Bramble rubs salt into open wounds for Newcastle United
TITUS Bramble left St James's Park as an unlikely hero for Wigan tonight after heading home a later equaliser against Newcastle United.
The much maligned former Toon defender rubbed salt into open wounds on Tyneside tonight as Newcastle tossed away the chance of victory against 10 man Wigan.
Goals from super sub Michael Owen and Oba Martins had paved the way for the win for Joe Kinnear but sloppy defending handed Wigan a point.
The visitors had grabbed the lead through Ryan Taylor but a red card for Emmerson Boyce handed Newcastle a great chance of three points.
United made just one change to the side that lost at Fulham with Sebastien Bassong replacing Cacapa in the heart of defence.
Steven Taylor was still missing with the stomach muscle problem that kept him out of the 2-1 defeat at Fulham.
Toon boss Joe Kinnear kept faith with Shola Ameobi and Oba Martins in attack with Michael Owen once again on the bench.
But a finish that Owen would have been proud of rocked Newcastle after just three minutes.
And it came from the man who seems to love playing against United in Ryan Taylor.
The Wigan ace - who has netted two winners against United in the last two seasons at the JJB Stadium - scored with a fantastic lob over Shay Given from the edge of the box after Olivier Kapo had flicked it into his path from Maynor Figueroa's pass from the left.
It went from bad to worse for Kinnear with 14 minutes played when Joey Barton didn't get back up following a crunching tackle from Lee Cattermole near the halfway line and was replaced moments later by Danny Guthrie.
Former Middlesbrough star and Wigan captain Cattermole was actually a major influence for the Latics in the first half an hour with the feisty and tough tackling midfielder bossing the game in the middle of the park.
And unfortunately for Newcastle they couldn't seem to find an answer to him.
Ref Andre Marriner was also happy to let the game flow as he overlooked both the wholehearted challenge that injured Barton and a tasty tackle on Nicky Butt soon after.
Wigan keeper Chris Kirkland had a quiet opening to the game too with Jonas' wayward shot on 28 minutes the only effort he had to deal with in the first 30 minutes.
To make matters worse for Newcastle fans ex-defender Titus Bramble - who endured a catalogue of errors during his time on Tyneside - was also enjoying a comfortable afternoon at the heart of the Wigan back four.
The home crowd had some slight encouragement from their side when Damien Duff's left wing cross was headed just over by Ameobi on 37 minutes but Wigan were still on top.
In first half stoppage time Newcastle forced Kirkland into his first save of the afternoon.
Martins tried a one-two with Ameobi and got lucky after the ball rolled back his way before Kirkland kept the ball out with his feet.
But that was as good as it got for United in the first half after an abysmal display by the black and whites.
United started the second half in brighter fashion and home hopes were boosted when Boyce - cautioned earlier for a foul on Jonas - picked up a second yellow card of the game after a foul on Ameobi near the Gallowgate corner.
That didn't stop Wigan creating chances though and with 57 minutes on the clock Given had to turn away a shot from Antonio Valencia who cracked one in from an acute angle.
Martins fired over on the hour mark but anxiety levels were on the up around St James's as Toon fans chanted "attack" in attempt to rally their side.
However, it was starting to get desperate for Newcastle and this was epitomised with a quarter of the game left when Jose Enrique screwed a shot woefully wide of the target.
Kinnear instantly introduced two subs in the shape of Owen and Charles N'Zogbia as the Magpies went for broke.
Boos erupted around Gallowgate as Jonas was replaced by Owen with N'Zogbia taking over from Enrique.
Owen was soon in the thick of it but sent his close range effort wide after Martins crossed in from the left on 70 minutes.
Four minutes later Owen forced a save out of Kirkland with the England international pushing his header just over after Martins crossed in again from the left.
Ugly scenes then followed straight after the effort as a Toon fan charged down the touchline towards Kinnear with police and stewards having to wrestle the invader away from the dugout.
But it could have been game over with 15 minutes to go when Henri Camara outpaced the Toon defence on the counter attack before rounding Given and striking his low effort off the base of the post.
It was a miss that left Steve Bruce tearing his hair out too as Newcastle levelled five minutes later.
Duff did well to stay on his feet and thread the ball to Ameobi who forced Kirkland to parry the ball into the path of Owen with the sub poking home the equaliser from close range to tie things up.
Kinnear's tactical switch appeared to have paid off completely with three minutes to go as N'Zogbia slipped it to Martins from the left before a thunderous finish to make it 2-1 to the Magpies.
Yet after Beye had conceded a needless corner a nightmare scenario unfolded as 10 men Wigan levelled it up.
De Ridder's corner found the head of Bramble who made it 2-2 with a goal against his old club with a minute to go.
In stoppage time a powerful effort from Guthrie needed Kirkland's full attention but Wigan held on.
UNITED: Given, Beye, Coloccini, Bassong, Enrique (N'Zogbia 68), Jonas (Owen 68), Barton (Guthrie 16), Butt, Duff, Ameobi, Martins.
WIGAN: Kirkland, Taylor (De Ridder 82), Cattermole, Palacios, Scharner, Valencia, Boyce, Bramble, Kapo (Brown 90), Camara, Figueroa.
Ref: Andre Marriner
Crowd: 47, 657
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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.
Making hard work of games against Fulham and (Ten man) Wigan, only adds up to one thing. RELEGATION.
We can’t get anything off the top four, so all we have to take MAXIMUM points against anybody else. We have the slowest midfield in the premier league, and I don’t mean just physically. The thought process seems to resemble a ‘mouse in it’s wheel’ scenario. Then when we do get past the opposition midfield, we have two strikers up front that are not clever enough either.
Shola Ameobi, having played with Alan Shearer, Michael Owen and others, seems to have learnt nowt and actually seems to be half the player that he was six years ago. Not a Premiership player.
Obafemi Martins still hasn’t developed a touch and if you add this to a VERY clumsy and STUPID Shola Ameobi, is it any wonder we have to wait for ages to see a chance?
Today against Wigan, Guttierez was the only player prepared to run at defenders and create something, it’s just a shame that Damian Duff was abducted by aliens in 2007 and we now have a left winger that CAN’T or WON’T beat a man and put in a devastating cross. To top it all off, which one got took off against Wigan?
Collocini seems to be a decent player, but sufferers from ‘Duh!!’ syndrome, he seems to have a moment in every match where brain leaves building and all hell breaks loose.
Enrique is the same, doesn’t concentrate at all times. Taylor ditto. Habib Beye is the only solid defender at the club. Finally Bassong seems a nice little player, heaven knows who we can partner him with.
The next two games are a write off so, TIME TO PANIC.
Paul.
Is this constant ridiculous defending ever going to get sorted by any manager?I have been a supporter since 1960,and the only decent defenders were 1964/65.Unless tis club is sorted soon,we will get relegated.
Once again (two) points squandered. Defeat by Fulham and now what feels like another loss. We struggled agst ten men who could easily have been two nil ahead after they hit the post.
MO missed his usual sitter per game and Oba failed with the best chance of the first half. So really we can't complain about the result.
This means now that the up coming games agst Smogs and Stoke - we will lose to Chelsea - are very important, a minimum of 4pts is vital.
Enrique had a stinker today and must be replaced by Zog. MO must start - Shola to the bench - and JK must give his half-time pep talk at the beginning of the game.
Lee - do you know how much Boro fans are going to be charged for the game @ SJP? I am going to the Riverside - £32! I hope we charge them at least the same amount for the privilege of visiting us.
I hope JFK is sending his scouts to Championship games because that is where we are heading. To be honest,we did not deserve to win today. The first half performance was awful...
I hope JFK is sending his scouts to Championship games because that is where we are heading. To be honest,we did not deserve to win today. The first half performance was awful...
As soon as Kinnear described this as a 'must win game', I knew we were sunk. Has no-one told Joe this is Newcastle?
Actually, he said the following game is Chelsea away so Wigan is a must-win game. So what now? Are we already beaten at Stamford Bridge? And what credibility does a manager have left when his side gets only one lucky point froma 'must-win' fixture. You don't make statements and give ultimata that leave you no room for manouevre unless you deliver.
Enrique had a shocker. KK would have replaced him and it still needs to be done. Sadly he wasn't the only one.
In all likelihood THE MINI REVIVAL IS OVER. Poor old Toon really do look like a team that can only hope that three others are worse than them. Relegation is a very real prospect based on another awful performance today. Best hope might be to change the manager every three games and hope that it confuses the other team more than ours.
I am sorry but I think the players know and Mike Ashley is hoping, is that we will be relegated this season,
We were only 2 games away from relegation last season and this season we are even worse,
Kevin Keegan new this, he new we had a bad squad and he was off? No money not enough players a very small squad
I THINK THIS WHY WE CAN,T SELL THE CLUB,
WHO WOULD WANT TO BUY A CLUB THAT IS RELERGATION BOUND, AND SPEND 280 MILLION ???????
AND THAT’S NOT INCLUDING THE 100 MILLION THEY WOULD NEED TO SPEND TO REPLACE HALF THE USLESS PLAYERS WE HAVE AT THE CLUB.
That's two games we ought to have won and didn't. Look where those points would've taken us.
The first half yesterday was even worse than anything under under Souness or Allardyce or Roeder's last game, God forbid - it was that bad. Not only was it against Wigan, it was against a ten-man Wigan with Titus Bramble playing. We should have won it, but certainly wouldn't have deserved to. Jonas was well off his game; Duff's 'revival' flatters to deceive; Enriquez was poor; Beye was off his game; Martins had a poor first half.
However, the worst feature of our team under Kinnear and many a previous manager is to play two similar players in the centre of midfield. Why continue to play Butt who only manages about 45 minutes anyway? Why not stick Charlie alongside one of the others in the middle or why not do away with one of them and play Owen from the start? He plays deep enough to be an attacking midfielder anyway.
It was obvious that when Charlie and Owen came on, Martins and Shola improved considerably and Owen and Mrtins clearly have an understanding. If JFK doesn't start making some enlightened team choices, we'll be Championship fodder next season.
All that goodwill that mystifyingly went JFK's way from the Numpty element after his petulant outburst at the press is likely to disappear in the face of the harsh reality that he doesn't know what he's doing. That's five points we've lost in the past two games that can be put down to lousy tactics and lousy team selection.
I saw the game on football first and owen looks hacked off. If I was playing second fiddle to the likes of ameobi, I would be too.
Our squad is rotten to the core, from our woeful 'defenders' to the turtle speed midfield and the lacklustre strikers. We have no creativity or pace to speak of. Bramble was marked by ameba yesterday for his goal. Hes probably our tallest player yet the fattest person on the pitch out jumped him!!
We rest on our laurels far too often. If we go ahead in a game Im constantly clock watching, the players relax, think they've done enough and invite pressure then panic when it comes.
We are showing relegation form, spurs will get out of it as they have better players and dare I say it manager!
We shouldnt have to rely on other teams messing up for survival.
January will be an interesting month. Who goes? does anyone come in?? Who's in charge? Surely we cant get rid of players given our small injury prone squad but the players we do have dont seem bothered.
I keep on saying this and I will say it again if we keep playing BUTT we will be relegated he is finished at this level has been for 18 months we need 2 central midfielders a 6 foot 4 thug at the back and a left back with charlie at left wing or we will go down.
Aye, it had to be Nemesis Bramble, didn't it?
A lot of relegation talk here, but with a bit of luck they could have had an additional 3 or 5 points from the last 2 games, which would have put them either 11th or 8th. I'm not claiming that they deserved it, but they definitely could on overall play.The point being that the way the league is this year so far it takes very little to make a big change of position [look what happened to the neighbours yesterday!]
Presumably the reason that Jonas is taken off is that it has to be a choice between Jonas and Duff, with Duff more likely to sneak you a goal [career record of about 1 in 8 games to Jonas's 1 in 35?].
we were clueless, it appears jk's honeymoon is well and truely over, i honestly dont think we should expect any better from here on in.
this has been building for years now and without doubt we will go down, maybe it has to be, to rid all that is bad about our club.
it's got to the point that everyting being written on here is just what is been said over and over again.
some of the players have to have a good look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are deserving of the riches they are picking up for lacklustre performances been put in.
some and a majority are simply not good enough i.e
butt
enrique
ameobi
duff
xisco
guthrie
taylor
geremi
having watched the hull's, stokes, bolton, wigan, blackburn they maybe no better than us, but they do have heart for a battle something sadly we are very much lacking.
maybe the real reason redknapp never came, was that they would not get rid of wise and his chronies.
Does anyone honestly still believe that this team is too good to be relegated?? If you do, then I have a cute little bridge to sell you..........it spans the Tyne from Newcastle to Gateshead.
One of, if not THE, poorest performances by a Newcastle team I've seen at SJP.
The marking was atrocious, especially on our left, but elsewhere too (just look at the goals); Butt and Barton were slow on the ball - and I think that's why the latter was caught; the passing was dreadful. However, team selection and the lateness of the substitutions were also dreadful. I thought we'd made huge progress with the Villa game, but the last two matches point us towards relegation.
P. A. C. E? Where is it? we should ditch one of the mid fielders for charlie and play owen deep. God forbid we make a daring move and throw a certain Mr Ranger up front next to martins with owen lying deep? Anyone agree?
As for enrique, Taylor, Cacapa - WTF?
people say gateshead are playing attractive football under bogie and its only 9 pound to watch so im off to watch the heed army.