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Match Report 2000-01 - Manchester City (h)
Premiership
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Date:
Sat 24th February 2001 3pm.
Venue: St.James' Park Conditions: Cold
and snowy. Heavy sleet fell briefly in the second half and then snow
came down in bucket-loads shortly after the final whistle. |
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| Newcastle United | 0 - 1 | Manchester City |
| Half time: | 0 - 0 | |
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| Score Sheet: | ||
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Goater (61)
 | |
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Teams |
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Given Goma Griffin Hughes Acuna Dyer Quinn Solano Ameobi Shearer Gallacher |
Weaver Wiekens Dunne Howey Tiatto Granville Grant Kanchelskis Haaland Huckerby Goater | |
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| Substitutes: | ||
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Barton for Acuna (68) Lua-Lua for Ameobi (69) Glass for Gallacher (69) |
Charvet for Haaland (62) Whitley for Huckerby (77) | |
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| Subs not used: | ||
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Harper Cordone |
Nash Prior Ostenstad |
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| Bookings: | ||
 Glass (80)
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| Referee:
Rob Harris (Oxford). |
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| Attendance:
51,981. |
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Goal:
Half time: Newcastle 0 Man City 0
61 mins. Kanchelskis picked up the ball on the right and cut across the box unchallenged, slipping the ball through for Goater who placed it past Given into left corner of the net. 0-1
Full time: Newcastle 0 Man City 1
We said:
Uncle Bobby said this about Kieron Dyer:
''He's been very unhappy about his condition,'' Robson said. ''He's got some pain with it, things are just standing still, it's not getting better, and it looks as if he'll have to withdraw. He feels he can't give it his best and he doesn't want to go and play like that for England. He's due a scan this week, but we were going to postpone that, let him go to play with England or whatever Sven-Goran Eriksson wants of him, and do the scan next week when he gets back.
''He wants to pull out and I'm trying to tell him not to do that because I'm on Sven's side in a way, but we still have to get the kid right. He doesn't think he's in form to play international football for a very important game for the new international manager.''
''We're a broken outfit at the moment,'' he admitted. ''Alan gave a performance which I thought he would give us, but he's not had a reserve match, he's come straight back from a two-month rehabilitation and it's going to take him two more games at least before he's going to be Alan Shearer. But he's got to start somewhere to finish where we want him to be.
''We had a magnificent crowd of 52,000 people - you couldn't get a ticket here today after the performance at Charlton. We have a brilliant club and a brilliant public, and we obviously didn't give them what they wanted. It's not an ideal situation for me to criticise. We've got to stick together and we've got to regroup and try to get people in and people fit, and it will take two or three weeks, I guess.''
They said:
Joe Royle said this about staying up:
''I've never thought anything different,'' he said. ''I'm a great optimist anyway, but I've never thought anything different than we will survive. I think we're too good to go down. With us winning and one or two other results going our way or half going our way, it puts us right back in the game. You've seen us today and I don't think we're amongst the worst three in the division, but only results will prove me right.''
''We thoroughly deserved it. Steve Howey was 10 out of 10 today, probably just in front of Richard, who was 9.5. Our goalkeeper's not really had a save to make. I thought we defended magnificently when we had to and broke dangerously. I'm very aware that a lot of people will put it down to Newcastle having an off-day, but we made them play that way. We played very well.''
Waffle:
Minutes after the final whistle sounded, the heavy black clouds tipped out the tons of snow that had been threatening to fall all day. Driving winds created fifty thousand walking snowmen as a disconsolate mass made their way from St. James' to their buses, trains and automobiles. Eventually the layers of flakes melted but, without doubt, the thawing process was slowed by a performance poor enough to leave even the most optimistic utterly cold.
Later that evening we headed west from the city centre, past the pile-ups on the A1 bypass, and out on the A69, tentatively tackling the arctic conditions. The Military Road was snow-covered and as we made our first ascent, momentum was lost and the wheels span hopelessly. The summit was in sight but we were a million miles from reaching it. We were definitely on the right track but revving the engine and spinning the wheels was futile, all we could do was slide slowly backwards, turn the thing around and try a different route.
But it seemed to get worse before it got better.
We took
another turn that seemed to offer hope but once again the wheels slipped
at a crucial point of the climb and another inevitable decline
followed.
The car was newish and looked the part, the driver seemed to know what he
was doing but the rest of the passengers had started to get nervous and
had fallen eerily silent.
Was it worth a third try? We thought so.
This time the driver went for an unexpected and less obvious route that seemed fraught with danger. But sufficient momentum was gained and we successfully reached our destination, although it was never easy. The vital ingredient that had been missing? A liberal spreading of good old-fashioned grit and a smattering of determination.
So before this metaphor gets out of hand what does all this mean? Should Bobby grab handfuls of rock salt and lob it in the general direction of his wheel-spinning superstars. Well, it's a tempting thought and one that may well have crossed Bobby's mind in the last two weeks. It's certainly crossed mine.
However, perhaps for the first time, the blame may not solely lie at the feet of those tripping the light fandango on the pitch. Perhaps those on the bench need some self-examination. Against a side of limited ability and scrapping for their Premiership place we elected to play without a midfield:
Acuna
was apparently injured - his static performance certainly seemed to
confirm this.
Dyer was knackered - again the evidence was fairly damning.
Solano won't tackle - despite what the Carling Opta statistics say.
Gallacher drifted up front - industrious and hard-working as ever
but supporting a front two from deep and wide doesn't seem to suit him.
Possibly one of the most powder-puff midfields ever. What was the thinking behind that? Were we trying to hypnotise the opposition by our mind-numbing selection? Bemoaning injuries is the biggest of red herrings, as my colleague suggests, there were faces on the bench and in the stands that could have been given the chance to shine. Granville and Grant for City had possibly the easiest games since their voices broke as they were given acres to work in.
Perhaps a variant of the current livestock worrier has infiltrated the big coat wearers at NUFC - foot-in-mouth disease....
We had the honour and privilege of sitting where I used to stand as a kid - a couple of yards behind the benches in the West Stand Centre Paddock. It was an interesting place to view the game from as Joe Royle's glances and winks were visible without a 500mm lens stuck in his gob. Bobby's tanned wrinkles and snowy hair were also clear as he bellowed and gestured at his stuttering side. It made me realise how similar this all is to watching the reserves, the juniors or even Sunday morning mini-soccer on park's pitches. There are no footballing superstars, just individuals blessed with the talent and good fortune to bring a bit of joy into the lives of so many of us that never quite made it. The media have built this maddening, infuriating but beautiful game into something it isn't.
As Steve Howey and his colleagues clearly showed, this game is all about teamwork, spirit and as I said earlier, bags of grit and determination. Without it, at any level you're well and truly knackered. A bit of flare and trickery can help, but sheer hard work is the only formula for success in football.
We seem to have a leader off the pitch who preaches that and one on the pitch that practices it. However, both seemed to go silent in the second half. Some people are motivators, some need motivation, that's just the way it is. It's probably not fair, but inspiration is a rare commodity. Bobby and Alan need to use all of their international experience to get this side playing with a pride and passion that breeds confidence. And woe betide any black and white shirt-wearer that shrinks from the challenge....
Niall Mackenzie