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THE THOMAS McAVOY COLUMN
NEWCASTLE WEAKNESSES GIVE BORO HOPE... IF WE CAN LAST 'TIL JANUARY
Thomas McAvoy, 26 Nov 2009
For fifteen fleeting minutes, the promise of a brighter future was glimpsed.
Crowned by Leroy Lita's opener, Saturday saw a start to a game which hasn't been witnessed at the Riverside in what seems like aeons.
We were positive, inventive in attack and exploited the space afforded to Arca and Johnson on both flanks, with the two wide midfielders combining to set up Lita's goal.
Savour that, by the way, they're a rarity in these parts.
Column Continues Below...
We were treated to attacks which ended with the promise of shots on target as Arca tested Lee Camp from thirty yards immediately after our opening goal.
For the first time since the Preston match, we had imposed ourselves on the game.
Kitson moved well across the Forest defence, providing subtle touches which linked our attacks well, and Isaiah Osbourne's tenacity was supplemented by an assuredness in possession that I confess I didn't believe he possessed.
I should have known it wouldn't last.
Thankfully, Nottingham Forest's dominance peaked the moment Robbie Earnshaw's delicate free-kick hit the back of our net.
Content to settle for the one goal that their dominance deserved, the final fifteen minutes were elegiac.
In retrospect, a team with real promotion credentials would have exploited Forest's relaxation after their goal. There was never really any chance of that happening on Saturday.
The one player who emerges from Saturday with the most credit is Brad Jones.
As regular as clockwork, as soon as his name is announced over the loudspeaker before the match, there are audible groans around my seats. He has became synonymous with rash decision making, erratic handling and, most heinous of all, an infuriating habit of standing motionless on his goal-line as a weak shot arcs beyond him.
Good goalkeepers inspire confidence in their defences; great ones are the difference between defeats and draws, and draws and victories, each season.
No wonder Brian Clough once remarked that Peter Shilton was worth twelve points a season to him.
So bereft of confidence was I in Brad Jones that I would pinpoint him as the reason for Boro losing points.
How we could do with the consistency and reliability of Mark Schwarzer now, I thought (if ever there was a case of you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, that's it).
Brad Jones confounded the criticism on Saturday. For the first time, we could have chanted 'You're Not Danny Coyne' in celebration. Not that we would have done of course. The Riverside was again silent apart from the same two devoted corners, who had a three-thousand strong away backing to contend with.
Jones's saves demonstrated quick reflexes, strong hands and a decisiveness when coming out of goal to block. They were saves which, behind a better defence, would radiate confidence to a team and crowd which are bereft of it at the moment.
A more confident outfield would have used those saves as a springboard to mount that incisive attack which steals the three points from the jaws of failure, enabling us to win ugly and defy the ineptitude of the performance.
How long it seems since we were last able to do that.
It's not often that a Newcastle victory doesn't leave me spiralling into an implacable vortex of despair, especially after we have dropped points beforehand.
Monday was an exception. Talk about winning ugly!
Theirs was a performance not half as good as ours at Deepdale, devoid of any wit or tease. Theirs are victories which are bludgeoned, built - amazingly considering the calamity of Coloccini, Taylor and the rest last season - on an impregnable defence.
The proverbial cliché about strikers being unable to score in a brothel applies every bit as much to Harewood, Carroll, Ranger et al as it does to our shower.
But Monday raised a flicker of optimism within me. There are clear vulnerabilities within Newcastle - by far the best team in the league - just as there are within ourselves.
The tightness of the rest of the league - somehow we are still just one victory from the play-off places - provides tantalising hope.
January cannot come quickly enough. Poor as we have been recently, the closeness of the league (let's face it, it's only competitive because most of the teams are equally as bad as each other) means that one elusive goal scorer or a midfield playmaker who doesn't have legs made of silk can propel us upwards.
We've got the change of manager most of us demanded. Now is the time for the change in personnel. This will come to define our season.
Somehow, against the odds and the form book, we have to scrape enough points to have aspirations of promotion come January.
However shaky the foundations are by then, the comings and goings that month will provide a lot of answers about our future.
Although it's increasingly hard to do so, I'll try to keep the faith until then.
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Comments On This Article
LS, November 26, 2009 at 6:33 pm
We do have weakness, pretty much across the park, but it\'s a definate source of hope to both our clubs that this league is so utterly terrible this season. Plenty times the Toon should have got punished but were saved by some truely comical finishing from our opponents. Frankly, I think Boro are staring in to the abyss unless Strachan (who I do not rate at all) can do you all a favour and get you playing. And personally, certainly in attack, I\'d say the Baggies are the strongest team in this awful league
rob, November 26, 2009 at 8:55 pm
doesnt matter how u win at the end of the day its the 3 points that count.te toon may not of one with style but we still sit comfortably at the top 6 points clear of 3rd...as a toon fan i can honestly say we avent got the best attack in the league but what is the average age of our attack?? 20?...anyway i can easily say we have the best defence and atm our midfield/gk position is easily premiership quality...once jonas works on his final product he could be a worldclass player+marradona likes him which proves that hes good as hes known as a god in argentina
kev, November 27, 2009 at 8:05 am
Newcastle winning 1-0 in 75% of our remaining games will take us back to the premier league without any shadow of a doubt! Winning \"ugly\"???? I say winning in the most efficient manner possible! In most of our games we are creating only a handful of chances; however we are taking them; whilst our defence has become the tightest in the football league. Shola Ameobi was always going to be a huge goal threat in this division and we were unfortunate to lose him when we did; him having scored 5 in 5 and winning the player of the league for August before his injury. He is back in the squad for the weekend now. If i were a boro fan i\'d be worried....Your best player i.e. Johnson will be away in January. It will take at least two high quality players to replace him and where will the money come to do that? I have alot of time for the boro; i genuinely hoped we would come back up together. I still hope that we do; but i do not see strachan as the man to take you back up. In my opinion he\'s been out of football in this country for to long and the SPL is nowhere near the standard of the championnship. I\'m not counting my chickens yet as a Newcastle fan and if we can finish in the top two i will be over the moon.
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