I don’t think we went past 2nd gear after the early goal, we didn’t need to. We aren’t as clinical as we should be though are breakaways though. Several times we had 3 against 3 situations as we poured forward but decision making let us down.
VVD was awesome and Fonte very tidy. Martina pretty solid and Bertrand got in some great overlaps. Shame Schlong was groggy after being wiped out by the keeper, we certainly lost a lot of momentum going forward after he went off. I thought Mane put in a great shift as well.
Newcastle don’t stand a cat in hell’s chance of staying up. How we only scored 3, and failed to do so from about a dozen corners is a mystery to me. Their defending was comical at best!!
Got to fancy our chances at Everton next week and put to bed another of those stats on how poor a hunting ground that place has been in the recent past.
Good turn out down the pub for this one. Tiger Beer for a change.
Had a Forest fan sitting with us who laughed as much as we did and 4 Geordies crumbling to dust & wishing the ground would open up and swallow them on the table in front.
To be fair they did come up with the best quote of the season straight after the opening goal…
“Fuck me, we’re so bad, we’ve made Shane Long look like Matt Le Tissier”
The game sums up our season for me, especially their goal. Distinct lack of focus and desire to not just win, but crush everything in front of us. It has been said before that we are too nice and I would say that is true. Still, cant complain as it has been another good season so far and I would much rather be where we are than fighting relegation every year.
Having watched the highlights on MotD, my initial impressions about their keeper’s challenge on Long was confirmed. Shane got a good touch on the ball and was then clattered by the keeper. Not intentionally, as Darlow was clearly going for the ball. But he didn’t get there, Long got the touch and we should have had a free kick. Bottled by the ref maybe because he flet he’d have had to send Darlow offf, though I can’t see why that would have been the case.
On their goal, Clasie did indeed let Townsend go in the first instance, but there was (or should have been) plenty of cover - which was possibly why Clasie decided not to chase after Townsend into a crowded area of the pitch. Bertrand also let Townsend go, and one other Saints defender made a none-too-great attempt at a tackle just as Townsend hit his shot. You could cerainly see why Fraser was pissed off with his defence.
Contrary to Jack’s views above (well, on the previous page), I never felt remotely that Newcastle were in the game. They neve crumbled, as I half expected them to do after our first goal, but they’d have needed two more goals out of nowhere to get on terms, and that was never going to happen.
It’s all too easy to forget how troubling a relegation battle is.
A comfortable win against a team heading for the Championship is a nice stress-free way to spend an April afternoon.
It might not have been exciting, but Norwich, Sunderland and Newcastle have way too much excitement in their lives right now so I was happy that we just quietly pocketed the three points.
)
