Player Ratings v Sunderland (H)
By Wasim
March 4 2012
Newcastle United's super sub Shola Ameobi has been named man of the match for his performance and goal, off the bench in today's derby against Sunderland. Hatem Ben Arfa was also awarded a high score by Tyne-Talk's resident player rater Wasim4nufc for his performance, after he also came off the bench. Read on to see how the rest of the team faired in the 1-1 draw.
Player Ratings
Tim Krul (7.5) - Did not have that much to do but handled the crosses well and guessed right for the penalty. Cannot ask for more.
Danny Simpson (7) - Won a few good challenges and seemed up for it. Cannot really fault his defending although he did not do much in an attacking sense.
Mike Williamson (6) - Had a decent match but it was his one moment of stupidity that cost us getting all the points. Why tug his shirt? Only he'll know but otherwise he defended quite well actually.
Fabricio Coloccini (7.5) - Also won some challenges and intercepted a few important passes. Our best defender on the day.
Davide Santon (7) - I thought he had a good first half so it came as a surprise to see him taken off at half time. I suppose Pardew wanted Ryan Taylor on the field for his set pieces so Santon had to be sacrificed. Santon took on players and was always willing to go forward and hardly did anything wrong from a defensive point of view.
Ryan Taylor (6) - Thought he did very little in an attacking sense and should have been the one whom Ben Arfa replaced. With Cabaye in the team, we had an able replacement for the set pieces. Overall his set pieces were not bad, in fact he put in a terrific corner from which Ba hit the crossbar.
Yohan Cabaye (6.5) - Was not on the ball as much as I hoped, which resulted in us being poor in the first half but he had a better second half. Provided the cross for our goal and put in a few other notable crosses as well.
Cheik Tiote (6) - Do not think he controlled the middle of the park and that cost us a bit. He put himself about but seemed to get involved with too many off the ball incidents instead of doing what he does best.
Jonas Gutierrez (7.5) - One of our few bright sparks in the first half and he had a good second half as well. Always linked up well with the left back, whether it was Santon or Taylor.
Papiss Cisse (5) - I thought he was fairly anonymous for much of his time on the field. That may not be his fault for we weren't creating that many chances at that stage. He'll have better days I'm sure.
Demba Ba (7) - Missed the penalty, which happens to the best sometimes, so we cannot blame him for that. It was just not his day in the end as he hit the crossbar with a superb header as well. He looked dangerous in the second half which was good to see for his first half was slightly below par. 
Substitutes
Hatem Ben Arfa (8.5) - Really changed the game when he came on. We looked more dangerous, he was beating men with ease and he looked a real threat. Yes he lost the ball a few times as well but he lifted the crowd, caused Sunderland problems and that's what we needed.
Shola Ameobi (9) - Won us the penalty and scored the crucial goal. Cannot ask more from a substitute in a derby match.
Peter Lovenkrands (N/A) - Was not on long enough to do anything note worthy.
Newcastle United Man of the Match - Shola Ameobi
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Ben Arfa and Jonas came close in terms of contributing, but they wasted as much as they created.
5 is a bit harsh on Cisse, he didn't really have much to work with.
Newcastle United News
Thought HBA did well when he came on and made some good attacks but at times picked the wrong ball and should have passed, but he was needed for the game as atleast he was trying something different.
For me Jonas was man of the match, second half he was constantly trying to run at people and get the attacks going, and out of the first half he was one of the few players that didn't fall into sunderlands hands of trying to boot them off the park
I get the low ratings for Cabaye and Tiote but to be fair, it was a tactical thing in the first half. Sessegnon, Gardner and Cattermole overran them and left them no space, constantly sucking Jonas and Raylor in to help and disrupting our attack up the wings. Credit to AP-he got it right at half. Same thing with Cisse. He got no service. I would have taken him or Ba off for a midfielder or had one drop on to the wing sooner than AP did.
I'd give Williamson a lower rating. He looked shaky more than once.
Has his faults but he always takes it up a notch against the mackems.
Love that guy
I believe his success rate is very good and in my opinion when he is on the pitch he should be the designated penalty taker.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:03:05:18:10:36 by wasim4nufc.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:03:05:18:18:16 by wasim4nufc.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:03:05:20:31:09 by wasim4nufc.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:03:05:20:33:27 by wasim4nufc.
Mike Dean should hang his head in shame, but I'm guessing he's quite pleased to be the center of attention...yet again.
Wasim-Jonas & HBA (and I suspect Marveaux as well) will never look to put crosses "on a plate" by instinct. These days, that's a very English way of playing. It's why HBA doesn't fit into this squad and why AP was right to say he isn't a winger. This is the problem with bringing in fancy-footed continentals and asking them to play under a manager whose understanding of tactics is thoroughly English. Some players adjust-Cabaye seems to relish his role for example. Other do not. The question becomes: do you ship them out, or change the system?
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We need to remember that Cisse was injured during the week leading up to the game, had Shola not had the flu and missed training all week i would imagine Cisse would have started on the bench and shola started!
Yet again Williamson was our weakest link, he won aerial challenges but all he does is send the ball straight back up the pitch as far as he can and 9 times out of 10 its straight to an opposition player and they start attacking again putting our defence under constant attack!
I don't have a man crush on HBA though I may develop one if he ever gets a run of games (like Obertan got). I just don't want to see him leave us for a club that will slot him into a proper role and light up Europe. As it is, I'm guessing he'll want to go this summer. He is a liability in 4-4-2, I agree. But then, this squad really isn't suited to 4-4-2. Why put a right-footed, dribble-first player on the left in that formation? If we got Ozil I imagine AP would put him out on the wing, complain he wasn't tracking back and bench him for Ryan Taylor. Because we once upon of time had a great run of 11 games under AP (since then our points per game is virtually the same as under CH), some would justify that. You are aware of the story of him not being able to figure out how to fit Tevez into his rigid tactics, right?
Yes, I compared HBA to Mesut Ozil. Yes I did.