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ricardo

Ricardo's report v Newcastle

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It was woolly hat, scarf and glooves for Ricardo today as City started off in very chilly conditions this afternoon. Again it was all change as Wes, Foxy, Zak and Holty came in. Even steven it was for the opening ten minutes as both teams felt each other out. Ruddy was barely tested by a Obertan effort and then City were soon back on the attack quickly and won a couple of corners. Newcastle cleared them with some difficulty as City began to call the tune. The midfield was snapping away at every loose ball and most of the play was in the Newcastle half. Holty almost burst through on the right but his cross was flicked away from the inrushing City forwards and Fox volleyed a 20 yarder over the bar. On 27 minutes it looked like a penalty as Naughtons cross deflected off Santons arm but Mr. Atkinson was having none of it. Ruddy did well to save a deflected effort in a rare Newcastle attack but the opening goal deservedly came at the other end. Yet another corner caused havoc as Crofts headed goalwards and in a scramble it was Wes who wheeled away with his arm aloft. No more than City deserved and as halftime approached there appeared to be no danger. With seconds left Ba beat the offside trap and slotted past Ruddy. Bloody disappointing I thought but such is football.Newcastle upped it a bit as the second half began. Ba almost got on the end of an Ameobi cross but fortunately his shot went high over the bar. City were soon back on top with Holt and Morison causing mayhem time and again in the Newcastle defence. Mr Atkinson made a complete cock of himself by booking Wes when a free kick was banged straight at him. He compounded it moments later as Holt won the ball on the right of the six yard box only for his overhead flick to be deflected by a Newcastle hand. Nailed on pen from my seat directly above but only a corner was signalled. Justice however was swift as Fox''s cross was headed goalwards by Holt only for Krul to block on the line. The ball bounced high and Holt was first to react to leap and head into the corner.Five minutes later more pressure forced a bad clearance and Crofts centre was perfect for Morison to power home a magnificent header from 15 yards. It should have been easy from here on in and even more so when Gosling was given a straight red for a desperate lunge that nearly cut Martin off at the ankles. City did the right thing by taking the sting out of things with some good possesion but you could see it coming apart when they got careless. No City game would be complete without some kind of disaster and Whitbread dully provided it when he allowed Ameobi to rob him. A quick pass to Ba, a little shimy and an accurate shot and Newcastle were back in the game. It got nervous for a while but things were finally setled when a free kick was won on the left of the box and substitute Johnson''s cross was despatched with aplomb as Holt outjumped the Newcastle defence for the umpteenth time in the match.All done and dusted and a great 3 points. Holt was unplayable today and totally dispelled any ideas that he can''t make it at this level. Morison also played his usual dominant role and together they were unstopable today. If only we could cut out those errors at the back, but I guess it wouldn''t be Norwich City if we made things look too easy.

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I''d like to see it again but my initial reaction to the second Newcastle goal was that Surman should have turned after receiving a pass from Whitbread and not played it back to the same player who had Ameobi (I believe) closing him down. It was a lack of responsibility by Andy.

 

For anyone not at the game I wouldn''t want them to gain the impression Zak was sloppy. He made the difference today in a back line that moved the ball around better than I have seen us do all season and kept an excellent high line. I thought he looked absolutely dominant today.

 

The man of the match for me was Fox, though. He started a little nervously but once he got into it he linked in to that passing defence and made some terrific interceptions. I thought he looked a class player.

 

If Zak can stay fit and keep up this level of performance I will be very confident going forwards and although the reports I have seen say otherwise I thought Zak was a dominant figure in both goals from corners, but i could be wrong.

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I''ve got to agree with you Rudolph, I thought Zak apart from the goal looked pretty assured and helped the defence look less panicky than normal.

Also for someone who has hardly played for ages he did very very well. Fox as well was excellent helped dictate tempo so well.

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Ricardo on the Penalty claim at the Riverend where abouts did you see if from, as in my position from the upper Riverend left of the goal I thought it hit the giys head/face? - Although i''m sure I appealled for the handball...

One point of correction in the report it was actuall Whitbread who had the first header saved for Holts first goal..but really who cares. good report as normal.

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[quote user="The Great Drinkell"]

Ricardo on the Penalty claim at the Riverend where abouts did you see if from, as in my position from the upper Riverend left of the goal I thought it hit the giys head/face? - Although i''m sure I appealled for the handball...

One point of correction in the report it was actuall Whitbread who had the first header saved for Holts first goal..but really who cares. good report as normal.

[/quote]My seat is about 3 yards wide of the six yard line and 7 rows from the front of the upper River End. It looked like handball to me as the guys hand was in the air. Also for Holts first goal it looked like Holt and Whitbread were close together but it seemed to me that Holt had headed it down first. Ive had a look at it on the replays a few times and from behind there is a suggestion that Zak got a touch but the behind the goal shot makes it look like it was Holt. Anyway my first reaction was Holt and the replay doesn''t disprove it.The first half handball looks even more certain on the replay than it did at the time. If Newcastle are complaining about the corner that was given then they can count themselves very lucky on that penalty claim.

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Whitbread did look good but it was his fault for both goals.  We all know what happened with the second one but for the first one he just let Ba slowly jog past him allowing him to easily go into the space behind the defence.  Very poor on his part as was the second.

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Ricardo, I agree with you that the handball in the first half looked like a definite penalty. However, the one in the second half ( although they can be called both ways ) would have been very unfair to the Newcastle defender. Holt had his back to the defender and, when the ball bounced for Holt, he tried an overhead kick with the defender directly behind him. The defenders reaction appeared to be strictly driven by self-protection with no chance for him to even think of doing something deliberately. The referee appeared to have seen it the same way. 

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[quote user="YankeeCanary"]Ricardo, I agree with you that the handball in the first half looked like a definite penalty. However, the one in the second half ( although they can be called both ways ) would have been very unfair to the Newcastle defender. Holt had his back to the defender and, when the ball bounced for Holt, he tried an overhead kick with the defender directly behind him. The defenders reaction appeared to be strictly driven by self-protection with no chance for him to even think of doing something deliberately. The referee appeared to have seen it the same way. [/quote]That may well be the case Yankkee but the hand went to the ball not the other way round. I am unaware of any rule that says its o.k. to ward off the ball if you think its going to hit you. I''ve seen plenty of softer pens than that over the years.

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[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="YankeeCanary"]Ricardo, I agree with you that the handball in the first half looked like a definite penalty. However, the one in the second half ( although they can be called both ways ) would have been very unfair to the Newcastle defender. Holt had his back to the defender and, when the ball bounced for Holt, he tried an overhead kick with the defender directly behind him. The defenders reaction appeared to be strictly driven by self-protection with no chance for him to even think of doing something deliberately. The referee appeared to have seen it the same way. [/quote]

That may well be the case Yankkee but the hand went to the ball not the other way round. I am unaware of any rule that says its o.k. to ward off the ball if you think its going to hit you. I''ve seen plenty of softer pens than that over the years.
[/quote]

That''s the point I was trying to make to you. He did not have time to "think", it was simply an instinctive reaction, which is likely why nothing was given. 

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He had time to think about the first one though, the bloody ball must have travelled from Poringland. How that wasn''t given only an incompetent set of officials know.

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If Pardew was so aware of the vulnerability of his makeshift defence to set pieces why didn''t he have Ba and Ameobi back defending a bit more? It seems he failed to set out his team plan to his circumstances and needs to blame himself not just his luck.

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[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="The Great Drinkell"]

Ricardo on the Penalty claim at the Riverend where abouts did you see if from, as in my position from the upper Riverend left of the goal I thought it hit the giys head/face? - Although i''m sure I appealled for the handball...

One point of correction in the report it was actuall Whitbread who had the first header saved for Holts first goal..but really who cares. good report as normal.

[/quote]

My seat is about 3 yards wide of the six yard line and 7 rows from the front of the upper River End. It looked like handball to me as the guys hand was in the air. Also for Holts first goal it looked like Holt and Whitbread were close together but it seemed to me that Holt had headed it down first. Ive had a look at it on the replays a few times and from behind there is a suggestion that Zak got a touch but the behind the goal shot makes it look like it was Holt. Anyway my first reaction was Holt and the replay doesn''t disprove it.

The first half handball looks even more certain on the replay than it did at the time. If Newcastle are complaining about the corner that was given then they can count themselves very lucky on that penalty claim.
[/quote]

Having watch MOTD last night i stand corrected it was indeed Holt who got the first header in.[:$]

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