Hull City (a) Friendly
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Date:
Wednesday 1st August 2007, 7.45pm Live on Setanta Venue: KC Stadium
Conditions: The tide was out thankfully |
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Hull City |
Newcastle United |
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1 - 0 |
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| Half time: | 1 - 0 | |
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| Score Sheet: | ||
 Hughes (41)
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Teams |
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Myhill |
Harper Huntington Lough Ramage Edgar Geremi N'Zogbia Pattison Troisi Martins Carroll |
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| Substitutes: | ||
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(46) Barmby for Windass (60) Bridges for McPhee (66) Featherstone for Marney (71) Elliott for Garcia (86) Turner for Coles |
LuaLua for Geremi (54) Godsmark for Martins (54) Doninger for Troisi (65) Francis for Ramage (65) Bertram for N'Zogbia (71) Danquah for Carroll (78) |
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| Subs not used: | ||
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Duke Doyle Livermore |
Krul Forster Ferguson Marwood Morris Patterson |
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| Bookings: | ||
| None | None | |
| Dismissals: | ||
| None |
None |
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Referee: D.Drysdale
- a Newcastle fan so we're informed by his ex-RAF buddies. |
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| Attendance:
estimated at 14,000 with around 2,000 travelling supporters -
who amused themselves during the evening by poking fun at Hull's recent
flooding problems. "Where's your wellies gone?" and "just a town full of water" tickled us as did "1-0 and you still can't swim" while "if it wasn't for the sandbags you'd have drowned" made us laugh like erm....drains. |
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Goals |
40 mins
The Tigers scored the only goal of the game via a fortuitous deflection from Bryan Hughes, helping Marney's shot pass Harper.
0-1
Half time: Hull 1 Newcastle 0
Full time: Hull 1 Newcastle 0
We Said |
Sam said:
"We couldn’t take the team down to Hull we wanted to because of all these niggling problems that we’ve got at this stage of the season.
“We’re very disappointed with the number of injuries we’ve got - the players’ tolerance levels are still very, very low. I warned everybody about that before I came. They were deconditioned to a point, and it’s been proven.
“We’re trying to change them two sessions a day, which is what any club needs to be getting in at this stage of the season.
“We’re giving them three sessions a day in rehab terms to get them over their injuries and get them as fit as we possibly can.”
“Even if Owen and Ameobi are fit it’s going to be extremely difficult to play both of them to start with.
“Obviously
Mark Viduka’s with us. There shouldn’t be much wrong with his match fitness
after playing in the Asian Cup in extremely tough conditions.
On playing the youngsters:
"In the end, there were a lot of very excited Academy boys, who along with their mums and dads will go home extremely thrilled by having played in Newcastle's first-team at such a tender age.
"We couldn't take the team we wanted to Hull because of all the niggling problems.
"We're trying to change that and we're giving them three sessions a day in rehab terms to get them over their injuries and get them as fit as we possibly can."
Steve Harper added:
"It was a good chance for some of the younger lads. The likes of Darren Lough have been handed the chance to come in and play in the last few games which they would not have had if everyone was fit and they have done themselves proud."
They Said |
Sand dancer Phil Brown commented:
"I think I learned that we are getting fitter, stronger and better prepared
mentally.
"We played some good football on the night, but again it means absolutely nothing because all that matters is August 11th.
But if we play like we did last night, it will give us a better chance of getting a good start and a good result.
"The players have come through another 90 minutes of work and there were no injuries reported. Those are two massive
positives.
"I think the new lads have settled in quite well. It was a good performance and I thought the engine room was the midfield.
"They passed the ball well, provided energy and provided support for the front men. We tried a couple of systems, one in the first half and one in the second.
"Both systems caused Newcastle problems to the extent that they changed to a 4-3-3.
"But it was interesting that we conceded a really good chance in the last few minutes. Those are the pictures you want from pre-season, so although we beat a Premiership side, I can take those away with
me.
On
Allardyce:
'He's ahead of the game and
not getting the England job is a similar situation to Brian Clough all those
years ago. He was outspoken in the Press, different and ahead of his time.
'Those characteristics you can see in Sam and, for me, he was the favourite ahead of Steve McClaren. Sam's character shouldn't limit his chances.
It's about being honest and that's something Sam is.
'I was a colleague for 10 years. At times it was volatile but, more often than not, it was fun. I don't think we'd have had success without the fun.
'He's taken a different turning and is at one of the biggest clubs in the country. He still has England aspirations but knows he now has to be successful for three, four or five years to go for that. England have a manager and, first of all, Sam must be successful at Newcastle.
'He'll bring a strength of character and will never have a team that lies down or gives up. And now, with financial backing, he'll bring quality in.
'There's no doubt that, with the backing, he'll be the most successful Newcastle manager ever.
'He has injury prevention policies, he'll have one masseur per player and he'll spend everything he has to on a player to get them right. If they're not prepared to go that extra mile on the journey then it might be time for them to move on.
'I'm behind him in terms of size of clubs and money. But I've seen the model work when Bolton were in the Championship and hopefully we can follow suit here at Hull.'
Stats |
This was our second visit to the KC Stadium, following on from a 4-0 pre-season kickabout win back in August 2003. Only Steve Harper remained in the Newcastle side from that game tonight. Pre-season pitch time (in minutes): Ameobi 45+0+0+0+0=45 +2 goals Barnett 0+0+0+24+0=24 Barton 74+68+0+0+0=142 Bertram 12+7+0+0+19=38 Butt 45+62+80+0+0=187 Carr 74+83+90+66+0=313 Carroll 45+90+45+31+78=289 +1 goal Danquah 0+0+0+0+12=12 Doninger 0+0+0+0+25=25 Dyer 63+75+0+45+0=183 Edgar 0+0+20+45+90=155 Ferguson 0+0+0+0+0=0 Forster 0+0+0+0+0=0 Francis 3+7+0+0+25=35 Geremi 0+28+90+45+54=287 Given 45+0+90+90+0=225 Godsmark 0+0+0+0+36=36 Harper 45+83+10+0+90=228 Huntington 90+28+45+90+90=343 Krul 0+7+0+0+0=7 Lough 16+22+0+24+90=152 LuaLua 16+15+0+0+36=67 Luque 0+0+45+31+0=76 +3 goals Martins 45+75+65+45+54=284 +1 goal Marwood 0+0+0+0+0=0 Milner 0+0+90+45+0=135 +1 goal Morris 0+0+0+0+0=0 N'Zogbia 78+90+45+90+71=374 Owen 45+0+0+0+0=45 +1 goal Patterson 0+0+0+0+0=0 Pattison 27+0+45+45+90=207 Ramage 87+83+45+90+65=370 Rozehnal 45+62+70+45+0=222 Solano 45+90+45+66+0=246 +1 goal Taylor 0+0+45+0+0=45 Troisi 45+15+25+45+65=195 |
Waffle |
Ten days before the start of the season and
Newcastle's penultimate first team friendly saw manager Sam Allardyce pick the
sort of team that would risk getting him thrown out of a cup competition in
normal circumstances.
Sam Allardyce can't be blamed though for adopting a cautious approach
after already losing Joey Barton, David Rozehnal, Michael Owen and Shola
Ameobi to injury during his warm-up games. Kieron Dyer meanwhile was absent
for talks over a move to West Ham.
As a quick check, 20 of the 23 players we named tonight have come through (or
are still among) our Academy ranks, while only eight of the 17 players who were
used have ever played a senior competitive game for the club.
If nothing else the medics had a quiet night and there were no new clients for
the treatment room, but for spectators this was a waste of petrol, £12 at the
gate or a Setanta subscription to see Magpies they'll
be able to watch for buttons at reserve/junior venues this season.
Those senior players who did feature failed to pull up any trees, while the
host of youngsters introduced failed to establish any pattern of play and left
us woefully lacking width.
The Tigers won it via a fortuitous deflection on 41
minutes from Hughes, helping Marney's shot get past Steve Harper, while our goalmouth action was limited to a couple of
Obafemi Martins miscues in the first
half and one effort cleared off the line.
The second period brought ever slimmer pickings, with only what looked like a
blatant handball in the box ignored by the linesman and a late effort from
Danquah over the bar worthy of mention.
City also came close to a late goal, Ricketts slamming the ball against
Harper's crossbar and former Magpie Michael Bridges failing to steer the rebound on
goal.
So, a futile exercise in many ways, with the main benefit some blooding of
youngsters - hardly a situation that was paramount in the minds of most who
made the effort to reach Humberside.
A game to be quietly forgotten about methinks - but exhibit 'A' in the case
for augmenting our squad with experienced players.
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