Newcastle Utd - A view from North Lower
Posted by JamesB in Newcastle | 30 August 2006
Sunday's defeat ended a long unbeaten run of competitive games stretching back to the 3-1 loss at Charlton last season.
On this occasion we never really looked like taking the points, or even notching up a goal. A huge lack of cutting edge was apparent, despite Martins' debut, which ended prematurely. The injury looked a bad one from where I was sitting and I feared the worst, so to hear it was a dead leg after the game was fantastic news (in a strange way).
No excuse for some of the ramblings in the crowd though, including murmerings of Roeder has no clue or tactical nous. Extremely short memories it would seem.
On a separate note, my patience is running very very thin with Albert Luque. Once again he came on, flattered to deceive, jogged around a bit and had very little impact. It's not the lack of impact that frustrates me, it's more the lack of wanting to make an impact. I wouldn't be at all bothered if we got shot of him now despite our lack of strikers; Duff, Charles, Milner and co. all look more threatening up front.
As for my opinion on Martins' debut - he looked willing and threatening. The pace that everyone talks about does exist, but we will have to play the right system to make the most out of him. Long ball after long ball were pumped up at him on Sunday and he just doesn't have a lot of hope against a 6 foot plus centre back. We need to be looking to get him in behind the defence with a ball through the defence. I would like to think that Emre is the kind of man that could provide the ball to set Martins free behind the defence but it was not the case on Sunday. I have a lot of faith in Martins though, he looks cut out physically for the Premier League, and the kind of man to put himself about.
I'd like to see Taylor start at the back with Moore in a fortnight as well. We all know Bramble's faults so I won't dwell on them, but I do think that a bit of time out of the limelight might do him some favours. Not to mention I think Taylor and Moore are our best centre backs regardless. Roeder may have a new centre back come the Fulham game though, so
more on that nearer the time.
I haven't seen the goals on replay so I can't point the finger at anyone. The first was right in front of me though and it looked as if Bramble didn't really close the striker ( Luke Moore?) down, but it wasn't our defending that lost the game.
The thing I will be looking for most at St. James' next weekend will be an improvement going forward. It will be good to see Shola and Martins play up front together to see how they link up - I am quite optimistic about this partnership. I hope Roeder's signings come off as well, whoever they are, a bit of squad depth never went a miss. A left back definitely wouldn't go a miss, Babayaro looked at sea again on Sunday.
Overall, a fairly poor performance with what looked like a bit of a Euro hangover. A two week break has come at a nice time though and Roeder will no doubt know what needs improving over that time.
