Barton grabs the glory for Newcastle
Newcastle United snatched their first away win since the first game of the season at Fulham tonight after a dramatic stoppage time penalty from Joey Barton.
The Scouse midfielder slammed home the ball late in the day to extend Unitedâ≢s unbeaten run to three games and grab Unitedâ≢s first win on the road since the 3-1 success at Bolton.
United ran out at Craven Cottage in their light blue kit with Big Sam making just one change to the side that had beaten Birmingham City as 4,000 Toon fans roared their side on to the field.
With Steven Taylor out injured with a hamstring injury Brazilian defender Cacapa returned to the starting XI for the first time since the 4-1 capitulation against Portsmouth.
Cacapa took his place in the heart of defence alongside David Rozehnal while last weekâ≢s goal hero Habib Beye played at right-back, Charles Nâ≢Zogbia was on the left hand side of the back four.
United lined up with skipper Geremi, Nicky Butt and Joey Barton in midfield and the attack consisted of Alan Smith as the target man with James Milner to his left and Oba Martins to his right.
Beye must have thought heâ≢d scored again on seven minutes but Simon Davies managed to get in a crucial intervention with his head after Geremiâ≢s flag kick.
However, on 12 minutes Shay Given was called into action when Clint Dempsey played in Northern Ireland star David Healy but his right footed effort was palmed away by the Toon keeper.
Two minutes later though a superb cross from Milner down the left was headed goal-wards by the unmarked Barton from close range but Antti Niemi got down well to scramble away the danger.
Yet there was little danger of any keeper picking the ball out of their respective nets until two minutes before the break.
Nâ≢Zogbia ventured forwards down the left but even then his daisy cutter went gratefully into the arms if Niemi to close the curtains on a poor first period.
With 11 minutes on the clock in the second half Unitedâ≢s goal was under threat for the first time since the re-start but Healyâ≢s effort went straight at Given after he latched on to a long ball.
Big Sam changed things on 59 minutes when captain Geremi was replaced by Emre as Newcastle looked for a breakthrough with Smith taking the armband.
Emre was on hand six minutes later to whip in a free-kick after a foul on the Turk by Healy but Niemi gathered once again as Buttâ≢s header failed to trouble Fulham.
Newcastle won a free-kick again on 77 minutes when Dempsey handballed.
And at this point Big Sam introduced Mark Viduka for Martins who reluctantly made his way off the field after a quiet afternoon.
Fulham actually nodded off by the time the set-piece was taken but Rozehnal dragged an effort wide from Milnerâ≢s free-kick and the game remained deadlocked.
Unitedâ≢s best effort arrived with four minutes left after Beyeâ≢s long throw was cleared into the path of Barton but his snapshot was held by Niemi.
But there was drama in stoppage time as ref Webb pointed to the spot after Omozusiâ≢s foul on Smith.
Barton stepped up in front of the Toon Army and slotted the ball into the net past Niemi to hand Newcastle three points.
FULHAM: Niemi, Bocanegra, Stefanovic, Healy, Davis (Kuqi 75), Hughes, Omozusi, Dempsey, Bouazza, Davies, Murphy.
Subs: Warner, Seol Ki-Hyeon, Smertin, Baird.
UNITED: Given, Beye, Rozehnal, Cacapa, Nâ≢Zogbia, Geremi (Emre 59), Butt, Barton, Martins (Viduka 77), Smith, Milner.
Subs: Harper, Enrique, Edgar
Ref: Howard Webb (South Yorkshire)
Crowd: 24, 959
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Lee Ryder - Proudly born and bred on Tyneside, the Chronicle's chief sports writer has followed the fortunes of the club over the last three decades as a Toon fan and football writer.
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Great win for the lads tonight, we really needed the 3 points away from home and we have to do that against teams like fulham. Defence was much better than illustrated in previous matches and Cacapa showed that he is indeed a class act that is much better than what we saw against Pompey. Really happy that we were able to carve out a 1-0 away from SJP and that to be fair we created the better chances. Still a bit concerned that we lack some creativity in the centre of midfield and i would prefer to see Milner on the right again with Zogs moving upto left wing (although he has done pretty well at LB), i wonder what is the situation with Enrique, i suppose with Duff almost fit again we may see some personnel changes, neverless the next game against derby will be a vital fixture so as to continue to build momentum as competition for places hopefully brings about continued performances of spirit and class.
Thanks.
I have been catching up on the last few Blogs and see that good old Paul got to you in the end Lee: "You seem to know everything Paul - why don't you stick your CV in for the England job...".
He seems to be a bit more in touch with the mood of your readership though...
I do agree with you and Moncur about the need for wins, and that success breeds confidence and more success. We got the three points against Birmingham through determination and individual skill. We got three points from Fulham through luck; we didnâ≢t deserve to win, and frankly neither did they. We now have two more games against the bottom of the league â≠all very lucky fixtures for Allardyce at this time, and a great chance to put four wins together.
The point is that we should EXPECT 12 points from these four games. Fulham, have now had one win in the last 15 premiership outings and have only won one of the last eight home games. They were hopeless and we should have walked all over them. Derby are still 20th, and have only had one win all season (against us!) and have lost the last seven matches. The Mackems even beat them. Before yesterdayâ≢s bonanza, Wigan had lost 10 of their last 12 matches and had gone 13 matches without a win. They still are not a great team.
My point is that we should expect NOTHING BUT 12 points from these four games. Anything else should be seen as a failure. If we are serious about who we are and who we want to be, we should be beating these teams easily, and crucially, we should be outplaying them. Results are important, I agree, but I think the way we play and how we play also define us.
I am not sure that determination and hard work (as demonstrated by the stats from the Birmingham game you enthusiastically shared with us) and some individual skill will lead to any real success. And the depressing thing is nothing will change:
Allardyce â≠â∠Âwe were resilient and we nullified themââ¬? â∠Â... it doesnâ≢t matter how you get itââ¬?(a win that is, or is that a draw?)
Sanchez â≠â∠ÂAllardyce wanted a draw, but we wanted a winââ¬?
What a depressing game it was, despite the win! And that is my point. Winning is important, and we should have expectations of winning (especially these games), but Newcastle United is not Bolton. Some more quotes about our performance for us to ponder:
Niall and Biffa on the NUFC website: â∠Âtotal mediocrityââ¬?
BBC sport: â∠ÂShocking game devoid of creativity or qualityââ¬?
Guardian on-line: â∠ÂScant relief from drossââ¬ÃÅ a new benchmark in boredomââ¬ÃÅ both teams displayed gross ineptitudeââ¬ÃŠââ¬?
Independent on Sunday: â∠Âin truth both these sides deserved nil points for subjecting their audience to such mediocrityââ¬?
So what do we think Lee? How do we want to be defined?
Ryder's reply: My humble take on things will appear in the next entry of Blog On The Tyne Simon.
And as far as our faithful Blog reader Paul applying for the England job is concerned - it's known as football banter and I'm sure Paul took that in the right spirit, given the fact he has been back since with another post.
Would you say we grabbed any glory from this performance?
Dire game, but result is definately all what matters. I have a hangover with a difference this morning, an away win to boot! The penalty decision was definately a bit harsh wasnt it?!( no complaints here) first of all, the defender hardly if not barely touched smith, and secondly the referee's view was not great with players in line of view. But law of averages states we had to have a penalty at some time or other!
Can someone tell me if martins played? He put a very poor shift in, we got away with a win yeah, exellent, but we really do have to defend from the front, i think thats why SA doesnt like to play martins and viduka together, we'd only have 8 pairs of legs on the outfield defending. Great teams always defend from the front, thats why bellars was worth his weight in gold, concerning martins, I know its not naturally in his game, but when u have 4000 fans shouting u on, surely you'd run your socks off. Looking at the positives, its 3 points in the onion bag, and once again an attempt to get in the top 6 doesnt look too beyond us.
back to normal lads frustrating as only united can be.a terrible spectacle for the fans of both sides .fulham look as though they are doomed.I thought that Beye had a good game Barton tried and can only get better Milner was good in the first half but faded badly in the second.I thought Sam could have taken off Milner and brought on Enriques pushing Zog into midfield otherwise the only bright notes were a clean sheet and an away win.
Good win tonight, i watch the match and i thought beye is beginning to show. He was the only one that did the least mistake and tackled perfectly in my eyes. Milner was good but never fed in second half. More frustrating is we could have won a lot more than this although fulham dominated for some time in second half.
Hopefully that we can improve our scoring...not just making chances...
Your right bonnieland back to normal, Id write in another word for frustrating but there's women contribute to this forum! Anyway I managed to keep my world famous black&white top on this week Probably due to the fact that I fell asleep! only to wake up to see the penalty? "You should have put in for the England job Sam" I'm sorry folks but we are going nowhere with performances like this, But the points are in the bag
and like everyone says that's what counts, "I don't think so" I like entertaining football which I'm afraid Newcastle just giving at the moment, Looking forward to next week Ha Way The Lads.....
Positives - A crucial three points - it was away and achieved with an embarrassingly rare cleansheet.
Much more solid defensive display, especially from Beye and Cacapa.
Very real negatives - woefully stale performance to add to the worryingly growing list so far - Villa, Derby, Man City, Sunderland, Reading (let alone the non-performances against Pompey and Liverpool). Yet again one must recall that we have played decent-to-well in only a fraction of our football this term. Certainly, we will not win many, if any, against a decent side playing like we did.
Allardyce's persistent tactics (it's agonisingly boring to repeat the issues with them) are greatly hampering this squad of players. Like so many other matches this season, we lacked any creative impetus which obviously renders our frontmen virtually useless. Not to mention the very real defensive problems of not playing a left-back at ummmm left-back.
We have a very expensive left-back who SHOULD be getting crucial Prem experience against the likes of Brum and Fulham, yet all he's being allowed to do is collect splinters on his backside!!!!!!! What shrewd management. Surely oh surely Enrique can be played against the electric and prolific Derby County come Sunday?????? (Saying that we carry the national embarrassment of losing to them and it could so easily have been more than one nil).
N'Zogbia (I feel mighty sorry for you Charlie as it's not your fault)at left-back distorts our whole play. I am not saying that playing N'Zogbia and Milner in their natural positions (wow managerial revelation of the decade)would be an instant and infallible solution. BUT....Mr Allardyce , I, like so many fellow Geordies, dare you to try it and see how it goes.
was at the game and it was probably,shall we say,one of the poorest prem games i have seen.Fulham look good bets for relegation on this showing and in truth we should be beating them comfortably.Still an away win,a clean sheet and many happy fans leaving the ground -so is a 0-1 win in an uninspiring performance better than a 3-3 draw? i thought Beye was good and his reaction at the final whistle epitomised his attitude-he loved it! Cacapa also did well ,especially when a little pressure was exerted.Milner looked dangerous in the first half but Martins and Smith rarely threatened.Much prefer Emre in midfield showed touches of class,much better than Geremi for sure.Like many others i would like to see Zogs further forward so what is the story with Enrique?All told ,we won looked tight in defence,and just maybe we are turning a corner.Hope so.
Once again, far from me to put a dampener on the great three points that push is towards the top half of the table and away from danger down below, things still look far too haphazard and ââ¬ÃÂjammyâ≢
Not content with last week, scoring in stoppage time from a corner, after scoring from Martinâ≢s spot kick, we leave till the 93rd minute to seal victory today, once again from a set-piece.
Football was strictly taboo against Fulham, as both sideâ≢s seemed intent on allowing fans to get their sleep during the game, instead of the usual trip back up to Tyneside on the coaches.
Once again, I stress, the points are the most important thing and thankfully we got them, to keep us in touch with teams above us in the coveted UEFA cup slots, but how long will this seem attainable, if it even does at present?
Style, panache, flair, skill and artistry are the hallmarks of what make football such a great game to watch and today, with Arsenal, Liverpool, Man United and Chelsea, we will see the so called, ââ¬ÃÂGrand Slam Sundayâ≢ with all four teams displaying the five words above.
Newcastle United seem to want to do it ââ¬ÃÂSamâ≢s Wayâ≢ which sadly donâ≢t seem to follow along the lines of Style, Panache, Flair, Skill and Artistry, maybe itâ≢s just a means to an end, to get results in the short term and that once this phase is out of the way, Newcastle will display such footballing delights that you must do to win things.
I hope so, because such turgid displays, like that one against Fulham will get football hoyed in the dustbin, or at very least something to give to poor old insomniacs.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!
Paul.
3 points great
away win great
But a poor performance again against a team who look strong candidates for relegation
Rozenhal looked shaky again nzog just isnt a left back and never will be milner uncomfortable ahead of him but beye looking better all the time
Is Geremi simply on the pitch for free kicks corners and throw-ins because in free play he is non exsistant as is the creativity from the middle of the park and we didnt get any until Emre was brought into the fray
Oba just didnt get any service to feed off last night Fulham played a high line at the back was tailor made for viduka/martins and yes smith won the penalty but 15 games 0 GOALS yes he battles but we need goal contributions from both strikers bellamy perfect example workrate+goals
7 points from 3 games with derby and wigan to come think we would all settle for that
Support again was fantastic start to finish credit to each and every one of you
And joey you showed a lot of bottle
BRITSH BY BIRTH
GEORDIE BY THE GRACE OF GOD
I was at the match, and it was most likely THE most boring game I have ever witnessed.
We were great for the first 10 minutes, nice passes and wing play (on the left only mind!)
But no end product.
Fulham were by far the better team in the second half, and we SOMEHOW got a penalty, 0-0 would have been a fair result.
Of course, im happy with a win, but to be honest, this is covering cracks of the highest order.
If we put in a performance like that against a non-relegation threatened team, we will get absolutely thrashed.
Overall, happy with the 3points, but that type of performance was pathetic, and we are going back to the jammy wins we had at the start of the season, which only ends in tears...(ala Liverpool/Pompey)
Before the Reading game Allardyce claimed that a victory would place us 'ahead of schedule'. Obviously our disastrous run then put us behind schedule but now I am interested to know whether we will be ahead of his schedule if we beat Derby and Wigan.
The 3 points is the most important thing, at the moment we are a long way from being European candidates.Allardyce is totally dedicated to HIS style of play and we will end up with less admirers than Bolton Wanderers. Why; oh why, does he play men out of position ??? What little skill they have is thwarted by this negative perception of the beautiful game.Can you imagine any top player; wanting to come and join this pathetic dross ???Owen must be praying for a decent club to come in for him at Xmas; at least that would give Sam some cash for new tallent?
Good three points, bad play...
A great change bearing in mind of our horrible away from all season. Bad thing is we are actually losing possesion to fulham, a team about to be relegated?
I have high expectation for this season but a sudden eclipse in the sun causes thing to change but i just want us to finish as high up as posible this season.
Big sam needs more time, dont critises at his tactics and style of formation although i admit sometimes his formation make me sick! His choice in the field sometimes rival that of MR roeder, the same roeder that cause us to end up 13th in the league.
But anyway, i think Big sam deserve more time, who can cure a team that have been leaking goals for two seasons straight?
When robson got here, we finished 11th twice then only we got into the big four. This is because we gave him time, and i think big sam deserve this season and the next to prove himself. If we really sack him, then who will come to tyne? maybe some people that have higher profile but fail three times worse than even ruud guilt. Then we really will be toying with relegation...
Allardyce would do well to explain his long term vision for this club, instead of continuing with his ridiculous siege mentality. Because we're going backwards with alarming speed.
Mort, Ashley and Allardyce need to realise that the average Newcastle supporter has had to put up with a belly full of mediocrity over the years, and for many, football of this standard will push huge numbers over the edge.
We need hope. We need direction. And we something that resembles entertainment.
Mark my words, if dross of this magnitude continues for much longer, ticket holders will walk away en-masse at the end of this season.
Again, I ask, what on earth is Big Sam playing at? He substututes the only forward who is capable of scoring and brings on the useless Viduka, and didn't the crowd let Sam know how they felt regarding the substitution. The game was absolute rubbish, a total disgrace to be called a Premiere League game. More like a Sunday morning game. Quite frankly, no one deserved to win the game at all, yet three points are three points! As I wrote last week, put sick note Owen out to pastures new in January, alongside his racehorses, and get whatever you can for him, and offload the most useless signing United have ever made in Viduka, then bring in some of the kids from the Academy, who are as good, if not better than the present XI. If we manage to end up 10th in the League, it will only be, because there are some terrible teams, not worthy of being in the Premiere League
Very interesting article. IâÂÂm planning to write a post on the same subject on my blog soon; IâÂÂll cite yours.