Newcastle 3 Leeds 1

In the last four meetings with Newcastle we have held the lead in them
all. We eventually lost them all.

A few things from my long trip to Geordie land...

(1) The referee was abysmal yesterday. Everything the crowd asked for he
gave.

(2) Newcastle showed what you can achieve with pace, passion and
movement. Leeds were destroyed. Newcastle had 70 mins of the game, Leeds
had 10 and the other 10 was even.

(3) Duberry was very unlucky for the goal. He had a split second to
react and because of the odd shape of his head it flew off at a strange
angle and into the top corner. Unfortunately he got himself booked for a
daft push on Bellamy when Mills had the situation covered. From then on
he walked a tightrope (Copyright A.Dellow of Darlo)

(4) Why Woody didn't mark Bellamy and Duberry go for Shearer I will
never know. Duberry got murdered for pace throughout. Woody is much
better equipped to deal with Bellamy.

(5)Mills should have his lobotomy reversed. He should have had a red
card in the 1st half for cracking Robert with his forearm. Mills'
actions for the actual sending off were just incomprehensible. He has a
lot to learn.

(6)Kelly is possibly the worst central midfielder in the premier league.
The fact that we played miles better with 10 men with Kelly finally
moved back into defence shows just how much he unbalances things. Its
not his fault but if we must use him in the midfield then play him on
the right. Wilcox looked 100x the player in the centre of the park. He
played some great balls out wide.

(7)Mr Viduka, well, well. Fabulous player - yes, strong - yes, holds the
ball up well - yes. Pace - No. Bellamy has a tenth of Viduka's ability
but the lad is lightening and plays on the shoulder of the last
defender. Viduka has his back to goal and his one shot all game just
shows how ineffective he was. We saw against West Ham the best way to
use Viduka. Ball out wide, get to the byline, whip in the cross - BINGO
! Yesterday we played with no width at all. Nobody got round the back
(except Mills once and when Wilcox crossed into the stand). I'm NOT
blaming Viduka - I'm blaming the system.

(8) Compare Newcastle's pass and move into space with Leeds' run about
like idiots and hope something may happen.

(9) we need to get back to basics. Play players in their proper
positions. Dont clatter people for no reason. Play with some width. Try
and get some pace up front and let Bowyer play in the bleeding middle
cos he drifts there anyway and leaves a big hole on the right. Same with
Johnson on the left.

(10)Thank heavens for David Batty.

(11) Fair play to Newcastle and Bobby Robson. He has a midfield and
attack with real pace and power and in Kieron Dyer they have a
magnificent player. When is he joining us ?

(12) Sooner, rather than later we have to admit to ourselves that we are
not ready to win the league with the players and system we have. We are
a good side, not a great one. Our ability to play on the break has all
but vanished now that Kewell is out. Our inability to hold the ball in
the middle of the park is frightening. We miss Kewell and Ollie so much.

Martyn
Mills Dubes Woody Matteo
Bowyer Batts Kelly Seth
Pies Smith

Martyn - 5 Exposed but a bit slow off his line at times. Maybe could
have saved the 3rd goal which trickled past him.

Mills 2 - a thug. Wire his testicles up to the mains as a punishment. He
probably wont feel anything but it may stimulate some hair growth.

Matteo 5 - Had no support and Solano lead him a merry dance at times.
Why doesn't the wide left midfielder ever drop back and help the left
back ?

Duberry 3 - out of his depth. Silly shaped 50p head cost us.

Woody 6 - kept Shearer reasonably quiet. Just a pity Newcastle have 4
other potent attackers playing.

Bowyer 4 - no class at all. Just runs and runs.

Seth 5 - tried hard but you need more than that at this level.

Batty 7 - bang, crash, whallop. We have too many people playing like
Batty tries to. Others need more subtlety to complement the great man's
anchor role.

Kelly 1 - embarrassing. Unbalanced the whole side. Made the likes of
Johnson and Bowyer look mugs as they were forced in to cover for him.

Viduka 5 - no service. Had one shot that was blocked. Nice pass for
Smithy's goal. Needs the ball in the 6 yard box, not the half way line.
Newcastle pushed right up and forced us back knowing we had no pace to
break out and punish them.

Smith 5 - challenged for everything but nothing broke his way or
Viduka's. Great goal but never really looked like causing much danger
after that.

Sub/

Wilcox 8 - put his foot on it, slipped past men, passed the ball, made
himself available for the ball, ran forward with it. Did everything
Kelly didn't.

--
stotty

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