Player Ratings v Manchester City (A)
By Wasim
November 19 2011
Steven Taylor has been named Man of the Match by Tyne-Talk's player rater Wasim4nufc, for his performance this afternoon against Manchester City. Sammy Ameobi who started the game also scored highly, whilst Ryan Taylor has a shocking afternoon and picked up the lowest score of all. Read on to see how the rest of the team faired....
Player Ratings
Tim Krul (6) - Never looked like stopping either penalty and won't be happy about conceding three. Did make the odd neat save though.
Danny Simpson (6) - A difficult day for him although he did not do much wrong either.
Steven Taylor (7) - Defended bravely and made some excellent challenges in the first half. It became hard for him once we conceded those two quick goals though.
Fabricio Coloccini (6.5) - Like his partner, defended well at times but had a difficult day marking the likes of Balotelli and Aguero.
Ryan Taylor (4) - He's worst performance of the season. Gave away the penalty, caught out for the second goal and allowed Richards far too much space down his flank.
Sammy Ameobi (7) - For someone starting his first game, he was decent today. Made some good runs and won us some corners although his decision making and passing was lacking a bit. That comes with someone so young but an encouraging performance from him none the less.
Danny Guthrie (6) - Struggled to win us possession and although he fought hard, we missed Tiote massively in our midfield. Seemed to lack fitness towards the end for some reason.
Yohan Cabaye (6) - Another who worked hard but failed to provide us with dominance in central midfield. Will hopefully be better next week.
Jonas Gutierrez (5.5) - Hardly got to the chance to attack and struggled to handle the City players down his flank.
Hatem Ben Arfa (7) - Looked good on the ball and showed more glimpses of his undoubted talent. Was unlucky not to score after a superb run when he hit the post and also showed his vision with a ball that found Ba in space from which he should have scored in the first half. Gave away the 2nd penalty with a clumsy challenge but the game was lost by then in my opinion.
Demba Ba (6) - Had a difficult afternoon but he still had chances to had to his goals tally. Missed a great chance in the first half and could have done better with one or two other chances but he fought right until the end and that showed when he was involved in our goal late on.
Substitutions
Peter Lovenkrands (5) - Was fairly anonymous after coming on.
Dan Gosling (7) - Scored his first goal for the club with a late tap in.
James Perch (7) - Never thought I'd say this but Perch did well in the build up to our goal, as it was a deflection off his pass which saw Ba with a chance which was then parried by the keeper and put in by Gosling.
Newcastle United Man of the Match - Steven Taylor
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Suppose its hard to be too critical against the form side at home but shows where we need to strengthen/change.
Think having Loven off the bench isnt the best. Tiote was always going to be a miss but hopefully he will be back for Man U.
Steven Taylor was phenomenal, with numerous blocks and last-minute clearances.
Other than Gosling getting a poacher's goal, I think Pardew got the subs wrong. Santon needed to come on for Raylor or Jonas to give us something down the left flank.
Quote:waffles
Gutierrez was well off his game today, which no doubt left Raylor even more exposed. Guthrie and Cabaye were tidy on the ball, but they rarely got it. Ben Arfa kept getting himself caught between defenders, but his pass for Ba and dribble for the shot were impressive.
Steven Taylor was phenomenal, with numerous blocks and last-minute clearances.
Other than Gosling getting a poacher's goal, I think Pardew got the subs wrong. Santon needed to come on for Raylor or Jonas to give us something down the left flank.
I totally agree. Jonas was poor yesterday while Steven Taylor put in an excellent performance. I really thought yesterdays game was tailor made for Santon to come on as a substitute or for Shola to come on but instead we got Lovenkrands and Perch. I'm really bemused as to why Santon is not getting more game time even if he was not starting.
Wasim's Sport Blog
Toon4life
Jonas wasn't his usual self yesterday but i find it hard to criticise him with all that he has done so far this season, it just shows how much Raylor needs jonas on top form in front of him and how much raylor struggles when jonas isn't playing as well!
As for the substitutions i dont think AP got them wrong, HBA and Sameobi probably aren't in a position yet to play a full 90mins and Gosling needs match time so that he's ready for january when he'll be needed a lot more, shola wont have been brought on because the game was all but lost at that point and he would probably benefit from extra time to fully recover! Perch was brought on to add a bit of defensive ability to the midfield and did well and is becoming a credible option as a defensive midfielder! The only critiscism i have is that it is a waste bringing on Loven he is ineffective and it is easy to forget that he's actually on the pitch i would much rather see ferguson or Vukic brought on for the same time and gain some experience!