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 Friday
2 December 2005 By Jonny Hall
The most abysmal performance I have ever witnessed from a United side occurred against Wigan in the Carling Cup at the JJB Stadium Wednesday evening. Whether it was a penalty or not, Wigan fully deserved their win. A scoreline that flattered us in the extreme and if not for Shay Given's heroics between the sticks, would have seen our worst defeat for many a year. Souness sent out a side worth in total over £48 million and for the performance we gave against a Wigan side, who no offence to them cost pennies, is absolutely disgusting and embarrassing for everyone and every fan associated with Newcastle United. I was shocked to see that Souness had his side playing the long ball up to Shearer and Luque after about three minutes. That is not tactics. That is mediocre, lazy, sloppy, unimaginative play. A left-winger in N’Zogbia was played at left-back. A centre-back in Ramage was played at right-back. A left-back in Elliott was played at centre-back and Nolberto Solano, a right winger, well he was playing everywhere. I’ve heard of a free role but that was just ridiculous. I know we have injuries and have to make allowances but surely, we have other options available to us? What use is the Academy for example if we don't seem to blood through anyone in such times of 'crisis'? Wigan don't have our injuries yet they blooded through some youngsters and it showed in their eagerness and hunger to impress. We could have done with some of that on Wednesday. What must Academy lads like Huntington, a centre back, think on the sidelines when a 34 year-old left-back gets a game in his position when up against a reserve side full of either youngsters themselves or old pros? He's faced better players in the Academy under-18 matches than some of the players who lined up for Wigan on Wednesday. Do we not have any left-backs from the Academy we could have used at left-back instead of playing a winger barely out of nappies himself in an alien position? Luque was clearly unfit and needs reserve team football at the moment, why didn't Chopra start, and being a Geordie, at least he would have fought for the shirt. Which he did when he came on incidentally. Back to the match... Wigan were fighting for every ball despite not caring about the competition enough to field their first eleven. Newcastle players on the other hand were walking around like they didn’t care and it has been like that for a few months now from certain players going through the motions. We have scraped through the games we have won this season and the ones we have lost, well the results have all been justified and speak for themselves. Not good enough. Excuses have been used by Souness and for many of them; the Scot had a point to his argument; Penalties, wrongful dismissals, goals that should have been, goals that shouldn’t have been and the biggest of them all; Injuries. The medical team have been working hard at Newcastle and injuries have still piled on the pressure. Michael Owen, Emre, Kieron Dyer and Steven Taylor; Newcastle have missed these players but this happens at every club and Souness should be able to cope. Furthermore he should have had the foresight to realise that injuries were going to hamper our progress this season. Injuries helped ravage our season last year and become a major achilles heel for the manager. It's all very well adding quality players to the first-team but at the sheer expense of the squad? While Craig Moore was missing in action on Wednesday, Aaron Hughes was in action for Villa. We could have done with that 'extra body'. For the first time as Newcastle manager, Souness did not make any excuses in his post-match reaction. He wouldn't have dared. When asked about any arguments he said "No. The better team won". He added that Newcastle’s performance was not good enough and that he was disappointed with his team. He also said he was angry that he had been knocked out of the Carling Cup. You could almost see a tear in his eye as he spoke to the reporter because he now knows and fans know that the end is near. So I write this with a heavy heart myself, his reign is coming to an end and as much as it pains me to say, he deserves it. Thank you for the few good times you offered Graeme, there weren't many but you should leave us with a lot to work with. I am sorry that it didn’t work out, but that's football. © Jonny Hall
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Souness & United: The End
