By Wasim
August 14 2011

Fabricio Coloccini was named Man of the Match by Tyne-Talk's resident player rater, Wasim4nufc, for his performance against Arsenal yesterday evening. The club captain scored an 8, whilst team-mates Steven Taylor and Tim Krul werent' far behind. Read on to see how the rest of the team faired...

Player Ratings

Tim Krul (7.5) - Did not have too much to do but did well when called upon.

Danny Simpson (7) - I thought he gave a good performance. Got stuck in at times. Did leave some gaps at the back when he ventured forward a few times.

Fabricio Coloccini (8) - Our best player on the day. Lead by example. Read the game well. Was able to cover his fellow defenders and even tried to go forward when he could.

Steven Taylor (7.5) - Put in a solid performance although the biggest concern with Steven is the fact that he puts in some unnecessary challenges, which could see him get into trouble on another day. Other than that justified his selection ahead of Mike Williamson.

Ryan Taylor (6.5) - Despite being a make shift left back, he actually had a quiet evening, even though I had my concern that Arsenal were going to attack his channel. They did that a few times but we handled it and still managed a clean sheet. Hopefully he will be replaced with a proper left back ahead of our next game though.

Joey Barton (7) - I thought he had a mixed game. There were moments where he was outstanding, showing his commitment to the cause, whilst there were other moments where he gave the ball away unnecessarily. Having said that, Song should have been sent off for the stamp on Joey, whilst I can understand why he went down after the slap from Gervinho. It wasn't necessary for him to pick Gervinho up the way he did but I suppose that's Joey.

Cheik Tiote (6.5) - Seemed a bit off the pace. That will most probably be due to his visa problems. Hopefully the 90 minutes and a full weeks training will see him sharper next week. Still a very important player to us.

Yohan Cabaye (6.5) - Took a while to get into the game but showed glimpses of the player he can be for us this season. Put in a good shift and was taken off towards the end.

Jonas Gutierrez (6) - Failed to stamp his mark on the game. May be dropped for our next game. He did win us some free kicks which stopped Arsenal from getting a head of steam but that was about it for him.

Demba Ba (5.5) - Taken off at half time. That tells you he wasn't really in the game as he failed to link up well with his strike partner. It will take him some time to settle in and let's not forget Arsenal had most of the possession which will not always be the case at home this season.

Shola Ameobi (6) - Put in a good shift although he too failed to test their keeper.

Substitutes

Gabriel Obertan (7) - Showed some real pace when given the chance and looked good on the ball. Hopefully he starts next week, so that we can see more of him.

Leon Best (6.5) - Showed one good turn but other than that, never really made an impact.

Peter Lovenkrands (5.5) - Had very little time to make an impact.

Newcastle United Man of the Match - Fabricio Coloccini

Player Ratings v Arsenal (H)

Discussion started by TyneTalk (IP Logged), 14/08/2011 09:39

TyneTalk
14/08/2011 09:39

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lincolnnufc
14/08/2011 12:23

Agree with the match ratings. Pretty much spot on. Does anyone know why Sylvain Marveaux didn't play??

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i!
14/08/2011 12:26

Was wondering the same, I'd assume he's injured/unfit, but there were quite a few who looked a bit out of sorts yesterday so I don't know.

Ratings are pretty much spot on, centre backs were our best players, Obertan looked sharp when he came on.


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lincolnnufc
14/08/2011 12:34

Yeah thats true. It was a pretty poor game in all honesty.

I thought Demba Ba was the better of our two forwards in the first half so i was surprised to see him subbed and not ameobi. Looking forward to seeing both Obertan and Ben Arfa in the same side.

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DaraghL
14/08/2011 14:54

Ba was making space well and made some good runs the delivery to him was very poor first half.

Best when he came on was very good he controlled every long ball well and used possession very well hope to see him play ahead of shola.

Also was dying for pardew to swap taylor and simpson how much space was simpson getting to cross if it was taylor on that wing with that much space are chances of scoring would have increased greatly

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waffles
14/08/2011 18:28

It would have been nice to have Taylor swinging those crosses in, but I thought Simpson's deliveries were decent enough. The problem is that Taylor + Barton doesn't give you a lot of pace on that flank, so I think Pardew wanted a balance. Jonas + Taylor = Barton + Simpson in terms of pace and delivery ability.

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TOONTILLIDIE
14/08/2011 19:52

Think the ratings are about right, thought the defence did well yesterday and they were definately the plus point in the game, Krul had a easy day in the sticks. We lacked creatively during the games but over the moon with a point

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wasim4nufc
15/08/2011 09:53

Thanks for the comments lads. Totally agree that the defence was our plus point in this match. A top four team failed to really test our keeper which says a lot.

We'll have to work on our attack but then again, Arsenal are the one team who usually boss possession so hopefully we'll have more of the ball against Sunderland and create more opportunities.



Wasim's Sport Blog

Toon4life

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i!
15/08/2011 10:00

Not too about Arsenal being a top 4 team, worst side I've seen from them.


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tunyc
15/08/2011 16:22

Agree with most of the ratings. But I think Raylor deserved no more than a 5-he should send Wenger a "thank you" card for switching Gervinho to the other wing. Also, I don't agree with rating of Ameobi at all. I think there was a stretch of about 10 minutes after the half when actually tried to close down opposition defenders. Otherwise, jack s.hit. Seriously, does this guy ever make a run?!

Oh, in terms of Taylor/Simpson? The solution is to get an actual LB, of course. Like, now.

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tunyc
15/08/2011 16:46

By the way-I wouldn't rate Tiote & Cabaye the same. Cabaye was behind the pace of the game, especially in the first half and Tiote was being asked to cover a lot of ground. He also got back and filled for our fullbacks on a few occasions.

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