Another point gained! Blackpool 1-1 Newcastle.

Lovenkrands nets the opener.
Newcastle came away from Bloomfield Road with a point to show for their effort. It could, and probably should, have been no points though.

Not that I’m complaining of course as we’ve had our fair share of games where we have played well and not got what we deserved, so I’ll take this undeserved point on this occasion even though Blackpool will rightly feel that they probably done enough to win the game.

Newcastle brought in Kevin Nolan for the injured Danny Guthrie in a change that would have probably happened even if Guthrie was fit. Otherwise it was a case of ‘as you were’ after the superb committed midweek performance against Manchester United.

You could maybe have expected to see the same kind of performance again against a struggling Blackpool team who had only won one game out the previous 13, but it didn’t turn out like that as Blackpool caused problems throughout against an off-colour Newcastle who laboured all afternoon.

Blackpool started brightly and caused problems for the Newcastle defence. Their penchant for attacking football was there for all to see as they had the better of the early exchanges. However it is their defence that is their weak spot, and despite all the possession the home side had they were very nearly caught out by a quick counter-attack by the away side that would have resulted in a goal had Shola Ameobi not fell over at a vital time.

Charlie Adam was back for Blackpool after being passed fit to start. The Scot was deemed to have recovered from an ankle injury and gave the home side a welcome boost. Unfortunately he also gave the away side a boost when he gave the ball away to Joey Barton 30-yards from goal. The Scouse lad squared the ball to Peter Lovenkrands who drilled a first time shot past Matt Gilks from 25-yards. 1-0 Newcastle.

Blackpool could have easily let their heads drop, but to their credit they picked themselves up and continued to cause problems. They created chances through a combination of their own play and our own mistakes, with Tim Krul having to be alert to deny Blackpool after Jose Enrique broke one of the golden rules of defending and played a square ball across the edge of his own penalty area.

I’ve said it for weeks now, and been criticised for it by some, but Jose looks distant, almost uninterested at the minute. If he keeps up with the mistakes then he will need dropping as he is becoming a liability. That square ball resulted in a corner to the home side, which in turn resulted in the equaliser.

Charlie Adam swung the corner in for DJ Campbell to head goalwards. Jose Enrique cleared the ball off the line although the linesman flagged to signal that the ball had crossed the line. TV replays have proved to be inconclusive, but it didn’t matter as the goal was given.

Enrique was once again called to action a few minutes later as he cleared a Baptiste shot off the line before DJ Campbell headed into the side netting just before half-time when he probably should have done better. Blackpool felt aggrieved at half-time though as they feel that they could have had at least on penalty and maybe even as many as three. Martin Atkinson waved all of their protests away however much to the relief of Newcastle.

Blackpool continued to create chances in the second half. Gary Taylor-Fletcher glance a header just over the bar and Charlie Adam hit the base of the post as the home side dominated. Peter Lovenkrands was withdrawn for Stephen Ireland which was the wrong call in my opinion.

Bring Ireland on by all means, but do something with Shola as it appears that he can only handle 60 minutes of football these days. I’d have left Lovenkrands on and replaced Shola with Ranger as the Blackpool defence had gaping holes in it that the pace of Lovenkrands and Ranger could have exposed. Still, what do I know?

Blackpool continued to dominate but couldn’t quite find the winning goal that they will feel they deserved. A point is more useful for us than it is for them and leaves us in ninth place ahead of Sunderland on goal difference.

As I said right at the start, I’m happy enough with a point, but I’m not overly happy with the performance. Our midfield was poor today, our wing play was virtually non-existent and out attacking threat was virtually zero. Ian Holloway said after the match that his side put in their best performance for a long time. Regardless of that I still feel that if we played to our potential we could have taken all three points.

It wasn’t to be though and a point a piece it is.

Blackpool: Matt Gilks, Neal Eardley, Ian Evatt, Stephen Crainey, Alex Baptiste, David Vaughan, Keith Southern, Matt Phillips, Charlie Adam, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, DJ Campbell.

Subs: Richard Kingson, Craig Cathcart, Andy Reid, Jason Puncheon, James Beattie, Luke Varney, Brett Ormerod.

Newcastle: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Jose Enrique, Joey Barton, Cheik Tiote, Kevin Nolan, Jonas Gutierrez, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi.

Subs: Ole Soderberg, Steven Taylor, James Perch, Ryan Taylor, Stephen Ireland, Shefki Kuqi, Nile Ranger.

Referee: Martin Atkinson.

Attendance: 16,003.

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

112 thoughts on “Another point gained! Blackpool 1-1 Newcastle.

  1. I think the big thing with Ireland is that he seems to want out, they seem keen to get rid as he doesn’t fit into the managers plans, plus villa are really looking at cutting their wage bill more than anything

      (Quote)

  2. Munich….fine mate, she just bought a car today 😕
    Won’t be bothering with courses, I’ll either teach mesel or teach em all English 😉 😆

      (Quote)

  3. Munich-Agreed about Ireland, hope it does get sorted though, even if we can’t work out where he’ll fit in exactly you can’t doubt his quality.

    And yeah, goals are obviously the main thing and ya can’t fault it, but it helps when they can fulfil other roles as well, still I guess not all strikers can be Ronaldo, Messi or Shearer… 😆

    Interesting fact about Lineker- did you know he never picked up a single yellow in his career? Mad isn’t it…I put it down to laziness myself… 😀

      (Quote)

  4. Toonsy-ture, they couldn’t ship out Ireland or Carew quick enough…and yet they kept hesky? errr…. 😀

      (Quote)

  5. Toonsy@77….sorry to hear it mate….get well soon…. 😥 😥

    Richie…go for it mate….is she gonna use it for the gym ?… you’ll pick up Spanish ne problem…the Spaniards though…have me doubts like… 😆

      (Quote)

  6. Newkie…had forgotten that stat about Lineker and the yellow cards…amazing isn’t it ?.. 😯 …

      (Quote)

  7. MM…aye mainly, gym and shopping and house hunting…cars ain’t cheap here either like 🙄

      (Quote)

  8. Reet chapitos…off to bed….

    Take care iverybody, and have a canny easter wherever you’s may be… 😆 😆

      (Quote)

  9. Dave – I dunno what you’re on about 😉

    At least I only get internet radgie and not proper radgie like I used to 😀

      (Quote)

  10. MM@57

    Prefer Bernabau, more of a footballing arena than a general Colosseum! Fans are so close to the pitch is creates a formidable atmosphere.

    There’s a good reason the national team played there rather than Barca

      (Quote)

  11. Decent point today. Ireland’s looking stronger game by game.

    I think with it being Liverpool away we might see a 5 man midfield with Ireland in for Lovenkrands 🙂

      (Quote)

  12. Moreno
    Posted April 23, 2011 at 10:12 PM
    MM@57

    There’s a good reason the national team played there rather than Barca

    Do you really think its due to the atmostphere and not that Madrid is the propper capital and most local madrid supporters wouldn’t stand for travelling to Barca? Big rivalry between them and the Catalans, propper rivalry due to historical injustices like. Still I aint seen either of the stadiums so I don’t really know which is better, both look awesome though that can’t be denied.

      (Quote)

  13. I think it’s a combination of a few factors. What you said about the catalans also rings true, as a few years ago, Madrid forbade the national team to play there after a dispute (think it was regarding Raul) and they played the games in Valencia rather than barca

      (Quote)

  14. Yeah, it makes sense to have a “wembley” so to speak, for a fair ground that can belong to the country rather than the club like..In my opinion anyway

    Alright Jobey mate

      (Quote)

  15. First of all I thought you meant Spain then and I was like mate they’re world champions! But if you mean England then well…yeah 😆

      (Quote)

  16. I would love to see a national team picked on form, we would be right up there in major tournaments.

      (Quote)

  17. —————Bent—————–
    Jarvis——Rooney—–Johnson
    —–Barton——Wilshire——–
    Cole—-Rio—-Jagielka—-Richards
    —————Hart——————

    This would be my selection for the national team.
    From the ‘untouchables’ I would keep Cole, Rio (as captain) and Rooney. Admittedly, the right back position is weak, would probably play anyone other than Glen Johnson if pushed for an answer.

    The rest of em can suck my hairy boab

      (Quote)

  18. I had considered Rodwell, just didn’t opt for him due to his lack of experience. Also considered Carroll but would be worried that the team would play a certain way with him being involved. There is also Walcott and Lennon who could play attacking wing

      (Quote)

  19. Basically, any 11 players who aren’t Barry, Lampard, Terry and G.Johnson and have had a half decent season!

      (Quote)

  20. Don’t like him mesel, although I do think he plays well enough at club level to deserve a call up, with the others I dont

      (Quote)

  21. Think I’d whack Johnson on the left wing and Lennon on the right. And I consider Rio crocked for good now tbh, would go for Terry/Dawson over him for him now, and with terry ageing then Dawson for the next tourney.

      (Quote)

  22. “And in a further boost, the Sunday Sun understands Joey Barton is ready to commit his future to Newcastle in the coming weeks.”

    Oh well I’m glad there’s a reliable source confirming Barton resigning with us 😆

      (Quote)

  23. We’ve been here before – I’ll wait until the club confirm it – good news if true though

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *