This from the BBC Sports Report!!

"Newcastle United were made to fight desperately hard for a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals by a courageous Manchester City side that played much of the game with 10 men."

What's "courageous" about a professional foul? Berk!

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

Answers

Absolute Pillocks

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

heh heh outplayed and outsmarted by a shite 1st division side managed by the most tactically inept manager in the football league (Plays an 18yo striker at rightback ha ha!)

Not to mention being totally outsung by 2,000 city fans HO HO!

I bet 80% of them skunks of today werent even Scum UTD fans before keegan came along!

(9,000 in 1992)

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

Apart from the professional foul, I do think City played well......but not well enough, thank goodness! (:o)

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

What did the Mackems do in the cup this year against a First Division side- can't quite remember?

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

Outplayed outsmarted and won!! That'll do me!!

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

And what was the crowd in Makemland for the third round? Bog off dussy unless you've got summat sensible to contribute.

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

Actually, I reckon the BBC guy got it just about right. Despite playing with 10 men for an hour of the game Man City gave a terrific account of themselves, and pushed us all the way. KK can be proud of his team’s performance.

The first half was enjoyable with the Toon pretty well in control despite spurning a few half chances. However, despite being a man down after Dunn was correctly sent off for hacking down CB in full flight, it has to be said that City were the better team in the 2nd half. In fact, during one 10-minute spell we were absolutely dreadful, finding it impossible to pick out a colleague with a pass, and being pinned in our own half.

The introduction of Acuna at this point for McClen tightened things up somewhat and we gradually reasserted ourselves as City not unnaturally tired. This perhaps pinpoints the real problem for the Toon – which imho was central midfield, where at times we were overrun.

Curiously, for a team playing with two wingers we lacked width and rarely got behind a City defence superbly lead by Steve Howey. Solano played inside for most of the game, with Hughes occasional overlaps providing our only width on the right. Robert wandered all over, generally beating men with ease but largely slowing down our attacks, and in truth providing little end product. His tendency to drop his shoulders and stand like a lemon is intensely irritating. I’d have taken him off a little earlier than BR did, but Luax2 proved even less effective when he came on.

Given the lack of support from m/f, I thought the defence did OK – except for a error-ridden spell in the 2nd half when we could have blown it royally. Hughes epitomised our display in many respects – playing brilliantly against a whinging, diving Huckerby in the 1st half, but struggling against Tiato in the 2nd half. Elliott was just Elliott I’m afraid – another one to forget.

Probably our best two players were CB’s, O’Brien and Distin, followed by CB. Distin was commanding the air against Wanchope, but made several positional errors on the ground during the 2nd half.

Shearer worked hard and did a few good things, but was largely well held by Howey. CB did pretty well with limited service, had a goal disallowed for a very marginal/dubious offside, and brought a fantastic one-handed save from Weaver towards the end.

I suppose a win is all that matters in the FAC, but overall a poor performance against a 10 man Div 1 team – and worryingly for me, a rather jaded, weary looking display from several key players.

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

Great report, Clarky. Pretty much the way it looked to me. For so long I've (mistakenly, I think now) railed against our defence. Today it was blindingly obvious our midfield is in desperate need of a commanding presence in the center. How many times, particularly in the 2nd half did we give City miles of space. I was beginning to wonder why we were even out there with so few willing to take men on. Do our players watch tapes of the way other teams play against us (particularly the likes of Chelsea and Manu who don't give us an inch of space). Maybe something we should try sometime?? Argh!

Sorry, it was a nervy match followed by what seems to be the norm of spending an hour wandering the suburbs of DC trying to find a way out of the stupid place. You can get in...but you can never get out again! The engineers there obviously did every drug known to man when laying out the streets and signage(what signage?!). So I'm a wee bit cranky. ;-)

Great that we won it. City really did push us hard and it was just a bit of bad luck, and some excellent stops by Given that kept them from getting anything. Given is well on his way to being my player of the season this year! Also kudos to Nicky Weaver for some fine saves at the other end. Too bad Howey just missed the og, though!

Great crowd where I watched the match (Summers Restaurant in Arlington, VA). About even between Mags and City supporters. 1 City supporter kept trying to get Toon supporters to take him up on his offer of $5 for a City win. This was announced after we'd come close to scoring or Shay had saved. At another point, Martin Tyler was attempting to drool over us and said, "Who thinks Newcastle won't win the league this year?" Immediately a Geordie piped up with, "Everyone!" Ok, guess ya had to be there. ;-)

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

I know stats don't tell the story but the OPTA report is interesting. Toon 7 shots on target, 8 off, 4 blocked. City 2 on target, 5 off, 2 blocked. See - it was easy!

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

Interesting, indeed! Then why do I have new grey hair and nails bitten to the skin? ;-))

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

Good report Clarky. I'd agree with all of that with the exception of Luax2 proved even less effective when he came on. I thought Lua made an excellent contribution in the short time he was on and might have had 2 assists. He put Bellamy through in a 1 on 1 vs the keeper and got the cross in which bounced of Howey I think and rolled inches wide. Seemed more keen to pass the ball than on previous appearances.

Very worrying the way we were overun by 10 men for 15 mins in the 2nd half. There should be enough quality in the team to ensure that did not happen especially when we had the extra man.

I'm very concerned by Elliot's form - some of the distribution was really woeful and I'm not sure what's wrong with him. I'm sure he was a better player with us the first time he was here. I want him to do well but it's not happening.

Excellent game especially first half and the atmosphere from the crowd was electric. KK will be welcome back anytime with results like that.

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

You're not wrong Jonno, Elliot was a much better player first time around. All the time he's spent out injured since he left seems to have taken it's tool, he just doesn't seem in touch with the pace of the game anymore.

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

Thanks for the report and comments. I must be one of the few people who didn't see this one. The statistics are interesting when compared to the reports - I suppose it does suggest that the defense managed to play well at the last ditch. I guess we really do need Kieron Dyer and that AN Other in midfield.

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2002

Agree with majority of Clarky`s report,other things that caught my eye were the marked improvement in Hughes , the ability of O`Brian and Distin to stay on their feet and shepherd forwards away inside the box felt that a penalty was in the offing at times ,with Dabs on there may have been. Although Speed and Solano played resonably well in midfield they obviously required assistance, from McClen and Robert that was not forthcoming , McClen was anonouymous and Robert although receiving a fair share of the ball was innefective, missing out on Lovenkrands will turn out to be a bitter blow. He never took his man on ,always cutting inside , never hitting the line once. why they persist in slinging in diagonal crosses beats me, meat and drink to center backs. The only time Newcastle hit the line was when Acuna came on, he at least has the ability to play basic simple triangles allowing Hughes/ Solano to at least get to the line. Big Als play with his back to the goal was superb and he led the line in a determined fashion, facing the other way is a different ball game, who am I to critisise. As for Bellamy he provides movement in the team,only one today, by the time he is 27 he will be ready for the knackers yard,certain players seem to accept that he will do all the running, bliddy cruel. The city midfieldwere streets ahead of ours in terms of passing, movement and closing down, Wright-Philips when moved up was excellent, his low trajectory ensures sharp turns, one for the future,Eyal B was buzzin around, always looking for the killer ball into the box, Horlicks was quietly effective, and Danny deVito was combative as ever Jonno remarked on the electric atmosphere, he was there but apart from a spell in the 2nd half it sounded cathedrally quiet, this was seized upon by the production team who panned to one guy in the crowd vainly exhorting others around him to sing. I salute Bobby Robson who stayed in the background and kept his dignity when the `Messiah was being feted at track side. One question, you are 1-0 down , ten men, playing one up front, would you take off Huckerby?, * who had been causin problems. The game was built up too much, disapointing performance but bring on the Arse warts an all.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

A win's a win so in retrospect I don't mind the 'brave City' thing. They played above themselves especially when down to 10 men (Bellamy went down under the undoubted shirt pulling rather easily I thought). So here's Bobby's Ratings Guide for yesterday (better than a Michelin Guide like)

Given 7 - rush of blood to nearly gift Huckerby a goal but some quality stops in the 2nd half to keep us in the chase
Hughes 7 - managed Huckerby well, matched him for pace, as said above seemed to lose his man in the 2nd half. Looked positive going forward, unlucky not to get a goal.
O'Brien 7 - solid centre half performance.
Distin 8 - one of his better games in black and white. Commanding.
Elliot 7 - I didn't see a huge amount to criticise. Not really tested on the wing by any Man City players
Robert 7 - some great crosses, frustatingly came inside to his weak right foot too often (agree Buff). Drifted out of the game 2nd half.
McClen 6 - if Dabizas didn't exist NUFC would have to invent him. And here we have it.
Speed 6 - great ball to Solano for the goal. Tackled hard. Unlucky not to score with a scorching header. Not enough sharp passing to make him stand out.
Solano 8 - great game for 'the little Peruvian (tm)(c)' who was a constant danger. Good challenge to win Speed's through ball and beat the keeper for our crucial goal.
Bellamy 7 - ran all day, but usually offside. 2 or 3 offsides ok. Any more is just careless. Bit of a dive under the challenge of Dunne, but was definitely impeded. Ref had no option.
Shearer 8 - great early shot nearly curled in to open the scoring. Given a hard time by Howey and pals, but credit to his fitness that he got up time and time again. Great flick on for Bellamy to nearly score. Drew players away from attack all the time. Some dodgy crosses but still dangerous.

Sub Acuna 7 - hassled and harried. Huff and puff
Sub LuaLua 8 - not enough time to show his bizarre rubber legged take on the game. Would have benefited from his characteristic direct attacking. Was given clear instruction by YBR so that might be it ("Don't give away the f**kin' ball" perhaps?)

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

i'm amazed by that OPTA stat - 7 shots on target? I can only remember the Hughes point-blanker and the goal. Oh, I suppose Bellamy's late tight-angle effort counts as a shot too. I thought this was a pretty shabby effort all round by NUFC. YBR's logic, presumably, was that since Man C were going to be unusually attack-minded for an away team, we'd behave as if we were away, let them on to us and then hit them on the counter. Unfortunately, the bloody offside trap put paid to that. Another area for CB to work on in training. And I really don't like seeing teams allowed that much space and time in mf. Mind you, while McClen looks a bit of weak link there, I'm kind of in favour of YBR leaving him in. Every time he sees his name on the team sheet picked, it's an endorsement of what he's done in the previous game, and whether merited or not, that can only help his confidence. Only trouble with that is, we can't really afford to mollycoddle him in the next three games...

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

In my view - not a great game, not a great performance by the lads but a win's a win as they say. We're through to the next round and the performance will be forgotten.

Our midfield was shocking though. We miss Dyer so I hope young JJ can add something in his absence. I know Dyer isn't a holding mid fielder which is a gap we know about but his runs from midfield to support the strikers is an important part of our game. He also goes forward leaving Speed to hold things together. When Dyer's not there Speed never seems to know whether to stay in there or link up with the attackers. McClen just doesn't do it.

Defence did OK apart from Elliot who was shocking. Robert in and out and often crying out for a ball when the rest of the team seemed to be trying to threas the ball through the City defence. Didn't use the flanks enough.

I was suprised that KK had his side as organised as that. shows how far he's come as a manager. When he was with us, he'd have just said attack but for long periods yesterday, City did what many teams have done at SJP this season, put 8 or 9 across the back.

On and Bellaymy - he MUST learn to time his runs, although at times yesterday I felt that idiot linesman was a touch too flag happy.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

At least we're getting a share of defensive luck. Time was when those near misses wouldn't have been. All we need now is a fair share of attacking luck, so that our near misses and deflections will end up in the back of the opposition net.

But I forget, you make your own luck, so maybe a commanding mid-field player should be a major priority. How long is Jenas cup tied ?

I've already watched the game again on video, and there's no arguing with the fact that the result is just about the only thing worth remembering from our point of view.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

In the big McClen debate, for my money BR simply has to play JJ in the upcoming fixtures whether it's the ideal situation or not.

With Dyer injured, this was decreed when we let Rob Lee leave as McClen is just not up to it, and never will be imo. Acuna isn't great, but he improved our m/f immeasurably when he came on last night - not that he much to beat mind.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

The linesman was dreadful. He seemed to flag every time Bellamy ran forward and the majority of times he was on-side.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

I'm going to disagree with a few player reviews made by others. Although I haven't yet goen and watched the video to check out myinitial feelings.

I thought our central midfield was appalling form start to finish. Speed regularly committed himself to a tackle too far orward and left them to swarm through midfield playing out pretty patterns. Speed looked superb while we were beating teams and Dyer was in the team, withour a £20m midfield player next to him he looks out of his depth

McClen was not up to scratch at all and sadly (or happily ?) Jenas will have to start next Sunday.

Some have said things improved when Acuna came on but I thought they deteriorated. He is a headless chicken of the highest order. He makes no tackles, but harries well, this wasn't what I felt we needed at the time (or ever). As City played neat pass and move football Acuna played headless chase and chase stuff. Jenas HAS to be better than that.

At the end I was happy we escaped, and in Cup matches it really is only the reulst that matters.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

I thought we were poor mostly but with the Cup, the result is the only thing that matters.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

in Cup matches it really is only the reulst that matters.

with the Cup, the result is the only thing that matters.

I wouldn't be seen dead using cliches in this fashion but far be it from me to gainsay such time-worn aphorisms. At the end of the day however, I would venture to suggest that the result in a league game is not entirely insignificant.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

Pit Bill, Jenas has a flexible Cup Tie, it could only be for the next game or to a maximum of 3 games.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

Thanks Gus. Let's hope he's elegible for the arse tie, if for no other reason than he'll be something of an unknown quantity.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

Macbeth - we were so appalling in the period prior to Acuna coming on that we couldn't possibly have gotten any worse. I do know what you mean though.

Before the substitution, BR actually moved Elliott into m/f for a while, presumably realised this might leave us exposed at the back, and then brought Acuna on.

The latter actually occupied some space and thereby produced a noticeable, if marginal, improvement - either that, or City had simply run themselves out by that point.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

it was just like Peterboro ?!

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

I'm pretty certain once you've played for one team in the FA Cup that's it, you can't play for another. If Jenas played for Forest that's it, he won't play in the cup for us this year. Or have things changed since the old days when I knew what I was talking about?

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

That's what I thought AL. But I think Dyer should be fit by the 9th.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

ADK/Jim - if you dig ever so slightly beneath the surface I think you'll find that is exactly what Gus was indicating ref JJ!

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2002

ADK and Jim,

Yes you are CUP tied if you play for a team in the competition the same year, therefore JJ will not be able to play in the QF, SF or Final. If we get knocked out at QF he is Cup tied for 1 more game, if we get knocked out at the SF he is Cup tied for 2 games and no matter what happens when we reach the Final he still cannot play therefore he will be Cup tied for 3 games.

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

What about replays?

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

My thoughts:

We should have scored a few times in that first half. 3-0 up at half time and we would have had the game won.

For all of City's midfield domination and running from their strikers, they in truth created few real chances. A few close shots and that was it really. They never threatened once from a corner or set piece which is very encouraging from a defensive point of view.

We were far from our best, but we did the job in the end. Bellamy was clean through twice and give offside, although his finishing isn't too good I'm convinced at least one he would have scored.

Robert did OK, great volleyed shot that very few players would be able to pull off, unfortunately saved by the goalie. Had a decent free kick that was just over the bar as well. When he took on a player, a bloke behind me shouted, "Robert you stupid French f**k", before LR took on another two players and created a very good chance for Bellamy (I think) The real problem, (apart from his reluctance to tackle - which he is awful at anyway when he tries it) is that he got absolutely zero support from the midfield or from Elliott behind him. There was one occassion when he was on the left with the ball, and three City players quickly surrounded him. He quickly turned on the ball to find Elliott was on the right wing after venturing forward, the centre midfielders were on the far right and the knackered Bellamy and Shearer were both static outside the box, and marked. How the hell is he meant to do anything with support like that?

The defenders were the good players though. Distin and O'Brien were calm and confident at the back and never once looked like being in any danger. Their clearances were sometimes lacking in direction but that's a minor point.

Shearer played his usual "wandering pole to bounce the ball off" role but Bellamy seemed lethargic. He tried, but the springy non stop movement of earlier in the season wasn't there, hopefully this is just tiredness after playing for Wales in mid-week.

Speed wasn't anything special but didn't make any major errors. McClen was lost and proved that he is too inexperienced to be able to handle a long run in the team. A few games here and there yes, but not a 10 match run. Please.

Hughes and Solano didn't link up as well as in previous games, but still made good contributions.

Overall, a win is a win. Now Sunderland should be the priority.

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

There was a close-up of Bellamy toward the end of the match...he did look shattered.

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2002

not that would have me worried...

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002