|
| Home | This Season | Reserves | Academy | Womens | Squad | Stadium | History | Tickets | Gallery | Downloads | Toon Shirts | Forum |
|
Match Report By
Gaz
Pearson (29 November 2005)
A Joseph Yobo header a minute into the second half was enough for Everton to see off a poor Newcastle side, minus the injured Michael Owen, a pre-match withdrawal having failed to recover from his groin injury. It’s the second consecutive away defeat for United now and the post-match reaction, not least on our very own forum, shows that the heat is well and truly back on Souness and his staff. It seems that most fans are getting fed up with the Scot’s constant excuses following results that don’t go our way. Whilst some excuses do seem to be justified, it is the style of play however that Souness is adopting that is bewildering the fans more than anything. Other teams have injuries, its part and parcel of football. Decisions will go against you, it's swings and roundabouts; we will get our fair share of decisions as the season progresses, so get over it Graeme and take it on the chin. That said, I share with his frustrations somewhat, after seeing Newcastle denied another blatant penalty for the second successive game when McFadden got away with a clear and blatant handball, one that, at St James Park would have no doubt resulted in Shearer scoring from the spot. However, we know you don’t get decisions like that away from home these days. It’s the fact that we can’t break down teams or pose any real threat that is making the Newcastle fans bewildered, not the poor decisions. Is there an underlying feud between Souness and the referees? Are referee’s purposely winding Souey up and costing him matches so that he will be sacked? It’s an interesting theory but it doesn't hold any weight. If you have to rely on scraps to win matches then you won’t get far in any game of football, park football and upwards. So it's time for him to stop being a baby and face the media after games instead of sending the pub landlord out to face the press. Is he scared that what he will say will get him in trouble with the referees? Christ, instead of focusing on how to curse the ref he should be slaughtering his bunch of woeful players and fixing those ailments that are destroying our season, even so early in the campaign. During the first half I don’t think we did too bad and we were on top and everything was looking rosy. Shola, Nobby and Charlie all had efforts on goal and the best chance fell to Shearer who latched on to a Titus through ball only to see his effort cleared off the line by one-time Toon target James Beattie. The first half ended 0-0 with perhaps the main highlight being the ‘punch-up’ between Babayaro and Everton’s Tim Cahill. The Aussie swung his arm at Baba and Baba reacted by throwing one on Cahill’s nose. Both were lucky to stay on the pitch. Now we go onto Bramble. He was probably Everton’s best attacker at times! In the first half he caused mayhem in his own box nearly assisting McFadden for a goal and on 60 minutes a poor headed clearance nearly gifted Mikel Arteta a chance to put his name on the scoresheet as well. Thank god for Shay Given then, I don’t know what the poor man must be thinking! Reading the Forum most fans were in defence of Shay following an attack on him by someone (no names mentioned) and rightly so. Without Shay god knows where we would be. How much more is he going to take though? That’s my big worry... I wouldn’t be surprised to see him leave in the summer, and although I don’t want him to go, I couldn’t blame him if he did. Maybe then Souey can bring in his ‘proper’ keeper Big Bad Brad Friedel... Again the main highlight of the second half was not the football. Shearer appeared to throw an Elbow at the niggling Weir. For me he was lucky to not see red. We could have been down to 9-men... now that’s fortunate decisions going our way if you ask me. The tigerish Parker then lashed a chance over when he perhaps should have done much better. However, it was Everton who came closest to scoring their second of the game but James Beattie smashed over the bar from only 12-yeards out. It should have been 2-0 to Everton. But we escaped and going into the last ten minutes we should have been looking to snatch a point. We didn’t and at the death super Shay saved from McFadden and twice from Tim Cahill in quick succession to keep the scoreline respectable, if anything. Newcastle’s fine vein of form has come unstuck for the second successive time against the Toffees. Luque made a welcome appearance but his poor display didn't do him any favours, the jury is still out on him. He has time on his hands however. The forum was crazy with the post-match reaction and most seem unanimous that it was a dire performance. The excuses for Graeme are running out. The style of play is awful and at times clueless. Wigan looms in the Carling Cup, it won’t be easy. Then next come Aston Villa. Three points is a must with the Arsenal game lurking round the corner. So you scratch your head, get it out of your system and await the next game.. the frustrations of being a Toon fan. And Graeme thinks he has it bad! How much is he paid? What will he get if he gets sacked? It would perhaps be the best money Fat Fred has ever spent! If he thinks we can get into Europe, let alone the Champions League, following this display there is bloody no chance. Major improvement is needed, how many times have I said that during Souey’s tenure as manager? It's getting beyond a joke. It’s time to leave the quality streets alone this Christmas Fred and bring in a quality manager.
Lineups & Match Stats
Booked: Beattie. Goals: Yobo 46. Newcastle: Given, Ramage, Bramble, Boumsong, Babayaro (Luque 51), Solano (Bowyer 60), Parker, Emre, N'Zogbia, Shearer, Ameobi. Subs not used: Harper, Faye, Clark. Booked: Babayaro, N'Zogbia, Bramble, Parker, Ramage. Att: 36,207. Ref: Howard Webb (South Yorkshire).
Post-Match Reaction: Newcastle
"We needed a response after falling behind 50 seconds into the second half, but we didn't get it. "They got confidence from the goal, and some of our heads dipped. That disappointed me, and we can't allow that to happen again. "We need a positive response when we fall behind. But we had a meeting on Monday about what went wrong at Everton. "There was no shouting, contrary to popular belief about what happens in dressing rooms, and the general consensus was one of disappointment. "I've asked for a reaction, and I'm hopeful of getting one. "We made it a miserable weekend for our supporters at Everton, but we will have a large travelling support at Wigan and we owe them a performance."
Post-Match Reaction: Everton
"But you can tell from the reaction of players, and all Newcastle's lads went up for it. But what about us last weekend, West Brom's penalty was outside the box and their goalkeeper later picked the ball up outside the area. "Either of those decisions going our way would have changed the outcome. I hoped last week's decisions would have been right just as I would like this week's to be right. "They didn't go for us then but this time we had one in our favour." |
|
Contact
| Write
For Us | About
Us | Advertise
| Privacy
| Newsnow
| Copyright
| Site
Map | We
Support | Top
|
Match Report: Everton 1-0 Newcastle United