The draw means that Newcastle finish the season in 12th place, which is probably more than a lot of us expected way back in August. However, the fact that we were sitting pretty in 9th place with only 30 minutes of the match remaining only to end up 12th will no doubt be a disappoitment to some.
Not to me, I couldn’t have cared less as this season was all about survival. Sure finishing in the top ten would have been nice, but will anyone really look back in a few years time with and remember when we finished 12th instead of 9th? It’s hardly do or die is it? And if the players see it as some form of backwards step they should wise up and take their share of the blame for blowing a three goal lead.
The match started off pretty lively and Shane Ferguson was first to be denied when Scott Carson comfortably saved his shot at goal. West Brom had their first chance four minutes later when Jose Enrique gifted possession to Somen Tchoyi who set up Marc-Antoine Fortune who saw his shot blocked on the line by a resurgent Steven Taylor.
From then on it was the home side, sporting their new home shirt for next season, who took control of the game. They were rewarded for their dominance in the 17th minute with a goal from Steven Taylor who turned Yousseff Mulumbu before firing home from close range after a Ryan Taylor corner caused problems in the box for the West Brom defence.
The hosts had further chances to increase the lead through Danny Guthrie and Steven Taylor before they got the second goal six minutes before time in rather dubious circumstances.
Shola Ameobi flicked the ball on to Peter Lovenkrands who volleyed at goal only for Scott Carson to flap the ball behind him. Carson eventually caught up with the ball on the goal-line but it was adjudged to have crossed the line. As yet I’ve not seen a replay which conclusively proves whether it was a goal or not. Still, it was given and it gave the hosts a healthy and deserved lead heading into half-time.
It got better just two minutes into the second half when Jonas Olsson spooned Jose Enrique’s hopeful cross into the back of his own net to make it 3-0, but from then on it all turned rather sour for the home side.
Roy Hodgson pushed Somen Tchoyi into a more advanced midfield role which paid dividends soon enough as he reduced the defecit. Danny Simpson tried and failed to spring an offside trap which allowed Tchoyi through on goal to apply a cool finish past Tim Krul.
At that stage it looked like it was only going to be a consolation, but lo-and-behold the alarm bells started ringing with twenty minutes to go when Tchoyi turned Fabricio Coloccini and smashed the ball past Krul to make it 3-2. There was very little Krul could have done about it such was the power of the shot.
By now West Brom had their tails up and could sense an equaliser. In contrast Newcastle seemed to have switched off and looked a shadow of the team that we saw in the first half. I had one of those nasty feelings if the truth be known.
That feeling was proved right on the stroke of full-time when Jose Enrique got tricked by Ismael Miller who backheeled the ball for Jonas Olsson who put his cross straight onto the head of an unmarked Tchoyi who nodded the ball into the back of the net for his hat-trick.
As the full-time whistle went some fans saw fit to boo the team. They’ve paid their money so they can do as they wish, but in my opinion it was disgusting and they should have a word with themselves. I’m sure it will persuade players to stay…
Finishing in 12th is not a bad thing, not when you look at our squad, and it gives us a nice basis to build on for next season. If anything staying out of the top ten will keep a few expectations in check. The Mackems may have finished above us by one point, but there time will come.
Personally I’m more annoyed at letting three goals slip though!
Newcastle: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique; Ryan Taylor, Joey Barton (c), Danny Guthrie, Shane Ferguson; Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands.
Subs: Ole Soderberg, James Tavernier, Alan Smith, Kazenga LuaLua, Nile Ranger, Leon Best, Shefki Kuqi.
West Brom: Scott Carson; Steven Reid, Abdoulaye Meite, Jonas Olsson, Nicky Shorey; Chris Brunt, James Morrison, Youssouf Mulumbu, Paul Scharner, Somen Tchoyi; Marc-Antoine Fortune.
Subs: Boaz Myhill, Gonzalo Jara, Pablo Ibanez, George Thorne, Jerome Thomas, Simon Cox, Ishmael Miller.
Referee: Mark Halsey.
Attendance: 51,678.
“ambitious owner Roman Abramovich, who bankrolled an audacious £50m move for striker Fernando Torres during the January transfer window, will scour home and abroad in search of a successor capable of recapturing the Premier League from Manchester United, as well as the much-coveted Champions League trophy.”
I wonder if he fancies a cheeky bid to poach Pardwho? from NUFC.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Roman can have Pardew and we can take that rookie manager from Porto…..
funkyjesus(Quote)
Personally think it was the wrong move to get rid of Carlo. He won the double on his first season and got done by injuries (much like us) to most of his first team midway through the season. Still, when Roman spend the money Roman wants instant and continuous results.
toonsy(Quote)
Are people really wanting Pardew out? Bit extreme if you ask me….
toonsy(Quote)
I am not bothered, he has the job now and I prefer any manager get a few transfer windows to make the squad before anyone gets sacked.
I just like the look of that Porto guy and he has the Sir Bobby connection so it would be a nice full circle thing.
funkyjesus(Quote)
uploading my video from the galowgate after the match to youtube now, will post link here soon 🙂
toonfan101(Quote)
Might make ashley wince with his wages tho
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Toonsy some fans are never happy
Toonfan good job mate 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Krul – 6 Nowt he could really do about the goals, wasn’t great.
Simpson – 4 Absoloute ****. Hasn’t improved over the season and won’t get any better in my book. Can’t defend and R.Taylor and Barton were getting sucked into RB to do his job for him that he can’t feckin do. Replace in the summer with a good euro fullback.
Collo – 9 I dunno what the score would have been without him, the amount of times he comes right accross and covers for other people is amazing, almost as amazing as his skills on the ball.
S.Taylor – 9 Incredable 3 goals in 3 games and total transformation under Pardew. Looks like a real England prospect and not a pretender anymore
Enrique – 5 It is fairly obvious his mind was elsewhere and I hope we get decent money for him.
R.Taylor – 6 Not a bad game. Has some weaknesses but puts in some good deliveries and he gave his all.
Barton – 7 Did okay. He certainly looked to be trying but didn’t really have any magical throughballs or anything.
Guthrie – 7 Same as above. Some good shots, perhaps unlucky that they have quite a good keeper.
Ferguson – 8 This lad is going places. Quite literally when he gets his little legs going. He’s got the lot if he can keep improving
Ameobi – 6 A typically frustrating display.
Lovenkrands – 8 Gave everything to the cause and should never have been taken off. His best might not be good enough for a club like this but full credit to the guy for today.
Subs-
Smith – 2 I can’t remember him touching the ball.
LuaLua – 6 Wasn’t bad, kept slipping on the duck pond.. err… Over watered gallowgate end.
Best 6 – Tried to make a difference but he look clearly unfit to me.
Pardpoo – 1
Words escape me as to how stupid he was today. They finally got through with the 3rd choice guy who had come on and he scored. 3-1. From then on Pardew took off our best performers and replaced them with worse ones. He took of Lovenkrands who was running the show upfront and put on Smith. The players were looking at each other not knowing where to go. bang 3-2. Then he put on Best for Guthrie and we had shape again. By now though it was obvious that West Brom had the incentive, we looked sloppy and nervous. Sure enough from a corner they put all their lanky kernts up and scored right at the end.
At the start of the first half the ball was crossed in Olsen, unchallenged tbh, slotted it into his own net. 3-0. At the end they sang ‘3-0 and you f’##ed it up’. It’s true you did Pardew.
DJG(Quote)
DJG
The truest thing you have siad in ages. Simpson was very poor again today. It is not a priority but has to be replaced in due course. We thought we had done this last summer but instead we signed James Perch
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Who do I send my donation to the blog to?
Can’t see any link
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Dissapointing end to a good season.
Thought S Taylor was impressive again.
All about the summer now.
Stuart79(Quote)
after match from gallowgate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMFm5FQipxM
no Jonas or sol
might be to here some naughty words in case anyone if offended
toonfan101(Quote)
DJG at 3-1 you cant really blame him for thinking that Smith could have got his swan song 😕
Big Dave(Quote)
TlR – I’ll never as for donations for the blog mate. It costs about £3 a month to run (like most sites do) so I have no need for them 😉
toonsy(Quote)
have never rated simpson at any point and have said that since the ccc days,but some say he was carrying a injury then,hope he carrys his boots out the door imo
icedog(Quote)
I know it didn’t work out, eneded up shocking really, but who if they were in Pardew’s shoes, wouldn’t have put some players on for maybe their goodbye or give some experience when 3-0, 3-1 up? We all or a lot of us said try the kids when we are winning and looking good, he made some changes and they didn’t come off. It’s a shame how it turned out, but if you are going to try something else, you do it when you are ahead and looking good. At least he knows for next time, football will always be about learning something new
Simon(Quote)
Ice I was one that said he looked ok in the CCC until he was injuried, but the more I see the more I think he just doesn’t have the full package at this standard 🙁
Big Dave(Quote)
Big Dave
Posted May 22, 2011 at 9:59 PM
‘DJG at 3-1 you cant really blame him for thinking that Smith could have got his swan song’
Big Dave, I could have got a feckin Swan out of Leazes Park and it would have had more movement than Smith.
DJG(Quote)
I still think Simpson could be a decent player, but my god he needs to stop backing off people. If he can sort that he has a chance, but if he keeps doing it it will keep costing us.
Mind you, he wasn’t the only defender to make a **** up today so it’s only fair that the rest get a few words aswell. Apart from Taylor who was excellent again. Whatever Pardew is doing with him is sworking.
toonsy(Quote)
Weird thing about today was I thought both Colo and Taylor did well for the most part especially defending on the ground, but high balls seemed to absolutely destroy us, there were a couple of close offsides and we need to be wary of a high defensive line and long ball teams like Wbrom, no coincidence we struggled with them, blackburn and stoke this season.
NewkieBrown(Quote)
DAVE he just cannot read the game m8 imo,even when the ball does in behind him hes lost his heed spins like a top,and he can run just as fast backwards as he can forwards 😥
icedog(Quote)
sir ******* ferguson wouldn’t have let simpson leave manure if he was going to be any good.
simples
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
We need to keep a hold of Jonas and stick him on the right, people think enrique is quality and slag off Jonas’ attacking ability, but the fact is he comes back and covers a hell of a lot to make Enrique look better-if we don’t buy a right back stick Jonas-a real right winger and not Barton or Raylor who just drift in/get skinned in an instant. Simpson would cope a lot better then…
NewkieBrown(Quote)
At this moment in time I would be more worried if Collo left than Enrique tbh. If Nolan is gonna be a ‘super sub’ I would prefer for him to be captain next season.
DJG(Quote)
BB I think there is a slight difference in the standards of Manure and the other 16 teams I have seen other players that left Manure and I wouldn’t say they were bad 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Thank you all for making this week the busiest the blog has ever seen.
Month on month we have improved and got more and more views. Long may it continue 🙂
Roll on next season.
toonsy(Quote)
we have to look at the positives of the season in my opinion and the biggest positive is that we finished 12th and pissed relegation out of the water.
now lets be totally honest here….i saw on the fm board how many fans are up in arms about the result and calling pardew names for bringing supposedly the wrong subs on…
its all a load of cack to be honest….
but seriously…how many of you at 3 nil up , would have minded who came on no matter who it was….
the answer would have been ,yeaaaaa bring em on lets give them a bit of time…..
now if the game had finished 3….1 no one would be talking about the subs and they certainly wouldnt have been slagging pardew off for bad sub decisions…
unfortunately ,we committed the cardinal sin that all teams do and thats believing the game was done and dusted ,,
the trouble is….no matter how many times it gets said to the players…the belief is always the same…at 3 nil up ,,the games won…
all teams do it and all teams will continue to do it….
the bitter pill for some of the fans ,wasnt so much as the 3 all draw and finishing 12th…..the bitterness is because we didnt finish higher than sunderland….
but so what…who cares……… they won…we drew and we have to accept it…
we can argue all day about subs and positional sense and lazy players and players not giving it their all blah blah…but in truth…that takes away a spirited west brom fightback …because in the first half..west brom looked like they wanted to board the coach back…
the bright side to all this is very simple…… we finished in a position that many toon fans would have called you an escaped delusional lunatic to even suggest that high a finish…bearing in mind we just got promoted and lost andy carroll….
the injuries we have had,,id say its a minor miracle that these lads have done so well..
they should be applauded and so should pardew….. 😀
wolfie(Quote)
I agree with Wolfie 😯
toonsy(Quote)
hahahahaha
wolfie(Quote)
Is this the wolf i no? 🙄 😛 😆
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
nice one wolfie 😆
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Wolfie well said 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
spencer, you bet your sweet succulent ravishing **** its me hahahahaha
wolfie(Quote)
cheers davey mate, good first name as well ive got one the same lol
wolfie(Quote)
wolfie @ 103 – +1
AlanPardewProject(Quote)
cheers bootsy , i didnt see your post 😀
wolfie(Quote)
what does that mean alan lol
wolfie(Quote)
its ok alan ive just sussed its the 103 post hahah
wolfie(Quote)
what a contrast in feeling though eh..when you think back to 2 years ago…………..
itssssssssssssss greatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt 😛
wolfie(Quote)
Just totally agreeing with what you are saying wolfie 🙂
AlanPardewProject(Quote)
yea alan i realised what you meant, im a bit rusty with this site not being on for a good while and i was having a blonde moment,wearing a short leatehr tight skirt, stockings , heels, a tight figure hugging thin see through top showing my ample buzzoms……ermmm…ermmmm bloody hell i was getting carried way there mate…..what i mean is…..i had my head in the clouds for a min…hahahaha
wolfie(Quote)
Funny enough when I watched the fans of the relegated teams today it made me remember how bad I felt when it was us 😥
Big Dave(Quote)
Well done Batty on your win. Will Ice get a little bonus out of it? 😉
Toonsy, just want to say great job with the blog keeping us all talking, arguing, celebrating and whinging for good measure throughout the season. I’m sure everyone appreciates all the work you do to keep it all going.
I’m just relieved that we survived the season by staying in the premiership. As for finishing 12th, it’s probably more than any of us could have hoped for at the start of the season. Hope Pardew gets the cash to invest for replacements and general improvement of the team. Disappointed at the reaction of some of the fans at the end and the fact so many couldnt be arsed to stay to acknowledge the players for what they have achieved this season. Anyway despite the usual upheaval when Hughton went mid season i think the lads responded well and hopefully they all have a good break and we keep all those we want to keep for next season. Keeping fingers crossed for transfer window. Have a feeling we will get some surprises – hopefully good ones
Geordie Deb(Quote)
103 – well said Wolfie
Geordie Deb(Quote)
yea dave, it put things into persepective doesnt it…
im just glad someone else is having a taste of it and not us again …
i think we have a decent platform to build on from here ….
wolfie(Quote)
cheers deb… you will find im one of the most optimistic fans in the whole world concerning newcastle lol…..blind faith at times maybe…but i always try and keep the faith no matter what… 😀
wolfie(Quote)
Deb – Well according to worky were all just sad lonely people on here. So thanks to all of you fellow sad and lonely people who contribute on here in one or the other 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
Deb I think the summer will be a decent one, but like Wolfie i always try and keep the faith no matter what… but then we might be just deluded 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
well toonsy , im sad , mad and very glad that im a dad……
i also have a fad…and that fad cant be bad because i am a lad … my fads not a fud and i like all things good……………….. i support the toon cos i know i should……i wasnt forced and i wasnt led…..i support the toon cos its in my head………………….. forever a mag and a mag forever………my love for the toon…i will not sever……… if im a sad blogger or poster and such……..then smell my *** and sniff my crutch…….. hahahahahaha……..
wolfie(Quote)
I see mercenary scored for Man U in probably his last game for them.
DJG(Quote)
Reet thats me outta here catch you’s tomorrow 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
toonsy
I think worky needs a cuddle. He is a little sad and lonely. 😉
DJG(Quote)
Later Big D. 🙂
DJG(Quote)
DJG-what you on man? Owen will be the super sub that scores a screamer to win ManUre the champions league…. 😆 😆 😆
NewkieBrown(Quote)
It’s only awful watching that when you’ve recently been through it. I bet the Man U glory supporters havn’t got a clue.
DJG(Quote)
Toonsy – don’t take any notice, jealousy can be a terrible thing
Geordie Deb(Quote)
Wolfie, . Hope for the best, but expect the worst and you can’t go too far wrong supporting the Toon
Geordie Deb(Quote)
well deb , ive had 40 years of supporting the toon but i never expect the worst..i always believe that something better will happen, even if its something trivial, like the tea ladies have been given new saucers…its a positive step and i go for there lol
wolfie(Quote)
Bruce. ‘Well, knowing the North East, they’ll want us to be in Europe and all that nonsense will start’.
What the hell does he mean, ‘knowing the North East’. Europe might be nonsense for Sunderland but it’s not for us. 🙂
DJG(Quote)
Wasn’t brucey himself targetting Europe? Or going on about them achieving a European spot after they beat chelski? Really hope Short doesn’t give them another shedload of cash to spend, then once the new rules come in they’ll be fecked 😎
NewkieBrown(Quote)
Good point. It was mrs doubtfire himself that started the euro talk. **** 🙄
toonsy(Quote)