Gutless! West Brom 3-1 Newcastle.
Posted on December 6th, 2010 | 43 Comments |
Newcastle limply surrendered at The Hawthorns yesterday as they were outclassed and outfought by an impressive West Brom side.
I don’t want to take anyting away from West Brom as they did play really well, but the disappointing thing is that they didn’t need to play well to get a result such was the shocking performance that Newcastle put in.
Every team has off days, as I am sure that most of us will agree, but our off days are starting to happen far too often. We’ve picked up two points from a possible fifteen, which is relegation form, and with tough fixtures coming up I can understand a bit of the doom and gloom that is flying around at the minute. The rumour is that Chris Hughton locked the team in the dressing room for an hour after the final whistle yesterday. The lads were lucky, because if it was me they would still be there now!
Joey Barton had been expected to some back into the side to replace either Danny Guthrie or Wayne Routledge, but a mysterious groin injury put a quick end to that notion and left us with an unchanged team from the 1-1 draw against Chelsea. West Brom also had their injury doubts, although unluckily for us, all of their injury doubts managed to be fit enough to start the game.
And that showed right from the kick-off as the home side settled into the game pretty much straight away. They had the bulk of the possesion and played some really neat, tidy and incisive football. Newcastle made it easy for them though by standing off them and not pressing at all.
The first chance unsurprisingly fell to the home side as Paul Scharner volleyed over from a narrow angle. Chris Brunt had the next chance but he fired wide from 25-yards. West Brom were creating chances almost at will, so it was even more shocking that we gave them a hand for the next chance when Sol Campbell spooned his clearance against an impressive Somen Tchoyi only for it to fall into the path of Peter Odemwinige who ran through on goal but fired his effort wide.
Newcastle had a couple of half chances through Andy Carroll and Shola Ameobi, but it was certinly not enough to stem the tide of West Brom possesion and they deservedly took the lead on 32 minutes. Chris Brunt found Tchoyi in space inside the box and he cut inside Jose Enrique before curling a left-footed drive past Tim Krul from 15 yards out.
It was no more than West Brom deserved and they could have added to the scoreline before half-time through Tchoyi again or from James Morrision a couple of times. Getting in at half-time at only 1-0 was a blessing, and I stood there in the away end freezing my chebs off in the forelorn hope that Chris Hughton would fire some rockets up the arses of our players.
As it happens our play did improve at the start of the second-half, but it wasn’t to be a lasting trait. Scott Carson, a spectator in the West Brom goal aside from two misplaced clearances, had to be on hand to deny Steven Taylor on 50 minutes. Wayne Routledge put in an inviting cross which Steven Taylor headed goalwards only to be thwarted by a strong hand from Carson.
Carroll then had a chance but he dragged his shot across the face of the six yard box after being pressured by a West Brom defender. Then it was the turn of Jonas who jinked his way into the box and had his cross deflected goalwards only for Cech to clear off the line. Carroll had a rush of blood to the head with the rebound as he wildly fired the ball over the bar when he could have kept possesion and set up another chance for the team.
The game was a bit more even by now with chances coming at both ends. Newcastle were having more of the ball and I really felt that we would be pulling out all the stops to try and get an equaliser. That mission became pointless on 71 minutes when Danny Guthrie fell over on the half way line whilst in possesion. The ball fell to Odemwingie who had a free run on goal and finished cooly past Tim Krul to make the score 2-0 and end the game as a contest.
Guthrie had to be stretchered off after that incident, although the cynical person would have thought that perhaps the only thing that Guthrie was suffereing from would be embarrassment. That was my thought as I watched him sit up until the ball hit the back of the net before collapsing in a heap again. I expect some form of ‘minor injury’ to be concocted by the club. Smith replaced him and got booked roughly ten seconds after arriving on the field of play.
West Brom continued to create chances from then on and could have gone 3-0 up a number of times. They did just that on 88 minutes through Peter Odemwingie. Marek Cech cleverly fed the ball to Odemwingie who rounded Tim Krul to bag himself his second goal of the match.
Newcastle managed to claw back a consolation in injury time through Peter Lovenkrands, but it was arguably more than Newcastle deserved. Most of the lads had stinkers yesterday, but what is more disappointing is the seeming lack of effort on our part.
I don’t know how it came across on TV, but from where I was stood there was very little movement in the side yesterday. In the limited time that we did have possesion there was nobody willing to move into space, although West Brom made it hard for us by hassling us at every opportunity.
With regards to individual performances, you can take your pick really and criticise just about everyone. For me Nile Ranger should get a start now as he is infinately more mobile than Shola Ameobi. Danny Guthrie was shocking aswell as the ball just seems to bounce off him. I know he hasn’t played too much football, but this is basic stuff. Sol Campbell was also poor yesterday. In fact I’ve seen milk turn quicker! Jonas Gutierrez was his frustrating self, Jose Enrique was well shackled by Tchoyi and even Andy Carroll had an off day, although I think he has earned one of them to be fair and it was bound to happen at some point.
Next up for us is Liverpool next weekend, and they love playing against us. One thing is for certain though, three points from that game is a must now in my opinion.
As ever, Howay the lads!
Newcastle United: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Sol Campbell, Jose Enrique, Wayne Routledge, Cheik Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez, Andrew Carroll, Shola Ameobi.
Subs: Ole Soderberg, Tamas Kadar, James Perch, Leon Best, Peter Lovenkrands, Nile Ranger, Alan Smith.
West Bromwich Albion: Scott Carson, Gonzalo Jara, Paul Scharner, Gabriel Tamas, Marek Cech, Somen Tchoyi, James Morrison, Graham Dorrans, Jerome Thomas, Chris Brunt, Peter Odemwingie.
Subs: Boaz Myhill, Giles Barnes, Simon Cox, Ibanez Pablo, Marc-Antoine Fortune, Steven Reid, Nicky Shorey.
Attendance: 23,486.
I think gutless really can’t summaries how bad the match yesterday was.
But positive point is that Lovekrands(another striker) finally scores,and i hope he finally can start his season now.
so we have 3strikers scoring.
And Let’s hope the team works their problem and win big against liverpool.