“He must have been watching a different game to me”.

8 Responses to “He must have been watching a different game to me”.

1. Colin Phillips says:

   April 29, 2017 at 9:31 am

   Nice report , Paul.

   As far as I am concerned Warnock made the wrong selection, what has Ralls done, or hasn’t done, to explain him starting the last two home games on the bench?

   Is Warnock really a softie at heart and want to give Whittingham his last game at home?

   Wonderful standing ovation when Whitts was subbed and as I see on one of the forums plenty of people voted for him as man of the match. Now I have to admit to not seeing Whitts in his pomp but in the last three seasons except for his corner assists and his goals from free kicks I have seen him do very little and a few (make that many) a viewing his performances these days through some what different spectacles to mine.

   You mention Halford, Paul, and I think you are right about the spectators seeing a different player to the manager, he did have a bed spell second half (much like Kadeem did in the last home game) but I think he has a role to play in the side. Again there were impatient and intolerant fans in the Ninian aiming “ger ‘Im orf” shouts to Warnock referring to Halford, their wish was granted.

   I hate to think that as a supporter I always blame the referee but he did seem to give the ‘barcodes’ everything they asked for, I did see a replay of Morrison’s ‘goal’ on Sky last night and it was one of those decisions that is sometimes given and sometimes not.

   As for the comment about our lack of attempts I’m just not seeing it, we had the ball in the net twice in the first half and we could easily have scored four (two for Noone, one each for Manga and Kenneth). I’m not saying we deserved to win but if one of those chances had been converted , who knows. Probably Newcastle would have upped their game and scored a couple more.

   I don’t know if Benitez was being disrespectful but the side he picked was not the strongest he could have selected.

   Lovely reception for Mr. Shelvey I thought!
2. BJA says:

   April 29, 2017 at 10:02 am

   Good Morning Paul, and every one else. Thanks for your report as always, but I do find it sad when NW come out and blames the ref for decisions that go against his ( our ) team, and conveniently ignores decisions that go in his ( our ) favour, such as when Halford pulled Perez’s shirt in the penalty area ( just in front of me ). I think the expression is a “nailed on penalty”, but it was not given.
   I have been watching professional football now for nigh on 67 years, and genuinely believe that no referee is going to favour one team over another. But referees make mistakes, but they are not made deliberately. Last night there may well have been a few, but some of which our leader was complaining about seemed not to be justified.fouls. Sky Sports felt the disallowed Morrison goal was correct, and having seen the incident that lead to the Atsu goal, that seemed correct also.
   My view was shielded from the Zahore “hand ball” claim, but if it was, then neither the referee nor his assistant felt that the incident warranted a penalty for the City.
   Finally, on this subject, there will always be differences of opinions about certain goings on in a game, but that is part of what makes watching football an attractive proposition. Supporters venting a little wrath at the man in the middle is natural.
   As to the City’s performance, I felt that we would struggle once I knew of the selected team. Great servant he may have been, but sadly Whittingham is absolutely not the player he once was – slow, and now does not seem capable of providing a penetrative pass, and has lost any ability he once had to tackle. But he was selected instead of Ralls.
   Also what was Halford doing there? I understood he was to be the defensive watch, but with he and the aforementioned Whittingham, not a particularly dynamic attacking combination. Poor Gunners.
   An unfortunate injury to Harris, brought on Noone who had an absolute nightmare. And with Hoillett also just as bad, I am staggered that we had thirteen attempts on goal, but only three on target.
   As you mention, the season has drifted and mid-table mediocrity attained.
   Some drastic surgery will be needed to remove a few from our ranks, but what an opportunity was lost last night to portray, in front of the TV cameras, what an attractive proposition a season ticket could be to those in our locality. Sad that.
3. Barry Cole says:

   April 29, 2017 at 10:46 am

   Great comments Paul and as usual pretty accurate. The two points you chose were the main topics in this end of the couldn’t care less approach which came over very clearly last night.
   There were a couple of additions to that from my side in that the quality of finishing was the difference in the teams but how they happened was directly the cause of not trying or doing stupid fouls when they needn’t have been done.
   Morrison first, after having a reasonable game made the most stupid foul I have seen this season on a player going no where. The resulting free kick was sublime up that should not have happened. Morrison I fear is a liability in defence as I have said all season. On the other side , his attacking prowess is totally the opposite. He just has to stop the silly mistakes and he could be brilliant. He won’t be the captain next year I am certain of that.
   The second goal was as bad as the player had so much time to pick his spot without any Cardiff player challenging for the ball. It was a quality finish executed because we seemed to be on the beach at that time.
   Now for the good news, for every quality shot by Newcastle you could double the chances we created and the poor finishing and lack of quality proved the difference between the teams.
   And finally, two players who I believe had stinkers, one who remained on the pitch even when he had done absolutely nothing to the game while whittingham was subbed, no wonder he didn’t look impressed.
   Halford is out of his depth in this league now and Newcastle should have had a penalty when he pulled the shirt of Perez? . We handed the midfield over by playing him instead of ralls.
   And the biggest disappointment was hoilett who it seems is getting worse and worse each game and by not taking him off and taking whittingham off instead contributed to the second goal.
   Everybody makes mistakes and I believe NW made an error with that move.
   I would like to go to the Huddersfield game but I would expect effort and a value for money after last night that is up in the air
4. Anthony O'Brien says:

   April 29, 2017 at 11:27 am

   Another excellent report. But, as frustrating as watching last night’s game is the fact that even though I click on the statement which says two messages, they do not appear. This is in line with the performance of my computer (or, in probable certainty, to my status as a dinosaur in the world of modern information technology) specifically when I try to make a comment for the MAYA site. Nevertheless, I continue to cherish the hope that the communication problem sorts itself out of its own volition some time later!

   There were certain highspots in the game from Cardiff, but by the end of play I felt embarrassment more than anything at the team’s performance. In the first half Halford and Bennett struck me as showing greater ability than I would sometimes suspect, but after the break it nearly all went wrong. I won’t bother to repeat my assessment of Zohore as given in my previous comment, but I should like to commend Noone’s energy and commitment, even though he missed two golden opportunities to score. In addition, I remain impressed by the intelligence which Pilkington displays running off the ball. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any Cardiff players with the foresight or skill to make his runs worthwhile.

   Sadly. in some respects, the season is sliding away “not with a bang but a whimper”. From this point of view I am glad it will soon be over. But, on the other side of the coin, I can hardly wait for next season to start. Let’s all hope for better things. By this time next year, Rodney, we’ll be — heading for the Premiership, ot am I just dreaming?

   Finally, thanks to Paul Evans for his magnificent blog, and to all the contributors who have made it a must-read experience throughout the season.
5. Russell says:

   April 29, 2017 at 2:02 pm

   Thanks Paul for the report “yes we’re running on empty ” we had a few decent chances in the first 20 minutes ,where we looked like we had a game plan and some penetration, pity we didn’t get an early goal.

   Regarding Whittingham I feel he is going through the motions, there was a classic Whitt’s moment last night, that has always wound up fans and manager alike , where he only had to rush 10 yards forward with some intent, towards a incoming Newcastle player ,instead of using his presence to just stay in front or stop the player, he simply backed off , and allowed the ball to be passed around him .Back in the day ,when he was on top of his game, scoring goals , taking wonderful dead ball kicks , that was fine, and we were forgiving of those weaknesses, not now, not on his wages , I should imagine Warnock thinks the same ,were not a rich club , we should release and not renew his contract.

   Halford is in my view is a good all round player, who I think is still not a 90 minute fit player ,which perhaps explains last night good first half , folliwed by a poor second half, simply got tired. We will see his worth hopefully next year when we have tough Tuesday night aways where we need to dig out a draw .

   Our forwards just looked very tired, I think one or two wide man will go , hopefully , with new /fresh Warnock type players coming in.

   Manga is a luxury we simply cannot afford ,we have to think about the all round squads worth , not just an individual, this is a workmanlike league that is built on consticancy,particularly at centre back ,we are not far from that in my view.

   As we enter our final week, hopefully we have an opportunity to extend these chats in the close season ,with players comming and going, and applying our thoughts and wishes , on your excellent site .

   Thanks for this season Paul, one more to go .
6. The other Bob Wilson says:

   April 29, 2017 at 3:25 pm

   Thanks everyone for an interesting set of replies. Colin, I agree with virtually everything you say. I thought Whitts had a quiet game last night and was a long way from being my City man of the match (I’d probably have given it to McGregor or one of the full backs) – unusually for him, he was caught on his heels a couple of times. I’d disagree with you slightly on Benitez – as the only things that could be influenced by him fielding what might be construed as a weakened line up was Newcastle’s finishing position and some of the standings in the middle of the table, I don’t see that he was being disrespectful. As for Shelvey, I don’t see why City fans gave him such a hard time – he was our best player when we beat the jacks the last time they came here!
   BJA, I thought it was a foul by Morrison for the first goal, I had a good view of the shout for handball and there’s no way it was a penalty and I also felt Jazz Richards could have been given a straight red on another day for his challenge. Nevertheless, I thought in general that Mr Scott tended to favour the “bigger” team in his decision making – as I mention in the piece, he’s done quite a few of our matches in the past, most of which I’ve seen live, and he’s not been one of those officials that have you dreading the next time he’s in charge of one of our games.
   Barry, I differ with your opinion on Morrison, but wouldn’t argue much with what you say about the other players you mention – I also think you are right when you say that although, rather like Colin, I have a feeling Newcastle could have raised their game if we has scored first, we more than matched them in terms of decent chances, but their two goals showed a technique that we never came close to matching in our finishing.
   Anthony, all of the other replies received so far just appear on the website, whereas yours always has to be approved and whereas the others all mention a posting name when I get an e-mail notification of them, yours is shown as being from “WordPress”, so it would appear that the problem may be something to do with the software which runs the blog – although, why it just effects your messages is anyone’s guess. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but have you tried posting something to me using a different browser? I’d be surprised if that sorted things out, but it’s worth a try.
   As for what you’ve said about the game, I’ll never criticise his attitude or work rate, but in the last few seasons, Nooney’s execution has not been as good and last night it was a lot worse than normal (I think I’m right in saying both of his chances came to him on his stronger foot?) and it seems to me as if he may have lost a bit of pace. I think he and Pilkington are players Neil Warnock wouldn’t be too bothered about losing this summer – I don’t think Pilks has had a good season, but I’m like you in believing that he is an intelligent and,potentially, effective player who I hope is still here for 17/18. I’m also looking forward to next season already!
   Russell, don’t take the fact that I’m not writing much in reply to you the wrong way, but it’s hard to come up with much when your thoughts match mine so much – as for the summer, my plan is to do the same weekly review that I’ve done for the last few years and it would be great to get a few replies to them to continue what I think has been a very high quality of discussion throughout the season.
7. Barry Cole says:

   April 30, 2017 at 7:22 am

   Paul
   Very pleased that you aim to continue the weekly blog through the closed season
   So can anyone on here name the matches that we actually played in mauve and yellow
   Mine was the fa cup tie at southport where we lost 2-0
   How many more ???
8. The other Bob Wilson says:

   May 2, 2017 at 10:11 am

   That kit which appears on here was one we used in 72/73 Barry and I believe it was only worn in three games. I was there for the first of them in August 72 (it was a couple of days before I got my O level results) when we took to the field at Fratton Park to wolf whistles from the Portsmouth fans. Derek Showers put us ahead that day, but we collapsed in the second period as our 1-0 half time lead turned into a 3-1 loss at the final whistle. I wanted to go to the League Cup tie at Bristol Rovers three days later as well, but my parents stuck to their decision that I could go to one of the matches, not the two of them. We wore the mauve and yellow kit at Eastville and were again beaten 3-1 (I think we might have been a goal up at the interval in that match as well). The kit made it’s final appearance almost a month later when we were stuffed 4-0 up at Carlisle and then I think that, much in the way that Man United ditched that grey kit all of those years ago, a decision was made that enough was enough.
   We wore another strange kit in our next away match where there was a colour clash as well – we were in red shirts and yellow shorts for a televised match at QPR, but our luck didn’t change in what was the last match Ian Gibson played for us and the final game of Brian Clark’s first spell with the club, because we were beaten 3-0 to stay at the bottom of the league – we didn’t win an away match in the league that season, but from mid September onwards, we weren’t being beating in mauve and yellow when we had to wear a change kit!

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