Newcastle United v Benfica - Official Build Up / Match Day Thread

Krul - 4 - maybe could have done better with the goal, and whatever the hell that open goal presentation was in the first half means he deserves a low mark, but his distribution was pretty good.

Simpson - 5 - beaten by his man several times, but played quite nicely generally.

Mbiwa - 6 - Very good at times, very sloppy at others.

Willo - 5 - Did ok I thought. Had his man in the air, except their big CB at corners.

Haidara - 6 - Great burst in the first half to set-up a chance, and a couple of good low balls put in the box. Great block. Made a couple of mistakes, but was generally good.

Anita - 3 - Did very little. Disappointment of the night. Poor passing, poor tackling, poor everything.

Cabaye - 4 - His saving grace was that he put in a hell of an effort. Does he really need to drop sooooo deep to collect the ball? Pirlo he ain't. Passing (except when sideways or backwards) was poor, crossing and set-pieces very poor.

Jonas - 5.5 - Did another decent job. Looked very leggy in defence, had no attacking product, but worked tirelessly and with greater effect than Cabaye.

Bigi - 4.5 - Showed his rawness tonight. Still set-up Cisse with a great pass, and clearly has quality. Took a couple of poor touches and a crap shot though.

Sissoko - 5 - Declined in prominence as the game went on, takes blame for the goal. Some very good bursts and passes though.

Cisse - 3 - Brilliant finishing... best I've seen from him. Unfortunately the boy doesn't understand offside and never will. Not a fan of his back-chat either. But he has great enthusiasm and is getting into good attacking positions at least. Did well to get the goal.

Subs -
Marveaux - 6.5 - Showed that Pardew could have been braver. Excellent attacking input, created a chance as soon as he came on, and him and Ben Arfa really threatened. I believe, if we didn't have Sunderland on Sunday, they'd have played from the start and we'd have won comfortably tonight. Marveaux was good at getting back, especially to cover Ben Arfa.

Ben Arfa - 6.498712234 - Only loses out to Marv because he fluffed his lines to win us the match. The Benfica defence were cacking themselves when he had it. He did very well to set up Ameobi for the assist, and to keep the rest of the team calm.

Shola - 5 - Great assist (a bit lucky, but nevertheless), but fell over when well placed. I think he did well overall.

Manager -

Pardew - 5 - Made the right subs to give us a chance. I believe Alan thought we'd win if it was 0-0 at the 60th minute, and so what appeared a bit of a cowardly first 11 selection, was actually ridiculously brave. Didn't work though, I think we should have started with more attacking players. We sure need to vs Sunderland.

Overall - Decent performance, better second half. We go out to a good team who could realistically win it. We weren't that much worse, and but for a couple of moments going a very slightly different way, we'd be through instead. Oh well, good effort lads.

 

Have to say thought we did not have much of a chance beforehand and thought Santons gift had costed us the tie but then we score and get so close and it is disappointing. I do think sometimes we are fated because where's the luck i.e. Cisses postal strikes in the 1st leg we just don't get the luck that rub of the green that is needed!

 

Someday we will get the absolute rub and win something... Just remember to remind the critics of moments like this though!

 

I'd say some of Cisse's runs over the 2 legs have been promising. He got in behind a few times.

Please involve Ben Arfa Sunday. Bye

 

I am proud of the club tonight. The team gave it a right good go, crowd really behind them, I think pards has got most things right tonight while still keeping an eye on the weekend and spoke well and with passion to the media. I am gutted we didn't go through though. Cant believe people spoke about just forgetting this competition. These nights atlre what the club needs to raise its profile and allow great players to see what we are about and how good it would be to pull on the black and white and play at st james' s

 

krul a 4? he made a bunch of saves... thought him and Jonas were great tonight

 

When did he make a bunch of saves tonight???

Catching the ball easily from an over-floated ball is not a save. A keeper should be picking those up.

 

Gandalf ~ Those marks do not reflect the performance everyone should be proud of. Benfica have only been beaten once this season (off Barcelona) and haven't been beaten for 35 games. I was pleased with the performance tonight and proud of my team. They grabbed a draw off the break in injury time.

 

We didn't win, and especially didn't do enough to win 2-0 or 3-1 or 4-2. I thought it was good, but I won't go overboard because we got a decent draw. Decent marks for a decent performance... Tash'll give out 8's and 9's galore I'm sure, but I keep me higher marks for special performances.

 

How many marks for the ref G?

 

Mr Wishy Washy? Does he deserve a mark? Let Benfica piss all over him. He missed certain yellows, let time run down at several intervals (especially free-kicks) without adding it on and was generally pretty weak, I thought.

 

That's being very polite and putting it mildly!

 

Cisse who scored our goal got a 3, and shola who set up a goal and played for like 30 mins gets a 5.
Mbiwa who was at fault for the goal, as he stood like a statue gets a 6. yeah ok then !!

 

Less time on the pitch gave Shola less chance to do something useful, but what he did didn't warrant too many deductions from a normal rating. Cisse was constantly offside, giving our lads bugger all hope. That is very, very poor forward play, however well he finished. His crossing and passing was pretty poor as well.

And Sissoko was the main one at fault for the goal. He was unaware of the player behind him, and so lethargic in getting to the ball that the guy went round him. Mbiwa , as said, was sloppy on a couple of occasions, but it's silly to say he wasn't very good in other moments. His runs forward and some of his passing was very very good.

Seriously, just because I don't give Football manager ratings... HE SCORES SO HE GETS 10

 

Have to say though AB, his team of officials running the sidelines were excellent. Very good decisions all game.

 

And Cisse has equaled last seasons haul

 

About time to... The positive from this game, and looking at the last few, is that his finishing is getting better and better, up to the level of last year's clinical spell. Could be vital in shooting us up the league.

Just stay the **** onside!!!

 

Trying to think of positives

 

Yes he has a fixation with the linesman's flag, the finishes were excellent just a shame they did not count

 

Not the one on the Milburn line in the first half.

Had to take a look at the ref all the time to see what he was giving.

The goal line official may as well not have been there either.