A complete shower of **** - My thoughts on the Maritimo game

Maritimo deserved to win that game. We started brightly, then slowly got **** as the game went on.

I don't know what Pardew was thinking playing Ben Arfa. We already have some critical players injured, why risk your best player? Ben Arfa is one of the players that doesn't really need a confidence boost. Ferguson should have played instead.

I was impressed with a few players, but it was mostly awful.

Krul - 6 - A few decent saves, nothing that great though.

Simpson - 5 - A good start, then he got banged by every Maritimo player running down that right side.

Saylor - 7 - Solid enough

Colo - 7 - We really missed his ball playing ability at the back. His passes to get us from our third to the oppositions third instantly is what we really could use back in the PL. We've conceded goals due to ****ing about in our own third.

Santon - 7.5 - Good defensively and good in attack also. Probably deserves man of the match.

Anita - 5 - Some good distribution of play, but couldn't do much as the game went on.

Bigi - 5 - Not one of his better games, but good work at times.

Sammy - 5 - Really frustrating at times. ****e crossing, and a bit greedy in possession, but some good bits of skill, and he did produce some quality.

Cisse - 5.5 - Looked decent. Some fantastic touches and skill on the ball. A great finish with that chance he thought he had, but it was offside. He gets caught offside a bit too much like.

Ba - 5 - Had some good impact, but couldn't really put a finishing touch to get us the win.

Amal - 6 - I was impressed with him. Some giving away of possession, but we really could use a player like him in the future. Not frightened to tackle, he attacks and defends, box to box, and he makes great runs through the center of the field. We really could use a player that can make runs down the center and threaten. A quality team needs someone that can run with the ball.

Abeid - N/A - The lad has beefed up a canny bit. Some decent work, but couldn't do much in the time he had.

MOTM - Santon. Another great performance.

Overall - Pants. Just pants, and if Ben Arfa is injured then Pardew really needs a ****ing slap.

 

Delighted, Santon MOTM, was a pretty poor game though, at least no streaker this time!

 

With all your knowledge and obvious skill Tosh, why you don't just walk in there and slap people about til they give you the job I don't know.

 

It's a worrying time - not just because we're just not playing very well but if HBA is knacked then we're pretty much knacked.

 

I notice Santon was caught out again at the back post for the 4th game running. It's so easy to beat him!!

 

Marveaux looked decent...

 

Marveaux can't have been playing, Tash didn't give him a rating.

 

indeed!

 

This is just another bad performance after the previous 2 at home. We all know we should have bought more players in the summer. We are now down to the bare bones, and playing youngsters regularly in a poor team will only harm their development. The blame lies with Ashley and Lambias for not splashing the cash in the summer. We will finish mid table unless we get 3/4 new players in at January.

 

Marv - 7 - Scored the goal, and created well. Forgot about him lol.

 

Marveaux may have scored but he was poor last night. Gave the ball away regular and is also a complete bottler in the tackle. He will struggle to ever cut it in the PL. Can't agree they deserved to win, we just lacked the ruthless streak to put it to bed.

 

I'll be honest, even though I do think more players should have been bought in the summer, the number of injuries we have now is surely beyond what anyone saw? Jonas, Cabaye, HBA, Cisse?, Shola, Perch, Vuckic, Raylor, added to our suspensions, is surely more than anyone expected? It seems we can't finish a game now without an injury.

 

Away with you and your common sense. Its much easier to jump on the manager and chairmans back and be overly demanding

 

I disagree. He didn't give the ball away that often, and he played some good passes. He wasn't poor.

 

I said before the summer that relying on luck with injuries is an extremely unwise decision, as we had no luck with injuries last season.

We should have signed more players.

 

It wasn't wrong to give HBA a game - he assisted our goal and entertained us. On a cold and wet night, if you pay in, you should be entitled to see some decent players rather than the reserves.

It's just the story of our season that he's done his hamstring. Last season we were lucky most of the time. Now Pardew has a more challenging time ahead ...

 

Each to their own but we'll have to disagree on giving possession away. I saw him do it on numerous occasions. At one point in the second half he just passed the ball inside directly to a Maritimo player, there wasn't even a Newcastle player in the vicinity! Early doors he chipped a couple of balls into space where there was nobody there. I'm not singling him out though, nobody passed the ball well. 25 mins in Marveaux, Sammy, Cisse, Simpson, Bigi, Anita had all given the ball away cheaply. Our passing was woeful. To be fair that team hadn't had much game time together, which is normal when you have a freak run of injuries.

As for Krul, his long balls are getting beyond a joke. Colo and Taylor were showing, he was just waving them away or waiting till it wasn't on. Very frustrating and he needs work on this immediately. Its beyond a joke now and Colo and Pards looked pissed with him. To an Argentinian who has been brought up to play from the back it must seem criminal.

 

Gosling and Campbell as well from what i hear. Cisse, Shola and Cambell leaves us with literally Ba and Ranger as senior strikers left in the squad.

 

How could you forget Xisco?

 

I'm sorry, but we were definitely not lucky with injuries last season. Tiote was carrying knocks all season and was out for long spells. Cabaye was injured and suspended for significant periods. Saylor got injured half way through the season, and in the same match Colo did, while Willo was also out. Ben Arfa got injured at the start of the season and took a while to recover, and it took him until late in the season to get back onto form.

We were definitely not lucky, not with results or injuries.

Even if Ben Arfa had have had a blinder and scored a hat trick, his injury wouldn't have been worth it. We need him for the PL.