Who laughed when they saw Shay Given's gaff on the news?

Fair play, I'm not having a go - he seems to love keeping us mackems entertained with his "cameo performances".

ml3

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Answers

I saw it live and i laughed....it couldn't have been scripted better that he'd let a shot like that in off the player we enjoying hating...football's like that though....A la Dirty Don's goal last year and countless other occasions...

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I laughed and cried at the same time. <> Luckily it will be a one off, althoufh we're likely to see it shown over and over again on the TV.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

...that said, De Gooey's fumble was not much better.

The worst performance I have ever seen by a number one (Ian Hesford notwithstanding) has to be England "stopper" David James at SOL last season.

He was so consistently crap he was kept out on the pitch all half time by the goalkeeping coach. Believe it or not he was actually worse in the second half and we had to endure the ignominy (sp?) of having a perfectly good goal chalked off when Calamity collided with Steve Staunton in mackem disguise :o|)

ml3

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

James flapped wonderfully at our place last year too

And I laughed at Shay too

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Not having seen any replays of De Goeys slip up....was it really that bad? it looked to me like a nicely whipped in free kick that he just couldn't handle....

I notice that Calamity is out for at least 3 months after his 58 seconds on for england....glad we don't have any england players at the minute ;))

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I couldn't laugh at the time ,but I did on the replays. Another clip to add to our "what happened next" collection!

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

De Goey did the same in the first half from exactly the same type of free kick. Robert doesn't disguise his freekicks does he?

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I can't say that I laughed out loud, it was more of a " You've got to be Feckin jokin" it would have been hard to get beat by a soft goal like that. Although he did make amends about ten minutes later when he saved with his feet. Easy come easy go, de goey made two blunders and should have been punished for both. Seems to me like a good tactic, drive the ball as hard as possible and be the first to respond to the deflected ball. Its a numbers game so the odds must be pretty good on scoring a fairly high % of the time. Why didn't chelsea put a wall up for the second free kick??

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Second FK was indirect. I guess they never thought of somenody passing it to Robert ;-)

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

It's up on the Chronic hoardings around the Toon that Given accepts blame for Chelsea error or words to that effect. So another world exclusive there for the Chronic. The story inside says that the response of the fans was to chant Shay's name "and the keeper was visibly moved". Shay is quoted as saying "The fans were absolutely brilliant and it just goes to show that they are the best in the business."

Indeed.

The Chronic has Rob Lee as the best player on the field. Once again I'm afraid I hardly noticed him (my fault - although it would help if he dyed his hair green or something). I did see 2 very good scoring opportunities go to him 20 yards out and he failed to hit the target both times, an all too regular occurence from Rob, it can't be too difficult to get a shot on target surely. Anybody else notice what a fine game Lee had?

Some match stats, we had 10 shots to their 8, 6 on target to their 5 on target. The game was there for the taking and has to be seen as a missed opportunity, but the Shay error was obviously a big handicap and you have to feel for the guy. No I didn't laugh - I have played in goal myself and it's your worst nightmare as the "easy" shots come in.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

jonno,

rob lee did have a good game, tidied up a lot in front of the defence.

obvious blunder aside, given looked really really dodgy

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Given didn't look 'really, really dodgy' at all! After that blunder he made a great save and while he was not at his best, understandably a bit nervious, he wasn't dodgy at all. he is a good keeper.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I made Bobby Lee my man of the match; he was everywhere and made a bit of a mockery of the eleven million Chelsea have just spunked on that most overated of midfielders Frank 'not as good as his dad' Lampard. If only Lee was 10 year's younger....mind you we could always grab dirty Don from the mackems, he's obviously fallen out with Peyter big style.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

2nd half, given flapped at every corner. i don't think he's big enough when the ball's whipped in at 60 mph and the likes of desailly are crashing the 6 yd box

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Rob Lee was terrific; Dabz was a rock (for once); Barton played well with the ball, but both our FB's gave their wingers far, far, far too much room and we were rather fortunate they didn't punish us for it; Robert oozed class.

Given was indeed dodgy - throughout the game - despite making a couple of regulation stops that I would have expected him to make. The dreadful error clearly unnerved him, and he played in the nervy, hesitant style that characterised his performances before his transfer request last season and subsequent metamorphosis into one of the very best PL keepers.

Hopefully the Toon Army's +ve reaction will prevent this error causing him to relapse into the bag of nerves he used to be.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Re Calamity James. I see West Ham are to be compensated by the FA for James injury. Bloody great that - you get rid of a plonker for a season and someone pays you money as well. Now about Marcellino .....

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I still say you are being too hard on Given!

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

I haven't seen the goal, but from description, it sounds like Shay had a "brain fart". Cost us a goal, stupid mistake yes, but he got over it and kept us in the game. That's it, over and done and on to the next game. I for one think he will never let that happen again. He is still the best in the Premiere, in my humble opinion.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Rob Lee had a very solid game in m/f - not MotM but one of his best games. Bliddy good job having just "earned" the best part of £350K tax free ;-) I thougt Barton deserved his MotM award. Nice to see BZ have to present it. Robert had a cracker, but he will be MotM many times this season. Also agree about Dabs - one of his better games.

Given made one fantabulous save with his feet but looked unsure on crosses - and "that flap" under the bar............well, that time luck was on his side. Hardly surprising he was nervous after such a cock-up of Taibi proportions. But he will put it behind him tomorrow and be back to his best.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Ooops - I didn't mean to say "i>he'll put it behind him". Sh!t. Sorry Shay.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

"brain fart" - interesting term :)

My immediate reaction was Shay you stupid tart, but I forgave him shortly afterwards.

As it turned out, I reckon if that hadn't gone in, Chelsea may have gone on to win the game. Because they got their opener in such an easy fashion they took the game easy until we equalised later on. Had it been 0-0 at half time Chelsea would have came out attacking in the second.

But, you never know in football.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Aye, it's a funny old game Paul. In fact, I think it's a game of two halves, so you're right - halftime would have made all the difference to them ;-) What do you think, Brian?

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Well you've got to hold your hands up at the end of the day and say the lads worked very hard for this and we're sick as a parrot but that's the way the cookie crumbles, frankly Brian.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Well, obviouthly Jonno, to be fair, I see where you're coming from (obviouthly), but to be fair, well, I mean, to be fair, what did you say? You know.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

(is this a new "cliché clique"??)

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

jonno, my cookies are only 24 hours old (thanks to Stu P.)and may they long remain uncrumbled!

;7)

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Given had a shocker, supported by a couple of good things. He is widely regarded as one of the best shot stoppers in the EPL. Ie 1 on 1 when someone trys to score. However he is no where near the top when it comes to the other aspects of goalkeeping. (Positioning, crosses, distribution etc)

The rest of the team played as expected, journeymen was a good description. The best part for me was the performance of Bellamy, Robert, Bassedas and Acuna. The first 2 showed glimpses of what they can acheive, the latter that they are coming to terms with the EPL.

If that was Bartons finest hour we should sell him now. We have waited too long for it to happen and now that it has will never be repeated.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Made me chuckle Gus , couldnt agree mre re Bartinho . He was all over the shop literally .. one minute winning the ball in midfield , the next making a tackle at right back . Then throwing the ball in on the left . Hoofing the ball over the centre backs head , defence splitting pass ( once ) then the same old sh1te hoof hoof hoof . Then great tackle , then let his winger through . But the coup de gras foe me was on 89 minutes the stupid get went charging up the right wing fora one-two ball and trying to beat Gall-ass(sp?) to the byline . Has he not been told to bliddy defend properly yet ? Yes he had a canny game ( by his own standards ) but is still singled out for abuse by the likes of me cos he looked like the only player along with Robert and Bellamy who WANTED the ball . For this fact alone ole bartinho puts hisell up for abuse and for that reason i will clap him every game . Just like i used to with Wharton , Martin , Trewick and all . Thats the true definition of a Newcastle player for me , all heart and nae brains with a smattering of skill . Dunno what it says about me like going back week in week out to see the same stuff , but if you ask the supporters of the likes of Halifax Town they'll have the same answer . Back to the point re Given anyway .. he had a stinker , but avenged his cock up with an amazing save from John Terry ... and Brian if the Blues had gone 2-0 up at that stage i think we would have been looking at a rout with even the goalkeeper trying to get on the scoresheet , but thats the turning point in big games like these ... the most predictable thing about football is its unpredictably wouldny you agree Des ?

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001