Player Ratings v Blackburn Rovers (A)
By Wasim
February 2 2012
Newcastle United goal keeper Tim Krul has been named Man of the Match by Tyne-Talk's player rater Wasim4nufc. Krul kept a clean sheet against Blackburn Rovers last night, whilst team-mates James Perch, Danny Simpson, Fabricio Coloccini and Davide Santon all picked up high scores. Read on to see how the rest of the team faired...
Player Ratings
Tim Krul (9) - Did everything asked of him and saved the penalty, which probably won us the game.
Danny Simpson (8) - Made a great goal line clearance and defended well for the most part. I thought the penalty was harsh but justice prevailed when Krul saved it.
Mike Williamson (7.5) - Won quite a bit in the air and did his job well. Four clean sheets in our last six says something about his partnership with Coloccini.
Fabricio Coloccini (8.5) - Cool and calm at the back, organised the defence and apart from a slip and one or two errors which he soon rectified, he continued his good form for this season.
Davide Santon (8) - A solid performance, winning a few headers, bursting forward and winning some challenges, he too can be pleased with his performance.
Hatem Ben Arfa (5) - Disappointing half from the Frenchman. Did one or two good things but then followed it up by giving it away or over running the ball. He may lose his place in the team for the next match, especially as he was taken off at half time despite us being in the lead.
Danny Guthrie (7) - Did fairly well overall but there were moments in the match where our central midfield seemed to be over run. We survived it and with his ball skills he won us a few free kicks towards the end which helped keep us on top.
Ryan Taylor (6.5) - Took the shot which helped us get the opening goal but apart from that, he struggled in the first half. It was no surprise to see him perform better in the second half, after he was shifted to the right.
Jonas Gutierrez (6.5) - Was not that influential in the game but still did a job for us, both defensively and attacking wise, albeit not that much for the latter.
Shola Ameobi (6) - Worked hard but gave several free kicks away and should really be replaced in the next game.
Leon Best (6) - Helped out defensively, despite almost scoring an own goal but it is in the final third where he will feel he did not do enough.
Substitutes
James Perch (8) - I thought he did very well coming on at half time and playing as a defensive midfielder. Won tackles, put his body on the line towards the end and hardly gave the ball away.
Peter Lovenkrands (7) - Played a lovely through ball for our second goal minutes after coming on.
Gabriel Obertan (8) - The open game suited him and when clean through he finished calmly. Should be used more even if not from the start.
Newcastle United Man of the Match - Tim Krul
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I'd give wor Timmeh a 10.
I can't rate Shola, who was terrible-TERRIBLE-better than HBA and I don't think Best was any better. WTF did Shola do other than "win" long balls with the same effect as a defensive clearance? Oh that's right, there was the time he kept the ball in at half (nicest thing he did), carried to the edge of their box, nearly got the ball taken off of him by a defender tracking back, failed to see a teammmate wide open on the other side of the box and fired a shot about 15 yards wide.</rant>
Wasim's Sport Blog
Toon4life
I dont think its fair giving Best the same score as Ameobi, Best was all over the place running deep to collect the ball playing outwide out of position and the ball he headed against our crossbar stopped Blackburn scoring an equaliser! As for Ameobi what did he do apart from help out Blackburns defence!
Thank god ba should be back for the next game so we have a bit of creativity going forward again and should increase the confidence and performance of the rest of the team
Am I the only one who feels Ben Arfa is over rated. Yes occaissionally he shows flashes of brilliance, but the opposition only have to sneeze on him and he gives the ball up.
His passing is poor also.
Thanks for taking the time to do the ratings.
Ben Arfa is not overrated. He is misused. He needs to be in a withdrawn, free role behind forwards who can hold up the ball, distribute it well and take away the attention of defenders. Does that sound like Best/Ameobi? Irony is: AP was right when he said he's not a winger. Thing is, AP only knows one set of attacking tactics and he's shoe-horning our side into them. Please do not let AP's lack of understanding of attack (why do we outplay teams like Fulham and Brighton but don't score?) paint your impression of our players.
I'd try something like 4-2-2-2 when we have a full squad.
With ba back this should improve a little then more so once tiote returns
As for hba I still rate him just think he needs to learn to keep things simple . If there's an easy pass available take it rather than taking on to many
Quote:tunyc
I'd try something like 4-2-2-2 when we have a full squad.
I don't think the pushing Arfa and Gutierrez inside and pulling Cabaye back will solve that much. One of the bigger problems with the 4-2-3-1 that Pardew has tried is the lack of strong cover for Santon and Simpson. There are plenty of other issues with it (like the wrong striker at the top of the formation, no proper forward on the left side, Jonas running around like a headless chicken), but the lack of fullback cover was glaring. I quite like all three of our fullbacks, but I don't deny that they are less effective players than Colo, S.Taylor, and Williamson. The 4-4-2 provided them with ample support from Jonas (one of the hardest working wide midfielders in the league) and Obertan/Raylor.
The 4-2-3-1 might look better with our full strength squad (Ba was very effective on the LW with WHam), but it still won't cover up the weaknesses at fullback. In the meantime, we don't have two center mids for the next couple games who can handle that type of work load. If Ba is ready to go tonight, he needs to play, and we need to play to our strengths: Pace on the outside and big strong forwards in Ba and Best. Guthrie can find the wingers with diagonal balls. Hopefully Perch plays like he has the last two matches.
Waffles-I think a combination 4-2-3-1/4-5-1 and 4-3-3 could work too-one of the central midfielders becomes the fullback cover. But it takes significant adjustments in training as the players have to switch between those formations throughout the game for the best effect. I agree that our fullbacks limit what we can do with the midfield. If we can find the tactics that allow us to get our best players on the field-including HBA-in roles fit for them I think this squad has at least a couple more gears it can hit.