Even though Newcastle beat a 10 man Birmingham side 2-1 on Saturday, the defense still managed to let in another soft goal.
Danny Simpson tackles Lee Bowyer on Saturday
And that was just before half time, after Newcastle were 2-0 up after another good penalty from Shola Ameobi on 35 minutes, and a strong header from Steven Taylor on 43 minutes.
Steven Taylor had an excellent comeback game for Newcastle on Saturday, and is currently out Man of the Match on the home page.
It was another Fabricio Coloccini defensive error, not unlike the goal he conceded at Bolton and Johan Elmander last year, when he was sent off.
Add to that the great goalkeeping performance of Ben Forster, and Newcastle just squeezed the win, but it should have been more than just a one goal margin.
But a win is a win, and it was enough to take Newcastle to 10th position in the league, although Stoke’s excellent 3-1 win against Arsenal yesterday at the Britannia Stadium put Newcastle down to 11th position.
Arsenal’s defensive play is even starting to look comical these days, and Wenger just has to improve that back four for next season.
Danny Simpson talked about the sloppy goal Newcastle conceded just before half time on Saturday:
“At 2-0 we were cruising, but the goal we conceded was quite soft,” “That’s what’s frustrating. It’s not like somebody’s picked it up from 25 yards and blasted it into the top corner. It’s just little errors.”
“That’s good because it means we can stop it. When you look at the tapes, you can stop those errors in the future.”
“At 2-1, even though they had 10 men, you’ve got to be wary, because with a set piece or a long ball, before you know it, it could be 2-2.”
“We kept our discipline and maybe should have got a couple more in the second half. It didn’t happen, but the main thing is we didn’t concede any more goals.”
Newcastle at least got out of their four game slump in which they had taken only 2 points and scored only one goal, so it was good to get 2 goals in that first half, even though one of them was a penalty – at this stage of the season we’ll take whatever we can get.
The great news is Newcastle are safe on 44 points, and even have a fighting chance to finish in the top 10, but only if Newcastle can beat West Brom at home in the last game of the season on May 22nd.
The West Brom defense looked pitiful yesterday at Wolves, when Wolves got a rare 3-1 win, and their players worked their socks off for the Wolves cause, which was good to see.
And the poor West Brom performance gives us some hope that the lads can finish the season in style, but that game will be based on desire – which side wants the win more.
Danny continued:
“None of us thought we were going to go down, but to definitely be safe is a relief,” he said.
“We needed to pick ourselves back up, because if we’d lost today and other teams had won it would have still looked a bit risky going into the last two games with Chelsea on Sunday. It was important we got to that 44 points now.”
“After last weekend we were so disappointed. It was the way we got beaten. A few things got said afterwards. Just because we got to 41 points, the season wasn’t over.”
Manchester United beat Chelsea 2-1 yesterday with a first goal after only 36 seconds from Hernandez, and what a player this boy has turned out to be for the Red Devils this season.
We are now hoping that maybe, just maybe, Newcastle can get something out of the game at Stamford Bridge next Sunday, but we’ll not hold our breath.
But probably the best Newcastle can do is 3 points from the last two games of the season, and that would put the team on 47 points, not too bad at all for a season in which we just needed to survive.
We have to give massive credit to our players for that.
Howay The Lads!!
11 comments so far
lewytoon
May 9, 2011 at 9:51 AM
Comment #1yeah welldone! now lets kick on for next season, the higher we finish the more likely players will come!
PHOENIXNIGHTS
May 9, 2011 at 9:54 AM
Comment #2We need to finish off on a high and take that into next season. I am more than happy that we have have survived considering the Hughton/Carroll
f**K ups. WE NEED 2 QUALITY FORWARDS
as starters for next year (keep Best and Ameobi as substitutes) Please no Cole or Elmander as we need pace and movement at the sharp end. This current squad with the addition of 20 – 30 goals between them strikers will give us a decent team for next year. If Enrique goes so be it but lets get Joey and Nolan signed up, add HBA,Gosling,Vucic,Lua Lua and we can look forward to further improvement.
Keep the Faith
lewytoon
May 9, 2011 at 9:55 AM
Comment #3first :), has nigel reo coker agreed to come or something? hes supposedly signing before the usa tour on a 3 year deal 🙁 , found out through a text. however he has only been linked on google news.
Partizan
May 9, 2011 at 9:56 AM
Comment #4Partizanovec….Da bratce od Makedonija sum
Well with Chelsea losing yesterday,i think we have a chance of getting the 3 points at the bridge.
I know it sounds too much,but the motivation will be on our side.
lewytoon
May 9, 2011 at 9:56 AM
Comment #5we shud defo get wickam, and either osvaldo or gameiro. hopefully one of these two and i will be chuffed. u never know we might get both!
Geordiedoonsooth
May 9, 2011 at 9:57 AM
Comment #6Next season is the important one we need 4 or 5 players
lewytoon
May 9, 2011 at 9:59 AM
Comment #7i would sign:
kyle walker or seamus coleman, rb.
patrick van aaholt, lb
matt jarvis, lm.
gameiro or osvaldo, st
wickam, st
Partizan
May 9, 2011 at 9:59 AM
Comment #8We need 1 of these 2 experienced strikers
Gekas or Caraciolo
They don’t cost more than 2 mill each but we need experience upfront.
Ameobi is good,but i can’t rely on him cos of his constant injuries.
Brutooon
May 9, 2011 at 10:07 AM
Comment #9Collocini make mistake that lead to that goal
David Luiz make mistake that lead to Man Utd 40 seconds goal
Notice the similarities? the HAIR !!! haha
Rotonda heights
May 9, 2011 at 10:39 AM
Comment #10Hearing horrible rumours about C.Cole, Reo-Coker, Konchesky and Bothroyd.
I’d rather play the youngsters than bring any of them in.
I know it’s only paper talk, but so was Kuqi !
toonfan09
May 9, 2011 at 10:51 AM
Comment #11to be fair kuqi was never paper talk pardew came out and said that we were looking at him… if we were only getting english players why wud ashely spend money for the scouts to go abroad