Toon Player Ratings Vs Everton (h)
|
 Match
Date: 25 February 2006
By Paul
Mosley
An in depth look at each individual performance from Newcastle's 2-0
win against Everton at St. James' Park, rating the players, the manager,
Toon fans and the referee. Also included in our match analysis are
ratings for the Toffees.
Players |
Shay Given - 7 |
Shay had one of his quieter afternoons at the office, and had very
little to do, but he did madk a wonderful save from Arteta’s brilliant
curling free kick. His distribution was of an acceptable standard,
and he wound some good seconds off the clock late on with the ball
at his feet.
|
Peter Ramage - 7 |
Ramage defended solidly as ever, and made one superb clearance of
the line in the 1st half. He didn’t get forwards as much as one would
have liked. But when he did he produced a fantastic cross in the last
minute which was begging to be attacked, but sadly Ameobi forgot he’s
a striker and didn’t get anywhere near it.
|
Jean-Alain Boumsong - 7 |
Well he’s getting better I guess. After an improved final half hour
in midweek he built on it with another relatively solid showing against
Everton. He actually won a few defensive headers which was pleasing,
and his only real mistake was allowing Osman to get free in the second
half but it came to nought.
|
Robbie Elliott - 7 |
Solid performance from the veteran Geordie. He certainly looks a lot
more comfortable at centre back than he does at full back. Several
timely challenges and clearances made for a good day’s work from Elliott.
|
Celestine Babayaro - 8 |
Babayaro returned to the side after his suspension and put in an excellent
shift at left back. His defending was super, with the particular highlight
being a superb block in the 1st half, and he also got forward pretty
well to support N’Zogbia, cutting inside brilliantly in the 1st half
to create a chance for Solano which produced a point blank save from
Westerveld.
|
Nobby Solano - 9 (My Man Of The Match) |
Our roving reporter at the Charlton game gave Nobby the Man of the
Match award on Wednesday, and he’s getting the award from me for a
super showing against Everton. In the 1st half he seemed to give the
ball away a lot, however I would put this down to him having a footballing
brain which our erstwhile number 23 doesn’t seem to possess. His through
balls were far too clever for Shola. In the second half he was in
the right place to put N’Zogbia’s cross in, and then rounded off a
superb move with an outstandingly stunning and brilliant fnish for
the 2nd goal. A stroke of genius from the Man of the Match.
|
Scott Parker - 8 |
Skipper for the 3rd game in a row, and probably his best performance
of that run of games as he controlled the midfield from the off, ably
assisted by Emre. He barely wasted possession and although he still
passes the ball towards goal a little bit too often, he’s playing
it forward on a more regular basis now, and had a decent shot just
wide which worried Westerveld. Only real complaint is that he’s committing
too many little fouls, one of which resulted in yet another caution.
|
Emre - 8 |
Considering Emre jumped off his sickbed for this one, he put in a
bloody good shift. Twice he was the last line of defence as David
Weir got up to almost score against the only team he ever scores against,
with 2 superb clearances off the line. He worked extremely hard and
his passing was pretty good, and he was too much for the Everton midfielders.
His set pieces were disappointing but we can forgive him that.
|
Charles N'Zogbia - 8 |
The lad goes from strength to strength, and this was another good
showing. Yet again he was the man who created our 1st goal with a
superb run into the Everton area and a great ball across the face
of the goal which was begging to be netted and was. Never gave the
Everton right-back a moment’s peace all night and showed what a trick
we missed by not getting him involved on Wednesday against Charlton.
He also played a key role in the 2nd goal was a nice run infield,
and looks irreplaceable right now.
|
Shola Ameobi - 5 |
Shola is so frustrating it’s unbelievable. From Man of the Match at
Villa to 3 poor displays in a week at St James against poor opposition.
Obviously it hasn’t helped him being upfront on his own but he still
looks totally detached from the game. When the ball gets near him
he’s either standing in an offside position or committing a stupid
foul on the defender, which is so annoying to see. Hopefully things
will improve when he gets Shearer back alongside him next week. It
has to if he wants to have a future at this football club past the
summer.
|
Lee Bowyer - 7 |
Bowyer was always willing to get into the right positions and was
not afraid to have a go at goal either. You just feel though that
the commitment isn’t always there from Bowyer, although he did produce
one superb crunching challenge after we had gone 2-0 ahead. Played
his part in the 2nd goal by finding Solano.
Subs |
Lee Clark (79 mins, for Emre) – 6 – Kept things steady
in the middle of the park.
Matty Pattison (90 mins, for N’Zogbia) – N/A – Really
nice to see the youngster finally get his debut after his serious
injuries over the past couple of seasons. Having seen plenty of him
at youth level, I really feel he could make it at the top level and
let’s hope he does.
Boss Man |
|
Glenn Roeder - 8 |
Not sure he could have done much else when picking the team to be
honest. Luque obviously isn’t impressing him in training so was left
out of the 16 completely, while he seems to realise Chopra won’t make
it at this level to the extent that Ameobi is left up on his own.
The game seemed destined for a stalemate, but the troops improved
after half time and finally got the goals and a win we just about
deserved. It was a nice change from falling to pieces in the 1st half
which we’ve got used to in the recent past. 10 points out of 12 and
an FA Cup win isn’t bad for his 1st 5 games in charge.
Mags |
|
Toon Fans - 7 |
It was very quiet in the 1st half, but the improved performance in
the 2nd half was greeted by increased noise and plenty of chants for
the captain and of course the double goalscorer.
Referee |
|
Graham Poll - 6 |
A handful of incorrect throw-in and corner decisions is one beef,
another would be his failure to play advantage on a couple of occasions.
A third would be his failure to show a 2nd yellow to Cahill, or even
award a free kick, when Bowyer was surely felled on the edge of the
area. Otherwise he was his usual commanding self.
Opposition |
|
Everton |
Westerveld 7
Yobo 6
Weir 6
Stubbs 6
Valente 5
Davies 5
Cahill 4
Arteta 8
Kilbane 4
Osman 6
Beattie 6
Subs
McFadden 6
Carsley 5
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