They was robbed? Swansea 1 Newcastle 1.
Posted on February 13th, 2010 | 105 Comments |
With a number of injuries to contend with and still bedding in new recruits, Hughton nonetheless fielded a strong side against the Swans, with three changes from the Derby game. Colo came in for Williamson to partner Fitz Hall. Gutierrez didn’t even make the bench, allegedly due to an illness, with Smudger back in the middle of the park and Guthrie moving to the left. Leon Best was dropped for Lovenkrands and Hughton seemed to go for a 4-4-2 from where I was sitting, though Sky kept insisting it was a 4-5-1.
In a first half totally dominated by Swansea, neither side really looked like scoring as for all their good play the Swans looked fairly blunt in the final third. It’s not hard to see why they’re one of the lowest scoring sides. That’s offset against their great defensive record though which is the best in the division, and despite their cutting edge Sousa has them playing some very tidy football.
Newcastle on the other hand looked like half of the team had been out on the p*ss last night, with cumbersome and sloppy play the order of the day. A number of players in yellow simply didn’t turn up and those who did still seemed to lack ideas or direction, as we were unable to test their keeper or even begin to threaten their goal.
With no changes in personnel or tactics at half time, it was much of the same in the second half and the domination of possession inevitably led to a Swansea goal in the 56th minute. When Pratley found Cotterill, after a neat dummy from Dyer, the impressive wide man stepped inside Danny Simpson a little to easily but his curling shot was still special and left Harper with no chance.
With a 1-0 lead, it looked nailed-on for Swansea to just see it out and but for a couple of half chances for the Swans, going into the last few minutes that was about right. So it was a surprise in the 87th minute, when Leon Best who had come on for Lovenkrands, slung in a deep cross from the right. And without Newcastle having hit the target in the entire game before then, Andy Carroll rose to power a header past de Vries to snatch a point.
To say it was an utter travesty would be an understatement and you have to feel sorry for Swansea, considering the appealing brand of football Sousa so has employed and their domination of the first 80 odd minutes. But we can’t have much time to feel sorry for others, when we have a lot of feeling for ourselves to get on with. Because it’s hard not to be alarmed by just how much our form has dipped of late, in the wake of losing key players.
Maybe the new lads need time to settle, because it looked like a team who hadn’t played together before. But what about the excuses for the lack of endeavour? There are none, and some of those players out there need to have a good long look at themselves, Kevin Nolan particularly in my opinion. That was a hell of a journey for the travelling contigent to make, and it would have been nice to think the players put in the same sort of shift.
Made to look like a far inferior side by the slick Swansea passing and anything but a side on course for promotion, our side looks cumbersome, tired and devoid of ideas. Though we’ve taken points without playing well this year, this game was standout daylight robbery. That Carroll was afforded an opportunity in the dying seconds against a player giving a number of inches in height, showed the sort of luck which has deserted us in recent years but which we’ve called upon time and again this season.
So with Lady Luck on our side, we can surely only build on such good fortune and address the apparent attitude issues and the lack of urgency. We could also do with a more fluent way of playing football, but that might just have to wait a while, judging by things so far this season. A point is better than nothing of course and we’re top of the league but Hughton has plenty to ponder nonetheless.
Us – Harper 7, Simpson 6, Hall 7, Coloccini 7, van Aanholt 7, Guthrie 5, Smith 6, Nolan 4, Routledge 6, Carroll 5, Lovenkrands 6
Subs – Krul, Williamson, R Taylor, Kadar, Best 6, Pancrate, Ranger
Swansea – de Vries, Williams, Tate, Monk, Pratley, Orlandi, Dyer, Bessone, Cotterill, Kuqi, Allen
Subs – Cornell, Pintado, Mark Gower, Butler, Rangel, Trundle, Richards.
Match highlights and post match interviews.
NUFCBlog Author: bowburnmag
bowburnmag has written 234 articles on this blog.
I’d have given Guthrie a 4 aswell bowburn. He was equally adept at getting caught in possesion and giving the ball away.