Official Match Thread: Stoke 1-1 Newcastle United

[JawD 31]

Well cleared Carroll son

[spongebob toonpants 3587]

One more point than I thought - I would have taken it at the start in a heartbeat

 

ps Shola must never play again

[Flair 0]

See Cars actually defends unlike the donkey.

[MattM4 0]

We are still 3points from safety.

Well that's an improvement on this morning.

[JawD 31]

Im very cautious today. I can just see hoofed balls or thrown balls into the box being our undoing. I reckon we'd do well to get a draw, but thats what Im going for 1-1.

 

[Tom 13809]

Decent result.

[NJS 3960]

One more point than I expected.

 

Hopefully the end of Ameobi.

 

Midfield lack of creation again - not expecting any change there but still disappointing - will be interesting to see of he tries the supposed 4-3-3 against Spurs.

[The Fish 8949]

Second half was much better as soon as Jonas came on, he seemed to have a drifting role

Carroll must always ALWAYS start ahead of Shola.

When we stopped lumping the ball forward we started to see much better possession.

Stoke were as much to thank for our recovery as we were, they sat back further and further. Nerves kicked in.

The hand-bags peppering the game actually helped our cause, even though it was ugly.

[TicTacWoe 0]

Played as bad as usual until we scored. Carroll looked a million times better than Ameobi in every way, did much better defensively and was obviously more of a threat up front. He's no world beater but christ he has to start ahead of Shola.

[MattM4 0]

Hopefully the end of Ameobi.

Hohoho. How naive. It's never the end, man!! NEVER!

[Norbert Colon 0]

Ameobi should never (dis)grace the field in our colours again- end of

[snakehips 0]

Make no mistake, that is a MASSIVE (emphasized by the upper case )point for us. The reaction of the players at the goal told a million stories. Had we lost today, I think we would have just sunk like a stone.

[acrossthepond 699]

Considering the absolute shower of shite that was yet again served up in the first half, point has to count as a decent result.

 

Subs really saved the day, but again it begs the question of why Jonas wasn't starting. Surely Carroll should start next game, no doubt about it. With any luck we'll have S. Taylor back for Spurs and we can forever banish Ryan Taylor from the first team.

[NJS 3960]

Hopefully the end of Ameobi.

Hohoho. How naive. It's never the end, man!! NEVER!

 

 

I like to think of myself as an ultra-cynical twat but occasionally I have to let in a single photon of incredibly stupid optimism just to remain human.

[snakehips 0]

Ameobi should never (dis)grace the field in our colours again- end of

 

Ameobi should not start ahead of Carroll imo. Don't forget, the lad almost scored five minutes before he actually did. And his defending was fully committed as well.

[Big Onion 0]

Hopefully Shearer's learned if he's going to play a targetman, Carroll is a much better bet than fucking Shola. They'll have been drilled all week about dealing with those high balls into the box and they were man-marking, yet that useless cunt goes daydreaming and gives Faye of all people a free header - and it wasn't the first time he'd lost him either. Waste of space he is.

 

Well done Andy Carroll, class finish.

[OTF 6129]

Decent only because of the way in which we played.

 

When Jonas came on we had a decent run of it. When carroll came on we finally had someone who can remember how to score. Magnificent header. Turns out he was also our best defensive player for their set pieces. Confirmed for the 100th time that Shola Ameobi is nothing more than an extra man useful for training.

 

Nicky Butt makes me sick. He's been the one more or less constant in our pathetic midfield. He's played in 27 matches and has 1 solitary assist. If that's not enough of a sign that he's fucking useless then I don't know what is. Please fuck him off.

 

Ryan Taylor seems to be getting worse with every match that goes by. When he came to us (as evidenced in his first match) he could hit a dead ball nicely, and could even cross in general play. Now were' lucky to see 1 from 5 be anything approaching dangerous. We need Enrique and dare I say Steven Taylor back so we can condemn Taylor to the bench.

 

I'm happy we managed to scrape a draw, but to be completely honest I think that the only purpose it will serve is to slightly delay the confirmation that we're going down.

[Cid_MCDP 0]

Up until Carroll's goal, this was the worst effort I'd ever seen from NUFC. Whole team just looked confused and outclassed from the start.

 

Andy should be arrested for grand larceny- he stole the point from Stoke.

 

On a sidenote, I realize he's good at it and everything, but does Rory Delap have to throw in every... single... fucking... ball? Jesus Christ. Must've eaten up 5 minutes of clock time just waiting for him to run over to the touchline every time the ball went out no matter what end it was on.

 

Officiating was particularly odd today. No commonality on fouls/ cards/ etc.

 

I have never seen Ameobi run flat out for a ball ever. EVER. For that reason alone he should be permanently benched.

[Asprilla 96]

Andy Carroll has to play every game he is fit.

 

A very big point for us.

[shear class! 0]

Shola wants fuckin shootin!!!!!! See his pefetic little jump for there goal, not to mention it was his man that lost him in the first place! shit! Come on Carrol!

[JonGoodwyn 1]

Edgar looked pretty decent, anyway

[TicTacWoe 0]

The biggest problem today imo was our invisible trio of central midfielders Butt, Nolan and Guthrie, between them they contributed less than Jonas did in his time on as a sub (and I'm by no means a big Jonas fan). That said, I still think Guthrie of the three was the most unlucky to be subbed as Butt and Nolan are as as slow as fuck and show no creativity these days whatsoever. Butt has been passed it for years and Nolan has lost most of the ability and promise he once had.

[Blackas 0]

I'm glad we got a draw but that was the worst performance I've ever seen by Newcastle. There's absolutely no creativity from midfield and its shown again that Shola is hopeless. I think we'll still go down. No-one, except possibly S Taylor and Carrol, looks like they really care.

 

[blaugrana909 0]

everyone's saying the same thing, when i say it you guys all start crying and calling me condescending and all sorts of nonsense. i said get jonas on, it'll help and it did. i said all your midfielders are shit, and they are, and everyone's saying the same thing. i said if u have good midfielder (jonas), even average strikers (carrol) can score, and that's what happened. i said the starting team was all wrong and shearer wasn't going for the win, and he wasn't. now all you guys are saying the same thing as well. maybe you should be a little more tolerant and accepting, it's not like i'm some others here like danny who only come on here to wind you up. you all end up agreeing with what i'm saying eventually

[OTF 6129]

Harper: 5 - Came out for balls that he didn't get.

R. Taylor: 4 - Poor set pieces, poor defending.

Bassong: 6 - One of our better players, still average.

Edgar: 6 - Did ok coming in to a new defensive unit.

Beye: 7 - Some good defensive stops, also worked hard to overlap in attack.

Guthrie: 4 - Anonymous

Butt: 4 - Useless. Got the ball deep in their box twice; both times made a meal of it.

Nolan: 4 - Useless.

Duff: 6 - Kept possession better than most others. Put in enough crosses to eventually get the assist.

Owen: 5 - Monstered by various Stoke players.

Ameobi: 2 - Woeful.

 

Subs:

Jonas: 7 - Covered plenty of space and offered a passing option and width that was previously lacking.

Carroll: 9 - Got the goal with a wonderful header. Made multiple defensive clearances.

 

To leave Guthrie, Butt and Nolan with a shred of dignity - there was a lot of long balls played over them (for the first 75 minutes). Having said that though, they scarcely offered up a passing option by running into space. 3 similar players all trying to do the same job. Poor team selection IMO. You don't go to Stoke and pick a team to try to play the way that they do. If you want to win you go there and try to play the team that takes best advantage of your own players.