This wasn't as depressing as the Villa game a couple of weeks ago. The thing about that game was that Villa are a very poor outfit and our lads could have played 'til the next World Cup and they still wouldn't have won and, unless it came in off the ref's bum, wouldn't have scored either. Last night, we were playing against a fairly full strength side that has a lot of World Class players: The Bridge was never a likely venue to break the London hoodoo. On the other hand, a lot of the glaring issues that were thrown up by Villa game were amply apparent again last night: 1) We are currently so under-resourced that we are risking our very best players. Dyer was clearly unfit and in patent agony at times. We've treated Shearer like a pit pony for most of his time at the Toon. Can we show Kieron a bit more respect, please? 2) We miss Shearer, particularly away from home. He protects our possession and is, as he should be, our first line of defence. He also would have given their defenders something to do other than joining in the already very good Chelsea attack. 3) The midfield, without a fit Rob Lee, struggles away from home. Speed seemed exhausted last night and that aggression that has characterised his game for the past season or two was nowhere to be seen. It may be that he is approaching another suspension for accumulated bookings (and I think two suspensions for accumulated yellows brings extra penalties for the club and the player although I'm not sure on this point). Whatever, Gary wasn't really on his game. Bassedas was OK in spells but just hasn't got up to the pace yet and looks frightened on occasion. The Nobmeister was OK but wasn't at his best - in fact, he had spells where he went nowhere near the ball. The midfield lightness means that our defence is almost always unprotected. 4) It's hard to judge the defence given the lack of support they get from elsewhere on the pitch but, IMHO, Griff needs to replace Wozza for a few games. I can see Bobby's rationale for sticking with Wozza, namely that he is one of the few older heads that we have and he has a great workrate. His form recently, though, has been poor. He gets caught out of position a scary number of times and, unusually, looked a good yard off the pace last night. To deflect some of the crap that will come his way before too much longer, Wozza needs a game or two on the bench and, in any event, Griff deserves a run in the side. Goma is alleged to want a move to London and this was the second game in London in the course of a month where he played like an old nag. It's weird how solid and strong he can be at one moment and how easily he loses his concentration the next. I honestly think Steve Caldwell would have done better last night. Hughes was a sensation, particularly in the first half where he more or less singlehandedly kept us in the game. I think it was MacBeth who described him as our little gift from God and I'd have to agree. It's not his size that will stop him from becoming one of the great defenders, it's the fact that he hasn't had and doesn't have a really first rate defensive role model/mentor at the club and I don't think we'd want him to learn anything from his international defensive colleagues, bearing in mind that there's only that nice Gerry Taggart among them who you've ever heard of (bit of an exaggeration, but you know what I mean). The only thing is, either his shyness or natural modesty stop him from leading the defence and, given his awareness, he really should be at the heart of things at the back. I've seen Goma bawling him out. He wants to try telling Goma what a plank he can be on occasions... he'd probably get a round of applause. Of course, neither of our goalies has leadership in their repertoires. Which is a pity. There is a case developing for going with, sticking with and sinking or swimming with Griff, Hughes, Caldwell and A.N. OTHER at the back (Quinn wasn't in last night's game IMHO). 5) No leadership. Speed and Wozza aren't natural captains - they can't organise things. They do the encouraging and all the "soft" stuff but aren't even in the same league as Lee or Shearer in the all-round captaincy department. I know we've had this time and time again, but it needs sorting out in the short term and the long term (hence need to get Aaron being a bit more assertive on the pitch). Anyway, not our best game but we'll be at home on Sunday and the Chelsea game is probably best forgotten. Furthermore, I'm back in the Gallowgate after my little visit to the suits' seats (nee offence, Bill). In general, not too bad a night out actually. I got a cab to Fulham Broadway and relaxed before the game looking at the wicked buildings you see on the route from the City to Fulham: now they've knocked down Paternoster Square, St Paul's at night is some spectacle. I had given my ticket to a begging LondonMag and sat in a corporate/posh seat acquired through work - actually not as "nice" as the Sports Bar at SJP and certainly there's a poorer atmosphere. They have built 17 millennium suites that are for rent at £1 million for ten years. I honestly can't see them shifting these. Stamford Bridge does make me laugh though - "find a dead lobster and think it's a treat". We forget the glory of SJP's city centre location and it's place in the community. Quite what community Stamford Bridge serves, I don't know.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Answers

By the way, I thought there looked like more than 1000 Geordies at SB. But I may be wrong. Not our best supporting performance IMHO. Still good, just not up to our own lofty standards,

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Not bad Dougal, not bad.....only bit I'd disagree with is your analysis of Hughes.....he didn't look in the game too me, too quiet and was easily dominated, Goma took the piss out of hasselbaink.....

Just a quick word about the Chelsea players....fucking whinging miserable wankers....LeBeouf, HasselWank and Ferrer should be fucking ashamed of themselves for hounding the ref waving pretend cards the way they did........scum.....

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Agree re Chelsea players.... in particular Le Saux. Agree that Goma did OK with JFH part from not closing him down for that cross to Poyet. Hence my thoughts on his concentration...Re Hughes, it was the number of clearances, interceptions and blocks that impressed me - he was the omlu one of our players who did anything for set pieces - and he also won a fantastic header from JFH. Fair dos, though - all about opinions.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Robson is saying today that Dyer should not really have played due to his lack of training.

Why not give Coppinger a chance? A fully fit young striker who would run his bollocks off in an attempt to impress. Chelsea wouldn't know a thing about him either.

I appreciate that it was a big game and maybe too big a test but why run Dyer ragged like we have done with Shearer? Someone else has made this point on another thread and I think it could have been handled better.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Not certain that's true Debuilder....Shola whilst looking dangerous and a reasonable player is certainly not running his bollox off....he could do with a bit more of it actually, he also needs to stick those long legs of his in a little bit more....

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Is this because he knows he's going to be in the team for a few weeks and doesn't want to get injured? Subbed last night which may have opened his eyes a bit.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Great - and indeed only - eye-witness report Dougal. Thanks.

Unfortunately, I only got to see our ritual 90 seconds right at the end of MOTD, so it's difficult to be objective. However, yet again we couldn't defend a lead, and our defence looked hopelessly disorganised - at least on the 2nd and 3rd goals.
On the 2nd JFH had all the time in the world to put an accurate cross in for Poyet's run: on the third there was nobody within 6-7 yds of Gronkjaer when he got the ball in the PA, with his marker (ie. Barton) marking fresh air in the six yard area.

Defensively, we are still useless - so let's not kid ourselves otherwise.

IMO, playing Barton against Gronjaer - who we should have expected to play from the start following his top display at the weekend - was a mistake. Leaving our best FB on the bench, when we expect to be up against a top winger, was a bizarre decision and we saw the result. Did Griffin get on at all?

Regarding Dyer, if he wasn't fit then why the hell was he playing? On issues like this I just despair, but it seems we won't be happy now until, like AS before him, YKD is totally knackered and lying on the operating table.

I'm nowhere near as sanguine as you Dougal about this defeat, and this performance. IMO, although they have some excellent players, Chelsea are not a top side, and indeed I watched them clinging on by their finger-tips to defeat Gillingham only on Sunday, after taking a 3-0 lead.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Gillingham in the CUP doesn't really compare to their league form though Clarky....they are pretty awesome at home...and have scored a helluva lot of goals, away from home is a different story...

I'd agree that we're still crap defensively and also despair with you that we're not learning and still playing injured players

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Quite correct Gav. I'm just bloody fed up with our general inconsistency and defensive incompetance.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Back to a point I've laboured a couple of times before. I reckon if our defense had time to get their breath back between opposition attacks, they might not be nearly as bad as they seem to be at the moment.

Even when we carve out half decent chances, we just aren't scoring enough goals, so opposition defenses don't have to worry too much about leaving themselves exposed when they mount attacks.

Does this sort of stuff show in those Opta stats - don't read them much myself ?

The worry is will it be any better when AS and CC etc are fully fit again ?

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Shearer's main strength is his ablility to hold the ball up which would give the defence some time but I think they lack the intelligence to see where they are failing in a short space of time.

Against Villa a few weeks back at St James's the defence were great at reactionary blocks etc etc a point Dougal reiterated about Hughes last night. But when it comes down to shuffling across the pitch or covering a gap or something they just don't seem able to sort it out unless Robson tells them at half time.

We need a real thinker who will not be shy in communicating his thoughts to those around him and getting them to do the right thing. Other teams seem capable of really shutting out the opposition but I wouldn't be confident of us trying anything like that.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

I can partially accept that argument Pit Bill - although I think the principal problem is our inability to keep possession. However, that doesn't account for the countless occasions where we simply fail to mark the opposition - painfully apparent again in the brief snatch shown on TV last night.

I could understand it more if we were learning from our mistakes and gradually improving defensively, but we don't really appear to be.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

I seem to remember discussing this sort of thing around November. The conclusion we came to then is much the same as now. We need a strong commanding defender who knowsh how to organise a defence so it isn't just a matter of blocking shots or tackling. It's more about moving around and closing the space off, covering all areas.

We need a new Tony Adams but then again so does everybody!

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

.....just goes to prove my point DB that we aren't learning. ;-{)

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

I honestly don't know whether I agree with this stuff regarding our defence. I don't think our midfield helps but more fundamentally, both our goalies are really only shot-stoppers - the great defences almost always have great goalies who can read the game and will direct the defence.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

>>>>We need a new Tony Adams but then again so does everybody

Including Tony Adams by all accounts ... :-)

Very good point Dougal about the keeper. I'd like to see our keeper command the area more than either of them do at present.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

So, to recap - our defence, midfield, and both goalys are all sh*te.

It is received wisdom that Shearer is sh*te, Gallagher's past it, Axl and Glass are on their way out, and Ameobi's just a kid who needs a lot more experience. CC? Who's he?

Well, arguably that leaves us with just Kieron Dyer to build an entire squad around. Actually, that's not such a bad idea!

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001

Er, Clarky. Would that be the injury prone Kieron Dyer? It's enough (almost) to make me take up Championship Manager.

Actually, much of this is simply down to confidence. You just watch 'em when they start winning a few more matches with ease (starting in Sunday???). It's amazing how much increased confidence can (a) increase the "command" in a player and (b) make average players better (just look at that shower down the road if you don't believe me). Much of this comes down to the manager to instill that confidence (just look at the other shower just a bit further down the road).

Time for YBR to dig deep and get things going - which he probably will do when the injury situation improves. Oink, oink. That bliddy pig should have navigation lights on.

-- Anonymous, February 01, 2001