Newcastle vs Arsenal, 10th December 2005

Finally a performance worthy of 3 points! A 1-0 win for the magpies over the gunners was capped by several very determined performances of players in black n white. The game certainly was very physical, arsenal deserved to go a man down entering the 60th minute when gilberto got his marching orders after a second bookable offence, but newcastle united were very2 lucky indeed not to suffer the same fate. Luck, it seems were abundant for the home side tonite. Not only did some players escape bookings and possibly a red, the single goal scored by nobby had a small helping of luck as nobby dispatched his shot to the far post looking as if he lost his footing at the vital moment. And let's not forget both henry and persie's miskick when arsenal was just about to pull the triger.

Enough about luck! Luck alone cant win you games. The team's performance put forward was exceptional. The determination to win was never in doubt. Given made a terrific save against henry, bramble and boumsong didnt make the suicidal mistake i was expecting, infact, their clearences made against arsenal efforts time and again was the best i've seen so far this season. Ramage and elliot had a good game too, thanks to the cover provided by the midfield quartet of solano, parker, faye and ameobi. Shearer was teaching Physical Ed. to the gunners througout the 90 minutes while Owen's presence alone was enough to convince the gunners back four to clear into touch every time our team punts the ball upfield! Special mention goes out to Parker who put in a '2 man' performance as the pundits term it and ran himself to the ground(LITERALLY!) and Faye who i would pick as the player who delivered the biggest performance since his move from pompey. A 50-50 situation between him and 3 arsenal players ended up with the ball at his feet as the 3 gunners shirked away from the challenge! Now that's what i call physical presence!

My only gripe about the game was the magpies defence keep punting the ball upfield, loosing possesion all too easily in this manner. Hopefully with the return of Dyer and Emre in the near future, our approach play would be much2 better and entertaining. Keep up the good work, all of you deserved a 9 out of 10!