By Wasim
October 17 2011

Newcastle United's Cheik Tiote has been named Man of the Match by Tyne-Talk's player rater Wasim4nufc for his performance against Tottenham Hotspur yesterday afternoon. Fabricio Coloccini and Demba Ba also scored highly, as did Shola Ameobi who came on from the bench to score the equalising goal. Read on to see how the rest of the team faired....

Player Ratings

Tim Krul (7.5) - I thought he did well. There was very little he could do about their goals and everything else he did well.

Danny Simpson (6.5) - Had a sound game without doing anything major.

Steven Taylor (6.5) - Gave the penalty away with a poor challenge. Defended fairly well for the most part though.

Fabricio Coloccini (8) - Our best defender on the day. Had a chance to win it for us late on but it was not to be. His passing, control and skill is just great to watch though.

Ryan Taylor (7.5) - Had a reasonably good day at left back. Thought Bale might trouble him but he stood up to the challenge until Bale eventually moved across to the other flank.

Gabriel Obertan (6.5) - Was involved quite a bit without really having anything to show for it. Did have a shot which went narrowly wide. Needs to work on his crossing.

Yohan Cabaye (6.5) - Gave the ball away, in the build up to Spurs getting their penalty and did not control the game as much but still played his part in a good team performance. Generally his corners weren't that great today.

Cheik Tiote (8.5) - Outstanding performance from him. He broke up numerous attacks and helped us control the game for large periods. Almost scored with a delightful shot and it would have been no more than he deserved.

Jonas Gutierrez (7.5) - As usual, he had a much better second half in comparison to the first. Went on a superb run and cross which led to our first goal and worked hard as always.

Leon Best (6) - I thought he worked very hard without getting the service to test the keeper. Was eventually taken off after 70 minutes.

Demba Ba (8) - Another player who worked hard and put in a good shift. Scored our first goal with a well taken finish, especially as the ball bounced just before reaching him. Thought he was unfortunate to also be taken off after 70 minutes.

Substitutes

Hatem Ben Arfa (6.5) - Looked good on the ball although he was selfish at times. Who can blame him though, as he has been out for some time and probably wants to be in the spotlight again, especially with the team doing well.

Shola Ameobi (8) - Took a few minutes to get into the game but once he did he was quite a hand full. Scored the late equaliser with a clinical finish too.

Davide Santon (7) - Came on for a small cameo at right back and did fairly well for the few minutes he was on for. Nice to see him make his debut though.

Newcastle United Man of the Match - Cheik Tiote

Player Ratings v Tottenham (H)

Discussion started by TyneTalk (IP Logged), 17/10/2011 19:09

TyneTalk
17/10/2011 19:09

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Andrew The Mag
17/10/2011 20:55

For me both simpson and obertan were slightly belwo cabaye in the artings and more on par with best, other than that pretty much the same imo. I think cabaye sprayed some lovely balls all over the shop and was unlucky to get caught in possesion the way he did for their goal. Also without really noticing it the amount of the pitch he covers in a match must be immense, he seems to pop up all over the place.

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wasim4nufc
17/10/2011 21:19

I actually forgot to mention it but you raise a good point Andrew, Cabaye does cover a lot of ground and he sprayed some lovely passes yesterday. He really seems to have taken to the place and the fans enjoy what he brings to the team as well so hopefully if injury free he'll only get better.



Wasim's Sport Blog

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waffles
18/10/2011 12:04

There's no question that Cabaye took an extra couple seconds on the ball that he didn't have, but Colo never should have played that pass. Livermore was charging Cabaye well before the ball ever got to him. Colo shouldn't play it, Tiote or Taylor has to warn him verbally, and Cabaye has to immediately tap that back to Taylor. Sloppy play all around.

Obertan was poor. Spurs were playing very narrow; Modric, Parker, Livermore, and Van Der Vaart could all be seen in the center circle at the same time, so the space was there to be exploited. Add to it that Obertan has substantially more pace and finesse than Assou-Ekotto, and he should have been able to get past and send pull-backs to the top of the box all day.

I think Simpson got unnecessary criticism. He didn't do much going forward, but he had to deal with Bale, so he was conservative. No harm there.

Ryan Taylor was IMMENSE in the first half hour. Never in my life did I expect him to keep within a yard of Bale, much less a couple inches. Modric gave him some trouble, but not too bad altogether.

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tunyc
19/10/2011 16:45

That's a heavy penalty for one mistake from Cabaye, for which he had accomplices. Without him we'd have been overrun in the midfield.

Obertan continues to fail to impress me. Only got past the defender a couple times and then the final ball was poor. He wasn't as bad as he has been for giving away the ball, though. I think Simpson, who neutralized Bale & Modric, deserves a higher rating.

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