Toon top table ... justNewcastle United manager-in-waiting Chris Hughton, heaped praise on the players after the 2-1 win over Doncaster Rovers at the weekend.
Rumours suggested that Hughton would be appointed as permanent manager before the game but there’s been no official confirmation of that, possibly because Ashley is still considering Barry Moat’s latest offer for the club.
Hughton – presumably still in the role of caretaker manager – said of the game:
“We’ve been through everything but credit to the players, they were magnificent and we got the win we deserved.”
I didn’t see the match personally but according to our match report I think ‘magnificent’ might be stretching things a bit. Although to be fair we did have 57% of the possession, 10 on-target shots to their 3 and 8 off-target shots to their 3. (more…)
Nolan has stolen the three points!For such a relatively average game, this one managed to have a little bit of everything. And yet for the majority of it, Newcastle fans were once again left wondering whether this was going to be another long, hard season. With inept displays from Harewood, Carroll and in particular Gutierrez in the first half and everybody else just apparently and not for the first time, stuck in second gear, it looked like it might actually be a long, hard afternoon.
Once more Chris Hughton ignored what seemed to be the obvious opportunity to play Ranger but was forced into changes as Kadar came in for the injured Simpson. Nicky Butt also returned to first team action for the suspended Smith. Otherwise, we looked the same as we did against Scunthorpe, yes before someone says it, not great!!
I don’t get Gutierrez, I really don’t. For the umpteenth time I watched a game where he over-elaborated and held possession when the easiest thing and right thing to do, was to pass it. Instead he held onto the ball for far too long, got tangled up in a challenge and either lost the ball or threw himself on the floor in a heap. Anyway, Doncaster came here seemingly with every intention to try and play but with ex-Toon player, James Coppinger in the side, they never really looked like threatening. And then on 18 minutes they scored……..when a flick from James O’Connor to Sharp led to a low right-wing cross that seemed to take a deflection that picked out Dean Shiels who had the easiest of jobs to tuck it away. However, that goal was self-inflicted as Kadar had given the ball away cheaply and the defending was half-hearted. (more…)
