#NUFC XI to play #CPFC: Krul; Janmaat, Coloccini, Williamson, Haidara; Colback, Sissoko; Cabella, de Jong, Gouffran; Riviere— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 30, 2014 #NUFC subs v #CPFC: Elliot, Dummett, S.Taylor, Anita, Obertan, Aarons, Perez. #nufc #nufcnews #nufcfans #newcastleunited #toon #toonarmy— NUFC NEWS (@NUFC_NEWS_UK) August 30, 2014 Crystal Palace XI v Newcastle: Speroni, Mariappa, Dann, Delaney, Kelly, Puncheon, Jedinak, Ward, Bolasie, Chamakh, Gayle.— Betfred (@Betfred) August 30, 2014 This game is being played in movie theatres nationwide (in America, that is). Channel 491 DirecTV. Thx, Jay!
Crystal Palace subs: Hennessey, Hangeland, Bannan, Jonny Williams, Zaha, Murray, Campbell #nufc #cpfc— Sun Sport (@SunSport) August 30, 2014
Few thoughts: 1. 7 minutes added time?! WTF? 2. Aarons! Aarons is a great impact sub. DO NOT start him. He will be Pardewed if you do simply because Pardew likes his starting players to track back as much as they drive forward. Aarons needs to drive forward. Let Sissoko or Haidara fall back. Just what we needed on the left side. Imagine him and Cabella playing from the outside in with a strong Thriker in the middle,...we MAY have something. Speaking of Cabella... 3.Cabella alone on the right makes no impact. Only when he had Sissoko or Colback playing off of him did he become relevant 4. I kept asking: " who was playing in middle next to Colback?" Sissoko and Colback, or whomever was playing in the middle in front of the back four, need to either coordinate better or stick to the center more. When one would pop out on the wing for a schmoke, the other needed to stay and cover the center in front of the back 4. Hence 2 of Palace's goals. 5. Riviere up front and alone is irrelevant. Also Perez up front and alone with Riviere is also irrelevant. 6. Williamson scored...with his right foot...and not from a corner or set piece. 7. Our midfield Army tries to play a possession game with short passing. Problem is out attacking players runs tend to stretch those short passes into long balls that are often surrounded by 3 defenders. How many times did Colback or Sissoko or Cabella have the ball and Riviere ran away from them into the middle of Palace's defense in the box. Last time I checked Riviere was not the tallest guy on the field. 8. Weren't we linked with Zaha at some point? 9. Colback is definitely not a Ginger Pirlo. Example: he skied a sitter into the Gallowgate; I think its still in orbit. 10. We scored. Three times. Two of which were opportunistic and due to poor defending but they were goals by us and not OG. Aarons's was brilliant. We should have won had it not been for Zaha, defensive brain farts and poor finishing. While we have confidence down the touchlines our middle is weak. Palace figured that out and fooked us. I'll take the tie but still, this had better improve, and we have plenty of time to do so.
Can not believe they gave up that third goal. All three goals were the result of soft defense not stepping up to challenge an offensive player with the ball or follow their mark. Have to admit I was a little disappointed with De Jong today. I hope he gets focused or comfortable or whatever he needs to get straight handled soon so he can start imposing his will on the game soon. You can see it in little spurts but he needs to start being consistence. Loved what Aarons brought to the game and the spark he gave the team, but I have a big problem with his goal celebration. He shook off two teammates who were trying to hug him and grabbed Cabella's arm & removed it from around him, then he turned his back to the crowd and pointed to his name on the back of the jersey. That kind of crap really pisses me off. Someone, Tiote or De Jong or Colo or one of the other vets need to pull him aside and get his head screwed on straight.