NUFC Forum

Keep it in here (always wanted to say that  bluebiggrin.gif)

souness is a tictacal genius

WOO!

GET IN!!!!!!!!!!!

Great day, watched it with two neutrals, thought it was the most entertaining game they'd seen for ages.

Whatever Emre does at this club from now on, he'll always be immortalised by that free-kick.

EMRE IS THE BEST MIDGET EVER!!!  bluebiggrin.gif bluebiggrin.gif bluebiggrin.gif

FRENCH & TURKISH MIDGETS RULE THE PREMIERLEAGUE!

Always thinking the worst! :P ;)

I actually have a few grey hairs because of that. But what a cracking game of football to watch. Emre was brilliant and what a super free-kick. Ameobi was brilliant and not just for his goals.
However, was shearer actually playing today, he was awful i thought

bluelaugh.gif

some quality performances - emre, SHOLA, parker, taylor. solano was class in the 1st half but looked shagged-out in the 2nd. ramage didn't offer much going forward but is a safer bet than elliot at the back. carr was pretty crap defensively. n'zogbia started brightly but faded but still contributed by doing a lot of defensive work. boumsong & shearer not so good.

Emre, Ameobi & Taylor were brilliant today.  But you can't say enough about Ramage.  First game for us at left back, and he was superb.  Fantastic move by Souness to play him there instead of Elliot,  knowing how fired up he'd be,

When is Emres statue gonna be put up?

shearer was winning the headers like usual,but not overly brilliant,just soo glad nobby and little emre got through ok,i think i would have been sick if we hadnt of won that game! so releived!  bluebiggrin.gif

I did say on the board Emre would score a freekick before the game.

Didnt even notice Shearer whole match  blueeek.gif was he really there?

Quoted for truthery.

Shola's got the official MoM.

So many emotions ...

Elated we won.

Happy because we scored without Owen.

Baffled that it was Shola, twice. 

Thanking God we won, regardless, due to a bet on another message board. 

Grateful for the 3 points. 

Relieved we didn't appear to pick up any serious injuries.

Now it's time to get pissed. 

True, I'm beginning to wonder what he offers us up front these days, Because it sure aint goals.

Rightly so.

Yeah Shearer was awful today, did nothing at all and Caldwell didnt have much to do today. The days where Shearer could win us countless headers have now gone. He really offers us feck all, i feel so sad that he is a shadow of his former self. Even last year, he could do well enough but it seems that this season, he has got even worse than last year His age is being exposed, sadly bluecry.gif

Job done. Important job too.

Were outplayed second half, but we did the same last week. Were well on top in the first half and shaded the game as a whole.

Parker not so hot today, but maybe it was the ridiculous booking he got for running alongside someone.  Well ropey at the back.

But we won.  We're now above the Champions League winners and their master tactician manager, whatever that means. Not very much probably.

blueeek.gif bluecool.gif

Congrats   bluewink.gif.

Great game, and for once, credit to Ameobi for tracking back and putting in some very good tackles. Emre's freekick is class--now to keep him in shape for the rest of the season.

Awful defending, though. Great individual defending (by Taylor, Ramage), but the defence didn't quite function as a unit. Boumsong wasn't quite commanding; Faye was terrible when he came on (as usual). Thought we rode our luck in the second half, really.

Shearer was nowhere, sadly. Really wondering if he's ever going to equal Milburn's record.

That game was hard work towards the end.  I'm disappointed that we didn't hammer them but, credit where it's due, Sunderland played very well.
Ameobi, Emre, Taylor, Solano, Ramage and N'Zogbia were all brilliant today.

awsome match.
great team effort.
and wonderfull superb goals.

@

Emre the Immortal Genio!

Shola played well full credit to him and hopefully he will grow on that perfromance.
Boumsong was dire though he needs to sort himself out quick.

I'm just relieved we won.

YYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CCCCCCCCCCC''''''''''''MMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


phew never thought that would happen

WHAT A F*****G GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D

Delighted with the win, that was all important. Souness still needs to go, mind. Yes, the form book goes out of the window in derbies etc etc, but we were outplayed for spells by arguably the worst team in the prem, one that was assembled for circa £2.50 and half a pack of Chewits. Still though... get innnnnnnnnnnn!!!!  bluebiggrin.gif

Thought that went to Emre?

Also on Emre the commentators said our 16th hamstring injury of the year went to Emre after he came off. Hopefully it was only a niggle and nothing more then that.

Hope the win doesnt overshadow our defiencies down back cause we were horrible! Giving them time to run at our defence which cost us dearly and could of even been worse. There always seemed to be a gaping gap between the midfield and the defenders, which is probably why they had all that space to run into but still no one closed them down and kept dropping off at times.

Anyways always good to beat the mackems!

i thought nyron nosworthy had a tremendous game, he was one of our best players today  blueyes.gif

it was hilarious when it cut to owen in the stands after emre's goal, stood up to cheer and his baby girl almost fell out of his lap.  bluelaugh.gif

Nope, we gave it Emre, Sky (official) gave it to Ameobi.

I'd just like to tip my hat to Shola, give a small welcoming round of applause to Ramage, say "I told you so" to everyone on here who predicted that we would lose, and bare my bottom in the direction of anyone who was actually hoping that we would.

Well done, lads. Cracking game too.

Good post *thumbs up*

Ah ok then, cheers mate

I'm glad to watch your win today!I hope he'll be in good form for the play-off games vs. Switzerland! (I mean the second leg of the play off!He's suspended for the first match!)Congrutulations Newcastle! I wish this match is the beginning of a winning streak.

Always Gooood to Beat the mackems! bluecool.gif

Emre is class, nobby going to get better.

For those who were watching the game on PPLive on the internet, i was wondering if any of you had sound for the match, did you???
The quality was fairly ok but i had no sound at all and it wrecked my head because i love to hear the roar of the crowd when we score.Let me know anyway, thanks.

there was no sound but streaming was good

Agree. Sunderland looks like a team bound for relegation, and they were the better team in the second half!

good first half performance, second half we faded, and when the subs were made we lost all cohesion and purpose.

Emre, Ameobi and Ramage get special Brucey bonus,
Taylor, Given, good performances, solid and dependable without making me feel all spiritual.
Solano, N' Zogbia and Parker all played really well first half, but faded predictably.
Shearer, Carr and Boumsong, were poor and hopefully, when we return to full strength we won't need to rely on them as much.

in short we played well despite fielding a weakend side, if we had a stronger squad we would not have disappeared so quickly. Imagine, rather than Chopra, Clark and Faye coming onto the pitch to shore things up... we have Ameobi (I know, I know) Dyer and N' Zogbia to finish sides off?

I know it's a win, I know it's a win aghainst Sunderland, but I guess I'm just saying that nothing papers over the cracks like a derby win.

What a game, very very entertaining.

Now I will give credit where it is due, the mackems did score 2 very good goals the second one particularly but we showed them we can score just as well with Emre's stunning free kick.

Great stuff, however lets not get over excited, we still have injurys, and problems still exist, we will have to see how we perform in our upcoming games

Pretty dismal performance by us to be fair but lots of heart and passion, and of course, most importantly, a win over the shite. GET IN!

Thought the first one might've been prevented had our defence closed down Lawrence sooner, and Given had reacted earlier to the shot. But it's always easy to say that on hindsight. :)

Taylor's reading of the game's improved a lot; Boumsong has done the opposite. And Faye.... goodness.

(https://cache.gettyimages.com/comp/55987182.jpg?x=x&dasite=GettyImages&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=AB27D0502010942195534B1B9E10FCFB499AFC3212DAC5BEAC9EDBE4E6F952F6)
(https://cache.gettyimages.com/comp/55987472.jpg?x=x&dasite=GettyImages&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=AB27D0502010942195534B1B9E10FCFB9A25B2E03915E88BAC9EDBE4E6F952F6)

"Faye was terrible when he came on"


erm no he wasnt he played better than ive seen him play for weeks,  he normally spends 20mins runing about and not doin anythig; he actually made TWO tackles today.  I nearly died with shock

Not as bigger shock as ameobis 1st header!!  It was actually a good goal.....granted he was totally unmarked, but was good finish; direction and prower in to the corner of the net.

Best ive seen us play since 1st half against manu    ie for weeks.

Entertaining game;  long time since i actually had some entertainment while watching the toon!

Newcastle boss Graeme Souness: "The first half belonged to us - we totally dominated and scored two good goals. But Sunderland had two shots and scored two spectacular goals.

"We have huffed and puffed recently but we have not had our special players on the pitch. We have not been scoring.

"But today we had players on the pitch who can make things happen."

Absolute TORTURE of  a match. I teach just outside sunlun, and live surrounded by them, so my life would be UNBEARABLE if we didn`t win.


That said, it was far from convincing. Boumsong was caught out over and over again. Pleased to see Ameobi score. Emre v good, but he doesn`t seem to track back enough. Great free kick though. Pains me to say it but we were very lucky there, as the mackems played some decent football.

All in all, i`m happy with the win, but wish we could have turned the  screw abit more.

If everton beat chelsea, sunlun drop to the bottom. Fat chance of that happening, chelski could put 5 past the toffees.

love that pic of little emre jumping and celebrating with souness....i feel like there is a strong friendship b/w the two...esp with souness' time in turkey, etc.

He keeps saying in interviews that he's grateful to Souness for bringing him here and having faith in him.

i like that in emre...very loyal guy.  gosh i need to see that FK...

johnnypd
thank you very much for awsome photos bluecool.gif .

Emre jumping and celebrating was so cool bluecool.gif .
well done  il piccolo immortale grande genio Emre!

Heres what i thought:

Shay Given - Didnt makeany major saves but saved the defence embarrassment and showed good thinking skills when he constantly came out of his net and cleared - My rating: 8/10

Steven Carr - retired from Ireland and said he wants to concentrate on Newcastle and he has done. Steven has had a dodgy start this season but is coming into form, he made good forward runs and worked well with Solano, for me he played a good part in this win - My rating: 8/10

Steven Taylor - was the rock of the defence, the lad was brilliant, he was making forward runs time and time again, running into good space on a few occasions, he saved us from a draw towards the end, he DID play a HUGE part in this win - My rating: 9/10

Boumsong - terrible! more mistakes and defenders where running pas him time and time again, he was skint by Elliot who went onto score, he is showing why people are turning on him, when Bramble is fit he MUST play  - My rating: 5/10

Ramage - fantastic move by Souness inputting this lad ahead of Elliot, he was solid and always got in front of balls to prevent crosses, made runs and worked well with N'Zogbia, should play when Babayaro isnt fit and who knows maybe play when Baba is fit - My rating: 8/10

Solano - brilliant game for Nolberto, he hasnt played in months and isnt to full fitness, he gave us an hour of quaity football and proved to us all why we should miss him when he is out. Made runs constantly and provided brilliant balls into the box on many occasions - My rating: 9/10

Parker - was solid as usual but wasnt the star of the show, possibly because he was booked which he shouldnt have been, made an excellent tackle late in the game and was rock solid, Scott is key for us and he showed that AGAIN today - my rating: 8/10

Emre - Scored the winner, make runs and was a nightmare for the mackem defence, had a great shot early in the game, like Solano he isnt fully fit but showed signs of getting there, sponser motm and deserved it, took a lot of knocks abotu 4 or 5 in total and skill got up to give 110% - My rating - 9/10

N'Zogbia - was very quiet at times but when he had the ball he was active and made some quality runs, set Ameobi up for the 2nd goal, Charles had a good game and once again showed signs of improvement - My rating: 7/10

Shearer - layed on balls wonder fully like he has been doing all season, played on the right side a lot and provided many crosses,the captain did a good job today for the club and the fans - My rating: 8/10

Ameobi - what can i say, the man of the moment, he certainly proved himself to me and many others, you have seen my posts this week on the lad and he has bitten back, played very well and deserved the man of the match award- My rating: 9/10

Clark, Faye and Chopra came on and made little impact as they played defensive roles, Faye made a terrible mistake and when having a fully fit squad shouldnt even make the bench.

A good and well deserved win for us at last, nothing like beating the mackems. we are now 12th, if Middlesbrough lose we go 11th so i have no complaints, well done Graeme and well done Newcastle United.


Download the Goals, Post match and the Highlights all at NUFC Media from tomorrow.

Totally agree. It was really nice to see. Also saw Owen in the stands with his daughter. Poor lass went flying when he was cheering!! :wav:

Anyone got a pic of Owen doing this? Dying to see it

Ratings totally over the top.
3 points the main thing.
We were at home to a side 2nd bottom who have failed to score away in most games and we were 2nd best second half, but for the cross bar and a timely Taylor intervention it would have been possibly just one.
Would not get carried away with anything Souness says, he going to play things up to protect his position. Still brings Faye on, who is a Sunday park player.
Good points:
Emre - quality, hope he remains fit
Ameobi - best game he has played for the club after 170 odd appearances, can he maintain that display consistantly - I doubt it
Taylor - great prospect
Solano - brings a touch of class

Bad points:
Rank defending on occasions
Faye

Overall good to see some decent passing and quality finishing.
Will this worry the big boys  - doubt it.

Emre is a Geordie, Emre is a Geordie :D Fkn what a day my voice is goign and I am so proud :D Fantastic to see Emre refuse to get those sccum germs on him by pushing away that scum bags hand. The Crosbar is a Geordie the Crossbar is a Geordie, my heart stopped when that happend I am stil lfkn buzzing sweet sweet glory...

Said to my mate on the way doon to the ground that shola would have the game of his life, okay Nobby looked shatterd but awesome to see him back home.
Boum had a nightmare again dunno what is up with him  I still think he has been kidnaped and we are seeing an imposter..  bluelaugh.gif

I'm fairly happy. Actually, I'm very happy with any derby victory, no matter how it comes. In this game the win is the most important thing everything else is secondary. But on the whole I'm happy with how we played. Boumsong was shoddy though. He has gone downhill this year. Wasn't it great to have Solano back? We've missed him so much and to see him and Parker and Emre working together in midfield was an absolute pleasure. There's an understanding there already. The three of them were immense today. I often have a problem with the Man of the Match at the ground (because only NUFC players are eligible and often we've played s!te and none of the buggers deserve it and someone on the opposition does), but today I completely agree with Emre getting it. That lad's class.

Overall we were the better side, although they did work hard. Our problem today was just silly little bloody errors after we scored, and then a bit nervy towards the end. I always brick it due to nerves before every derby game, but today once the game started, I settled down and the feeling of dreading getting beat just disappeared. And I don't usually get that with derby games. I'm usually really tense and nervous right until the final whistle. Even after both of their quick equalisers, I just had the feeling that we were going to win this one, because for all their hard work, and despite our slips we were just playing better football. Of course I've had feelings about stuff before and been proven wrong, but today I was right.

With these ratings, makes you wonder why we didn't thrash them....

Because those ratings are massively over the top.

https://rapidshare.de/files/6660169/Emre_Free_Kick_Goal.avi.html


U can see the goal and owen also :)

Quality footage there, cheers for this!

Anyone know what made emre come off...noticed he was signoling to be taken off as if he was hurt!?

Great to see Chopra,Taylor and Ramage huddled together celebrating together at full time!!

classy comment bluewink.gif.


Toon Ruleeez!

Happy to see that photo bluecool.gif.
Emre so cool bluecool.gif.

@

i wanna see that FK aswell :tongue3:.

Thanks.

Well... I have to say that is one of the weirdest games of football I've ever seen in my whole life... to sum it up... the only two good crosses from WIDE positions and we score two headed goals, we're then saved by an Emre wonder-freekick.

The weird part is (and I need to watch the televised match to verify) I don't recall seeing a game where NEITHER keeper had to make a save!

Apart from our 3 goals, the Sunderland keeper didn't have to do anything else.

Shay Given stood/dived helpless for their two goals, then in the second half I had to sit in line with Boumsong's AWFUL defending to watch OUR keeper also not have to make any saves other than to watch Sunderland come sooooooooo close on at least FOUR occasions!!!

Newcastle stood off and didn't close down at all today, quite the opposite of Sunderland and it showed :(

Shay Given helplessly watched one skinch past his right post just after half-time, then seconds later one past his left post, all coming from terrible defending, dropping back letting Sunderland have as much time as they wanted, then the one which flew across the 6-yard line, only to be fortunately cleared by Taylor? as a Sunderland player was about to bury it.... then most around me shouted "IN" as Given is lobbed only to see it hit the crossbar.

Souness complains about luck sometimes but I feel they've had half a season's worth in that second half - that could have been 5-3 to Sunderland easily and nobody around me disagreed.

Considering Solano was back, the LACK OF WIDTH shown by Newcastle was a joke as it is every game, everything is in the middle of the pitch, and to be honest I was finding it so tedious watching them cross the half-way line and just hoof it up to the edge of the 18-yard box for a 50/50 header for Shearer or Ameobi :(

On most occasions the option could/should have been there to play the ball out WIDE, you know PASS the ball rather than hoof it up for a 50/50 chance of keeping posession!!!!!!  blueupset.gif

3-2 great RESULT, very garbage performance with complete lack of width so how anyone can expect much more of Shearer always having to play with back to goal for stupid long balls up the middle I don't know....

My opinion anyway! :)

Fedorov.

A good save from Ameobi's turn and shot in the first half, a good save from Taylor's header in second half.

Apart from that though, very good post with good points.

I just got back!!!! What a game, Very impressive, Emre and Ameobi was great. Solano added that bit on balance and imo Carr looked better because of Solano, Defence was'nt the best due to Boumsong but Ramage and Taylor were fantastic, We should go for Bridge in Jan and have Ramage as back up.

Emre and Parker have Gelled IMO it would take a few games, Emre was MOTM for me, Cant believe we got him for £3.8m, Did anyone see him turn on the ball and shoot a few mins into the game? Quality, He limped off but thankfully he aint injured.

All in all some Credit has to goto Sunderland they fought it out till the last minute and didnt just role over, Souness needs some credit i guess but the heat aint off him, I'll give the anti Souness posts a rest today but if he thinks he's off the hook im afraid he aint, He's gonna need to do a lot more

Good post dragon mate, agree with you entirely :)

great first half - but we rode our luck in the second....... nevertheless, good game and a great and vital win!

Yea we rocked in the second half, But when we were holding on to a 3-2 lead that will always happend

I read a post just now and some-one said the Sunderland keeper didnt have to make any saves!!! Who ever it was, Was wrong!! Davis had a great game, if it was'nt for him Sunderland could of possible had a hammering today, He saved a header from Taylor and i thought it was gonna be in but Davis saved it with his leg.

Taylor was solid as usual, I cant believe this young man is 19, If only we could clone him

A great pic bluebiggrin.gif

(https://cache.gettyimages.com/comp/55987471.jpg?x=x&dasite=GettyImages&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=AB27D0502010942195534B1B9E10FCFB6837998072DE16B7AC9EDBE4E6F952F6[img])

It seems as thou the players like Souness

Emre's magic bluebiggrin.gif

@

thanks for photos  blueyes.gif .



Toon mania.

Yea okay there was that one ;) I'll stand by my comments overall though - Newcastle's goals came from set-pieces (which is good in one way), my point being that in open play the terrible passing, lack of width and yawnfully boring long hoofs up the middle which more often result in losing posession will NEVER get this team close to a top 6 finish. You simply cannot rely on set-pieces and nothing else for your goals and for a LOT of luck at the other end that a helpless Given wasn't picking it out the net more often than taking a goal kick!  bluesigh.gif

It *should* improve once Solano and Emre get match-fit, Owen comes back, Luque comes back - open play goals should start to happen, it worries me though the complete lack of closing down and how often/easy Sunderland got through for a shot.....

Fedorov.

2 goals was from set play, Ameobi's second was'nt. I thought Emre's and Solano's passing was very good, The only thing that let me down was some of the defending and we did go pear shaped for about 15 mins in the second half. We had about 9 shots on target

reckon the save from ameobi would've been a goal had owen been playing as the ball came back out right at the penalty spot.

IMO the only reason we kinda fissled out was because some of our players aint match fit, The likes of Emre and Solano. I must add i cant believe how quick Emre has adapted to the Premiership its like he's been playing here for years

I don't agree at all.

I thought, in the first half at least, we played the most creative football since Souness has taken charge( that doesn't take much though). We looked bright and active. Obviously in the second half, the creative players like Solano and Emre had to come off, because they have not played nearly enough to play a full 90mins.

Yea i agree, The main difference about todays game from any other this season is i had belief we could score and we looked like we could score and indeed scored 3, After 10 mins i thought we'd get a few, Never thought it would be Ameobi who would get a brace. With Owen and Luque leading the line i think we'll be good in attack, If we had a pacey forward today, im sure we'd of got more goals

was it just me or did it seem like nobby brought out the best in shola?  the best passes shola made were square to solano...  at least i noticed those...

I thought Solano made Carr look good.

true.  and carr made carr look bad!    bluecry.gif

Don't forget that Emre is a young but very experienced player! He has a 4 year Serie A experience with Inter and UEFA Cup winning experience with Galatasaray!

TBH i wasnt expecting a great deal from Solano because he hasnt played for weeks but he was pretty good. Cant wait to see him after a few games.

Last season we suffered from an inability to hold on to a lead, and the problem re-surfaced. We needed a bit of pace in the attack to hit teams on the break. When we were under pressure we didn't seem to have a good out ball.

I was glad for Shola, who apart from the two goals, always looked far more energetic than Shearer and far more likely to make something happen. Come on, Souey, give him and Owen a chance together.

Emre didn't look fully fit, and that exposed our defence a bit, but he's real class on the ball and looks a great buy.

What we need now is a few more players in Jan and we'll look like a decent squad. When faye came on i knew he was'nt gonna help, If we had Duscher i would be confident he would give us that extra bit of steel

Federopf, which game did you watch?
In the first half we had something like 70 % possession and completely dominated the game apart from their goals, when our midfield was caught sleeping. We looked like we knew how to play football, passing from the defence to the midfield to the forwards, no "hoofing" as far as I can recall.
In the second half we seemed to be a bit slower to the fifty fifty balls and they got a second wind. We still dominasted with 60 odd % possession.
Solano made us a lot less tense and played a blinder for me although he didn't create a huge amount.
Zoggy was awsome, turned his man on numerous occasions and hardly made a mistake all game.
Hats off to Ramage, wa spretty solid and much more capable than Robbie, hats off to Souness for taking the plunge with him. Shit! forgot  I'll retract that, it's a bit positive isn't it!!!
Ameobi, Can I have some more please? Amazin' isn't it. Ooops! Forgot, he's a bag of shite isn't he...please delete.
Sorry if I'm a bit sarky...Been celebrating!

Same as you but hey no problem, we all see things differently :)

Maybe it's cos I don't get to many games where I can see the whole picture, not just MOTD highlights.

There's no denying the complete lack of width/crosses - the disappointment for me, and I know it's his first game back was seeing Solano spending most of the time near the centre circle instead of getting down that right side to provide some food for the strikers, something they are very much starved of these days and have been for a long time.

With players coming back from injury I can only see things getting better and confidence coming back, and hopefully some damn wing-play to give Shearer/Owen something to do.

Fedorov.

Ankle. it was touch and go at half-time but they left him on. Thank God they did :) Probably know more about the extent tomorrow but it can't be too bad considering he stayed on.

Dyer and Bramble both came through a workout yesterday without probs and if not there against Grimsby should be available against WBA.

how do you know that?

Emre came on because he was'nt match fit, He has a knock on his calf from that foul in the 1st minute but he said he is ok. Whats the news on Dyer, Bowyer and Bramble

All fit. Dyer and Bramble came through a full workout yesterday. Bowyer only has a soft tissue injury and will be fine for WBA.....Owen looking good too. :)

All provided no set-backs this week of course (fingers crossed).

this is without reding others views(dint want to be tainted)......we won,just about deserved it,but they were better than i thought they would be.emre is a star,parker disappeared(or is carrying an injury).n'zogbiawill get better with a proper player to support him.anyone thought of ameobi/owen yet ,especially away??and wasnt it good to see owen celebrate with us.

I thought we were very lucky.

The first half we still showed no ability to retain possession eventhough Sunderland was as persistant in giving the ball to us as we were to them - they made us look good almost against our will.

We just played a terrible team and we made them look pretty good as well. Granted both of their goals will never happen again for them this season (they were both excellent IMO), but we nearly gave them a few more with our poor defending. They we very unlucky with that chip that hit the bar.

Nobby and Emre were very tired second half (as was the entire team... again) but you know what... they were the only two that could play the possession game with any effacacy. By taking them both off and putting on Faye we nearly handed them three points on a platter. Even a tired Solano and Emre are better than a fit Faye. Around teh 70th minute Solano was able to hold onto posession and give accurate passes before he came under any serious pressure despite the fact that he was completely knackered. Then Faye comes one... Faye stubbornly kept the ball with Arca and Lawrence (?) bearing down on him and basically gave Arca full ability to run down our right were we had a frankly aweful Carr. Carr was terrible and again runs forward without coming back fast enough for the break. Without Solano's cover we would have looked very silly indeed.

Also we finally have Solano and Emre in the team and what is our plan in the second half: Lob it up to Shearer? WTF! Hey I have an idea what abuot some neat short passing since that is something Parker, the Zog, Nobby and Emre can all do? I saw Solano wandering into the center circle everytime the keeper or Bousong got the ball because he knew that is where they would play it. There were some moments in the first half where the midfield seemed to almost become aware of the fact that they could play together as a group but then it would be gone in a flash when a defender would get it and hoof it up. What are they doing in training? I can only assume this type of training will change with Nobby again joining our ranks. If it doesn't expect Nobby and Souness to have a public bust-up in three to four months (Nobby will then be dropped and transfer listed).

The Zog had a quietly effective game. He can play and he can pass and he can get back to help defend. Him and Solano I thought did their jobs with quiet confidence and I only wish both of them were brought into the game more. When they were both played they brought some intelligent crosses and through balls - the back four should take note and maybe try to work it up to our widemen in a game sometime. Parker had an off game and thank god the rest of the midfield played better. Had we started with Clark or Faye we would have lost.

I am very pleased we won. I thought this had draw or loss written on it and as relieved as I am to have three points I can't help that this will be the last win for a long time.

For SOuness sake I am glad it was Ameobi and Emre who won the game for him. Last season Souness owed his job to Robert and Kluivert - they had their brief spell where they played well and we went on that unbeaten streak despite the fact that Souness did not rate either of them. Now Souness owes his job to two players that respect him and that he has shown great confidence and loyalty in even when teh fans did not. I gave up on Ameobi last year, Souness has not. I figured that Ameobi (and Dyer for that matter) must show something on the training ground - as much as I would like to see SOuness go I never thought he was a complete idiot... I never thought SBR was an idiot either and he saw something in these players even when I did not.

So Souness gets a short repreve and he owes it to loyal troops. An improvement in many ways to our team spirit.

Now I want Souness to capitalise on this team spirit - get the team to take advantage of our midfield competance (that we all know must be there somewhere) and win games we are not expected to win. For the record I do not think he can do it but I would like to be proven wrong.

Lets have two more wins in the next six days!

Howaythelads!

A superb game of football and a welcome three points, but there were as many minus points as plus points. 

Calimag thought you were very lucky to win, I wouldn't go as far as that, I'd settle for fortunate, but Sunderland could argue with some justification they had done enough to earn a point, but Newcastle could also argue they had done enough to win the game, it was that sort of match.

Kicking off the minus points, Shearer was largely anonymous, the play just seemed to pass him by.  The defence was awful.  Not individually, but collectively, it could have been far worse than two goals conceded.  Carr was grim throughout and Boumsong was poor on far too many occasions.  The times Taylor had to bale out Boumsong was unbelievable, you would expect the experienced international to be lending a hand to his young, relatively inexperienced central defensive partner, not the other way round.  Faye came on to help protect the back four but instead more holes than a sieve!

Now the plus points, which far outweigh the minuses:

Taylor and Ramage were outstanding at the back making up for the deficiencies of their more senior defensive partners.  Taylor in particular was one of three genuine contenders for MoM.  Showed that he should not be the one to make way when Bramble is fit, in fact, I would say that he would be close to getting an international call up if it wasn't for the dozen or so top class CD's already ahead of him.  I rather fear for his international future in the same way as Michael Dawson, how do they manage to displace the current incumbents?

Emre played exactly as we know Emre can play, skilful and creative, wonderful goal (as were the two Sunderland goals, but I'm not reviewing them! :wink:) and showed that the pace of the premiership isn't going to hold any fears for him.  Solano came back and looked as though he never been away.  Created space for himself easily (perhaps too easily) but used the ball well and, all in all, put in a wonderful performance until he started flagging towards the end, which wasn't in the least surprising.

Pride of place though goes to Shola Ameobi, who rightly got the MoM.  Put in an awesome performance bearing in mind this was a local derby and he was having almost to operate as a sole striker given Shearer's ineffectiveness.  Always made himself available to receive a ball, mostly used the ball well when he did get it and throughout was a constant thorn in Sunderland's side.

The rest had a fair game, Given didn't have too much to do, Parker I've seen play far better and N'Zogbia faded from the game for too long a spell, but when he was involved, he played well.

Hopefully, this match has given your team a much needed confidence boost, although in mitigation, it was only Sunderland.  If it had been Chelsea, the score could have been embarrassing given the quality of the defending.

Glad we pulled it out. Happy for Shola. Who would have thought he had it in him? Ramage was quality as was Taylor. Emre class. But most of all it was absolutely wonderful to see Nobby back in the Toon. We missed you Nobby. Glad to have you back.

We looked a better team because for ocne we didn't sit back and defend. This was a game Souness had to win and I guess that alone did the job. It isn't often you see Taylor running into the opposition half with the ball, and then have Boumsong at the halfway mark picking up the loose ends. At times it looked too cavalier but then it's great to see us play attacking football for a change.

Solano and Emre made the difference, no doubt. Both took every opportunity to go forward with the ball and Nobby's passing was giving them problems.

What's frustrating is that while our problem upfront seems to be coming to an end, that same old problem with our defence crops up again. No offence to Sunderland, but they didn't look like a team that should've put two past us, and yet they almost did more than that.

The next few games aganist better opposition will show whether our season's finally back on track or this game was just the usual flash in the pan.

Our width against Sunderland was the most I've seen this season. Carr hasn't really got that much freedom as seen as last night. I'm really fearful that if Solano is injured, what our midfield will be like. Only his first game in ages and he's shown how influencial he can be... makes me wonder why he left for 1.5m in the first place. We could have easily got 5m  blueupset.gif

Either way, I'm happy with the way we played last night. Finally entertaining football!  bluebigeek.gif bluebigrazz.gif


I think what led to the goals we conceded was because Parker failed to close them down. He had a decent game but I think he must remember to stick to that holding role. Must be hard when everybody is thinking going forward and you're staying back but that's your role Parker! The midfield had too much room to take such shots and I feel its kinda wrong to blame the defence. Both Sunderland goals were well-taken, props to them

The usual source(s). Took a call moreorless straight after the game. I know its difficult to believe people on here (because you don't really know them) and you can choose to believe or disbelieve me, but I was the first with the Luque signing and also gave you Sunday's team on Friday night (had it at lunchtime but didn't get to a PC till I got home at 8-ish).

Silly training ground injuries aside, it's looking like GS might at last have some choices to make this Saturday.

hasn't souness said something like, "good players play with success, and don't really need formal 'tactics'"?  ...nobby's got a heck of a football brain, and souness would do well to take a 'hands off' aproach when nobby's out on the pitch playing, if you'll pardon the reference, quaterback.  i give a large portion of credit to nobby for shola's resurrection of form---long may it continue!!!

If you watch the camera from behind the goal, I really can't blame Given that much for the second goal.  There was no way you could really see it until it had gone past the last defender, at which point it was almost to the penalty spot. 

One of the things that pleased me most about this game was the performance of Nobby and his link up play with Emre.  To finally have a player on the right who could actually do something with the ball made all of the difference. 

Ramage had a good game on the left, he did nothing spectacular and nothing wrong, he grafted all game and I can't remember him ever being out of position when they attacked.  He's got to be given a run in this position and if he's able to repeat this for every game then left back  should be his own.

Taylor was like a rock at the back and did his best to make up for the bloke he carried next to him.  Taylor could have scored at the other end and was really unlucky not to.  Our two youngest defenders were our best defenders, they could both save us a fortune.

Emre had a good game, he always wants to take the ball to the opposition, he's a really positive player.

N'Zogbia was quiet at times but again, he did nothing wrong, he didn't look spectacular because we had some balance to our game, we didn't have to hit everything to him, we could also play the ball to the right.

Nobby looked class and so confident with the ball, I can't remember him giving anything away, how many times have we been able to say that since he left?  I spent more time watching Nobby than anyone else.  He played as if he'd never been away from the club and proved that getting rid of him was the biggest mistake Bobby made while at the club.  Finally we have a player who can and will cause problems from the right hand side.  I couldn't see that he's lost anything since he's been away, I would pay the admission price just to watch him play.

Shola played like he's  finally woken up after a two year sleep.  I can only think that the derby was his motivation.  Those two goals will be long forgotten if he goes back into his lumbering sleep.  Once again he's proven what he can do, now though he has to do that every week.

The atmosphere was as good as it'll get and I don't think the mackems added much so we can do it when we want.  I'm in level 7 and I think the game was the first time I couldn't hear the opposition supporters singing.

They were the positives I took from the game, we were also lucky as far as the result goes, I will give the lads credit for playing positive football, maybe we created and deserved our luck for a change.

We played a poor team who did play better than I expected, they helped make this game what turned out to be a good advert for football.  I really hope the mackems stay up as I love these games.

As for our manager, I don't think he had anything to do with this result which makes a change, I think the occassion made the game.  If we play good attacking football more ofter then I'll give him credit for it, for this game I'll not give him credit or stick. 

Agree with you for the most part in that I felt Souness made quite a few tactical blunders throughout the game. However he does deserve a lot of credit for starting with Ameobi when all of us were baying for Chopra. A bit lucky yes, but ultimately a very brave decision.