My eyewitness impressions of the Newcastle match......

We were awful in the first half, but still created chances and the Toon were no great shakes at the back. Their GK and back four were all over the place when we put them under pressure, but we didn't put them under enough pressure or often enough.

Hoots was right about their two goals being down to individual errors, Johnson for the first (as highlighted by Hansen on MotD) and Cafu for the second. They has scored before either goalkeeper had touched the ball and once again we leave ourselves with two much to do.

We were better in the 2nd half and played some good possession football, but with little or no penetration. Highlight was the four corners in succession (triggered ironic cheering from the city faithful) and Leroy scored with a great header from the fourth of them.

Huffed and puffed for the last ten minutes and could have got a point which would not have been deserved based on the whole game.

Notes to Hoot:
1. No point in playing Hooper alone up front and hoofing it up to him for 90 minutes. Poor guy was totally isolated for most of the time.
2. Not enough creativity in midfield. Our second half performance was crying out for Wes; no point at all in bringing him on with five minutes to go.
3. Cafu making too many mistakes IMHO - Whits deserves a chance at right back.
4. We have to get tighter to the opposition when we don't have the ball, and when we do have the ball, we need to get it forward quicker.

Note to Newcastle:
Over 51,000 in and your stadium was like a morgue. City fans outsung you for the whole game. So much for your passionate Geordie support.

Posted By: Kirrie, Nov 25, 10:02:11