Newcastle United 1-1 Chelsea |
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Date:
Sunday 15th May 2005
Kick Off: 3.00pm BST
Venue: St. James' Park
Att: 52,326
Ref: Howard Webb
Comp: Premiership |
| Premiership
Match Report In Association With Toon
Ale |
|
By
Gaz Pearson
At last the misery is over and the most forgettable season in recent
years is put to bed, until the next one. Newcastle and Chelsea went
through the motions to grind out a 1-1- draw at St. James' Park on
Sunday and while the London side arrived as Champions and to show
off, United just wanted to sign off.
Souness opted for a 4-4-2 formation with Shearer making a return to
the starting line-up partnering Kluivert. However, neither made any
impact throughout the whole match with only a weak second half header
from the Dutchman causing Cudicini in goal enough concern to pull
off a fine save.
The opening 30 minutes was a drab affair to be honest with Chelsea
instantly taking charge of the midfield through Makelele and Lampard.
Yet, it was Newcastle who took a shock lead over Mourinho's men with
ex-Boro player Geremi steering the ball into his own net following
an N'Zogbia corner.
Then just like the Charlton game at St. James's earlier this year,
the Magpies decided to commit the utmost of footballing sins and switched
off straight after scoring. Chelsea from the restart hoofed the ball
straight to Gudjohnsen up front and as he was just about to latch
on to the ball his former team-mate Babayaro appeared to hold back
the Icelandic international. The ref pointed to the spot and Lampard
lashed home. And that's how things stayed with the score 1-1 at half
time.
Neither side really threatened in the second period apart from a notable
save from Given from a Jarosik’s close range strike. Apart from Kiluivert’s
header Newcastle failed to conjure up any real clear cut chances.
On the plus side for the Toon, the performance of Milner was eye-catching.
His roving runs looked the only source of creativity. In the last
few games he has been are most improved player and hopefully he can
carry this on into the next campaign.
However, the performance of Kluivert was abysmal, especially in the
first half. He looked like a player heading out of the club and on
this display, good riddance.
Young starlet Chopra made a rare appearance coming on as sub late
on but failed to make any impact whatsoever and his passing lacked
any real quality. He must go some way to push to be a regular starter
for the for the club.
The most memorable moment came when the players were doing their end
of season parade and for those fans who remained to cheer them they
witnessed the must unusual of departures from our French wizard Robert.
The winger, who didn't even take part in the game itself, ran down
to the Gallowgate End and threw his kit into the crowd. Everything
flew into the stands as he pranced round in his underwear! Au Revior
Robert, many will be sad to see you leave.
All in all a decent display when taking into consideration the opponents.
However, Chelsea were missing their big guns; Drogba, Robben, Duff,
Terry and Ferraira all missing. Their squad is awesome and the envy
of the country. We have some way to go to ever compete with them but
the rebuilding must begin from now. If we are in the InterToto Cup
so be it but the priority next season must be the league and Europe
must be rendered second in that list for the time being.
| Newcastle
4-4-2 |
Chelsea
4-5-1 |
Match
Facts & Stats
Half-Time: 1-1
Full-Time: 1-1
Yellow Cards: 8
Red Cards: 0
Goalscorers: Geremi
(33 og)
Yellow Cards: Babayaro, N'Zogbia, Kluivert, Jenas
Red Cards: 0
Substitutions: 2
Taylor (Carr 45), Chopra (Kluivert 76)
Injuries: None to report of
Goalscorers: Lampard
(35 pen)
Yellow Cards: Cole, Carvalho, Tiago, Geremi
Red Cards: 0
Substitutions: 3
Oliveira (Gudjohnsen 84), Morais (Cole 89), Watt (Jarosik 90)
Injuries: N/A |
| Given |
Cudicini |
| Carr |
Geremi |
| Boumsong |
Huth |
| Bramble |
Carvalho |
| Babayaro |
Johnson |
| Milner |
Jarosik |
| Jenas |
Lampard |
| Ambrose |
Tiago |
| N'Zogbia |
Makalele |
| Shearer |
Cole |
| Kluivert |
Gudjohnsen |
| Substitutes
Bench |
| Harper |
Cech |
|
O'Brien |
Grant |
| Taylor |
Watt |
|
Robert |
Morais |
| Chopra |
Oliveira |
Graeme Souness on the match:
 "What
I have learnt in my time at this club is how people react when the
pressure is on, who is really with me, who might be with me and who
is not with me.
"It has been a very interesting learning period, one which I
hope I never have to repeat. There is some stuff I have not particularly
enjoyed having to deal with, but I think that is Newcastle United.
"We are far clearer in what our aims are and what I expect from
them than we were eight months ago. It is fair to say we are looking
to improve things greatly next year."
| Match Reaction
From Chelsea |
Mourinho on the game:
"Manchester United, Arsenal, I can guess Liverpool, Newcastle,
teams with power, I think it is normal they want to improve and fight
with us for the championship. It is normal." |
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