My personal opinion on today's match.

Feeling absolutely frustrated and gutted after that result. The performance was respectable and you couldn't fault the commitment and effort displayed in the second half, although we really lacked a cutting edge and Barton's creativity and technique were missing. Simpson didn't look comfortable and seemed to be ineffective on the wing through the whole first half. the back four looked shaky and the two goals we conceded could've been avoided, Pardew must be very disappointed in the manner of how a basic counter attack led to a goal, the set-piece by Arteta was brilliant though so you couldn't really do much about that.

Hopefully plenty of rest for the lads will do them some good and hopefully Ireland and Barton will be back for the Stoke game. Them two players have very good creativity and will give us that technical ability to unlock defenses by making a killer pass, cross or even scoring, Barton's delivery's were sorely missed today and Ireland's creativity, technique and flair could've helped us unlock a stubborn Everton side.

Special mention to Guti.. he was immense today! Put in good crosses, ran like a wild beast(even when injured), excellent work-rate, showed skill and good trickery, definitely our MOTM. Ferguson also looks very promising, offered good width and energy although he does look lightweight but we have a potentially good wing-back on our hands and hopefully he can feature more towards the end of the season when we are safe. Nolan and Tiote worked there socks off but it just wasn't there day, although decent performances by both men. Best is improving quickly and is slowly but surely starting to look like a decent PL striker. Lover was very ineffective today(especially out wide) but showed good pace and movement at times although it wasn't a game to remember for him, he simply looked lost out wide and didn't trouble Everton's defense much.

There are positives to take from this match(Guti's performance, Ferguson's promise and Best's threat), but there are more negatives that outshine them such as lack of cutting edge, creativity, squad depth and the need for QUALITY players in the summer. A striker or two is A MUST, a versatile midfielder/winger wouldn't go a miss, defensive cover and maybe 1 or 2 potential up and coming youngsters from aboard.

Hopefully we'll put in a strong performance against Stoke and get the vital three points we need to ease the gap between the bottom three and us!

What do you think?

 

Totally agree, feeling rather deflated if anything, just not our day.

Have some rep for your analysis

 

Back four looked better when Taylor went off and Ferguson came on and Simpson went back to RB.

Collo and Williamson were good and Jonas was hard working.

Best is looking better.

Didn't agree with MOTM for Tiote, I would have given it to Jonas or Collo.

 

Really do need a striker and a new RM, simpson just does not work at RM, nor does taylor at right back

 

Best is our best goal threat, who would have thought we would be saying that a few months back?

Him & Ranger to start next match if we want anything from it.

Todays game was poor, midfield didn't seem to work without Barton and Jose wasn't very good before coming off - his worst game for a long time (maybe because he was injured, hopefully that rather than disinterested)

Jonas was the best of an average bunch for me today.

 

If i'm honest i thought we were ****!, The defence especially Enrique and Williamson were awful. A team like Man United or Arsenal would have scored 6 or 7 with that defending today.

 

The last couple of games Enrique takes 20mins or so to warm up then plays a blinder, this time he never warmed up at all

 

Bad day at the office, nobody came out of it smelling of roses.

Williamson did appear to make one goal saving tackle around the 70 min mark but it just proved how much we're missing Joey with so many players not being up to their game without his constant driving.

Did think Harper could/should have saved the second goal.

Very disappointing after we'd shown what looked like good all round team performances in the last few games.

Let's hope we get our act together for the Stoke game.

 

thought Harpers positioning on free kicks and corners is terrible, can't remember the last time a Newcastle goalkeeper could command his area (pav I think)
Howard on the other hand jumped for every cross and got the ball or the cheap free kick

 

One plus in the game was the part played by young Fergusson, he's always looked like a good player in the making and after his performances against Chelsea in the Carling Cup last year and his game against Accrington in the Cup I'd thought we might have seen more of him by now. He needs to be encouraged a bit more and I think/hope we'll be seeing him start games in future.

 

Ferguson did look good and linked up with Jonas well.

 

Agree with all but this sentence confused me a little. It makes sense but only just!

 

yes, very good point there... doesn't make sense at all to me, but get what you're saying

 

Basically I think Best is a decent striker but I'm not 100% convinced YET.

 

Spot on.

 

Well come on lads, surely Enrique is let off.. I mean he's been very consistent for us this season putting in very strong performances nearly every time so he's bound to have the odd bad game once in a while.. everyone has them unless your superman!

 

He was OK today, nothing special, but no one was, so I don't blame him and as Sanchino says he has been immense for us this season so he's allowed a day off today

 

see below

 

MOTD coming on now, a chance to see all the dodgy decisions.

 

Or not, no doubt we'll have 2 minutes at the end with no analysis with only the goals being shown.