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A peppered steak slice is the purveyor of this report

Date:   Wed 26th September 2001, 7.45pm  Venue:   St. James' Park  Conditions: earlier rain had cleared and the evening was fine and comparatively mild.

Newcastle United	1 - 0	Leicester City
Half time:	1 - 0
Score Sheet:
Solano (33)
	Teams
Given Griffin Elliott O'Brien Dabizas Solano Lee Bellamy Shearer Robert Acuna		Walker Impey Lewis Marshall Elliott Rowett Wise Savage Izzet Sturridge Scowcroft
Substitutes:
Ameobi for Shearer (87)		Akinbiyi for Sturridge (46) Jones for Wise (69) Sinclair for Rowett (71)
Subs not used:
Harper Bassedas Distin LuaLua		Royce Heath
Bookings:
Dabizas (11) Threw ball away Acuna (80) Foul on Savage		Rowett (10) Marshall (83) Sinclair (90)
Sendings off:
n/a		n/a
Referee: David Pugh (The Wirral).  Quite the most inadequate, perverse, misguided, arrogant, uncommunicative individual yet to be handed control of a Premiership game. By the laughable standards of this visitor from a far-off galaxy, the infamous Trelford Mills was blessed with the wisdom of King Solomon. Image on the left shows Laurent Robert about to fall over in the penalty area after three minutes. As you can see, there isn't a defender within sight of him, is there Mr Pugh?
Attendance: 49,185. At last the first sub 50k crowd at the rebuilt ground. Whole sections left unused at the North End of the Milburn upper and rows of empty seats in the corporate wing sections meant that even our lot couldn't fiddle the attendance over the 50k threshold. Based on previous published attendances however, there was probably more like 47,000 in. (Crowd last season: 50,501) The laughable Leicester support was to be found huddled together, presumably for warmth, and never made a sound all night. Four half-laden coaches took the majority of their estimated 200 away fans off into the night, complete with the usual police escort of motorcycles and vans - a fat old desk sergeant on a pushbike would surely have been more appropriate....

33 mins. Shearer's nod on from a Given punt fell to Bellamy, whose pace took him past Matt Elliott and brought him to a dangerous position slightly to the left of centre in the Leazes box. With a back-pedalling defender between him and the goal, he slipped a perfect ball to the right, where Solano lashed it into the goal, with the power singularly lacking in his recent non-shots against Man U and the mackems. 1-0

Half time: Newcastle  1  Leicester  0

Full time: Newcastle  1  Leicester  0

A positive Uncle Bobby told journalists:

"The important thing was that we bounced back and got from the players a 100 per cent committed effort and we've had that response.

"For me that was important and I knew if we did that we had a good chance of winning - we've bounced back and I'm delighted with the three points.

"We didn't concede a goal and I think Newcastle should get six points, not three for that. We were never in danger, our defence held a good line and Shay Given was well protected by a solid back four."

"It's a clear penalty. He (Robert) was isolated, he's got the ball in front of him, the keeper's there and then the fellow (Izzet) came from behind and took his standing leg away so he's missed it.

"That's a possible red card as well, so they had a lucky break really, it was just the same as at West Ham, and that is two poor decisions."

"I liked his (Shearer's) play in general, he held the ball up well and flicked it on nicely, and never loses it. I took him off because he looked a bit fatigued and he's so valuable to us, he's still in the process of getting fit again and being brought back into the game after five or six months out.

"I don't need to take every ounce of energy out of him, we have other players who can come off the bench for 20 minutes if I feel Alan needs to be protected. He does need to be protected. We've got another match in four days against Liverpool, and sometimes when you're fatigued like he was that's when you pick up an injury.

"We got our flank work going again because Robbie (Elliott) got the ball to Laurent more times in this game than he has done in four previous games. That is something we have hammered him with, just get the ball to him because when Laurent has it, he hardly ever loses it."

When asked about his opposite number at Filbert Street, he said:

He's under tremendous pressure, but just let it ride. It's September, isn't it? Nobody wins anything in September, nobody loses anything in September.

"He hasn't got to be demolished by it. The players like him, they want him to stay on. He's a fine coach and a good lad.

Shay Given spoke to the Chronicle about his first clean sheet of this league season:

"We had a couple of clean sheets during the Intertoto Cup games, especially right at the start against Lokeren and in Troyes, But it's always nice to get your first one in the Premiership and now we are obviously hoping we can take things from here.

"All the players, particularly the back four, were happy in the dressing room last night because a clean sheet is something that is always mentioned.

"To be honest I did not have that much to do against Leicester last night because the lads in front of me played exceptionally well. Whatever Leicester threw at us we coped with and worked hard as a team.

"It was more about concentrating than anything else when you are winning 1-0 and the game is going into its closing stages. As a keeper I just have to remind myself that it's only a one-goal lead and that it only takes a dangerous set-piece or something like that and the other team can be level. We had enough chances to kill the game off but we still got the win and definitely deserved it."

A downcast Peter Taylor told:

"Every game is a pressure game for the players at the minute and they're not playing with as much freedom as normal. I feel that any player in a winning team can perform much better and just gets on with it.

"We're just a little edgy at times and it takes us too long to get forward to try and score a goal. We've got to overcome it and get a result from somewhere so the confidence will lift and we can go from there.

"The game is all about confidence and we're nowhere near as confident as I would like at the moment. I thought the players worked as hard as they could. We had to withstand some pressure which you have got to expect at places like Newcastle but we dealt with it quite well.

"But we couldn't create a clear-cut chance ourselves and that's why we're going home with no points. On the night we just weren't clever enough around their penalty box. I thought the quality of our set pieces and final delivery wasn't good enough.

"That is something we desperately need to improve. We need to be more clever around the box and our service has to better. We worked hard enough but the quality wasn't there. I've got to convince them they have that quality.

"If we had been a little better up front then we could have troubled them.

"Muzzy Izzet and James Scowcroft are both getting fitter by the minute because they're still not match-fit and have not been able to do much training. I see players coming in, such as Lee Marshall and Ian Walker, who have come to the forefront, taken responsibility and look very comfortable.

"Junior Lewis was superb in the match against Newcastle. He comes in for a lot of unfair criticism at home games but he was terrific. He showed so much determination playing in a position he's not 100% used to and I think he deserves a lot of credit. He made some superb tackles and headers.

"Robbie Savage was nothing like the Sav we know after the first three games but he's getting there now. He's certainly got better with each game which is pleasing because he's a player we desperately need.

"Defensively we've tightened up a lot since the last two games where we were very, very poor. We're still not hurting teams up front but I would be more concerned if we were leaking goals all the time.

"There are definitely a number of things that are picking up which give me optimism for the weeks ahead. I just want the players to realise this. A win would do that - I can't emphasise how important three points would be to us at this moment in time.

On his own precarious position:

I think any manager feels the pressure. Of course there's been probably too much coverage on myself. I'm sure everybody is fed up with it now - I'm fed up with it. I know that and all I can do is to get on with it. I want to remain here, I want to be successful and I'm going to try as hard as I can."

Match Stats

We extended our unbeaten home record to 12 games, Boro in March being the last side to leave Gallowgate with a victory (discounting of course Athletic Bilbao in the Lee Testimonial).

After failing to keep a clean sheet in the 29 games following our 1-0 victory at Man City in September 2001, we've now kept 7 in the last 18 games (4 in the last 12, excluding Intertoto Cup matches).

Nolberto Solano's goal means he's struck 5 for the season in all competitions, level with Craig Bellamy. Nobby has now scored 22 goals in his United career, with a return of 7 last season being his best haul. By contrast Tino Asprilla managed 18 in his time at the toon. However, he's a long way behind our most prolific South American, 91 goal George Robledo.    

Luckily for us, we didn't have a week to ruminate on our shortcomings in East London before the visit of Liverpool. Thanks to our Intertoto adventure, we had this rescheduled home game against obliging opposition. One solitary Nobby strike later and despite the best efforts of the buffoon with the whistle, normal service was resumed with another three points collected.

Being one of those people who subscribe to the theory that average sides can prosper if they play their games in a certain order and catch teams when they're off the boil, I was a tad worried that Leicester wouldn't be the sitting ducks they appeared in the first week of the season. However, if anything their plight has got even more desperate along with their lack of confidence, and they struggled to match the efforts and enterprise of our last midweek visitors, Brentford. Hardly the stuff of dreams, or a planned new enlarged ground....

Actually, the comparison between Bees and Foxes is a valid one, given that both clubs are comparatively badly supported, with the London club having greater numbers of travelling fans prepared to come to Tyneside in midweek. The tens of thousands of City followers who made regular trips to Wembley in the 1990's are nowhere to be seen, and given the rottenness of recent home displays, one can hardly blame them.

Continuing the Leicester / Brentford theme, it could also be argued that Peter Taylor looks like a Nationwide manager in the traditional Dave Bassett mould, better equipped to drag a team up the divisions than embellish a top league side with expensive talent. Certainly anyone who pays £5m for the desperately uninspiring Akinbiyi shouldn't be able to sign cheques on his own. The older heads in the team such as Elliott and Wise also seem to be diminishing in their influence, and it could be next stop Nationwide for little Den, seemingly unable to raise himself to his familiar snarling game on a ground that has made his blood pump a little faster over the years.

Enough of the meagre opposition though, what about wor lot?

Certainly an improvement in team play and effort could be deduced compared to Sunday, partly due to Bobby apparently threatening to drop various players for Sunday if things got no better. The absence of Barton certainly helped matters, as did the issuing of simple orders to Elliott - "pass to that French bloke in front of you." That said,  Leicester's initial refusal to adopt any known formation afforded our lads room to press towards the City area from the kickoff. Strange then that with both visiting fullbacks meandering across the backline Solano chose (or was told) not to occupy his customary wide right position. Still, that put him in the right place to beat Walker, so who's bothered?

As at the 'ammers, an early toon penalty appeal was turned down by the only people in the ground who chose not to see it, and despite the majority of the possession, it was still a great relief to all when the opening goal went in. Had half-time been reached in a scoreless state, Leicester may have redoubled their efforts sensing that it was their night, but Nobby's strike put paid to all that and the visitors were unwilling or unable to do anything except settle for the loss.

On another night, both Robert and Shearer would have made the scoresheet and further penalties could have followed, but a mixture of bad luck, bad decisions, bad shooting and good saves from Walker kept the score down. This being Newcastle, there was the inevitable late panic when Leicester got anywhere near our goal, but thankfully there were no genuine scares.

So, pride restored after a hitch, three points collected against the sort of team we need to turn over, and a clean sheet. Cautious optimism then, not forgetting the fact we beat a team who need to drastically improve if they're not to slip out of the top flight.

It's easy to get carried away again after we returned to winning ways, but maybe the fact we didn't stick four or five past this lot will ensure players and fans keep a sense of perspective about them. Bobby commented after this game that nobody ever won anything in September, and contrary to what some people seem to think, we didn't actually win any trophies for those three Premiership defeats of Manchester United at St. James'.

With our upward progress now restored, straight away we have a sterner test of our capabilities when Liverpool come to Tyneside at the weekend. Hopefully the three points against the Foxes wiped out negative thoughts of last Sunday, and we can approach the next game with genuine optimism. Certainly if we can get the quality of our corners to match the quality of some of our crossing from Robert and even Elliott, we should pose a goalscoring threat to any level of opposition. 

Doubts persist about our defensive resilience and midfield strength in the face of quality opposition, but we've fought toe to toe with the Reds at home in recent years, beating them last year with a mixture of luck and sheer force of will. The absence of Owen and Gerrard could just be enough to tip the scales back in our direction. Another 4-3 perhaps? 

Biffa

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