The 3-0 scoreline hardly tells the story of this game, as Chelsea scored two goals in the last two minutes and Steven Taylor had to go off injured after 89 minutes with an injury, after Newcastle had already used all three substitutes.
But the big talking point of this game is that Chelsea should have been reduced to 10 men after only 4 minutes, when David Luiz brought down Demba Ba when Ba was straight through on goal, and Luiz was the last man.
But amazingly referee Mike Dean gave only a yellow card – explain that one please – it was a stone cold red card, and Dean didn’t seem to have the guts to give it.
And you thought maybe today was not going to go Newcastle’s way – and it didn’t.
Then on 13 minutes Cabaye was adjudged to have brought down Daniel Sturridge and referee Dean gave a penalty. Frank Lampard took the penalty but a fantastic save from Tim Krul low to his left saved the day for Newcastle.
On 38 minutes Chelsea went ahead when a brilliant header by Drogba after a cross By Mata that gave Tim Krul no chance, but the Newcastle defense had gone to sleep.
Mata had got away from his marker Cabaye at a throw-in which seemed to have been Newcastle’s- but the the Spaniard got the cross in – and it was sloppy defending by Newcastle.
Newcastle made a change at half time as Shola Aemobi came on in place of Hatem Ben Arfa, and we’re not sure if it was a tactical switch – but it probably was and Newcastle played an all out 4-4-2.
On 55 minutes a Cabaye corner was headed against the Chelsea cross bar by Didier Drogba, and then Chelsea broke away quickly and it took another brilliant save from Tim Krul from Ramires to keep Chelsea from getting their second goal.
On then 74 minutes a Sammy Ameobi shot was cleared off the line by John Terry as Petr Cech mishandled a cross, and after 80 minutes a terrific shot by Shola Ameobi hit the bar and from the rebound Sammy Ameobi hit a decent shot at the Chelsea goal which was well saved by Cech.
When you’re luck’s not in it’s not in.
Newcastle were going for the equalizer at this stage of the game but on 83 minutes Sturridge was straight through on Krul, but again Tim made a great save, and in the next minute Demba Ba had a decent chance in the inside left position at the other end, but he sliced the ball wide.
If it hadn’t been for Tim Krul Newcastle may even have been buried this afternoon.
Chelsea caught Newcastle short at the back on 89 minutes and Torres set up Kalou who blasted the ball into the net for Chelsea’s second goal, even though Tim Krul got ahand to the ball.
And then Steven Taylor had to go off with what looked like an injury and Newcastle were down to 10 men.
To make matters worse, in the 3rd minute of injury time, Daniel Sturridge finally took one of the many chances he got in this game, and blasted the ball past Tim Krul.
This was a disastrous game for Newcastle, not because they played badly, and it was never 3-0, but Newcastle lost both their center-backs, and our paper thin squad is being exposed.
We just have to hope that both Steven Taylor and Colo are okay for next weelk’s game at Norwich, otherwise we could be in some big trouble.
But Newcastle hit the bar three times in this game, and didn’t have the rub of the green, but there again without the magnificent Tim Krul, Newcastle could have been buried.
What a player this boy is and he put in what was really a world-class performance in the Newcastle goal.
We’ll have a full report of the game coming out shortly.
Teams:
Newcastle United (4-4-1-1): Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini (c), Ryan Taylor; Gabriel Obertan, Yohan Cabaye, Danny Guthrie, Peter Lovenkrands; Hatem Ben Arfa; Demba Ba
Substitutes: Steve Harper, Davide Santon, James Perch, Dan Gosling, Sammy Ameobi, Leon Best, Shola Ameobi
Chelsea: (4-3-3): Petr Cech; Branislav Ivanovic, David Luiz, John Terry (c), Ashley Cole; Ramires, Oriol Romeu, Frank Lampard; Daniel Sturridge, Didier Drogba, Juan Mata
Substitutes: Ross Turnbull, Jose Bosingwa, Ryan Bertrand, Raul Meireles, Florent Malouda, Salomon Kalou, Fernando Torres
Comments welcome.
44 comments so far
archaeomag
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:07 PM
Comment #1I think today the footballing Gods finally caught up with us, but it has been a long time coming, and I can’t complain about the effort.
Obertan was just trying a bit too hard to be French . .
C’est la Vie . .
casmag
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:07 PM
Comment #2Damn,that was quick Ed
ilovetoon8788
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:08 PM
Comment #3no saylor no colo.. a hopeless raylor. our best defence record gonna disappear overnight.
niafron
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:08 PM
Comment #4OK, got to go lads.
Bonsoir messieurs.
(An got a good week end, it’s just football, what happened to Gary Speed should make us think to such things.
So got a good dinner, let’s make love to yours wives and girlfriends, and just enjoy the life!)
nufc mad man
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:08 PM
Comment #5i don’t know why raylor is always the one being blamed when obatan seemed worse over the period
also i think we lack any real attack from midfield
toonbrother
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:08 PM
Comment #63-0 at home? How humiliating Pardew’s first mistake was coming out in the press saying he expected us to win. Rule number 1 of football management always keep your feet on the ground
Klatoon
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:10 PM
Comment #7How bad are the injuries? Well if are not linked with a few defensive signings in the next weeks,I’ll be worried
ToonDownSouth
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:11 PM
Comment #8WWJBD
Hilarious isn’t it. One loss to one of the best team in the league and it’ll be summer all over again!
“Cheap frenchies being found out”
“Ben arfa too light weight for the prem”
“Cabaye too slow”
Cabaye is a million miles from ne of the slowest players in the league, and light weight? More so than Mata, Silva, Modric, Gervinho, Walcott etc???
Might have to avoid this blog for a few days until the nutters go away again.
colwell
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:12 PM
Comment #9In Ba we have one of the best strikers in the prem on his own he is always a threat in a 2 even more so.
4-4-2 is our best formation we gave it a really good go in the 2nd half and with Messi(shola) we looked like we would get at least a draw.
Krul is amazing and his kicking was perfect what a world class keeper.
Saylor better than Terry,Rio,Cahill.
Guthries improved ridiculously and Perch well played did well.
pardew no 1
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:12 PM
Comment #10we need jonas lover done good but he didnt come back and help out
olivant
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:12 PM
Comment #11Actually we did not loose at home, we lost at SportsDirect.com, and I do not know where that is, what is up with Mike Dean by the way,stone cold red card for me thank you.
Dannyo
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:12 PM
Comment #12A loss that is kinda hard to swallow, but it’s the 2nd of the season, we will rise against norwich, i do not doubt that.
toonbrother
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:14 PM
Comment #13Spurs have already scored . NUFC going out of the top 4. I guess we deserve that for playing Lovenkrans and Shola Ameobi. Amazing people were touting Pardew as future England manager with the likes of Redknapp on hand. There’s no competition between the two when it comes to football judgement
roshan MAGPIE
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:14 PM
Comment #14COMPLETELY agree with toon down south some people here are just useless and disgrace to NUFC fans
ToonDownSouth
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:15 PM
Comment #15colwell
Good post. Well done for not being one of the doom saying crazies (;
olivant
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:15 PM
Comment #16I think we will fare better against the canaries, hope Saylor and Collo are back soon, a back four with Simpson Raylor Pearch and who is not the best
ToonDownSouth
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Comment #17Criticising Shola? Did you even watch the game?
AP's Black & White Army
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Comment #18Piss off TDS, you sanctimonious prick.
Marty-Toon
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:17 PM
Comment #19Sammy is decent,has a lot to learn but has loads of tricks and gets the ball in or gets us corners.
Loven also was good on the ball and direct today.
We also have Rayls that can play well on RW.
Guti is back next game n he\s more than decent.
The LB spot is a problem at the mo,we`re getting found out big time there n it holds Guti back from makin runs because of the weakness there.
Shola and Ba was a good lookin partnership today.
Play Benny on the wing!!!!
He played there loads in France n got by playeers all the time
AlwaysTOON
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:17 PM
Comment #20Hell of a run.. but NO WAY it can continue with Collo and Taylor injurd.. And the way R. Taylor plays.. no way.
SwedishMagpie
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:18 PM
Comment #21haha cahill got a red card but luiz didn’t ???
Thump
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:19 PM
Comment #22It just wasn’t our day like. 4-4-1-1 with HBA just doesn’t work out for us.
Shola played well, Guthrie had a great game, Cabaye was decent and played the holding role nicely, Lover impressed me and Perch wasn’t too bad outside of not challenging Drogba.
We deserved to lose today but certainly not by a 3 goal margin (admittedly 2 of them were scored when we were at our weakest).
What’s with all the injuries anyway? I thought the underground heating at the training ground was supposed to help prevent this from happening? (Just an assumption btw – all injuries appear to be leg based.)
ToonDownSouth
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:19 PM
Comment #23AP’s
Good post mate, good post. Nice to see some people not getting too worked up over one loss.
And do you even know what that word means? My post was in no way indicating superiority – it said that the points made were incorrect, fact.
Bolton toon fan
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:19 PM
Comment #24Disappointing the ref bottled it when ba clearly had a goalscoring opportunity and david luiz was last men back.Still its been coming a while and i think we can be proud of our team.
Obertan was terrible.Never looked like doing anything.Perch come on and did good.Dont rate him whatsoever and think its mad him marking drogba when he has the same physique i had when i was 12.
Marty-Toon
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:20 PM
Comment #25Team for next game
……………King Krul………………………………
Simmo ……..Tayls/Perch…..Kadar/Santon…….Rayls…
Benny…….Cabaye…….Guthrie………….Guti…….
…………………Ba………….Shola……………
AP's Black & White Army
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:22 PM
Comment #26You were calling people ‘crazies’, for having an opinion, I believe that’s sanctimony.
Again, you don’t even know you’re doing it.
seantoon
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:24 PM
Comment #27Shola changed the game u muppet
Marty-Toon
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:24 PM
Comment #28Perch wasn`t the main problem for the goal as the throw in was straight to Mata who wasn`t being marked properly by Cabaye and had loadsa time to pick Drogba out
Marty-Toon
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:25 PM
Comment #29Shola was great,they couldn`t handle hom,just Terry last gasp a few times
ToonDownSouth
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:25 PM
Comment #30They’re complete knee jerk reactions – seriously read through. Cabaye has been a revelation, then we lose a game and he’s rubbish. Ben Arfa has had everyone excited for months, now he’s rubbish too.
It’s not implying my superiority, it’s my personal opinion that everyone is going crazy over one result.
The result was completely skewed anyway. It was 1-0 and could go either way until Taylor got injured. YES it was terrible of the club to not purchase CB cover, but tha’s not even what people are complaining about sadly.
shamsoftabriz
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:28 PM
Comment #31Erik Pieters will help shore up the back line, and will allow Ryan Taylor to be more versatile, moving between the bak and the midfield. But yeah, some depth there is needed. Kadar is a bit sketchy.
AP's Black & White Army
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:30 PM
Comment #32I would say questioning someones sanity, is being a bit snooty; believing you’re in a position to do so.
Ah, whatever, I’m almost being guilty of the same thing now.
I’m avoiding football.
Zangwill_Ho
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:30 PM
Comment #33But today performance was well
mattyNUFC
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:36 PM
Comment #34“ben arfa will never play on the wing! don’t even mention it!!!”
yeah, well, why he didn’t play on the wing is as unsound as your surety that he never will. Why doesn’t a 4411 work with ben arfa and ba? it’s quite simple; ba is a team player. he tracks back, he wins the ball, so, essentially when we’re on the counter, we turn into a 4-6-0. it could work with best and ben arfa, i wholeheartedly believe that but i don’t think anyone in their right mind believes pards’ll drop Ba in place of best. ben arfa needs to be out on the wing. we’re too weak up top to only play with one striker. we don’t have enough quality to play a 433/451. It will never be able to work with the players we have. as boring and unimaginative as it is, a 442 is the way to go right now. maybe after january we can reassess but for now, no way.
i think the next three games were always going to be tougher than people thought, with or without colo and sayls
mattyNUFC
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:39 PM
Comment #35….and it’s quite clear, it’s time for a certain davide. nothing like two games too late, huh?
BeeGuy
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:41 PM
Comment #36Newcastle had its chances today, just didn’t get thin in the net.
Chelsea showed the same level of superiority as MANU in controlling the high balls and having players in position to move the ball about from a crowd. NUFC not there on those skills yet.
Vitorbarbosa
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:44 PM
Comment #37Proud of the lads today. Not the best result but certainly a very good performance.
Seeing our passes from midfield to out wide, and shola and ba holding the ball is joy to watch.
sparkes123
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:44 PM
Comment #38Good post toon down south. Cabaye has been class, i think people are forgetting that he’s been against world class footballers in the last few games. People should start to point at the owners, a CB was needed. I’ve heard that santon could play there, not sure how true that is and I don’t think we should ever entertain that option, atleast kadar (shakey) as he is, has trained that position.
All in all, today wasn’t a bad performance at all. Ober and raylor were questionable. But if Pardew believes in Ober, hopefully he’ll prove us wrong. He’s still very young and he’s had next to no game time in the previous two years. HBA will also improve, i think you people are forgetting how hard it must be getting back into the game after a year out.
Bottom line is we we’re unlucky today, a solid performance by most including perch. But we are indeed left lacking in the CB department due to ashley being a class A muppet!
Tiote4PM
Dec 3, 2011 at 3:50 PM
Comment #39Any one know where I can get Norwich tickets from????
Lachu
Dec 3, 2011 at 4:22 PM
Comment #40Observations :
We had a plan , credit to pardew , we removed HBA and went direct & long ball with Shola given chelsea s areial defence Weakness (homework )
2) Shola is getting sharp and will be ready wen BA is away to Africa
3) Ryan is no good without Jonas
4) Drop obertan for Gosling , ober is ead less cihcken , deosnt get to by line or cross ..
5) the loss is good wake up as the next 4 games are winnable