I'l kick off.
We dominated the whole game with the exception of 15-20 mins of the second half, when we sat back and allowed Villa to come on to us, attempting, presumably, to hit them on the break. I can see why we're doing ok away from home with this kind of thing and it suits Bellamy's game, but there's no need to give the opposition the initiative at SJP. Apart from that - cracking game. End to end, good passing, lay-offs, running into space (Buff - w/ Bellamy in the side we can finally stop our why-no-movement-off-the-ball? blather). Interestingly, for all our pleading for two wingers, we were most productive with quick breaks up the middle. Cautionary note - when teams come and defend properly, we'll struggle playing that way. Crowd - not great, I have to say. I'm afraid "sing when you're winning" can fairly be levelled at us for the most part.

Given - 7 - nowt to do
Hughes - 6 - RB not his best pos
Elliot - 7 - couple of errors, but ok
Dabizas - 8 - solid
O'Brien - 8 - pick of the defenders
Lee - 8 - good game, good game. Some great passes.
Speed - 7 - Shabby first half, much better second.
Solano - 6 - Wasted chances, busy as usual but not his greatest day.
Robert - 6 - Our poorest player. Presumably still ill. Took no-one on, crosses went astray.
Bellamy - 9 - Star on a stick. MOTM. Just needs to work on those one-on-ones. Shearer - 9 - Excellent game. Lovely finish for #2 too.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2001

Answers

Aston Pasted

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2001

Agree with the sing when you're winning bit, but it's the same for any club at home really. People say that we used to sing all the time under Keegan, but most of the time we were winning, so it's a flawed argument.

If we keep playing like that I'm sure the crowd noise level will increase.

I thought Nobby was worth more than a 6 though, some of his crosses were fantastic, we were just unfortunate not to make more of them - Shearer had two great headers, one over the bar and one onto the outside of the post, both from Solano crosses. Hughes is worth a 7 as well, he got forward better than either of Griffin or Barton used to and put in a couple of canny crosses, linked up really well with Nobby.

I would give Given less as well, made two howlers that could have so easily cost us the game.

Pretty much agree with what you're saying though, except i'd give Rob Lee, Bellamy and Shearer a 10 each.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2001

Bellamy doesn't get a 10 for not getting a hat-trick, which he should've done. Harsh...but fair!

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2001

will the goalie only ever get a ten if he saves three penalties ?

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2001

Or indeed stay on the pitch when playing you lot.Bitterness my old friend,welcome back....................................

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2001