3rd February 2005
 Shay
Given
The Irishman wasn't tested that much throughout, bar the odd
cross to catch and the odd goal kick to take. Failed to deal
with one pass-back which could have left egg on his face but
to be fair the ball did take a terrible bobble and he dealt
with it well enough in the end. Had no chance with Fowler's
penalty.
|
6 |
 Stephen
Carr
Got forward well in the first half and defended his line decent
enough but overall he didn't quite do enough to attack his man
or to get to the bye line. With Dyer coming in field a lot,
making the midfield quite narrow, this did make it quite hard
for him to do, to be fair. Once he's fully fit I'm sure he'll
bomb forward and start contributing more to the attack.
|
6 |
 Andy
O'Brien
Defended reasonably well and cleared a few balls in the air
but he still encouraged City with some sloppy moments where
he dilly-dallied on the ball and as always his distribution
is awful. Still, one of his better games though. |
6 |
 Titus
Bramble
A good performance from Bramble who, in the first half, seemed
intent on starring as our playmaker with some excellently dispatched
balls to the channels - with one 50-yard clip finding Shearer
for his goal. Won lots of headers, put in some timely interceptions
and more than held his own. Blotted his own copy book however
by giving away a penalty with his lunge on Wright-Phillips.
If he could just cut out those moments of madness he could easily
become a top-class centre-half, easily. If only...
My man of the match!
|
7 |
 Celestine
Babayaro
A comfortable game for the Nigerian who keeps on impressing,
keeping Wright-Phillips relatively quiet throughout. Got forward
well and defended his line. Not bad. Seems to be very comfortable
with the ball at his feet and likes to get up and down. He'll
become a very good signing on this evidence and will soften
the blow of Bernard leaving.
|
7 |
 Kieron
Dyer
Started off where he left off against Coventry and seemed to
be finding the room to run at City but as the game wore on he
disappeared badly and by cutting infield a lot he gave Carr
an awful lot to do both defensively and in the final 3rd. Not
good enough. |
5 |
 Lee
Bowyer
Awful. No creativity with the ball, sloppy passing and needless
petulance when things weren't going his way. He could have easily
seen red on another day for his 'tangle' with Distin. Sure he
worked hard, he always does but he's simply not offering us
anything other than this hard work at the moment and this isn't
good enough. Hugely disappointing and on this form, he'll do
well to survive the Summer clear out. Picked up his 5th yellow
in the League and will miss the Chelsea FA Cup game. A blessing
in disguise on this sorry performance. |
4 |
 Amdy
Faye
A fine game, especially in the first half and judging from his
two games since he arrived, he seems to be exactly what we are
lacking in the centre. Strong, quick, disciplined and good on
the ball. Does the little things simple and keeps things ticking.
Looked less impressive in the second half, giving the ball away
a few times but that could be said of the whole midfield. Not
bad and very promising. |
7 |
 Jermaine
Jenas
Like Dyer, Jenas started off well, spraying the ball about and
getting involved but he too disappeared in a big way. Ran out
of steam and needs a break (IMO). Again, not good enough. |
5 |
 Shola
Ameobi
Some nice touches and battled hard but ultimately disappointed.
Went AWOL after the break but to be fair, the service was absolutely
abysmal and not even Pele would have shone with a midfield as
inept as ours behind him. |
5 |
 Alan
Shearer
Scored a cracking goal, reminiscent of the Shearer of old. Bordering
on being off-side, he just dropped back, waited for Bramble's
ball to drop, and then controlled before advancing towards City's
box. James had no chance as the ball flew past him. Stunning
finish. Shearer's 3rd in 4 games since returning from injury
and his 250th Premiership goal. After the break he had no service
whatsoever and become a bystander. A shame as City were terrified
of him and he had the beating of Thatcher.
|
6.5 |
Substitutes:
Nicky
Butt
Good to see him back in the fold, we've missed him. Come on
for Dyer on 63 minutes, got stuck in, but never saw enough of
the ball.
|
4 |
 Patrick
Kluivert
Come on for Shola on 65 minutes, chased a few aimless long balls,
won a few flick ons, won our only corner of the game and ran
about. Other than that - nothing. No service from the midfield
whatsoever left him a bystander too.
|
4 |
The Boss Man:
 Graeme
Souness
Playing 4 central midfielders in midfield was always going to
starve the front two of Big Al and Shola of any decent service
and pairing Ameobi with Shearer, away from home, just plays
into the opposition's hands anyway - two slow and tall centre-forward's?
Our No.9 needs pace alongside him and certainly someone capable
of sending in a cross. When a centre-half gets an assist and
plays the best football of all outfield players, it tells you
something. Bringing on Butt was the right choice as Man City
were in control of the midfield but Souness should have replaced
Bowyer and not Dyer. He should have pushed Dyer up front alongside
Shearer (to do his running for him) and replaced Shola with
Robert, not Kluivert.
The way we were set up, it seems to me that Souness come here
to not get beat, to pick up a point and instead of building
on our 1-0 lead against a very very poor Man City side, we just
sat back, frightened to attack, to play football. Very disappointing
team performance made all the more unbearable by the fact that
the home side were there for the taking and even worse than
we were. Not good enough Souey, not when we need wins at this
stage of the season.
|
4 |
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