position and try and use our best assests, owen, martins, Viduka, Zogbia
we certainly won’t win many away games trying to do it using the intricate plan that Sam is now trying to use when away from home against permier league teams fighting for their lives attacking all out when playing on their own patch.
Chelsea’s defense could not keep clean sheets by just hoofing the ball back to the opposition and sitting back defending for 90 minutes away from home.
Maybe Sam is getting carried away by the new defence he thinks he’s bought, it is much improved but it’s sure not Arsenal’s from 10 years ago.
60 Matt // Oct 28, 2007 at 2:55
The formation was right, but the player selection by allardyce was shocking! Not just against reading but in several matches there has been a gaping lack of communication at the back - ie west hams goal against us.. similarly all our back 4, aside from enrique have a strange tendancy to head the ball straight up when going for a clearing header.. anyone else noticed?
Rozy & Tayls were not as bad as that against city.
Also, was it just me or did the referee get in the way an awful lot last night? decisions werent bad, but i lost count how many times he got in the way of a player with the ball or a marker trying to get to the ball
61 WelshWizard // Oct 28, 2007 at 3:16
Ashton // Oct 27, 2007 at 17:55
“Deserved win by reading they have a clever manager unlike us we have the stupidest manager in EPL”
Come on dickhead, so now the manager’s stupid???? crap against spurs on monday wasn’t he? Newcastle United Manager needs the support of the fans for what he’s trying to do, not the shit of knob jockeys like you…. so what he got it wrong, we wont be the last team to loose at Reading this season cause of wrong tactics…..
62 phoonck // Oct 28, 2007 at 3:46
well.. jus remember all the classics.. roma travelled to old trafford and lost 7-0 and that doesn’t make them the shit. so did spurs when they came to st james and lost 7-1, man utd to st james and lost 5-0, man utd to the dell and lost 6-3 and when liverpool lost to arsenal 6-3.. and we only lost 2-1 away to reading and you are calling for big sam’s head.. those who are beginning to doubt newcastle and big sam, i am doubting if you are really one of us.
our team and manager just had their off day yesterday, and i dont think big sam’s philosophy is wrong. we need to learn to defend before we can learn to attack. if you concede, you always have a chance to lose. but if you keep a clean sheet, you will at least get a point. learn to walk before you learn to run. defend is also an important aspect of the game.
c’mon, one bad game from cacapa and you said he’s boumsong. he might have been in the game for ages, but when you play in a new league, new team mates and a totally new environment, you need time to adapt! though its weird of big sam to start without nzogbia and milner, he must have been thinking of countering reading’s high work rate in the middle of the park. so he might be trying to cram up the midfield area and play through the centre? just my two cents worth..
still, howay the lads.. looking for better times ahead
63 evildick // Oct 28, 2007 at 6:42
it is a dissapointing defeat, but we are still a sh*tload better off than the last couple of seasons.
Getting rid of freddie sheperd was like winning the league.
I still think we will make uefa, if not, well i guess i’ll be here still hoping. i’d rather win the fa cup to be honest!
64 yj // Oct 28, 2007 at 8:59
We deserved nothing from the game. It was totally crap. No communication between the midfielders, no stout defending, no creativity. The players just couldnt play as a team. Look at the midfield mess when reading were in possesion. At times, 3 players go for the same ball. When they got the ball, they lose it almost instantly. The defenders were very poor also. The centerbacks were constantly outpaced. Lita had really good chances and we are fortunate to escape with 2 goals. And even worse, remember Cacapa nearly sent the ball into his own net? This looks like a primary school team defending! The wingbacks were easily outmuscled. And we were sending long balls to either the Reading keeper or past the corner flag. I really sympathise Owen and Martins. They tried to run for the ball but the balls were flying everywhere except where they can reach. And sending long balls to 2 small strikers just don’t work, does it? Calling for Big Sam’s head would be silly, but he must now make his stand and opinion clear to his team. Hope that the the next match against portsmouth would be a lot a lot a lot better.
65 Sandy McNair // Oct 28, 2007 at 10:00
I watch every game live on the TV in Dubai and I have not been impressed with Newcastle at all this season, although it is much better than last year.
A wonderfully skillful team and the tactics of Hull FC. The reason our skillful midfield can supply our skillful forwards is hapless defenders punting up hopless long balls, martins cant do a wonder goal every week:(
I think the defence is much better and will settle down and bringing in the youngsers would be a mistake. Keep supporting them and give them confidence. I think the toon support nearly put Bramble in a mental hospital with the consistant torrent of abuse. It was not good for Bramble, the Team, the Result or the Supporters.
Get the ball down and play footbal as we have the players to do it.
66 wsq // Oct 28, 2007 at 10:15
we could be on the best start if we had to go against minnow teams.. try going against better teams there goes ur best start.. shut up.. what kind of manager sticks with the same game plan when u don’t have control of the game. isn’t tat the objective of the game.. to control the football game to get ahead!! if not then what’s the point.
67 malaysian youngster // Oct 28, 2007 at 12:24
imo the reason we lose are we cant hold on ball well and the strikers arent getting enough service.we attack not enough. make our defender too much work to do. and both goal scores are enrique’fault he just ball watching did not even try to block or throw body and close down fast enough.
68 malaysian youngster // Oct 28, 2007 at 12:27
and cacapa not commanding enough. zzz
69 Ashton // Oct 28, 2007 at 12:39
WelshWizard
F*%*k off you squeaky Welsh twat
yes sam is stupid
we are playing like shit a bloody 8 - 1 -1 formation!!! against shiti team like reading
fat sam were going for a 0 - 0 draw just like derby game
and this is just pathatic what we gona do when we play against man utd in old trafford or against chelsea in stamford bridge !!!!!! all our away games will be shit and boring just like derby and reading .
70 Craig // Oct 28, 2007 at 13:08
we have good squard
But Sam ruins it….
how can 4CM be lined-up together with no wingers…….
After so~putting Beye together with Cacapa in the central defend line is a big mistake…
Also, Oba is fitter than Owen…..i cant realize why Oba is off…
After this game…
I think Butt can back to the bench side, his passes are ridiculous, cant compete with the speed…rusty at all…..why he can’t be as stable as in previous 2 games…
Emre is wasted at this game, he should control the passes and be put in the middle…with J.Barton in the midfield
I reckon Geremi…he’s not enough to gain a long-term regular…bad passes and rusty dribbing compared to James and Zog…why he can still be continued in such a bull shit performance
Barton is not fit…But a lot better when comparing with Butt and Geremi in this game…
Try to use 2 wingers in a game…Big Sam…don’t waste them…u give too much to Geremi…..and too little to the youngsters as Steven, Zog and James…
71 BALDY MAG // Oct 28, 2007 at 14:16
My view of this shambles of a resullt is the loss lies fairly & squarely at Big Sams feet, to go to play a team thats leaking goals for fun as Reading have been & leave not just one but both of your best attacking midfielders on the bench absolutely beggars belief, what the hell was he thinking about?
With the exception of Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal & Liverpool, we should be looking to go to all other grounds with the intention of attacking them and beating them, if Sams not confident enough to believe Newcastle Utd couldnt go to Reading and take them on I’m afraid he’s at the wrong club.
The disgracefull performance that gave Derby their only win of the season so far had more to do with bad attitude by the players rather than team selection but this latest flop was definatley down to you and you alone Sam.
Yes the defending for both goals was pathetic but you should realise by now that we simply cant keep a clean sheet so we have to field a team that will score more goals than the opposition to secure a win, the fact that we didnt score a goal against either Derby or Reading (og) says it all for me.
Youv’e got one more away game to turn our away form around and we all know who it’s against, lose that one and you can give Maclaren a ring and tell him your on your way mate, dont forget your current bosses didnt appoint you.
Baldy Mag
Leave a Comment