Shola Ameobi came off the bench to grab an 81st minute winner in what was probably the most important game of our season to date.
With the need for three points high on the agenda, and with time running out, Ameobi skinned Adel Taarabt before unleashing an unstoppable left-foot effort past Rob Green and into the back of the Leazes End net to lift at least a small amount of the doom and gloom that has been hanging around St James’ Park.
That’s not to say that this win changes anything. We’re still too close to the wrong end of the table and we still have games against Manchester United, Arsenal and Everton to consider, but at least we took points off a team who is in and around the same spots in the league as us and at least we have a five point cushion on the bottom three. If you want to be optimistic then by the same token we are just five points off eighth place…
Newcastle struggled to create much in the first half as you could see that this run of results has started to take it’s toll on confidence. There was lots of effort and some decent spells of possession but we rarely got close enough to Rob Green’s goal to really threaten. In fact the best we mustered in the first period was a header from Cisse that went wide, a header from Ba that went wide, two free-kicks from Ba which are probably still stuck in the Gallowgate somewhere and an effort from James Perch which also went wide.
There wasn’t much to talk about in terms of goalmouth action in the second period either although the home side did suffer an early scare when Djibril Cisse fired low at goal forcing Tim Krul to push his effort wide. At the other end our Cisse nodded over while James Perch tried to be a bit ambitious from something like 35 yards only to see Rob Green claim the ball easily.
Papiss Cisse was withdrawn and replaced by Shola Ameobi in a move that angered both the home crowd and Cisse who trudged off the field chuntering away to himself, clearly unhappy with being hooked. You can see his point after the shift he put in, working for the team in what is in no way, shape, or form his favoured position. However it was that substitution, and the introduction of Gabriel Obertan, that eventually swung the game in our favour.
Up until then the QPR defence had been dealing with anything we tried. Ryan Nelson was excellent whilst Clint Hill battled away beside him, but as soon as Shola came on and we switcedh to the outdated 4-4-2 which never works (according to some) we started to get some change from their defence. The were worried and had more to deal with, both in terms of numbers and physical presence, and with the pace of Obertan looking to exploit tired legs we finally looked a bit more potent.
Sylvain Mareaux was our third and final sub of the game and nine minutes from all three of them combined to finally put the home side ahead. First it was Gabriel Obertan in the spotlight as he chased back 50 yards towards his own goal to rob the ball back from Junior Hoilett. Then it was Sylvain Marveaux’s turn to take a starring role as he played the ball inside for Shola Ameobi who cut inside Adel Taarabt and finished brilliantly. 1-0 finally!
That goal lifted the mood at St James’ Park and it also seemed to lift the spirits of the players as they went in search of a second. Demba Ba had to be chapped down by Clint Hill or else he would have been clean through on goal although I guess the QPR defender was spared a red card on the basis that there were covering defenders coming across. However the same player then gave away a free-kick in a dangerous area which Marveaux drove just wide of the post.
QPR had one last chance to equalise as Mike Williamson conceded a free-kick close to our goal, but Tim Krul dealt with Taarabt’s effort and thankfully we managed to see the game out.
Howay the lads!
Newcastle: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; James Perch, Cheik Tiote, Vurnon Anita; Papiss Cisse, Demba Ba, Jonas Gutierrez
Subs: Steve Harper, Shane Ferguson, Gael Bigirimana, Sylvain Marveaux, Gabriel Obertan, Sammy Ameobi, Shola Ameobi
QPR: Robert Green; Fabio Da Silva, Anton Ferdinand, Clint Hill, Ryan Nelsen; Jamie Mackie, Esteban Granero, Stephane Mbia, Alejandro Faurlin, Adel Taarabt; Djibril Cisse
Subs: Brian Murphy, Samba Diakite, Armand Traore, Nedum Onuoha, Shaun Derry, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Junior Hoilett
Attendance: 50,180
The most frustrating player I’ve seen. He has the ability to do what he did yesterday yet only does it every now and again. The rest of the time he’s fluffing his shots or getting the ball tangled between his feet.
On another point, why doesn’t he just leave Cisse out? He’s not a right winger and never will be so play a winger there instead and stop embarrassing the poor lad.
Stuart79(Quote)
I cant believe ppl were booing the decision to take off Cisse. He wasnt having a great game and doesnt look comfortable there so a change was needed.
QPR were terrible, just shows money doesnt buy you success (sometimes) 😉 one big cash cow for SRPhillips and Co. Funny enuf i can see Ba going there for exactly the same reason.
mark(Quote)
Important 3 points yesterday. We have a tough run of games but if we can keep the performance levels up , hopefully nick a few points , get Cabaye Ben Arfa Saylor back and get 2 new players in we should have enough to push on second half of the season. Of course we could sell a few players and lose another 3 or 4 to injuries and really be up against. This is Newcastle United so can’t really rule that out 😆
Johno Toon(Quote)
Agree stu. either play him up front or have the balls to try and justify dropping him. right mid is just absurd.
Ba is in charge it seems, i doubted it but it suddenly seems to be staring me in the face.
Congratulations shola, wasn’t a fan through most his career but i think he is a decent sub option, and he always lifts the crowd.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
Lifts the crowd because he wins headers. obviously it’s not being over the moon at.relying on a 1 in 5 goal striker to win a game 😉
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
Also, saw in the toilets this little poster about buying a toon shirt, with number 12 being reserved for the 12th man; the fans. has the number 12 shirt been retired?! Can anyone shed some light?
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
the king of old returned yesterday and saved us all once more.hearing that he has decided not to go to the acon and stay and help us out coz we really need him over jan/feb especially if ba goes
the fenham eusebio(Quote)
St… We only win one game in 5 so shola will do 😉 well done shola, you were the only fecker who listened to the instructions I was barking out
richietoon(Quote)
Well I watched the highlights ,not that there was many on MOTD last night. QPR are rubbish no doubt in my mind they will go down but we wern’t much better tbh . I’m getting really angry on Cisse’s behalf now ,to keep playing him in that position is criminal and then he gets hooked off cause he’s fluffed a couple of chances .His first chance missed was not helped by the poor pass return which left him unable to control it properly to get the shot off. More than once he was left standing in the box arms aloft waiting for a cross 👿 .Ba takeing all the free kicks he can and doing a **** job at it and Marv being brought on far too late ,by the way his pass to Shola was brilliant and Sholas goal was well taken . Time to drop Jonas to the bench play Marv and dare I say it Obertan from the start and put Cisse in the no 9 role where he belongs befor he becomes completely disenchanted at the Toon and put Ba and his ego on the bench .I’ve had a gutfull of this striker nonsense ,If as seems Ba is gonna ****** off in jan then why the hell is Cisse being played out of position and being made to play second fiddle It really is mystifying.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Toonsy good read mate.
Stu I agree and I feel real sorry for Cisse and I just pray that his confidence isn’t completely knocked out of him if / when Ba takes his bottom lip with him.
ST I cant believe that you agree with me 😯 welcome to the club
Big Dave(Quote)
Kimtoon
I agree mate, one thing that miffs me is pardew gives him an ultimatum that if he doesnt score in the next two games he will lose his place and then puts him on the right wing haha.
He should offer Jonas an ultimatum coz hes *****
Alex(Quote)
Team for the filth
. Krul
Simmo williamson Colo Santon
Perch Anita
Marv
Obertan Cisse Ba
Alex(Quote)
Pardew will play “the Ba game” right up until the end of the January transfer window. I’m not convinced that Ba will leave.
Shola the battering ram showed yesterday why he is a toon legend. His mere physical presence allows us a different outlet currently being offered by Ba and Cisse. His fleet footed finish yesterday was immense.
Hats off to the toon crowd yesterday, never thought we would get 50K in for QPR. Brilliant !
Munich Mag(Quote)
Ba’s free kicks yesterday were absolutely useless.
Pardew needs to do something about this, because when we are not creating too many chances from open play, a direct free kick on the edge of the box is a brilliant chance to score. We had a lot of good free-kick positions yesterday…
Any takers for these free kicks ? Marveaux ? Collocini ? Tiote ? Maybe Demba is the best option, and he just had a serious off-day yesterday ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
The clock is ticking and Simmo will walk away for nowt in the summer.
I trust we have a good replacement lined up 😉
Munich Mag(Quote)
It’s amazing to think QPR won’t try and sign Simpson this January. He is pretty useless going forward, but a decent defender.
I watched Anton Ferdinand at RB yesterday and he is probably one of the worst players I have seen for a long time. I though Simpson was bad going forward, but this guy had a nosebleed ever time he went past the halfway line. He wasn’t exactly great at defending either.
The Kid(Quote)
The Kid. Anton Ferdinand is useless, it’s a real pity he didn’t stay at 5under1and 😆
Simmo had a good game yesterday, as did Willo. However that has something to do with the powder puff performance from QPR. They are certainties to go down if they continue playing like that 😯
Munich Mag(Quote)
Sunday Sun gave Simpson 8 merit marks, joint top mark alongside Anita and Santon got a 6? I must be watching a different game as I thought Santon had a great game whilst Simpson just looks like a clumsy ****.
Robert(Quote)
Munich Mag
It most certainly is a shame he isn’t still at Sunderland. I can’t believe they actually found a club dumb enough to pay real money for him. Awful player.
I agree about QPR going down also.
Robert
These papers are clueless. Check out these ratings/match report instead.
http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/615094/LiveStatistics/England-Premier-League-2012-2013-Newcastle-United-Queens-Park-Rangers
Actually gives a statistical breakdown to accompany the ratings.
The Kid(Quote)
Thats more like what I saw, and the stats back up our awful passing.
Robert(Quote)
I’ve said it before, as I said it basically at the beginning of the season and it echoes what MM was saying in the last thread.
Ba is being picked up front because he is on form. If you drop your in form striker and play the one who misses chances left right and centre (cisse) then you are running a huge risk. Ba wasn’t favoured from the start imo, Cisse was picked alongside, whenever we switched to 433 it was Cisse through the middle, Ba out wide. We even played 433 in a match and had Ba on the bench. Result, Cisse not doing much, Ba coming on and getting the two goals.
I’m not saying Pards is right exactly in playing Cisse on the wing as I have said myself he is essentially wasted there, I’m just saying I understood the reasoning of Ba playing centrally. Then you get the problem of having to play Cisse in the hope that his form will return, but if you can’t risk him up front on his own, and the team is poor(/the fans moan like ****) when it’s 442 you’re always going to come under criticism. The Ba clause which the club didn’t sort out has only made this mess worse and I said at the time I was more pissed off at that than the failure to bring in another player. Left us right up **** creek.
Newkie(Quote)
I’ve also said it before, Shola is a class act 😉
Good to have him avaliable for subbies again and who knows, on yesterdays match Obertan will be challenging Jonas, to say nothing of marv for a starting spot..
Newkie(Quote)
(THIS IS A GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING. THIS POSTER IS LIABLE TO DISAGREE WITH YOUR POINT OF VIEW. ONLY ENGAGE IF YOU AREN’T SENSITIVE AND DON’T TAKE HISSY FITS)
I thought Shola changed the game when he came on and took his goal with a touch of class!
Get in Shola. He’s definitely having an Indian Summer in his career.
That win was absolutely massive for us. I couldn’t see it coming til The Mackem Slayer stepped up to the plate!
Get in!!!!!!
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@ 19 & 20
Yeah, those stats do illustrate our generally poor passing, but I think Marveaux and Mike “Hoofball” Williamson deserve an honourabe mention 🙂
Pass Success %
Sylvain Marveaux 100
Michael Williamson 91
Fabricio Coloccini 88
Davide Santon 88
Cheik Tioté 88
Demba Ba 85
James Perch 84
Papiss Cissé 80
Danny Simpson 81
Vurnon Anita 79
Jonás Gutiérrez 75
Shola Ameobi 71
Gabriel Obertan 70
Chris G(Quote)
The kid @19 that echo’s the game i was at thought QPR were quite cynical with some of the fouls and they got away with it.In my opinion the officials had a bad game and as for dembas free kicks ,he could not hit a bog seat with has backside on yesterdays showing. a comment from someone in front of me in the leazes was after the bairns had the penalty shoot out they were going to leave the goal next to the corner flag to accommodate dembas free kick’s. Obertan needs game time and jonas needs a rest he broke up more of our attacks than the QPR defence. Hope marveaux is not going to be a make weight think he needs game time and he could be a little gem.
Tommy Gibb(Quote)
I’m not sure about all this Cisse support over Ba in terms of yesterday’s game. Ba hasn’t left and may well not so that logic doesn’t really play out especially with the importance of yesterday’s game. Plus, Cisse hasn’t played well this season and hasn’t looked like scoring, while Ba has scored most of our goals. Even if Ba wasn’t having a great game yesterday, if you are wanting a goal against a **** QPR side, surely Ba was the most likely to supply it. As it is Cisse’s replacement scored a beauty.
Plus talk of replacing Pardew in anyway at this stage seems ridiculous, we were playing absolutely dreadfully a few games back but are at least playing a bit better now, and he is starting to blood a few different faces. He certainly deserves a fair bit of criticism but let us try and build something here over the longer term. I remember checking Pardew’s record when he came here and he has nearly always had a dreadful season after a good one, which has pushed him towards the door for different reasons. If he can ride this storm out it could be the making of him. The club are in it for the long term financially, they are never going to put the house on it, Anita is a sign of that, slowly building. But is now looking like a great signing. Remember most people were talking about us needing to buy a striker after Carrol went and after we had already got Ba!!
A risk was taken by not getting in defensive support last summer, and it failed, they need to address that but they are going to do it slowly. Spurs didn’t arrive as regular CL challengers overnight, it has taken them years of being in and around. The top 3 are way out of our financial league. Football is interesting for its ups and downs, its teamwork and the challenges within that, that is the human part of it. As Pardew says we are not going to storm through this league from here, but have got to keep fighting until May. He’s right, and we may still have a reasonable turn around, and that is a season of football to get your teeth and emotions into, surely that’s what it is all about. Don’t get me wrong, though, I still wish Marveaux, Ben Arfa, Cabaye, and Anita were all pinging it around the 18 yard box and Cisse was smashing in a few hatricks here and there. But hey, we’ll see where the season goes.
Lionel Speed(Quote)
Newkie lad….me and you are well synchronised mate 😉
….and I never mentioned Dormund once 😆 😆
Thanks to the toon for giving us some respite with those three points yesterday 🙂
Munich Mag(Quote)
@indykaila: Newcastle open talks with Ajax with Holland under-21 star Jody Lukoki. This guy is very exciting player. Newcastle officials in holland.
This is a rumour on twitter so may be bollox though this bloke does seem to get a fair few right. Anyone know much about Lukoki anyway just in case?
3hourswasted(Quote)
3HW – Axel will know more about him so pop back on in a bit and he might have something for you.
toonsy(Quote)
Aye will do Toonsy 🙂
3hourswasted(Quote)
Munich 😀
That had to be a record, why did you go and ruin it like that!
Yeah, I’m still moody as it is. If we hadn’t won I’d be almost as miserable as some of the others on here….. 🙄 😆
Newkie(Quote)