United 0 Newcastle 2 - match report

[ZLB]

Ratings:



Henderson 6/10 – Barely had a save to make but header goes in first half. Not sure he had much chance and then he stands there instead of trying to stop the shot. Why is he not playing on? Ridiculous really and unprofessional. He was a bit dithering a few times coming for the ball. To be honest though he had nothing to do but let in two goals so hard to mark him really.



Baldock 6.5/10 – Bit of a poor clearance on the first goal when he did not get enough on it. One of few who kept trying and at least getting forward but he lacks confidence to put the ball in the box. He kept plugging away with little movement in front of him at all. I thought he was frustrated that he often ended up tight in corners with little help.



Stevens 6/10 – I thought he was not great Sunday and the same today but his standards have been so high so him being average is more of a surprise. He made poor decisions on the ball all night and was giving it away a lot with telegraphed balls. He also took an age to do things and they closed him down and realised he does not have a right foot at all so channelled him inside constantly where they had men. His final pass/cross was too weak all game and also got run past a few times also.



Basham 5.5/10 – At fault for their goal with two silly stopped headers instead of just clearing the ball and then when he got back to position, he was easily beat on the headed goal and never got off the floor. He looked a bit clumsy all night and going forward there was little impact as they sent him backwards. Did put one good cross in though which McBurnie should have scored. He also seemed to be the man who played them onside on the second goal. Key moments but cost us dearly.



O’Connell 6.5/10 – One of the few who tried to come out and get forward but his final ball/moment when he did attack did not come off. Felt he did ok defensively and at least competed and won a few more balls than the rest but the few breaks they had they did get through us quite easily with pace and power.



Egan 6/10 – Carroll is a handful and won a lot of headers against us including the key one for the second. His aerial play allowed them to get up the pitch. I thought for the first time for a long time he lost his battle. I remember Carroll doing the same at the Lane to Morgan.



Norwood 5.5/10 – Some decent passing and control early but then started giving the ball away and constantly he found their shirts with sloppy play. His long passed did not always come off and I felt he got outmuscled a few times also. One decent free kick saved was his highlight. Not his night and taken off



Lundstram 5/10 – Really poor tonight. His passing, tackling and overall contribution was limited. He sadly reminded me of the Lunny of old that looked like he was running through treacle. He constantly gave the ball away or played balls that were either over hit or short. No real attacking threat and not involved much in the link play. We were way too slow to move it around and they just got men behind the ball.



Fleck 6.5/10 – Our best midfielder just for the fact he tried to get on the ball and make things happen but even for him things did not come off really. He was ok first half and some decent bits but then faded badly after they scored the second, as did the whole team and looked a forlorn figure as the game finished. We ended up with an unfamiliar formation and not even sure where he was meant to be playing at the end?



McBurnie 5.5/10 – Not sure he can be accused of not trying. He did try but he missed two good chances – both headers and needs to score at least one of them. He had a decent header second half well saved and a curled effort but outside of this he looked a bit like someone who did not know how we played. He did not know whether to come short or get in the box and there was a big gap between the midfield and attack and they just packed the box. He is pitifully weak and three times he just got shoved off the ball so easily and ended up on the floor. Sure, he will get lots of criticism once again but there were lots of other issues with the team tonight but he looks a long way off a Premier League striker. At least he got into areas and was a threat; not sure Sharp did much of anything really in contrast.



Sharp 4.5/10 – Sadly he looked a bit out of his depth. A few decent bits of build up or link but he slows things down so much when it comes up to him and takes an age to control, move it on or find a shirt. Missed a good headed chance and then screwed another wide but the Newcastle defence coped with him quite easily as he lacks pace and strength. The movement from the front two was quite poor tonight and we were stagnant but the passing was poor also behind them. Daft booking too and seemed to want to argue with the ref all game.



Subs –



Mousset – Came on and at least linked and showed some nice bits of hold up. We looked a threat for a spell but then the second goal came and he was not really in the game after that.



McGoldrick – His wild shot into the Kop summed up his finishing confidence at the moment. It was hard for him as we were chasing the game but the ball did not stick and the whole team just could not get anything going. Will have to come back in with Mousse at the weekend.



Freeman – Looked unfit and his cameo was really uninspiring with a blatant foul after he lost the ball and a booking to compound it. He barely kept it when he had it and looked very sluggish and slow.



Manager Wilder 5/10 – Got outcoached by Bruce today in some ways. They started well, got a goal after we missed a few chances and then they sat in a deep line knowing we had no pace and we had no answer. They pressed our wing backs and let Norwood have it and just sat back and pressed when they had to. I felt that whilst we had a bit of a spell second half, they saw things out quite easily second half and Wilder has to change the tactics and formation – he changed the personnel but that made no difference. They just sat in and we lacked the class/pace and movement to break them down. We could still be playing tomorrow and not sure we would have scored. Indeed, from around the hour mark not sure we had any chances at all and only remember one McBurnie header of note after the break. I thought we would really up the tempo after the break but we did not really do that. Big test to get the team back on track. The team rotation did not work at all. The front two that came in are far inferior to the other two and it showed today but so many others did not have any idea how to break down a defensive side.



Newcastle – In many ways a perfect away performance. They started ok, got a goal and then sat in. They had a few let offs and good saves but not sure we created tons of chances really. They fought hard for each other and closed off the gaps. Carroll and the two wide men were a threat in terms of not letting us have an easy out. The second goal came at a great time as it effectively killed the game. Fair play to Shelvey for taking the chance. For most of the game we passed it side to side and they just got men across. They knew we lacked genuine quality to break them down and actually for all the possession we had, not sure we hurt them much at all. They actually did what we have done to other teams before when we had resilient ground out away wins last year (Leeds, West Brom etc) where they defended well and took the few chances they created. On one hand it was a bit smash and grab but on the other they actually won the game relatively comfortably in the end. They will stay up as Bruce has them working really hard and for all his critics, he normally gets teams organised and defensively very good. They have a bit of pace and power at the top of the field and will take enough points to be well away from the bottom three.



They were quite direct tonight and limited and very negative in terms of spoiling and timewasting but if we had done the same; people would have said professional away performance and commend us. We have to do better to beat limited sides who play in such a way. They sat off us and said ‘Go on try and show you have the quality to break us down.’ We did not. Some Newcastle fans saying that teams will watch that and do the same but not sure teams will sit back and defend like that every week.





Opponent Man of the Match – The defence was solid for the most part with Clark excellent in particular. Shelvey was busy but they did not have much of the ball. The defensive covering and work they all did was commendable. Carroll actually won so many headers that helped them up the field. The best player was probably Saint Maximin. He scored a vital first goal and was a real handful throughout. The keeper also of course made some good but kind of expected saves. Not sure any were world class and were quite close to him.



Opponent Weak link – No one was amazing but no one was that poor. Almiron is frustrating player and has ability but a bit weak and not much end product. However, they were all solid in the work they did defensively. They did not need the ball much to beat us.



Referee/Officials/VAR – The big talking point was the goal. It was not offside and the ref clearly did tell the players to play on. The linesman got it wrong as he got most things wrong all game. However, the bigger issue is the fact that sometimes refs play on, other times they blow their whistle and stop the game (did it with McGoldrick near the end). Surely now if that is the rule, they should just play on till the ball goes out and then check it afterwards. Why does it sometimes get stopped but other times the ref can play on? It is almost as if they will play on if it is a dangerous attack but others if it looks like it might not be a chance, they blow the whistle. In simple terms we may aswell not have linesman. Just play on all the time and let someone in a room decide after it is offside. The assistants/linesmen were appalling all night. They did not make any decisions ironically (till that one – the wrong one) and just kept looking at the ref for throws in/balls going out. The ref may have got the goal right but not much else. He gave them a lot of 50/50’s and was weak all night. Attwell did not penalise some absurd timewasting from the keeper who played the situation like a fiddle – going down claiming he was hurt when he was fine. Several other players did that and he played just 2 minutes in the first half. He did not book any of the Newcastle players and essentially let them do what they wanted. We saw the ball on the field about a minute from 45th minute to the 55th minute and killed any chance of momentum we had as he let them go down, feign injury, take ages over goal kicks. It was pitiful to see him barely even acknowledge it. Sharp and Freeman got booked. They did not get one booking despite the timewasting and cheating all night. Tonight, everyone will praise him in the national media for what a fantastic job he did on the goal. The reality was his entire performance was spineless as he allowed players to feign injury and take as much time as they wanted. Really weak. We wanted to watch a game but for long spells we saw him stood over a player pretending to be injured.





Crowd/Atmosphere etc – Thought we lost the battles on the field and off it. Newcastle fans were the loudest to come to the Lane and the 3,000 made much more of a racket than 27,000 Blades who were subdued for the most part. The team had an off day but felt the crowd did not really generate much of an atmosphere either. It is as if the fans almost expect great performance and results and felt it was really flat tonight.

Reminds me of your reports of old where ‘they always let you down’ was the mantra.

We dominated for long spells. Without their keeper on top form, two or three of those chances would have been goals. The McGoldrick shot was nothing to do with his confidence, he’s been brilliant. The referee’s ridiculous lack of control and the lineman’s pathetic flagging were big factors. The ref should have demanded that their substitute left the field on the John St side. Walking alongside him across the pitch was an utter joke.

Saint Maximin was average. Their MOTM was very clearly their keeper.

I’d like to apologise to those around me for losing my shit after their second goal. The most expletive ridden prolonged rant I’ve ever had.

 

[Blend-it-like-Harris]

A 5.5 mark for McBurnie is just plain ridiculous it was his best game for us and what chances he did have worked their keeper, seems to me you are or have been listening to the haters

Well said mate; I was going to post a similar comment but you've hit the nail on the head. I was sorely disappointed but walking away from the ground tried to cheer my lad up with a positive, and that was it - McBurnie looked a decent target man for me and worked hard, managing to get some decent touches and lay-offs without too much support off the ball or movement from his team-mates. Seems to me there are a number of fans who've been quick to write him off, and it's almost as if they hope he's going to have a crap game so it fits in with their own assessment of him. There's a number of McGoldrick knockers too who have similar irrational views on him.

 

[bramptonblade]

He actually held the ball up welll and ran the channels and his pressing was very good.

Actually he was piss poor!
I always read your reports because its nice to get a feel what other supporters feel without the hysterics, but over time your reports have become a sounding board purely for your own opinions not a fairly well balanced review like they used to be. We all have players we love to hate but you seem to be using your reviews to batter certain players ie Norwood, who really put his about against Newcastle.
Try and get back to balanced reporting which for a long time was very enjoyable. UTB!

 

[Deadbat]

Actually he was piss poor!
I always read your reports because its nice to get a feel what other supporters feel without the hysterics, but over time your reports have become a sounding board purely for your own opinions not a fairly well balanced review like they used to be. We all have players we love to hate but you seem to be using your reviews to batter certain players ie Norwood, who really put his about against Newcastle.
Try and get back to balanced reporting which for a long time was very enjoyable. UTB!

Tricky as by giving marks and rating players I have to give opinions. No problems with people disagreeing. I am certainly not battering players but will judge on what I saw. Thought McBurnie was neat and tidy at times but missed 2 great chances and then fell on the floor a lot. Norwood DID give the ball away 4 times in the first half and was too slow to move it all game. I love his play but felt he and the other midfielders played right into Bruce's hands with slow, ponderous passing and no-one penetrating or carrying the ball at all.

Saint Maximinin scored a great header. He may not have done much with the ball after that but the front 3s pressing was the main feature which stopped any of our defence getting out. Their work was very underrated.

Anyway at a family event today so week off from my bashing/negativity with no report as I doubt I will even see the game!

 

[Webding]

McBurnie put in some effort, but also put in a pretty average performance, and missed two sitters. Is that really worth much more than about a 6?

On this season’s showings, with him and Sharp in the team, you have a bit of running and sometimes something to aim for in the air or down the channels, but that’s about it. If they’re not scoring, they haven’t offered much else between them I’m afraid. I want both of them to do well but it just hasn’t happened so far.

DB does at times have his favourite scapegoats, and obviously always marks them down, but I don’t think he was any more harsh than normal on the front two this week. I’d love it if they proved him wrong... but it looks like Wilder saw it a similar way and it’d have to be from the bench today.