Newcastle-Online comment: 16th September 2004
 Shay
Given
Making a record 40th appearance for Newcastle in Europe tonight,
Shay had a solid game as usual. Produced one excellent save,
tipping away a drive. Other than that he had a pretty comfortable
game where much of his work was dealing with back passes.
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7 |
 Stephen
Carr
Defensively he had a very good game, sweeping up any danger
and generally halting his attacker. Going forward however he
very rarely ventured past Dire and then Milner later on in the
game. When he did get forward there was plenty of room for him
to exploit but he opted to carry the ball infield instead of
getting to that bye line more often than not. Steady and reliable
at the back. Not enough going forward. Can do much much better.
|
6 |
 Andy
O'Brien
Like Carr, O'Brien did pretty well at the back but faced with
such a poor attacking side that Sakhnin were, that is the least
a seasoned professional like O'Brien should be capable of. On
the ball his distribution was woeful - often hoofing it forward
aimlessly.
|
6 |
 Robbie
Elliott (C)
Again, did OK defending on a night wear he wore the Skippers
Armband, but his distribution was shocking as well. More like
Robbie Welliott. Instead of bringing the ball out and into midfield
he looked long far too often. Disappointing!
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6 |
 Aaron
Hughes
Hughes again started at left-back and surprisingly looked comfortable,
getting forward well and linking up with Robert before injury
curtailed his game after only a half an hour on the clock. Bernard
replaced him.
|
4 |
 Kieron
Dire
Playing on the right wing he started off quite well, getting
into a goalscoring position once or twice, but as usual fluffing
his lines right at the vital moment. And then he disappeared.
A performance that just isn't good enough. Up against a player
who earns less in a year than he does in 3 days, Dire should
have terrorised his marker and ran at Sakhnin. Instead he huffed
and puffed and when he did get on the ball he quickly passed
it on. Brought off on 58 minutes with an injury and replaced
with Butt. How much longer do we have to put up with these nothing
performances? |
4 |
 Jermaine
Jenas
Started off very brightly, getting on the ball and spraying
it about and then he faded out of the game. Like Dyer this level
of performance simply isn't good enough at this level, even
against such a poor team as Sakhnin. Pushed off the ball far
too easily and his dilly dallying would have been punished many
a time had his opposite number actually possessed any quality
on the ball. Shrinking violet.
|
5 |
 Lee
Bowyer
Making his first European start for Newcastle, Bowyer had a
game to forget. Sloppy passing, hardly in the game and from
an attacking sense - very subdued. Should have walked for a
nasty tackle and for a 5 minute spell in the second half he
lost it completely and from then on in he was totally anonymous.
Very poor performance and attitude to the game. Easily wound
up by the opposition and let his own frustration get the better
of him.
|
5 |
 Laurent
Robert
Robert carried on from where he left off against Blackburn.
Hard working, industrious with the ball and two assists to cap
off a fine night. Disappeared for a while and didn't attack
his man as he is capable of doing, especially given the space
to attack, but most of his fellow team-mates just weren't on
the same wavelength at times. He produced some smashing balls
into space but the runners just weren't there. Encouraging.
|
7 |
 Shola
Ameobi
Getting a rare start he would have expected to fill his boots
against such a poor rear-guard but he failed to turn up and
produced a pretty poor performance. Pushed off the ball easily,
out-jumped and out-fought in the air and sloppy. Not good enough.
|
4 |
 Patrick
Kluivert
A first start at St. James' Park for the Dutchman and a classy
performance, bagging two goals to make it a great night for
him. Classy touches, classy control, classy vision, just a classy
player. It's so good to see him scoring goals in the Black &
White shirt of Newcastle and he enjoyed scoring his brace. Worked
his socks off both in attack and with his defensive duties and
could have had more goals but for a great save and a volley
struck wide. Leaped like a salmon for his second goal and was
by far the best player on the bench. On this performance Souness
would be mad to leave him out at St. Mary's on Sunday. My
man of the match. Quality!
|
9 |
Substitutes:
Olivier
Bernard
Come on for Hughes and to be honest, he struggled - both in
attack and defence. Too casual at times and his delivery and
passing was wayward. Didn't link up well with Robert at all
and kept on bumping into bodies. To be fair he has just come
back from an injury. |
5 |
Nicky
Butt
On for Dire and having been on the pitch for a mere 2 minutes
the man with over 70 European games under his belt goes and
gets himself a straight red card for grabbing a Sakhnin player
by the throat - he too get his marching orders. Stupidity beyond
belief. After getting his marching orders he refused to leave
the pitch, arguing with more players from the away team which
resulted in a mini fracas. Eventually he was led off and it
appeared he went for an official. Quite simply I'm disappointed
in him. Great way to start your European career for your new
team Nicky. Now we will have to go to Tel Aviv protecting a
slender 2-0 lead without a recognised defensive midfielder.
Champion! Shocking stuff from a player who should know better.
I hope he gets a heavy fine.
|
-1 |
 James
Milner
Come on for Shola on 69 minutes and did everything Dire should
have done - which was run at the opposition. He come on and
the tempo changed almost straight away. He showed a desire to
get on the ball and to get to the byeline. He even had a good
effort on goal. He may be raw and still has a lot to learn but
he is the complete opposite of Dire - lots of huff and puff
AND end product.
|
6 |
The Boss Man:
 Graeme
Souness
The new man sat in the stands with Freddy Shepherd for the opening
period of the match and then made his way to the touchline after
a sloppy spell of play. After the break many expected Newcastle
to come out fired up and to play at a much higher tempo after
a sluggish sloppy first half but if anything, our lot relaxed
even more. Whether it was his tactic to get the back four to
launch it long to Paddy and Shola remains to be seen - I guess
we'll find out in the next few matches. His substitutions were
odd to say the least too. When Dyer came off injured he put
JJ out wide on the right and then brought off Shola and put
Milner on, with JJ moving back into the centre and Paddy up
front all on his own. We needed an extra goal or two and playing
one up front was going to make that task even harder. Strange.
Not what I expected from Newcastle tonight but lets take one
game at a time...
|
5 |
The Crowd:
 Toon
Army
Well done to each and everyone of the 30,221 who attended. By
far the best atmosphere produced this Season and despite a quite
torrid game with some very disappointing aspects, the Toon Army
got behind the lads and and sang throughout.
It started off slow but the noise quickly gathered pace and
even though St. James's was half full, it was pretty impressive
stuff from where I was sitting. Not much support for Souness
but lots for the players, especially Robert and Kluivert. Great
stuff. Best thing about the match. Now if we could only transfer
the atmosphere to League games...
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8 |
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