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Match Report By Paul
Mosley (28th September 2005)
Even 2 weeks ago, after Michael Owen’s debut against Fulham, there was a growing sense of doom and gloom, with seemingly nothing able to save us from freefall. The following pair of fixtures did not look kind, a trip to Souness’ old club Blackburn (and a certain Craig Bellamy), and a visit of Stuart Pearce’s resurgent Manchester City. Many predicted a failure to beat either of those would spell the end for the Scot. And yet, being forced to field an under-strength side in both games could not stop United gaining 6 points out of 6. And it was that pricey acquisition from Madrid who popped up with the vital goal against City. At Ewood Park, Blackburn dominated the midfield until we finally took the lead against the run of play. On Saturday however, this was never the case, mainly thanks to the return of the incredible Scott Parker. Having been outstanding in our 1st 5 league games of the season, he was straight back in the action, and again produced a star performance. Lee Clark, who had made his 1st start on his return to Newcastle a week ago at Blackburn, lined up alongside (or rather, infront of Parker) and once again gave a performance full of heart, but not devoid of quality. His passing and all round game were very good, and complemented his work-rate. Add to this the emergence of a new star, in Charles N’Zogbia. One of the few shining lights of our 1st 5 games, N’Zogbia signaled his arrival as a key man with his superb free kick against Fulham, and last week at Blackburn gave a magnificent Man of the Match performance, supplying the cross for Owen’s 1st goal in a Newcastle shirt, and adding a lovely goal of his own late on. And on Saturday, he was once again very busy in the Newcastle midfield, invariably choosing the right option when in possession of the ball, and a constant threat to Manchester City. Lee Bowyer, on the other hand, looked as if his mind was elsewhere. He is currently involved in a court case over the incident with Kieron Dyer in the game against Aston Villa last season, and has also been in court for speeding. I’m not convinced his mind was in the right place to play on Saturday, and his performance was below the standard one expects from him as a result. Souness made 2 changes from the side which played at Blackburn. As already said, Scott Parker returned to the fray from suspension, with Amdy Faye making way despite an improved showing at Ewood, while Titus Bramble replaced the suspended Steven Taylor in the centre of defence. United old boy Sylvain Distin captained the visitors, but we were spared the potential horror of an Andy Cole goal, due to the former United striker’s injury. United began attacking the Leazes End as they like to, but the game began quietly, with no real action within the 1st 5 minutes or so. Indeed, the 1st real chance fell to City. Barton swung in a free kick from the right-side touchline, and Sibierski escaped the rather slack marking of Boumsong, only to see his header brilliantly saved by Given's feet. Boumsong’s shaky start continued with a nasty challenge on the man who had escaped him, but referee Graham Poll fortunately kept his card in his pocket. A couple of United crosses failed to pick out a target, and Bowyer fired wide of the target from distance. The former Leeds man played an integral role a couple of minutes later though. A high ball was won by Shearer, it fell to Bowyer, and his incisive ball through found Owen, who made it 2 in a week as he slotted past James from just inside the area. A frustrated Dunne, having failed to prevent Owen opening the scoring, then decided he would try and take out our number 10 a couple of minutes later, and was rightly cautioned by referee Poll, who then correctly blew for a foul by Barton as he barged Given as the keeper was pushing a cross over the bar. There was very little goal action at either end, with Shearer heading over an N’Zogbia cross 8 minutes before the interval. Then, a penetrating ball from Shearer sent Owen through one-on-one with James, who saved Owen’s effort well, although it was very close to him. Then it was Parker’s turn to play Owen in, although he was driven wide before eventually shooting narrowly over, and we led by a single goal at the interval. Calamity James was having an eventful day in the City goal, having to race out of his area early in the 2nd period to prevent Owen adding a second. Shearer then got away down the right and fired into the centre where Owen was waiting, although a timely intervention from Distin took the ball away from him and out for a throw, which assistant referee Mike Tingey inexplicably gave to City, with he and Poll both getting an earbashing from Big Al as a result. Boumsong was having a much better time of it, and did well to thwart the dangerous Barton down the City right, and from the resulting corner Dunne headed a great chance into the Leazes End. The game became a bit stretched by that stage, with Bowyer getting away down the right to cross for Owen, only for James to get there first. Straight down the other end and Manchester City won another pair of corners, with Dunne wasting another great headed chance from the 2nd of them. For all City’s 2nd half possession and crosses into the area though, they lacked a decent effort on goal, with Sun Jihai slicing one effort wide with 15 minutes to go. Clark was set free by the incredible N’Zogbia, and the Geordie crossed for Owen who stretched but just could not make contact. Barton became the 2nd player to make Poll’s notebook for a foul on Faye. Vassell then crossed dangerously, and Babayaro, having arguably his best game in a Newcastle shirt, did well to concede a corner, from which Dunne once again missed the target. Down the other end, substitute Ameobi then set up N’Zogbia for an effort on goal which was sadly wide, after a display which deserved a goal, and Charles had another effort blocked by Distin. Having literally ran his socks off, he looked absolutely knackered in the closing stages. Bramble had an outstanding game, especially considering he still hasn’t returned to full fitness, and still has various pieces of metal in his elbow. He was strong in the air, his distribution was excellent, and his tackling superb. He dealt well with Barton with 3 minutes remaining, and as play switched to the other end, Distin’s bizarre backpass almost looped over James and into the net, with the City goalkeeper doing brilliantly to stop the ball going in by heading it off the line. Newcastle could have sealed it in the final minute of added time, as Owen got away down the right, but the ball got caught under his feet, so instead he rolled it to Ameobi, who then rolled the ball straight back past the wrong side of the post. This turned out to be the final action of the game, as the excellent Mr Poll blew the final whistle to give us our 2nd consecutive victory. Owen looked bright and lively all afternoon, and seems to be settling in nicely. On another day, he could have had a hat-trick. The worrying thing for the rest of the Premiership is that, not only has he not lost his touch at all, but he’s not even back to full fitness yet. This was only his 4th competitive game since June, so there is definitely some match fitness and sharpness still missing, although he is definitely fitter than he was against Fulham. Shearer definitely looks substantially happier now that he has a proper partner alongside him in Owen, his former England sparring partner. In the 1st 4 games of the season he looked lost, frankly. There was no service, no support, and he seemed totally disillusioned with the situation. Having Owen alongside him seems to have given him a new lease of life. He absolutely murdered Dunne in the air on Saturday, and his general demeanour suggests he is rather happier than he was this time last month. Manchester City showed how ineffective the 4-5-1 system can be without the right players. Darius Vassell ploughed a very lone furrow upfront, not getting a single chance all afternoon, and their midfielders didn’t really get forward enough to support him. Had City played 4-4-2, they may well have come out of this with more than a point. A word here for Souness. For 12 months he has told us not to judge him until this season, the 1st chance he has to build and manage a team he can call his own. Well, after an indifferent start after the signings that never were, he got the man he really wanted, and that man has helped him to 7 points in 3 games and undoubtedly kept him in a job. After 2 rather poor performances against Fulham and Blackburn, the 1st half today was the best seen from Newcastle in a long long time. The lads tailed off in the 2nd half, and against a better side we may not have come away with the 3 points. But you can only beat what’s infront of you, and on Saturday, we were better than Manchester City and deserved the 3 points. City are a good side. Stuart Pearce has got them well organised, and they play some nice football, and the fact we beat them with a still makeshift midfield bodes well. Also, lest we forget, this still isn’t Souness’ team. Emre, Solano, Dyer and Luque are all still to return from injury, and will undoubtedly strengthen the first XI. With a proven, in-form goalscorer infront of them, the future looks bright.
Lineups & Match Stats
Goals: Owen 18. Man City: James, Onuoha, Distin, Dunne, Thatcher, Jihai, Barton, Reyna, Musampa (Ireland 60), Sibierski (Croft 76), Vassell. Subs not used: Sommeil, De Vlieger, Jordan. Booked: Dunne, Barton. Att: 52,280 Ref: Graham Poll (Hertfordshire).
Post-Match Reaction: Newcastle
"I would have liked, obviously, to see Michael finish the second one, but we had three, maybe four, one-on-ones with the goalkeeper today which we have not had prior to Michael arriving. "Give credit to Manchester City in the second half. We knew there would be a reaction from them because I felt we had dominated so much in the first half. "They had a fair bit of the ball in the second half, but I cannot remember Shay having to make too many saves. You will talk about Michael getting his first home goal and how he finished it. "But I would also like you to write about Shay's save from Sibierski early one when we were caught cold with a quickish free-kick and he got a good header in and Shay saved with his foot."
Post-Match Reaction: Manchester City
"As I well know, in the Premiership that is not the case. If you are not at it for 90 minutes, you will get beaten. Our first 45 minutes cost us the game, basically. "If we had played like we did from half-time onwards from the start, we would not have been beaten today and we might have won the game. "I don't think Newcastle are firing on all cylinders at the moment and as I said to the players, they are probably a side waiting to give you a result, but at the moment, you are not playing well enough to go and take it from them." |
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Match Report: Newcastle United 1-0 Manchester City
