Newcastle V Reading Match Thread

[handbags_harris]

From my point of view, I felt we played decentish for spells, were unlucky on more than one occasion with refereeing decisions, and were undone by simple movement from two far post crosses. Newcastle clearly had that little bit extra to them. I'm not complaining about the result because ultimately it was deserved, but I felt we unlucky not to score one or maybe two with a bit more luck.

Attack - thought was ok, some good opportunities created in the form of Long's ball across the box, Long being ridiculously pulled back for a foul on Colloccini just before their first, Bertrand's cross across the box just evading Long immediately after the first goal, Robson-Kanu's run and subsequent horrendous miss, and Noel Hunt's cross that just missed the far post. On the downside Church once again failed to impress and offer any example of just why he is so highly thought of at the club. Robson-Kanu was ok, but screws up too often. Kebe was ok, actually winning a tackle AND a header, but once again offering very little as to final ball in attack.

Midfield - ok, but had no answer to Newcastle when they turned the screw in the 25 mins after half time. Davies impresses me with his passing, tackling, Sidwellesque box-to-box action. Karacan played very well again in the holding role, and Tabb was ok although he was amongst a lot of players who fell asleep for the second goal. Harper, when he came on, obviously at the bottom point of the diamond, did his usual stuff, picking the ball off the defence and looking to set up attacking moves.

Defensively, not all over the place but there is one obvious weak link that must be sorted for Tuesday. The full backs were ok, I have no substantive complaints about them, Pearce was also decent and had Carroll in his pocket and also critically fell asleep when the ball wasn't heading out in the build-up to the 2nd, but Cisse - undone by movement, not good in the air for a tall man, and lacks pace. He was bossed by Ameobi all game. He does absolutely nothing to convince me that he is a central defender at all and for his man to win two open play free headers from crosses from deep is criminal and were deservedly punished. One last point on the defence - the penalty was one of those that you feel aggrieved to have given against you, but fully expect it to be given in your favour. It's not truly handball if the laws are followed literally as Long didn't deliberately control the ball with his hand, but his hand was up and the ball hit it. Ian, it doesn't matter if the ball is rolling in favour of an opposition player or not so your point is a moot one.

One last word for the referee - bottlejob. If you've booked a player for a particular offence, you have officially "cautioned" that player. If that player then commits another similar offence be it 30 seconds or 90 minutes later then that player has already been formally warned as to his conduct. You can't reasonably then be spoken to and let off. The 2nd free kick given was exacerbated by the fact we had a clear advantage and the referee chose to stop play there and then. Surely the warning could have waited? The very same thing happened in a more promising situation with Bertrand down the line and having a clear run into the box but play was pulled back so the referee could merely speak to Joey Barton. Ridiculous game-turning decisions imo, and Alan Smith can consider himself to be fortunate to have lasted beyond the 20 minute mark.

[Royal With Cheese]

FWIW:

Kebe - did he actually touch the ball?
Penalty - Stone Cold. I'm impressed with Ian Royal's debating skills though!
Overall, we were OK in patches but failed to make the keeper make any sort of save under pressure.
Newcastle looked nervous until the goal.
I felt sorry for Long.

[wickedwhispers]

Most of our players look like little boys. Really skinny with no muscle. How can the compete?

More work in the gym to buff up a bit methinks.

[Hoop Blah]

I'm a bit confused as to how Rosenoir is getting criticism for his general play as I thought he had a pretty good game. He possibly could've done better for the second goal, but his contribution to conceeding was a lot less than Pearce, Cisse and Federici's.

As for Mills, isn't he still getting up to match fitness. It's one thing giving him a run out against Burton, but throwing him into action against Newcastle if he's still off the pace and not yet ready would've been a bit of a tough ask. As AP says, changing a back four who've just kept a clean sheet is a little harsh anyway.

As for the rest of the game, I think it just highlighted how short we are on the attacking quality to win games at this level. Despite all the hype over Church, Robson-Kanu and Long I still maintain they're not good enough to give us a decent season in this league. We need more cutting edge and a forward who can genuinely hold the ball up or create a chance out of nothing if Rodgers is going to be able to make his version of 4-3-3 work.

[brendywendy]

greed with all o that



long should be a third choice striker, not 1st.

[PremAddict]

Saw the match on TV and "rewound" several times. Haven't read any post on this thread.

Started lively but Newcastle were by far better with the ball and better "getting it back" as BR would say. Lots of passing...to the keeper. I don't think I've ever seen so many passes go backwards into the box. Ever.

Once the goal was scored, it appeared there was a propensity to bypass the midfield and send it up the middle. This was disappointing but the midfield was not doing very well.

Kebe is really good on the ball, woeful with keeping it. Jem wasn't very good today. Didn't see much of Tabb but when I did, we did respectibly. Davies sent some really good passes but sent just as many to the opposition.

Long and Church were just not "visible". Feds - great distribution. Completely opposite of Marcus (and Marcus would've missed both headed-in goals too).

Magpies made mincemeat down their left side with Guttierez and company time after time just bulldozing over Rosey. He was poor.

Cisse did adequately but I kept wondering why our $2M centerback was left on the bench. Alex did well. Bertrand was pretty good going forward and got back - decent pace but he wasn't tested a whole lot in my opinion as Rosey left them a nice path down his side.

I realize that even without the "star players", Newcastle is likely to be one of the strongest teams (especially at home) we'll face this season. Even so, I kept thinking that if we don't get Marek in there, get some good quality goal production, and sort out the right flank, we're mid-table fodder at best. Still, nice seeing all the youth out there.

LOL, some of this is bullocks.

Karacan had a very good game. He did start a bit slowly but as the game progressed, so did he. Mills hasn't played many games pre-season and obviously not trained with us for that long, so it would have been harsh to drop pearce or cisse after their performances against forest. Rosey wasn't great, but he saved us a lot with his well timed tackles just inside the box.

Have to agree, in my opinion that is a mince review. Karacan was one of the very few players to come out of that having really earned his wages. Up against a very good midfield oposition he worked tirelessly for the team and took a few whacks in the process.

It seems Pearce will be the next one for Woodcote's list of 'untouchables' He was too busy berating everyone else while nolan retrieved the ball got it back for his pal to cross and then Pearce's man was helping himself to his 2nd unchallenged headed goal of the day. Woeful defending to be fair. I think Pearce will be an excellent player in time but that 2nd goal was dismal. If Doobs had done that the board would have crashed, of course he'd have never done that in the first place!

With Jem I just didn't see it: I agree with you if your sentiment is to give him credit for the work-rate but I didn't see a lot of productivity with that workrate. Yes maybe Smith was the culprit. For my comment on Alex, I meant to say "didn't" (which is why I placed that comment after the one about Mills). Forsome reason typing in my comments on th eboard is causing the text to jum all fover the place which is causing typos.

An by the way, i think calling a review "mince" or "bollox" is a bit harsh if you really only dispute a couple of assessments. I don't think youcan argue with myother comments.

[Ark Royal]

greed with all o that



long should be a third choice striker, not 1st.

Totally agree about Long. His seventh touch is oxf*rd atrocious and he could not control a bag of cement. Honest endeavour and a lot of running is not enough at this level.

[Royal Rother]

As for the rest of the game, I think it just highlighted how short we are on the attacking quality to win games at this level. Despite all the hype over Church, Robson-Kanu and Long I still maintain they're not good enough to give us a decent season in this league. We need more cutting edge and a forward who can genuinely hold the ball up or create a chance out of nothing if Rodgers is going to be able to make his version of 4-3-3 work.

Young players can improve rapidly. Let's give them a chance first.

[Hoop Blah]

As for the rest of the game, I think it just highlighted how short we are on the attacking quality to win games at this level. Despite all the hype over Church, Robson-Kanu and Long I still maintain they're not good enough to give us a decent season in this league. We need more cutting edge and a forward who can genuinely hold the ball up or create a chance out of nothing if Rodgers is going to be able to make his version of 4-3-3 work.

Young players can improve rapidly. Let's give them a chance first.

They can RR, but they need to be somewhere near good enough to start with.

The three I mentioned have all played a decent amount of league football already and not really stood out as yet. They've all shown promise yes, but nothing to really attract the hype and plaudits they've received on here and I think we're gambling a lot on them delivering the goods at the moment.

I want them to be given a chance to suceed and I'm totally behind the current regimes approach of using the products of our academy to provide such numbers in the squad but I still think we'll need to see a bit more in the way of proven quality alongside them if this season isn't going to a disappointment (and I'm not expecting promotion or even play offs).

I suppose one of my main worries is that without that proven experience to learn from we might end up stunting the talented youngsters progression. All good youngsters need guiding and accomplished senior pro's to learn from and to cover for their mistakes. Do we currently have those alongside them in the team/team to give them the best chance at developing as well as delivering decent results? I'm not sure to be honest.

[Alan Partridge]

No Offence Prem Addict, I just didn't agree with your summary, doesn't mean it's worng just not what i personally saw.

I didn't think Rosenior was poor
I didn't think Karacan was poor
I thought Pearce was poor
I thought Kebe was dire
I thought Long was so so for an hour then hopeless for the last 30mins.
And I'm not sure Federici was completely blameless for the 1st goal, was a tame header that maybe he got is feet a tad mixed up so he couldn't get a really good dive in. I mean he dived but he didn't actually gain any ground across the goal! lol, was literally up and down. Dunno it was a weak goal.

So we disagree on certain things, maybe harsh to use the word mince as it is only your viewpoint, which is fair enough.

[Hoop Blah]

And I'm not sure Federici was completely blameless for the 1st goal, was a tame header that maybe he got is feet a tad mixed up so he couldn't get a really good dive in. I mean he dived but he didn't actually gain any ground across the goal! lol, was literally up and down. Dunno it was a weak goal.

I've not really seen it since, but I think he could've done more for the second too.

It was a slowish and high cross from deep which didn't go far beyond the far post. With all that time to get a view of it I think a keeper should probably come and challenge for it, especially when it's a bit of a mismatch at the back post between centre forward and fullback.

Maybe a tad harsh?

[Alan Partridge]

And I'm not sure Federici was completely blameless for the 1st goal, was a tame header that maybe he got is feet a tad mixed up so he couldn't get a really good dive in. I mean he dived but he didn't actually gain any ground across the goal! lol, was literally up and down. Dunno it was a weak goal.

I've not really seen it since, but I think he could've done more for the second too.

It was a slowish and high cross from deep which didn't go far beyond the far post. With all that time to get a view of it I think a keeper should probably come and challenge for it, especially when it's a bit of a mismatch at the back post between centre forward and fullback.

Maybe a tad harsh?

Think so, the second goal was dire defending but from an attacking view was a superb cross in at a dangeorus area and Ameobi finished that one extremely well.

Think for the first maybe Federici thought he may head it the other side, he did have to rearrange his feet because he was going left and then the header went right but he was too slow doing so. Maybe got them in a muddle,when you dive with no momentum because your weight is on the wrong foot you just go up and down! like Federici did.

[Maguire]

And I'm not sure Federici was completely blameless for the 1st goal, was a tame header that maybe he got is feet a tad mixed up so he couldn't get a really good dive in. I mean he dived but he didn't actually gain any ground across the goal! lol, was literally up and down. Dunno it was a weak goal.

I've not really seen it since, but I think he could've done more for the second too.

It was a slowish and high cross from deep which didn't go far beyond the far post. With all that time to get a view of it I think a keeper should probably come and challenge for it, especially when it's a bit of a mismatch at the back post between centre forward and fullback.

Maybe a tad harsh?

Think so, the second goal was dire defending but from an attacking view was a superb cross in at a dangeorus area and Ameobi finished that one extremely well.

Think for the first maybe Federici thought he may head it the other side, he did have to rearrange his feet because he was going left and then the header went right but he was too slow doing so. Maybe got them in a muddle,when you dive with no momentum because your weight is on the wrong foot you just go up and down! like Federici did.

Happens quite a lot when you're moving across your goal to be fair. Strikers put it back the other way and you're in the wrong part of your step; by the time you land and try to go back the other way it's too late and you end up off balance and floundering like A-Fed. Think you're being a bit harsh to blame him when it was a cracking cross and a totally free header from 6 yards out. Defenders should take the rap first and foremost.

[Alan Partridge]

Wasn't blaming him Mags, as you say it was the defenders fault, just felt it was a weak header(1st one) that in Andy Gray style mebbe just mebbe, might have done a tad better on.

But yep free header 5 yards out is DIRE and strikers should score everytime.

[Hoop Blah]

Happens quite a lot when you're moving across your goal to be fair. Strikers put it back the other way and you're in the wrong part of your step; by the time you land and try to go back the other way it's too late and you end up off balance and floundering like A-Fed. Think you're being a bit harsh to blame him when it was a cracking cross and a totally free header from 6 yards out. Defenders should take the rap first and foremost.

Absolutely, that's why 'the text book' says you always put it back where the keepers come from. It also means that if they manage to save it it's more likely to come back somewhere central for your mate to bag a tap in.

As you say though, it's a free header from six yards. Anything in the six yard box is potentially the keepers ball, especially when it's a cross from deep that isn't coming away from the keepers reach.

I wouldn't say it was a glaring error, but if I was the fullback sitting under that cross with two six foot plus centre forwards climbing over my back I'd be asking my keeper to come and help out on it.

I'll wait until I've seen it again but my first instinct and memory tells me the keeper is just as culpable as the fullback on this one.

[Platypuss]

The main problem for teh first two was that there just wasn't enough pressure on the crosser - if opposition players are allowed to have that much time to tee up the cross they will do damage.

[papereyes]

Wasn't blaming him Mags, as you say it was the defenders fault, just felt it was a weak header(1st one) that in Andy Gray style mebbe just mebbe, might have done a tad better on.

But yep free header 5 yards out is DIRE and strikers should score everytime.

I thought the bounce deceived Feds, maybe? Ameobi headed it down and it bounced, looped up over his hand.

His momentum was taking him the other way, the ball bounced awkwardly.

[Hoop Blah]

The main problem for teh first two was that there just wasn't enough pressure on the crosser - if opposition players are allowed to have that much time to tee up the cross they will do damage.

Agreed, especially when it's the quality of player that Newcastle have in their ranks.

I always maintain that 99% of goals are down to a series of 'errors' or that a number of players could have done better on them. In this case your dead right, both crossers of the ball had far too much time. In both goals the centre halfs and fullbacks didn't defend that well and the keeper didn't dominate his box as I'd hope. At the same time, both goals show very good, but basic, movement from the centre forward to find the space to allow the crosser pick him out.

I wouldn't blame anyone player for any of the goals, but if people are going to slate Rosenoir and Pearce, then Cisse, Federici and to a lesser extent Bertrand should be receiving the same level of criticism.