Final Score: NUFC 0-1 Spurs
Toon
Player Ratings Vs Spurs!
Newcastle were beaten for the first time at St. James' Park
in 2004 yesterday afternoon when a Thimothee Atouba
strike in the 51st minute was enough to clinch all 3 points on a bitterly
miserable day at the Old Gallowgate.
Bobby made one change to the team that faced Middlesbrough, bringing
in Andy O'Brien who had recovered from his bout of
Conjunctivitis for Robbie Elliott at the heart of
the defence. Spurs made one change from the side that drew 1-1 with
Liverpool at White Hart Lane on the opening day.
Newcastle come out the traps quickly and Craig Bellamy
had Paul Robinson diving to his right to tip away a shot in the opening
minutes after the little Welshman raced onto a through ball - beating
Nouredinne Naybet with ease.
From then on in Newcastle camped in the Spurs half winning corner
after corner and both Jermaine Jenas and James
Milner could have scored before the half hour mark.
Jenas galloped down the left flank, beating his marker
before getting to the byeline and then dinking a cute shot through
Robinson's legs which just went agonisingly wide by two or three inches.
Milner's effort was more spectacular. A right-wing
cross from Stephen Carr found Alan Shearer's head
who nudged it down for the youngster who unleashed a powerful first-time
volley that stung the hands of Robinson who tipped it over for a corner.
Newcastle were playing good football and kept Spurs to a few half
chances although Jermaine Defoe was lively, spinning O'Brien
before unleashing a shot during the first-half.
When the teams went into the break many sensed it was only a matter
of time before United opened the floodgates.
Into the second half however it was Spurs who opened the scoring when
Laurent Robert gave possession away cheaply up at
their end. Jamie Redknapp swiftly picked the ball up and spread it
to the right where Atouba took it in his stride, advanced and then
curled in a peach of a shot past Shay Given from
just inside the box. Carr failed to get close to
the Cameroon international - backing off and off until it was too
late.
After that United went into their shell and seemed to lose all confidence,
we could hardly string a pass together and when we won a corner, a
throw-in or a free-kick the delivery was just as woeful as it was
in the first-half, in fact it was even worse. Spurs sat deep and defended,
hitting us on the break and a combination of Given
and Carr on the line stopped them going 2-0 up from
a Ledley King header.
Unlike the first-half we just didn't get going and looked disjointed,
bereft of ideas and short on quality. Before being taken off Robert
drove a shot at Robinson from Shearer's lay off but
other than that he had a mixed bag of a game - in fact all did except
for Aaron Hughes, Nicky Butt and
Bellamy who remained consistent and had good games.
With 14 minutes on the clock Bobby threw on Kieron Dyer,
Patrick Kluivert and Shola Ameobi
in place of Milner, Robert and Jenas.
Dyer ran on to a chorus of boos but the clapping
and cheering drowned them out as they did when he was warming up.
All 3 failed to make an impact and when the final whistle went the
boos and jeers that followed many
of our performances last Season, reared it's ugly head once again
to cap of what has been an alround miserable week.
Full match report to follow...
United: Given, Carr, Hughes, O'Brien, Bernard, Robert,
(Ameobi 76min), Butt, Jenas (Dyer 76min), Milner (kluivert 76min),
Shearer, Bellamy. Subs not used: Harper, Elliott.
Spurs: Robinson, Naybet, Davis, Mendes, Kanoute (Gardener
79min), Edman, Redknapp (Brown 69min), Defoe, Atouba (Jackson 90min),
King, Ifil. Subs not used: Keller, Edson.
Freddy Shepherd: All Will Be Revealed Soon
Quotes from our Chairman appearing in various newspapers
today:
"Newcastle fans know that we have never been slow to spend our
money at this club.
"Our recent record shows we can be trusted to deliver quality
players. I'm not going to say too much at this stage but I think the
fans will be pleasantly surprised at what results from the Woodgate
deal.
"We didn't go into the Woodgate transfer without a long-term
plan. All will be revealed soon.
"Jonathan is a great player but he's been dogged by injuries.
"He's been unlucky in that respect but, as someone once said,
there's no point having a Rolls-Royce if it spends most of its time
in the garage.
"We hope Jonathan will get over his injury problems and go on
to have a long and successful career with Real and England. But I
won't pretend that his appearance record at Newcastle wasn't a factor
in our decision to sell him.
"He hadn't played for us since April and was going to be out
for at least another month. When I weighed up the pros and cons it
was obvious we had to accept the offer."
NUFC Sunday Rumours Round Up: Fortune, Yobo &
More
A round up of Toon Rumours from the Sunday rags.
News of the world:
Toon striker Michael Chopra is set to join Barnsley on a season-long
loan.
Newcastle are set to swoop for Charlton's centre-half Jon Fortune
after losing out on Chelsea's Robert Huth.
Sunday Mirror:
Portsmouth are the only club to have shown an interest in Kieron Dyer.
Sunday People:
Sir Bobby is set to have showdown talks with Patrick Kluivert, who
is unhappy with life on bench.
Despite his apology, Kieron Dyer will still be sold by United but
we won't let him go on loan to Portsmouth.
Sunday Express:
Newcastle will put our move for Wayne Rooney on hold to concentrate
our efforts in making a £7m swoop for his Everton team-mate Joseph
Yobo.
Sunday Star:
The Toon have earmarked Bayern Munich's Sammy Kuffour as a possible
replacement for Woodgate.
Spurs Match Reaction From Sir Bobby
"We started well, and at half time we were the better side
who had created the better chances.
"We didn't have much luck in the first half. Milner had a shot saved,
Aaron Hughes' cross may have been going in when it struck Bellamy,
then JJ has poked an effort past the goalkeeper but just wide of the
far post without anyone able to get a touch.
"We've been beaten by a wonder goal, and I'm not sure Atouba will
have scored many like that before in his career.
"But after playing well in the first half, we did not keep that up
and we've eventually faded away.
"When you're a goal down at that stage you have two choices. You can
either keep it the same, ride it out and lose 1-0, or you can try
and fizz it up a little with some changes.
"That's what I tried to do, but Tottenham defended well and sadly
for us we couldn't get through them.
"It's a disappointing start for us, but we have the chance to put
things right on Wednesday when we have a home game against Norwich."
Academy Under 18's: Leicester 2-3 NUFC
Newcastle's under 18's Academy team had more luck than the
first-team yesterday by beating Leicester City 3-2 - scoring twice
in the last 8 minutes. Goals from Farman (5mins), Baxter (83mins and
Walton (88mins) secured the win.
United team: Smith, Shanks, Deverdics, Huntington,
Edgar, Farman, Baxter, P.O'Brien (Atkin 75mins), Finnegan, Walton,
Marshall. Subs not used: Little, Critchlow, Marr. |
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