Stekelenburg - couldn't do much about either goal but solid enough. Cedric - brilliant going forward, a little rash in making tackles. Was impressed though. Fonte - bit surprised, thought he was sloppy today Maya - solid display again from him. Targett - very poor for the 2nd goal but otherwise ok. Davis - motm. Industrious and superb in the middle. Wanyama - tank, passing seems a bit better too. Mane - really should have scored but other than that he was our main man. Tadic - great cross for long and overall played more like the tadic of this time last year. Rodriguez - a bit rusty, gave the ball away a fair few times. Pleasing to see him on. Pelle - cracking header, good service to mane and tadic. Martina - did well, very solid. Long - he has two in two! Great leap and energy when we needed it.
*whispers back again* why the **** did he try and head that chance early in the second half? He knows how good he is with his shoulder.
A slight criticism of Mane is that he decided to get involved only in the second half we went down, in the first half he was nowhere to be seen. But when he got involved, he was tearing Newcastle up.
The first chance for Mane was going in until Colback blocked it but he should have done better with the second. I think even during the Arnhem games you could see a few problem areas for us so a good point in the end.
What I really liked about Mane was that he holds it up when the ball is rolled into his feet and he has his back to goal. He must a strong little bugger because with a CB up his arse, he still keeps the ball under control and his body between the ball and the defender. Then he passes it simply to a team mate. It is simple and looks fantastic. *cough* please watch him Graziano *cough*
Hope you have a good season. But obviously finish below us. I have liked Newcastle for ages now (since Shearer moved to you) and it will be great if you have a good season. It would be even better if Ashley left but that sadly isn't happening.
Yes, agree. He is much tougher than he looks. The play where Colback fouled him 5,000 times and then finally had to resort to the cheap shot of tripping him was a good illustration of how strong he is. Although tbf, I thought Pelle played well today.
He did, I was really referring to other games for Pelle and he made a great run for one of Mane's chances that took a defender out the way.
Looks like a man on the cusp of proper greatness to me. Just needs to fix one thing: his own surprise that his ability has opened up passing/shooting opportunities which he is currently prone to fluff.
Considering that that was arguably our toughest of the opening fixtures, a point is very pleasing. Scored twice, looked threatening. One question though, do i keep match thread duties for a draw or shall i hand it over to someone else?
I thought he had actually drifted open on that last Mane chance, and if Mane had passed it he might have scored. Not really blaming Mane though, as he had quite a good opportunity there himself.
