As expected, notloB were hard to break down. They came with little invention and seemed pretty happy to hoof the ball up to Davies and Nolan when he got forward. First half was 0-0 (as I’m sure you all know), but I thought we’d shaded it, if only we did more attacking play.
Their penalty was nailed-in, but I just had a sneaky feeling that Shay is on a bit of a roll (let’s face it, he was lucky to be in the starting eleven last weekend) and his confidence/luck did him well-even tho it was a sh!te penalty.
That miss seemed to take the stuffing out of notloB for a while, and Owen on for Martins strange decision in my opinion as I would have had him sooner after the break when Duff was subbed by Geremi after having the knackers well-and-truly planted into his chest by Andy O’Brien.
Stll, MO came on and did what he does good, he scored. Great cross from the right after about of pressure and somehow he managed to find 3 yards of space in the Leazes area and nodded the ball home.
Milner (who had moved up fron when Duff went off – MO played deeper) missed a glorious opportunity to head wor 2nd after some lovely work down the right. After that, Nolan should really have scored with a header, and Davies put a number off targer that I’d have expected him to test Shay with.
Eventually, we held out for a fair result. Four points and some confidence. Shay was awarded Man of the Match, but in all honesty, had little to do other than save the penalty. Colocinni was solid while not flamboyant. He seemed to be helping Taylor, who handled for the pen (hardly intentional, but it was definetely a penalty) and he was booked for handball after falling on the ground and about to be robbed.
I took a closer look at Guthrie after KK’s comments last week – and you know, KK was right. Without being outstanding, he put more than a shift in and rarely lost the ball – unlike…Nicky Butt.
Milner worked well, but for me, he lacks the final product – either a decent cross or a goal. On the other side, Gutierrez was great. He reminded me of Ginola but with an undestanding of defensive duties.
Martins ran around a lot and was unlucky (to get injured?) and to be subbed. As I said up front, MO does what MO does. Get that contract signed Michael.
newcastle
Screach.
Only registered users can comment.
