A Newcastle side that had been torn apart by injury gave everything they had, and you could see that by that the way the players looked dead on their feet as the full-time whistle blew.
The form book will show that we have taken two points from the last two games against Sunderland and Tottenham, and to be honest I would have settled for that before the two games had been played. Being realistic though, we should have had all six on offer, which is a positive that can be took from both games. It wasn’t us who has had to scrape a draw at the death.
The match started pretty quietly to be honest as both sides struggled to create any goalscoring chances. In fact the first real chance of the match came on 30 minutes when Jose Enrique crossed into the box for Leon Best who managed to get an outstretched foot to the ball and direct it towards goal only to be denied by the crossbar.
Tottenham controlled the ball well at times though, and it nearly paid off on the stroke of half time when Jermaine Defoe was put clean through on goal only to be denied by a smart save from Steve Harper.
The second half started with a bit more pace than the first and Newcastle looked to be pressing the game a bit more. Leon Best headed wide from the near post position, although to be fair it was a difficult header that he should have perhaps left for Shola Ameobi who was behind him in the box.
Newcastle took the lead on the hour mark through Fabricio Coloccini. The Argentine defender, who celebrates his 29th birthday today, chested a Danny Guthrie cross past the Tottenham defender and volleyed past Carlo Cudicini from the inside-left position. Not the kind of goal you would expect from a defender.
Tottenham had to start chasing the game, but with Newcastle defending dilligently it allowed the home side to exploit the gaps that were being left by the Tottenham defence. This led to a barrage of chances for the home side, which were all unfortunately missed.
Shola Amoebi had a couple of chances, Peter Lovenkrands should have scored, Nile Ranger should have scored and Joey Barton scuffed a shot over the bar from ten yards out. I said at the time that it would cost us, and unfortunately it did.
As the fourth official raised his board to signal that four minutes of injury time was to be played, Carlo Cudicini pumped the ball forward from the Tottenham penalty area. That long punt found Jermain Defoe who flicked the ball on for Aaron Lennon who danced across the Newcastle defence and slotted the ball into the corner of Steve Harper’s goal from 12 yards out.
Rafael van der Vaart had been critical of Newcastle in the build up to the match as he stated that we play long ball football. I wonder if he is being critical of his sides equaliser, as that was about as direct as you can get. The defence could have dealt with it better, and perhaps Steve Harper should have been a bit closer to his near-side post, and perhaps Danny Simpson should have shown Lennon out wide rather than inviting him to come inside, but in the main it is hard to be critical of the team today.
Much as it pains me, Tottenham are a good side, and Newcastle gave everything they had. It’s all we can ever ask for really, and it is something that we wouldn’t have seen in our relegation season for sure.
The draw leaves us sitting in seventh place in the Premier League with 30 points from 23 games, but we really should have had 34 points at this juncture, and that sticks in the throat. I hate injury time!
Howay the lads!
Newcastle: Steve Harper, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Joey Barton, Danny Guthrie, Kevin Nolan, Jonas Gutierrez, Shola Ameobi, Leon Best.
Subs: Tim Krul, Sol Campbell, James Perch, Shane Ferguson, Peter Lovenkrands, Xisco, Nile Ranger.
Tottenham: Carlo Cudicini, Alan Hutton, Michael Dawson, William Gallas, Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Luka Modric, Jermaine Jenas, Steven Pienaar, Rafael van der Vaaart, Jermain Defoe.
Subs: Stipe Pletikosa, Vedran Corluka, Younes Kaboul, Sebastien Bassong, Niko Kranjcar, Sandro, Peter Crouch.
Attendance: 51,010.
Referee: Mark Halsey.
So i’ve calmed down now, and i’ve had a refreshing thought.
When was the last time you can remember you saw NUFC players lying on the floor exhausted because of the shifts they’ve out in?
We’re quick to be critical, but I think we should be grateful for the fact that we seem to now have a group of lads who actually care, and go out and give their all.
It’s been a while.
I Love Mike(Quote)
I HATE LONG INJURY TIME. +4/+5?? 👿
We might drop down alot of positions,as our next match is in FEB. There are still games for other teams in JAN. 🙁
And for those aiming for europe,leave that aside first.
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
ggod point shame we didnt get 3 ,but so many injurys ,pardew has us playing better footy ,and bent just scored for villa 😉
batty(Quote)
What a story. the £18 million man scores in the 18th minute! Hart perhaps at fault, as Young’s shot didn’t seem to carry much power at all. 😯
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
I Love Mike
Posted January 22, 2011 at 5:50 PM
Great to see, but it doesn’t replace quality and we are sadly missing it.
We’ve been found wanting in alot of our games apart from the poorer sides when even my gran could have scored against them.
We can’t afford to keep missing all these chances.
Whatever anyone says, we’re woefully weak up front. Ameobi, Best and Lovenkrands need too many chances to score just one (there are exemptions against weak teams) and we cannot afford it.
Stuart79(Quote)
BATTY sucking up to the snide again m8 😉
icedog(Quote)
Oh and before anyone has a hissy fit, it’s not a criticsm it’s just fact, their not good enough in this league if we are to progress to where we want to be. That’s life and that’s football.
Stuart79(Quote)
your right stu were doin most things apart from scoring
batty(Quote)
Here we go again, hopefully those who like the result will stay zipped up. No doubt Freud is afoot with this bunch, he couldn’t have scripted it any better.
ToonTyne(Quote)
Stu
I totally agree, apart from Carroll I don’t think any of our strikers are of a EPL standard. We had chances someone of a higher quality would have scored, ours didn’t, and we’ve paid for it.
We say Tiote and Ben arfa are our future it’s because they are of a quality so much higher than other players in our squad. Who shines in our strike force like they do in their positions?
I Love Mike(Quote)
WE NEED TO PLAY FOR 90 MINS + INJURY TIME, NOT JUST 90 MINS AND THEN TURN OFF. WE HAVE CONCEDED TOO MANY LATE GOALS RECENTLY AAAAAAAAAHHHHH
pearceet(Quote)
I think its important to point out that we were without our strongest players today.
Lack if strength isn’t our problem. Lack of strength in depth is. That will take time to sort, as it does for any team that has just come back up.
toonsy(Quote)
Pearceet I dont really think it was the fact that we turned off today,I think that would be unfair on the players. I do think that at the end they attacked us so many times and with us breaking and running the length of the pitch we were just dead on our feet at the end
and Lennon did take his goal well so I cant really complain just I feel gutted for our players.
I do think if we got a real good striker in we would be laughing 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Not as bad as the Sunderland match, but you do get the feeling we were robbed. Still, you have to say we were lucky to see the back of Bale so early on. The goals vs West Ham and weaker teams may flatter to deceive-not that I think best is that bad, he was very unlucky not to score but unfortunately didn’t get too much.Both Ranger and Loven should have scored, and Ameobi seemed quite out of sorts, decent in the air again but poor at getting on target. You can tell the extra bit of class from Carroll shows against the big teams-our other strikers might get goals past the relegation teams but against top ones they’re still a bit dicey. Still, missing two of our best players never helps against a top team, and you’d have to say a draw is still a pretty decent result-and good performances from the lads really, cant really be too critical.
NewkieBrown(Quote)
toonsy
Posted January 22, 2011 at 6:33 PM
We were without one striker and a centre midfielder. Doesn’t bode well for us if we can’t hit a barn door with a banjo without just two players.
If we don’t bring in a couple of strikers and a winger in the summer, then we might as well go home and turn the light off. Providing we keep our better players that is.
I would let Best and Lovenkrands both go too in the wummer. Their not good enough in this league.
Stuart79(Quote)
Dave
Haven’t seen the goal but its just after the 5under1and game its a real kick in the nuts!
pearceet(Quote)
Agree dave. Someone like bent 😉
I just hope that we secure the 2 bodies we need in the next week. I think we should be fine and should be looking up not down. The danger is that with all liverpools ‘troubles’ they aren’t far away from us
raffo(Quote)
Have now and there were two people there and both went bought the dummy, maybe one could have done better. Thats ultra critical though I’m still gutted!
pearceet(Quote)
In his post match interview Pardew was asked about incoming players and he just went on to talk about securing the players we have here.
He said we’re close to tying down another one of our players to a long term contract. Barton maybe?
Oh and another thing, second game in a row I think Williamson and Collo have been fantastic.
I Love Mike(Quote)
Not sure whether Adam Johnson would wanna come newcastle? 😀
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
Agree with you if i’m honest Stuart. Might sound harsh but we just can’t rely on the likes of Best and Loven week in, week out. They’re not the type of player that will score goals regularly at this level.
Best put in a good shift last week at the scum and a good shift this week from what i’ve read, along with hitting the bar. That’s all well and good if there’s someone beside him scoring goals as he causes problems, but without Carroll it would seem nee one is able to find the net regularly.
We in reality should have two proven goal scorers to start week in week out and then a back up striker who is also more than capable of knowing where the net is. For me, we currently have one lad with a huge future who’s scored goals thus far, and 3 or 4 who on their day might grab one or two.
I can also see fans starting to question Ranger too. He’s young but he’s missing simple chances. From what i’ve read, todays chance was excellently made and then poorly finished, but he’s had others. Was it against WH at 4 or 5-0 up that he managed to screw wide from about 4 yards?..I personally think he just needs 1 and he’ll be off, but the longer it takes him to find that goal, the more we suffer.
Ross(Quote)
pearceet 😆
Just maybe after watching today the Fat Controller will see that we lack a few bodies and with them said few bodies we could continue onwards and upwards 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Lads I honestly do think that once Ranger gets his 1st there will be no stopping him a bit like Carroll remember a lot of fans were starting to question Carroll at the start of last season but we stuck with him and we reaped the rewards.
If I remember rightly Carroll was in the starting 11 most weeks young Ranger hasnt had that chance even if that might be down to his attitude, I just think we need to see him getting a proper chance 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
We won’t be getting a new striker tho! AP seems to love Strola and Best!
Also 50,000+ is a great turnout we need that week in week out atmosphere on the radio sounded pretty good 😆
pearceet(Quote)
Big Dave-That’s the issue though mate. He might not have had a full 90 minutes but when he’s been on he’s had goal scoring chances. If he needs to be on for 90 minutes and have 4 or 5 good chances to find the net, then we can couple him in with the rest of our strike force bar Carroll and maybe Strolla.
Ross(Quote)
Ross the point im trying to make is that once he gets the monkey of his back I think he wont look back. But how many full 90 mins was Carroll given before he found his feet and that was in the CCC. IMHO if he is given a few starts sooner or later he will get his goal then we will soon see if he is another Best/Strolla or a Carroll 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
It would be interesting to see how many games Best (an experienced striker) started before he scored vs how many Ranger has started 😛
Big Dave(Quote)
BD-To be fair, Carroll scored on his home debut for us, which was in the Premier League. He had appeared 14 times and scored 3 goals before we’d even been relegated to the Championship.
I understand what you’re saying, but how many vital chances is he going to miss before he gets that elusive goal?
Ross(Quote)
A draw was probably a fair result but in the context of it being from a last minute equaliser again it was very dissapointing.
I could just sense they would score, they had more quality to come off the bench aswell whereas we do look fairly depleted now. I was so uncomfortable every time Spurs attacked down the left, which they started to do more after the world class Enrique offered them little joy down the right. I know we can’t expect to have two fullbacks of that quality but for me Simpson just isn’t a defender. Time and again people stick up for the lad and say give him time he’s been a bargain ect. Well im sorry but bargain or not, for me he just isn’t good enough and never will be and RB is an area we need to strengthen.
DJG(Quote)
Best on the other hand has featured 17 times competitively and scored 3 goals in the process, Nile Ranger appearing 37 times for the first team with 2 goals.
Ross(Quote)
we were dead on our feet at the end…well done the lads, great effort. If our strikers hadn’t been so useless we would have won today. Having said that, on the overall game a draw was probably a fair result.
What I missed today was the classic Alan Shearer trick of taking the ball into the corner flag to run down the clock. With a bit more savvy we could have managed it today..
I also think that Ranger will come good once he gets his first goal. The lad is obviously a bit radged and not the full shilling, but he’s still a young lad don’t forget. Hopefully he’ll be allright in a year or so, with a few more games and goals under his belt and a bit more weight and power on his frame, he could develop to be be an awesome handful for any defender.
Munich Mag(Quote)
Ranger did well to round the defender but when he’s got to shoot his legs turn to jelly. It’s not a case of him being good enough IMO. He needs to be loaned out at a lower level and just start scoring in first team games and get some confidence. Maybe then he can come back and have a go but he just can’t do it atm and thats two chances that he would put away no problem in the reserves.
DJG(Quote)
Ross I now the Big Lad played in the prem but never regularly ? until we dropped into the CCC, just think when he slots his 1st prem goal he wont look back 😆 but I could be wrong 🙁
I think the problem is he hasn’t got much experience and the Prem isn’t the best place to give him that
Big Dave(Quote)
Ranger seems to be great at getting into excellent positions and turning defenders all over the place…. Unfortunately atm his finishing is pretty ****!
pearceet(Quote)
There was a lot to be proud and happy about today. We just ran out of steam at the end of the day, but we’ll learn from it an come back stronger. Flippin heck Lennon is a real handful, fast as flock…
Munich Mag(Quote)
Oh and VDV can say what he likes. He’s a diving, cheating mofo if ever I saw one! 😐
DJG(Quote)
pearceet
Posted January 22, 2011 at 6:58 PM
Don’t hold your breathe. Three year season tickets come to an end after this season and if the fat fcker is still being a **** with the transfers and our squad is still as think as Posh Spice there won’t be anything like that watching.
Stuart79(Quote)
after watching the snide interview i have a gut feeling ashley has told him there is nowt to spend,hope ime wrong we need a couple imo 😥
icedog(Quote)
Ice – I think you’re probably right there.
Stuart79(Quote)
Ice I thought you were confident that we would get a couple in ❓
I just hope after watching today that MA can see that we are a bit short 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
ashley will be happy with 17th finish and nowt spend,another in- take next season,.of cash for him i mean
icedog(Quote)
DAVE i was conifident but forgot ashley is a 48hr man,will keep “hope” with another change till window closes,those in-side club must be pulling there hair oot 😡
icedog(Quote)
Ice I just cant believe that MA wouldnt prefer us in the top 10 as im sure even he can see that we’re not that far short of it.
Unless he is thinking that Gosling and Ben Arfa will be the couple of players we need to kick on.
But I still think a good striker would work wonders 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
DAVE i agree 100%,was medical booked i know that,last week what went wrong i just dont know 🙄
icedog(Quote)
Reading on Newcastle mad here that apparently Pardew told someone at Metro Radio that we’d enquired about Ireland? SSN are reporting Villa wanted us to pay his whole 72K a week though.
Also, Larsson’s agent has came out and said he was talking to Newcastle up until Wednesday when Brum decided they just weren’t going to let him leave. Said they’ve went back and forth 4 times now with regards to whether they want him or not and that the club should maybe try and show some class. He didn’t sound happy with the situation, looks like Seb wants away asap.
Ross(Quote)
Ice unless ones are coming here for talks thinking we are the same old Toon willing to give them golden eggs.
Big Dave(Quote)
At 72k a week they can keep Ireland. That is an awful lot for a player who has done **** all for two years, then done something for one year, then not done anything else in his career,
toonsy(Quote)
TOONSY normally we get late into window before oot happens,but starting to think nowts going to happen this time,dont want to see any “rash” signings,and ireland def falls into that thinking,just dont rate “him”or his past playing,had only one good season a while back now
icedog(Quote)
Out of interest how many people would have liked us to keep hold of Carr instead of releasing him??
pearceet(Quote)
Thought we did well today, have to remember spurs have spent a bomb and are fighting for champs league while we’re a team just up from championship and missing 3 key players
Gutted they equalised in injury time tho
Thought Guthrie did well today before succumbing to cramp, especially after all the slating he’s had on this blog, shola, best and loven can’t play together, in fact it may be time to move at least one of em out – great 2nd half to watch as end to end stuff tho motd will prob show about a minute of it
4411(Quote)
The problem is that proven PL quality players are on ridiculous salaries. W’ve had a few boom years in football and some of them are now surplus to requirements at their clubs but nobody else will match their wages.
I say you cannot drink champagne on beer money – if we don’t have the money then we get used to mediocrity. Unless we get unbelievably lucky and manage to do what no other club has ever done and be successful while spending very little on fees and **** all on salaries.
Stuart79(Quote)
“Unless we get unbelievably lucky and manage to do what no other club has ever done and be successful while spending very little on fees and **** all on salaries.”
Aye because football started in 1992 didnt it… 🙄
CC(Quote)
CC
Posted January 22, 2011 at 9:51 PM
It’s all relative you half wit.
Stuart79(Quote)
Its a rather sweeping statment to say no team has ever done anything on a low budget, When of course plenty of teams have in the past unless your a Sky generation supporter who thinks that football started with the premier league.
Werent you the one before the west ham game bleating on about how if we win that were safe and now your saying were nowhere near safe, What a w@nker…
CC(Quote)
We all know we aren’t getting relegated, so let’s put it to bed. Thinking about it, I would probably leave signing anyone this window if I were Pardew/MA. I know it sounds crazy because of our injuries, but truthfully, we have shown over the last few games that we can cope. Save transfer funds for the summer when we can recruit quality for a fairer price me thinks. Well, that’s unless Barnetta and Johnson arrive for nominal fees. Really rate those two.
El Toro(Quote)
Stuart79
Posted January 4, 2011 at 9:59 PM
Tomorrows game is absolutey huge! If we win we’re safe imo.
We’ll be 8 points if the bottom with a game in hand.
Stuart79
Posted January 22, 2011 at 5:06 PM
Just hope we don’t regret all these dropped points as were nowhere near safe!
CC(Quote)
Also, as hard as it is to say, we should forget about competing with Sunderland this year. They have spent loads on their team and despite it looking mediocre on paper, they know how to win games. They have the consistency, we don’t. Next year, after a few smart acquisitions we can start battling with them for top 10 positions.
With regards to Pardew, think we should all assess and review his start to life at NUFC after the game against Fulham. I say that because that game is just the type of game we would normally play poorly in and lose.
El Toro(Quote)
well never got to listern or see the match online,but by what im reading its 2 points droped today,are well it was a top 5 team,
are we going to sign anyone this window we have been linked with loads of players ❗ smoke and mirrors comes to mind…
hitman(Quote)
CC – 😆
toonsy(Quote)
hitman-I can’t see anyone coming in after Pardew’s post match interview today.
To be fair we wanted Larsson, his agent has came out today and blasted Brum for not letting him leave, but I dont think we’ll see any permanent signings coming in.
It looks to me like we had a list of maybe 2/3 players (wingers?) that we wanted and if we couldn’t get them sensibly then that was that.
On one hand I fully agree with the policy, especially when it comes to not being bossed around in the Jan window. Clubs will always demand silly money. On the other I look at our squad and think we’re desperate for players.
Ross(Quote)
How did Fahey miss that??
toonsy(Quote)
That Piquionne sending off is pathetic like. I cant stand that “no celebrating with the crowd/no taking your shirt off” b0llocks. It’s a passionate game ffs.
Ross(Quote)
That Picquionne red card is a joke man.
toonsy(Quote)
Agreed.
El Toro(Quote)
How shyte are Wigan?
toonsy(Quote)
This Arsenal team is unreal 😯
El Toro(Quote)
Rules are rules but that one is embarrassing. The amount of tackles, dives etc that are missed yet ref’s will have a yellow card out immediatly for celebrating an 85th minute goal.
How often do you see a referee tell a player to get up after a “foul” in the box..surely if it’s not a foul, it’s a dive? but you never see a yellow.
They need to start using some common sense before they suck all life out the game.
“PLAYER CELEBRATES WITH FANS”..shock horror!
Ross(Quote)
Haha, what an awful penalty.
Ross(Quote)
A lass on the line!? 😯
Ross(Quote)
1st time posting but i have been enjoying reading the blogs from you started the blog toonsy well done and good job. One thing i have noticed is that stuart79 most be a real bundle of laughs, i only ever see him bleating about things is he a mackem ? or just some sad boring git with no life.
We have done a lot better than what i thought we would do, and even if we have fell short over the last 2 games i still think we should be happy with the 2 points.
HWTL
Toonarmy(Quote)
Ranger goes down there and thats a penalty. That’s his youth shining through for all the right..and maybe wrong reasons. He’s determined to stay on his feet and try to score, but at the same time you have to say Loven should be following the ball in. Ranger has essentially passed the ball across the goal line, he hasn’t done much wrong there.
Ross(Quote)
Ross
Agreed. I don’t know why Ranger is being criticised for missing that chance. The angle was tight and he made the chance himself.
❓
El Toro(Quote)
Oooooh did you see that!? Henderson just tried a lob that went about 2 feet over the bar! SURELY he HAS to get another England call-up NOW!!!
El Toro(Quote)
Toro-I was originally told Ranger missed a “sitter”, which it was anything but. He’s created a chance out of nothing, whilst being fouled. Even if it was an attempted shot, it turned out to be a perfect cross that you have to say the second striker should be gambling on.
Ross(Quote)
Also, am I the only one who quite likes the idea of us signing Dempsey? Even if it is just a rubbish rumour?
Ross(Quote)