Newcastle United Vs Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin |
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Date:
Thursday 16th September 2004
Kick Off: 7.45pm BST
Venue: St. James' Park
Att: 30,221
Ref: Antonio Manuel Almeida Costa (Portugal)
Comp: UEFA Cup 1st Rnd 1st leg |
| Premiership
Match Report In Association With Toon
Ale |
|
New Dawn, False
Start
New man Graeme Souness got what he wanted at St. James' Park - a 2-0
win as Toon boss on his maiden voyage to the unknown and although
any win represents an impressive start, the Scot will have been less
than impressed with United's overall performance, that of certain
players - only a handful come out of this one with some credit, and
most of all the cynical rough hand tactics of Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin
and how we succumbed to their game plan.
Or at least one would imagine so anyway...
Souness made two changes to the side that John Carver selected against
Blackburn on a night of firsts. Dropping Big Al and Bellamy from the
frontline and replacing the two with Shola and Kluivert, the Dutchman
starting at SJP for the first time. Hughes retained his place at left-back
and Bowyer remained in the centre - finally making his first European
start for United. Dire started out wide on the right and Elliott was
made Skipper for the night, the 5th man to wear the Armband this Season.
Our new manager's tenure got off to a dream start with just over 4
minutes on the clock when Kluivert pressed home his claims for more
starts by prodding a loose ball into the back of the net after Robert's
corner bounced and bobbed around in the box with the away side making
a complete mess of their attempts to clear it.
Sakhnin must have feared the worst. With good reason too - they could
have been 4-0 down after just 25 minutes but Kluivert, Dyer and Jenas
were all guilty of missing glorious chances, especially the latter
two.
After that early blitz, which had many in the stands checking the
old memory bank to find out our biggest European win, believing it
was going to be broken, the tempo of the game dropped and our attitude
seemed to change with it. Instead of grabbing the bull by the horns
we relaxed and took our foot off the peddle which encouraged the team
in red to get into the game, which they did. In the opening few minutes
Sakhnin's, to be honest, averageness shone like a beacon. Now it was
Newcastle's turn to look average as the back four started looking
long to match the faces of Shola and Kluivert as they chased aimless
balls down the channels and through the centre with no joy. Food and
drink even for the sorry bunch Sakhnin.
Despite not really threatening that much after the opening 25, we
managed to add a second to our opening 4th minute goal just before
the break when Kluivert rose like a salmon to head in Robert's corner
for his second of the game. Justifyng Souness's decision to drop Shearer
in place of the No.11
With the first 45 over, there was still another half to go to put
clear daylight between this and the second leg over in Tel Aviv. And
after a half-time pep talk from Souness, a hungrier, feistier and
quicker Newcastle would emerge.
One imagined anyway. Not so. It was Sakhnin who come out the hungrier
and the snappier. Newcastle trooped out as they left the field at
the break. Relaxed and at ease. 2-0 up we were but this bunch of no
hopers going by the name of the away team were there to be thrashed
and thoroughly beating. A few nasty tackles and clear attempts at
playing the man and not the ball from Sakhnin saw to it that they
were doing the beating, with those in Black & White taking the
kicking.
Cue Nicky Butt, on for the injured Dire who limped off with just under
an hour gone after producing yet another nothing performance. Within
moments of entering the field, Butt was to make an immediate impact
on the game. After a bad tackle on Jenas from a red shirt which left
the United man crumpled on the floor, withering in agony, the Portuguese
ref blew for a free kick to the Toon. Butt's attempts to get the ball
off of Sakhnin's Soan to take a quick free kick amounted to grabbing
the player by the throat which swept him theatrically off his feet
and felling him to the floor. 2 minutes into his first European appearance
for United Butt was given a straight red card with his antagonist
also receiving the same fate.
For a player with over 70 European appearances under his belt his
momentary action of stupidity could be described as a one off but
those of us who witnessed United's 5-0 thrashing of Man Utd in 96
will remember he did the same thing to David Batty, in the same area
of the pitch too. That time he escaped an early bath.
As a consequence of Butt's indiscretion, a fracas of some sort developed
and with Bowyer, already wound up like a clock after a series of niggling
tackles from the men in red and with a yellow card to his name, the
stage was set for him to follow in Butt's footsteps. Luckily order
was restored with Robert and Kluivert of all people diffusing the
situation.
Back to the football...actually it was back to the same but without
the fracas. Sakhnin carried on with their ugly, cynical tactics with
a succession of yellow cards following a barge here, a push there
and a little kick here. The much heralded Israeli side arrived on
Tyneside with a flock of new friends but when the final whistle was
thankfully blown by the flustered and overworked ref, the only friends
they had within St. James' Park were those housed in Level 7 of the
West Corner of the Sir John Hall stand - a 100 strong band of followers
who made the journey to Newcastle.
Sakhnin come, kicked, stamped and destroyed the game as a spectacle
with their negative, cynical and at times downright ugly tactics.
United come, played poorly, scored two goals, picked up two injuries
with Hughes and Dire limping off, and will today, one would hope,
get an ear bashing from the man brought in to dish out bashings to
those under performing players who blighted Sir Bobby's final 12 months
at the helm.
Only Given, making his 40th appearance in Europe as United's No.1
(a record), the excellent Kluivert, the improved Robert, and second
half substitution James Milner can be happy with their performance
last night because the rest put in a mixture of sloppy, lacklustre,
going through the motions effort in a game they should have been chomping
at the bit to put well beyond a team one step up from pub footy, and
that's being kind.
Dire once again did nothing - other than miss two glorious opportunities
and trundle off with a limp. A blessing in disguise. I wish no injury
on any player, but if that's what keeps him out of the team, you won't
here complaints from me about another spell out with an injury for
our No.8. How much longer do we have to put up with these nothing
performances?
Bowyer, starting for Newcastle in Europe for the first time since
he was given a 6 match ban for stamping on a Malaga player's head
reminded us all of his ugly side in a game he could have so easily
walked from after one or two nasty challenges of his own. This was
the ideal game for him to say to Souness: 'look, I'm the man to get
you goals from the centre - play me'. Instead his performance asks
the question whether he will prove a liability in Europe. The only
surprising thing is that Souness didn't sub him and that, to Bowyer's
credit, he stayed the distance. If he allowed Sakhnin's sorry bunch
to wind him up and frustrate him, how will he react to the cleverer
and even more cynical approach of, say, the Italians? A nation we
could well play in later rounds.
Shola, getting a rare start and up against a poor backline should
have been filling those boots of his to add to his 9 European goals,
a tally, believe it or not, that has him in joint 3rd as our all-time
record goalscorer in Europe. He didn't even have a sniff, certainly
not of any note. A sloppy, lackadaisical performance that just goes
to strengthen his critics claims that he simply isn't good enough
and never will be. Disappointing.
And Nicky Butt - what was he thinking of? He will almost certainly
face a 3 game suspension and while it's inconceivable that Sakhnin
are capable of beating us by 3 clear goals, we will travel to Tel
Aviv without our only recognised defensive midfielder in a game which
will not prove easy. Souness was appointed on the premise of getting
tough on discipline matters, will this mean Butt is in for a fine?
He should be for letting his team-mates, his manager, those of us
in the stands and most of all himself down.
You may be wondering if we actually won last night given this, I admit,
quite negative report but too many in Black & White took the opposition
lightly and played well below par for me to be overly happy about
our performance. I can only hope our new manager is equally unimpressed
because the manner in which we took our foot off the gas, succumbed
to ill discipline and failed to put the opposition out of sight, were
the very things that got Sir Bobby the chop. I expected a United side
fired up, with each player playing for their very future to go out
and thrash a sorry excuse for an opposition. Not turn up with their
socks around their ankles, retaliating to a bit of rough handed treatment
from a bunch who earn less in a year than most of our lot earn in
3 days as we did.
Happy for Souness to get off to a winning start, happy with the win
but under no allusions whatsoever that we need to up our game considerably
if we are to even get past the 1st round. My glass is half empty,
how about you?
Toon Player Ratings Vs Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin
Next up: Southampton
Vs NUFC (Sunday September 19th 2004 Prem 2.00pm K.O)
| Newcastle
United |
Sakhnin |
Match
Facts & Stats
Half-Time: 2-0
Full-Time: 2-0
Yellow Cards: 6
Red Cards: 2
Goalscorers: Kluivert
(4 & 42)
Yellow Cards: Bowyer (64)
Red Cards: Nicky Butt (60)
Substitutions: 3
Bernard (for Hughes 15), Butt (for Dire 58), Milner
(for Ameobi 69)
Injuries: Both Hughes and Dire limped off with injuries
Goalscorers: None
Yellow Cards: Rabbah (23), Soan (57), Genaiem (58),
Danan (67), Cleber (74)
Red Cards: Soan (60)
Substitutions: 3
Cleber (for Hamud 54), Salameh (for Genaiem 80), Edri (for Kasum
(84)
Injuries: N/A |
| Given |
Murambadoro |
| Carr |
Danan |
| O'Brien |
Elyahu |
| Elliott
(C) |
Oben |
| Hughes |
Genaiem |
| Dire |
Hamud |
| Jenas |
Kasum |
| Bowyer |
Masudi |
| Robert |
Rabbah |
| Kluivert |
Soan |
| Ameobi |
Agoye |
| Substitutes
Bench |
| Harper |
Hilik |
|
Bernard |
Shaalata |
| Ambrose |
Saleh |
|
Milner |
Khalaila |
| Butt |
Salameh |
| Bellamy |
Cleber |
| Shearer |
Edri |
European debuts for Kluivert, Butt, Carr and Milner and a first start
in Europe for Lee Bowyer. 40th appearance for Shay in Europe, an all-time
record. First red card of the Season and the quickest in our history.
Our first back to back wins in 18 games. Our first back to back clean
sheets in 10 games. Graeme Souness's first match as Newcastle manager.
With 3 goals, Kluivert currently stands as our leading goalscorer
- becoming our 57th different scorer in Europe. We've now played teams
from 20 different nations in Europe. Sakhnin become the 40th different
team we have met in Europe. We have now played 91 games in Europe,
winning 48, drawing 18 and losing 25, scoring 155 goals and conceding
97.
| How The Goals Were
Scored |
NUFC Goal 4 Minutes: Patrick Kluivert
A right wing Robert in-swinger somehow managed to trickle it's way
to the feet of Kluivert after ricocheting of a few Sakhnin bodies,
leaving the Dutchman to prod the ball into the net from 3 yards.
NUFC Goal 42 Minutes: Patrick Kluivert
A Robert corner from the left this time was met by the head of Kluivert
who powered in an unstoppable header into the roof of the net after
a fantastic leap and a deadly accurate cross from the Frenchman.
| Match Reaction From
Graeme Souness & Patrick Kluivert |
Souness said:
"It was a scrappy affair, and they did exactly what we thought they
would.
"The game didn't flow as they broke every move up, but it will
be a different game over there in the second leg as they will have
to come at us.
"We got off to a great start and by half time at 2-0 we were
happy, but we cannot be too disappointed. We were favourites to win
the game but you don't get cricket scores any more in European football,
and we take a cushion over there which we are confident of building
on.
Souness on Nicky Butt's sending off:
"That wasn't the cleverest thing Nicky Butt has done, and a
player of his experience shouldn't have got involved in an incident
like that.
"I haven't seen the incident on TV, but he appeared to raise
his hands and you cannot do that.
"They wanted to drag us into the non-footballing side of things,
and when we reacted like that we let them achieve what they set out
to do."
Kluivert on his two goals and performance:
"I was happy with the two goals, and I'm happy to have three
in two starts now.
"It is much easier to start the game than come off the bench,
and it gives you confidence as a striker when you score goals.
"It was good for me to get the chance to play, and good to
score. The manager now has a decision to make on Sunday, but it is
good for him to have four strikers who are in good form.
"The most important thing for us on Thursday was to get the
win, and we did that.
In games like that it is not important who gets the goals as long
as we have a lead to take into the second leg.
"It was a tough, physical match with some hard challenges from
their defenders, but we're confident we can go through."
| Match Reaction
From Sakhnin's Manager Eyal Lachman |
Lachman said:
"I know a lot of people talked before the game about Sakhnin
coming to lose 7-0 or 8-0, and maybe the difference of the league,
the difference of the budget looks like 8-0.
"I think we made very good tactics and if you take out the goal
at the beginning when we were still smelling the atmosphere a little
bit, we kept our goal well.
"If the result was 2-1, we can start to do something in the Ramat
Gan Stadium, but we never think that the story is finished. This is
the education of Sakhnin."
| Your Shout: Toon
Army Match Reaction |
John H wrote:
Firstly the opposition were a disgrace, just out to play act and kick
lumps out of everyone. The referee was too weak. For Newcastle: Carr
I thought had a decent game, the central defenders look decidedly
unimpressive, Bernard is fine going forward but a liability in defence.
Did you see the free kick where Robert was left marking 2 players
while Bernard wandered aimlessly in the middle? Jenas faded and he
cant finish, Dyer was mediocre, cant finish. Robert had a good game.
Butt was stupid. Bowyer looked like a red card waiting to happen.
Ameobi I thought was a complete waste of time. Kluivert, despite receiving
poor service, looked class. Milner looked really good from the moment
he came on. Souness looked unimpressed by what he was witnessing.
Right not to bring Shearer or Bellamy on, they would have been kicked
to death. What is it about our players slipping over, what are they
wearing, carpet slippers?
Skeletor wrote:
Overall we played into their hands. It should have been at least 6-0
at half time but our finishing is very worrying. I hope we keep our
cool in the away leg because this team are Sunday league material.
Too often we tried to play keep ball when it was apparent the other
team didn't want the ball back and made no effort to get it back.
Rather passionless until we started getting fouled left right and
center. Souness has a lot of work to do.
Buxton wrote:
Shocking, absolutely shocking Just what were the guys at the back
thinking? I was hoping to have saw the last of that utterly useless
aimless long ball stuff. Jenas was abysmal again I thought, I'm fast
losing all confidence in him, too soft and too often chose the easy
ball backwards tonight. The way the defence was hoofing it about,
it's of little surprise the midfield and attack had such a poor game,
I can only imagine how frustrated Kluivert must have been tonight,
all the talent in the world surrounded by players who didn't put two
passes together. Fully expecting to see Butt in place of Jenas and
Shearer/Bellamy replacing the front two of tonight, which I don't
think Kluivert deserves but Shola certainly does, very disappointed
in him tonight, was like the early days of Shola. On the subject of
Butt, really silly, but I can't criticise him too much, given the
way they were playing, a moment of madness nothing more. Expecting
a much improved game at Southampton, with significantly less long
balls. |
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