Newcastle went down to defeat again at Ewood Park this afternoon against Blackburn Rovers, but not before a gutsy fighting display in the second half, where they had no luck, and plainly went all out for the win.
Oba Martins – scored Newcastle’s goal after 47 minutes with a header
After a good steady first half performance Newcastle were quite well positioned at the start of the second half, and then after 47 minutes Martins opened the scoring for Newcastle with a nice header form a Geremi free kick. It was obvious they had been given directions by manager Sam Allardyce to attack and go for the win.
As soon as they scored the Newcastle players were pouring forward. But then only 7 minutes after going ahead, Carr was unlucky to give away a free kick away on the edge of the box, as it was hardly a foul. But from the free kick young Bentley expertly put the ball over the wall into Given’s top left hand corner as Given could only look on – and Blackburn were level.
The first half has been very steady play by both sides, with Blackburn having the two best chances. Newcastle were quite solid in the first half and were picking up the loose balls and certainly looked much better organized than last week.
Blackburn’s best chance came after 15 minutes when Santa Cruz found himself straight through in the center, but then put a weak shot past Given’s right hand post. The Paraguay International should have done better, and it was a let-off for Newcastle.
Faye seemed to have a knee problem after 24 minutes and had to be replaced with Stephen Carr coming on at right back for his first appearance since late August. Habib Beye was switched to center-back with Rozehnal.
Just before the break Shay Given came out of his box and passed the ball out this his left, but Newcastle lost possession and Bentley seemed to have a free shot on goal. However he put the ball wide of Newcastle’s right hand post, when it looked easier to score, as Given scrambled back. It was the second let-off for Newcastle and some poor defending by the Magpies.
Then with the scores still level at 1-1, after 56 minutes, it looked certain Barton would score but he couldn’t force the ball home from 5 yards, and Blackburn made an amazing escape when Newcastle really should have gone 2-1 up.
In the second half both teams were going for the win and it was end to end action and the question was which team would crack first. After 66 minutes Martins had a free header from 6 yards out but in trying to put the ball over Friedel’s head he managed to also put the ball over the bar. Oba should have scored.
After 67 minutes Newcastle were caught short at the back and Bentley put the ball in off a post to put Blackburn ahead 2-1.
Newcastle poured forward again and again, and after 73 minutes were again caught short at the back yet again as Emerton hit a post. From the ensuing melee Geremi made a great stop and then Given blocked another shot as Newcastle somehow kept the score at 2-1. It was an amazing let-off for Newcastle, but luck was on the side of the brave.
After 79 minutes Emerton clearly handled in the box as Milner challenged and Milner appealed for the penalty. But the referee didn’t give it although replays clearly showed Emerton handled the ball intentionally. It should have been a penalty.
But it was almost inevitable that Blackburn would get a third goal as Newcastle looked for the equalizer, and just before the end Blackburn went through and scored their third goal though Tugay, as Newcastle were desperately looking to get a second goal..
3-1 was hardly a fair reflection on the play but Newcastle had chances to score which they didn’t take, and the team who won were the team that took their chances. To say Newcastle had not luck in this game is an understatement, and Sam Allardyce looked a beaten and exhausted man at the end.
But Sam can be pvery roud of his troops today. They gave everything for the Newcastle cause, and lack of effort cannot be cited for the defeat today. The players played their hearts out for the team, but it just wasn’t going to be their day.
We hope the Newcastle fans will turn out in force on Wednesday night to cheer the lads on against Arsenal. Because of this fighting display – the players deserve the support.
BLACKBURN ROVERS: Friedel (c), Emerton, Ooijer, Samba, Warnock, Bentley, Tugay, Mokoena, Dunn, McCarthy, Santa Cruz.
Subs: Brown (GK), Savage, Pedersen, Reid, Roberts.
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Given, Rozenhal, Barton, Martins, N’Zogbia, Milner, Smith, Geremi (c), Beye, Butt, Faye.
Subs: Harper (GK), Carr, Enrique, Emre, Viduka.
Comments are very welcome – but please keep the language decent – many thanks.
25 comments so far
geno toon
Dec 1, 2007 at 5:51 PM
Comment #1we have to learn how to win. I am doubting our manager is the one who will teach us this now.
ToonKing
Dec 1, 2007 at 5:53 PM
Comment #2i must say that loosing never felt this good 🙂
it was a very good performance, if we can keep this up result will surely come. I can’t say a bad word about any of the lads, and Smithy was brilliant today.
Credit to the lads and Big Sam. Roll on Gooners.
lezb
Dec 1, 2007 at 5:57 PM
Comment #3yes we lost but for me at least we lost trying and that at least is avast improvment on recent performances
yet_another_indian_toon
Dec 1, 2007 at 5:58 PM
Comment #4Much improved performance after last week. Smudge and Martins were decent upfront, thank god Sam played Milner & Zog.
Next up is Arsenal, isn’t?
yet_another_indian_toon
Dec 1, 2007 at 6:00 PM
Comment #5Any news on the severity of Faye’s injury? And what happened to Taylor?
Rob Kirton
Dec 1, 2007 at 6:09 PM
Comment #6Getting the team playing like this every week should see us stop the slide down the table and keep Sam in a job. He certainly had the players fired up and focussed.
However to put a damper on things. We were playing a team who hadn’t won in 5 like ourselvers and had been tonked at home 4-0 previous game. I think they had only scored 8 or 9 times at home prior to this game.
The Arsenal match is much more of a fair test to see if this is the start of Sam getting it right.
Any half hearted effort against Arsenal will get the fans backs up and see still see Sam picking up his cards sooner rather than later. One game does not a season make. The feeling I get from many of the comments earlier is that people are that emotional rollercoaster that is NUFC. It is hard results and a consistent level of perfomance that will determine where the team and indeed Sam Allardyce ends the season.
billy
Dec 1, 2007 at 6:10 PM
Comment #7much better today ,same again on wed and with a bit more luck we will get something from the game.
Drago
Dec 1, 2007 at 6:17 PM
Comment #8I was proud today that im toon fan 😉 they kept fighting all game, and i just hope that we dont make another mistake by sacking our manager… give him time until next christmas then decide the future… Also very good thing today was that J.Barton is going back to his best 😉 some nice things from him today… The Future is bright lads 😉 Cheers from Lithuania
Greg B
Dec 1, 2007 at 6:21 PM
Comment #9Whilst I agree, it was a much more commited performance and yes, we did go down fighting but it just seems to me that the tactics and formation dosent suit the players Allardyce has at his disposal.
For instace Geremi, what position is he? Smith, wheres his best position? In N’Zogbia and Milner we have two young natural wingers, why dont we play them both on the wings?
Why does Geremi take every single free kick? Fair enough he set up Martins for our goal today but lets mix it up a bit, Milner and N’Zogbia can both hit them.
Today we started with Geremi on the right of midfield, Milner on the left and too many times Martins was over on the right because Geremi wasnt there. I personally think Geremi would be best suited at right back, then we can play Milner on the right wing, N’Zogbia can push onto the left wing and the lad Allardyce laid out over 6million quid for, Enrique can slot in at left back.
Ive not too many complaints with Smith up top today, but if Viduka is fit I feel he should be starting the match.
All in all a much better performance but still not good enough, 90% of the players are good enough but Allardyce needs to tinker with the tactics to get the best out our underacheiving ‘superstars’.
valle
Dec 1, 2007 at 6:55 PM
Comment #10Well i agree with Toon King and Drago… And i have to say that i was proud of the traveling supporters. They showed the viewing world that NUFC still have some die hards among their ranks… hoped u watched that Bill F, and go and read my reply to ur singled minded comment on the Barton post pls
ToonKing
Dec 1, 2007 at 6:57 PM
Comment #11Greg , Geremi didn’t start on the right he played in the middle as we played 4-3-3 with 3 center midfielders in Butt Barton and Geremi. Milner popping up on the right was a deliberate order by Sam i think.
I feel that we played really good today and the tactics were good too….to bad for the result if only Martins and Joey could have taken those chances………………Oba headed over the bar from 3 feet……….to bad..
Soren
Dec 1, 2007 at 7:14 PM
Comment #12It certainly was a performance that we can build on. The 4-3-3 formation worked well today, and we didn’t play as much long ball football as in previous games. It was a joy to see some of the passing we produced because, it has been a long time since we last tried to play through the opposing side, rather than just lob it up to Viduka. A shame we didn’t take our chances today, but any other day we might as well have won this game. Would say to Martins defence that the ball he headed over the bar should never have arrived to him, as it was Samba who missed the clearance and I thought it surpriced Martins that he even got the ball.
Good display today and we can look forward to Arsenal with hope.
steve
Dec 1, 2007 at 7:52 PM
Comment #13if we can keep playing that way we’ll prob win more than we lose especially after the Arseal game when we have an easier run of games (on paper anyway)
come on the toon – Ewood Parks a sh!thole
scott 9
Dec 1, 2007 at 8:00 PM
Comment #14i wasnt at the game how did smith martins and milner do did the 3 in attack work how did they link up
valle
Dec 1, 2007 at 8:09 PM
Comment #15scott 9… Martins had one of his best games for us imo… He didnt score any wonder goals, and he missed an easy chance. But the improvement he showed in his passing and first touch made him look real class, and if he can keep on producing this form and start putting the easy chances away he can get up there with the best. Smith didnt look to good tho, he has trouble holding up the ball and his flick ons arent good at all, he never looked like scoring either. Milner seems to have dropped all the dribling and it looks like Sam it correcting things with the players, he still didnt have a good game and he didnt make one good cross or set piece.
ToonKing
Dec 1, 2007 at 8:26 PM
Comment #16valle i beg to differ, Smithy was our best player, he constantly harassed the defense and he has absolutely no trouble holding the ball up, he created space for both Oba and Milner, in fact i think he does a better job atm then Viduka. He was also always in the right position and got fouled in all the right places, to bad we didn’t put them away.
scott 9
Dec 1, 2007 at 9:04 PM
Comment #17i will be gutted if allardyce is sacked after arsenal we should pick up 12 points from four games and that should put is up to about 8th then were back in contention for europe even if its just interto let him bring in 4-5 players in jan and well be fine
dmf
cb
creative midfielder
rightback
thats what we need in my opinion
ToonKing
Dec 1, 2007 at 9:14 PM
Comment #18don’t worry scott9 Sam will not be sacked, until the unthinkable happens and we drop into the relegation zone he’s job is safe, thanx to the ace mentality of Mike and Mort.
scott 9
Dec 1, 2007 at 9:19 PM
Comment #19i hope your right mate
nightfall
Dec 1, 2007 at 9:30 PM
Comment #20i’m glad we played well…i couldn’t watch the match..but still… sam is replacable…he had one good match…and that’s ‘cos he HAD to try sth new… and i still think he could pick a better line up…i don’t have much faith in sam…but it’s always good to see our team playing good football and fighting all over the pitch… but like i said…sam didn’t make shocking decisions this weekend..but they weren’t the best as well…
valle
Dec 1, 2007 at 11:42 PM
Comment #21Imo he fell over to often and his flick ons never once came of use… When we speak of Viduka… Did u see that solo drible inside their box?. That was magic stuff.
Leo
Dec 1, 2007 at 11:59 PM
Comment #22wasnt it nzogbia that gave away the freekick ed?
carr seemed good when he came on, i told you all that be has improved recently. big sam has had him blacklisted at greggs
Leo
Dec 2, 2007 at 12:01 AM
Comment #23good game though, shame about the result.
nicky butt wasnt good enough, hoofed the ball up the field, that is when he wasnt loosing the ball giving blackburn a chance to attack us.
did anyone notice how on MOTD they showed all of the blackburn chances but hardly any of ours, we had 10shots they had 5 and they showed all of theirs…
malaysian youngster
Dec 2, 2007 at 12:53 AM
Comment #24Sam geremi best role is translator not a captain nor a player. he is the weakest link in our midfield.he more suitable for RB but beye can do a fantastic job there.bout rozenhal i think taylor is much better than him.please buy sol campbell.
Grunde Axelsen
Dec 2, 2007 at 1:23 AM
Comment #25I think we played well today. Our best game since Bolton. Seriously. Strange to loose 3-1 and still be happy, but I really am. Give Sam time and the results will come! Give him a couple of years. At least! Have you guys not learnt anything?