In the last 20 minutes of the first half Newcastle stretched Birmingham to the very limit. They hit the woodwork at least twice, missed two attempts at goal from one yard out, and in the end had to settle for a penalty to go in all square at 1-1 after 45 minutes.
Charles N’Zogbia – had a great attacking game on Saturday
Sam rightly says that just isn’t good enough, and we have to put home more of our chances when they come. The game should really have been wrapped up at the interval and it wasn’t and Birmingham came back well in the second half to make things really difficult for the Magpies.
“We can ill afford at St James’s Park not to win games when we’ve got the opportunity to do so,†“That’s where we have to get more ruthless.â€
“When you’ve hit the sort of levels and attempts on goal we’ve had, particularly in the first half, you have to point out to the lads where the ruthless end of it lies. Then of course not giving away silly goals makes a big difference in turning draws into wins.â€
“It was a worry that we had to rely on a penalty to get back in it. It’s great creating the amount of opportunities we do, but at the moment we’re not converting a lot of them.â€
Sam’s right there. At least we are creating chances and not putting them home. It would be a lot worse if we weren’t even creating the chances. One of these games we’re going to be 4-0 up at half time by being more ruthless in our finishing and we have quite a few players who can score goals in the team. Charles N’Zogbia and James Milner both looked good down the left hand side on Saturday and are playing extremely well this season. In fact our three 21 year-olds, James, Charles and Steven Taylor are all playing extremely well right now.
Sam continued:
“Six months down the line, hopefully people will look back and say this was a big week.†Allardyce feels criticisms of Newcastle’s approach this season are unjustified.â€
“Everyone keeps going on about this Bolton style, but we’ve never played it since I’ve been here,†“We haven’t got that sort of player.â€
“I’ve never been able to buy players to play a certain system, I’ve always had to go to a football club and pick a system to suit the players. If I wasn’t flexible, I wouldn’t have got where I am today with less money (to spend) than everyone else for most of my career.â€
“I came here to get more money to buy more quality players, make a better team and play a better way if that’s at all possible. But there’s only one way to play and that’s to win.â€
And it was clear to the fans that Newcastle have set out to win their last 3 games by attacking the opposition. That even happened at Blackburn at the start of the second half, when it was obvious Newcastle were going for the win. It was exciting to watch the last 20 minutes of the first half and Newcastle looked a great side, but certainly should have had more goals.
But we’ve done very well over the last 3 games and things are certainly starting to look up. And there’s even signs that players, such as Habib Beye, are finally settling in to produce very high level and consistent performances week in and week out. And that’s exactly what we need right now.
Comments very welcome.
13 comments so far
George
Dec 10, 2007 at 10:50 AM
Comment #1Totally agree, we should be more ruthless, but why was it allowed to disappear in the first place.
Hopefully that is all behind us now and we can progress to the next level.
I still think that our season is all but over again, as too many points were lost during our spell of non existance recently.
As the FA cup is our only chance of silverware this season, i pray to god that our players up their ability and enthusiasim and give us something to shout about.
coolsmurf
Dec 10, 2007 at 10:50 AM
Comment #2he just needs to play further up field…
Len
Dec 10, 2007 at 11:09 AM
Comment #3Interesting comment from a man who has left his leading scorer on the bench most of the season. The first thing he should do is start Oba and Smudger every match. Second get Viduka fit. Third swap Strola for Berbatov or Defoe?
Len
Dec 10, 2007 at 11:12 AM
Comment #4Fourth keep picking Joey he is getting better every match. Fifth thank Geremi and Butt for their efforts and replace them with someone who can get forward regularly. Sixth explain to Shay that hoofing clearances straight at their CB is not the best option.
Bosck
Dec 10, 2007 at 12:36 PM
Comment #5talking of ruthless, ed have you seen this?
http://msnsport.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12040_2958555,00.html
allardyce has agreed a deal with babayaro to end his contract. think its a good idea for everyone. i know some people will say we should have tried to get some money for him, but given how long he’s been out injured i doubt there’d have been many takers willing to pay for him. someone may now pick him up on a free tho.
ToonKing
Dec 10, 2007 at 12:50 PM
Comment #6good job Sam, i just hope we won’t see him again like Bernard…………..
Jamie
Dec 10, 2007 at 1:30 PM
Comment #7Going back to Alan Smith – His best position is upfront and his second best position is attacking midfielder. Anywhere else is a waste IMO, the last 2 games he has played superb upfront and in central midfield wen called upon. Another thing is how good Zog looks wen playing left back and coming forward, him and milner down that side look fantastic, not sure away from home, but at home a big big threat for us. Barton playing is a big bonus as hes getting better and better, i wouldnt be surprised if he started scoring from midfield soon also. Anyone else think that beye, taylor, rozy should be our starting defence along with either charles or enrique l/b? i mean how good is taylor at centre back, hes superb!! same goes for beye at right back, again superb. We are finally seeing players playing in there right posistions and it has shown in the last 3 games what that means. Finally something to smile about at St James’s
Bill F
Dec 10, 2007 at 1:51 PM
Comment #8Due to other committments I missed a lot of the blogging action over the weekend. But I know there has been lots of comments re Smith and Beye. Just want to add that a lot of us have been saying that they should have been played as they eventually were.
Do people think that Sam might be getting the hang of the management business at last. 🙂
Leo
Dec 10, 2007 at 3:41 PM
Comment #9lay off bernard, he was class.
Bosck
Dec 10, 2007 at 4:27 PM
Comment #10Leo – 1st time round he was class
2nd time round was pointless
scott 9
Dec 10, 2007 at 5:29 PM
Comment #11tayloy and rozenham first choice defenders i dont agree in my opinion faye and cacapa are by far our best defenders no question
Toon Al
Dec 10, 2007 at 8:09 PM
Comment #12faye gives us so much aerial dominance, and cacapa, when fit is calm cool and collected at the back, they make a good pair. but with taylors commitment and willingness to put himself on the line is also a great asset in defence, a pairing of taylor and cacapa may be interesting.
for me, roz is a good player, good footballer, but sometimes misses the basics of defending out. for example when people are running at him he sets his body square on to the attacker. this is too risky and its do or die when the ball comes to him. i do like to see him play, but it worries me from time to time when he does, if faster attackers go past him shay is on his own.
sam has quite a nice problem for CB in my opinion, al these 4 have their qualities and habib can also slot in at cb, he had a good game for us in that position the other week
scott 9
Dec 11, 2007 at 1:18 PM
Comment #13if u played taylor and cacapa u could play faye in dmf that could work quite well actaully