Newcastle-Online comment: July 19th 2004
We have no doubt become a much harder team to beat as evidenced
by equaling our lowest number of League defeats last season with
only 8 losses. Those goal leaks aren't as frequent or as abundant
as they once were either as evidenced by the fact that only 1 team
in the Premiership managed to beat us by more than the 1 goal -
a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea.
We can keep clean sheets too and limit the opposition's goal count
but the name of the game is scoring goals and winning matches, we
only won 13 last season with 11 of them coming at home.
Quite simply we have become draw specialists and the two draws that
we have picked up from our Far East Tour have followed, what has
become a worrying trend - finishing a game level. A trend that has
developed over the past 12 months, amassing a staggering 24
draws in 63 games (all competitions).
Toon draws in full:
FR 0-0 Vs Chelsea (a - Malaysia)
FR 2-2 Vs Bayern Munich (h)
Prem 2-2 Vs Leeds Utd (a)
Prem 2-2 Vs Everton (a)
Prem 0-0 Vs Bolton (h)
Prem 1-1 Vs Aston Villa (h)
Prem 1-1 Vs Woves (a)
Prem 1-1 Vs Liverpool (h)
Prem 0-0 Vs Charlton (a)
Prem 1-1 Vs Leicester (a)
Prem 0-0 Vs Man Utd (a)
Prem 1-1 Vs Birmingham (a)
Prem 1-1 Vs Blackburn (a)
UEFA 1-1 Vs Valerenga (a)
Prem 1-1 Vs Portsmouth (a)
UEFA 1-1 Vs PSV (a)
Prem 0-0 Vs Arsenal (h)
Prem 0-0 Vs Aston Villa (a)
UEFA 0-0 Vs Marseille (h)
Prem 1-1 Vs Wolves (h)
Prem 3-3 Vs Southampton (a)
Prem 1-1 Vs Liverpool (a)
FR 1-1 Vs Thailand (a)
FR 1-1 Vs Kitchee (a)
That is the equivalent of 24 points from a possible
72!
17 of those 24 draws have come on the road, which
proved to be our achilles heel in the quest for points last Season.
In stark contrast we only drew 6 League games in Season 2002-2003,
but we lost 11 games, 3 more than last season. I don't know about
you but I'd prefer to lose an extra few if it means we are going
to win more. It's clear that Bobby has attempted to find a balance
between attack and defence. In one respect he's succeeded, we are
very very hard to beat but that has come at a cost, we are also
easy to defend against.
Can Bobby find an even balance this time around? Lets hope so...
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