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Season 2010-11
West Bromwich Albion (a) Premier League


In association
 with NUFC.com
 


Date:
Sunday 5th December 2010, 
1.30pm. Live on Sky

Venue:
 The Hawthorns

Conditions:
unwittingly cataclysmic

Admission: £25  

Programme:
£3
 

 

West Bromwich Albion

Newcastle United

3 - 1

 

Teams

Goals

32 mins Brunt was half-heartedly challenged by Gutierrez on the edge of our area and the ball fell to Tchoyi who cut inside and curled a decent shot beyond Krul into the Smethwick end goal. 0-1

Half time: Baggies 1 Magpies 0

71 mins 
Guthrie lost the ball in the centre circle after losing his footing and Odemwingie ran clear towards Tim Krul. Taylor got close to the striker but was unable to get a telling challenge in as a low shot rolled under Krul and inside the far post.  0-2

89 mins A ball forward to Odemwingie saw Campbell stand still with his arm in the air while Enrique played the striker onside by a good five yards. Krul came out but the Baggies man rounded him and Enrique could only help the ball in as he slid on the line attempting to clear. 0-3

90 mins Simpson swung over a decent cross that Carroll appeared to handle before hitting a shot that Carson blocked but Peter Lovenkrands reacted first to prod the ball home. 1-3

Full time: Baggies 3 Magpies 1

We Said

 
Chris Hughton said:


"We've had a meeting with the players. We weren't good enough in enough departments and that's why I've been so long. Some of it is about getting answers. Some of it's about venting some of your anger. 

"What you want to do after a game like this is get certain things off your chest. We haven't been good today...if we are in the changing room for quite some time afterwards it is always very much a team discussion.

"You are always pleased with it though because it is what you want to be able to do is put this defeat behind you as quickly as possible.

"We weren't good enough today, we made fundamental mistakes for the goals, it was probably 35 minutes into that first half before we got a decent period of play where I thought we were good enough on the ball.

"What we were able to do, we were able to restrict their goalscoring opportunities but we added to our own downfall on all three goals.

"What these do, they play a system and they've got very good footballers in that system and you know that there are going to be periods of the game where you are going to have to concede that they will have possession of the ball.

"But you need to have a good enough shape that can cope with that, and that means going through periods where you restrict the opportunities they have but you then take your chances.

"We had chances, the game became an open game, we could have had goals but at that stage they had already scored two goals and had already had the lion's share of possession, particularly in the first half.

"We're on the back of two away defeats where we've conceded goals, it hadn't been like us to concede the type of goals that we have but we have got to make sure we learn from this one. If there was an example of how unforgiving this league is then it is today and we have got to make sure we learn from that."

They Said


Roberto Di Matteo
said:

I thought that we played very well today from the start, we scored some great goals as well and we controlled the game the majority of the time. We had a little spell in the second half where Newcastle put us a little under pressure but I think we defended that quite well and we scored the third towards the end and I think that sealed the game.

"We pressed them quite high up the pitch, never let them settle in and recovered possession quite often.  I thought the first goal was an excellent goal, the second came from pressing, and the third one as well.

"We're trying to learn to be in the Barclay's Premier League and we just keep it going, game by game.  We've got a great game against Aston Villa next weekend, a derby, which hopefully we can go into with a lot of confidence."

Stats


Mags @ Baggies - last 20:

2010/11 Lost 1-3 Lovenkrands
2009/10
Lost 2-4 Carroll 2 (FAC)
2009/10
Drew 1-1 Duff
2008/09
Won 3-2 Duff, Lovenkrands, S.Taylor
2005/06 
Won 3-0 Owen 2, Shearer
2004/05
Drew 0-0 
2002/03 Drew 2-2 Jenas, Viana
1990/01 Drew 1-1 Quinn
1989/90 Won 5-1 OG, Brazil, Brock, McGhee, O'Brien
1985/86 Drew 1-1 Wharton 
1984/85 Lost 1-2 Baird
1977/78 Lost 0-2
1976/77 Drew 1-1 Barrowclough
1973/74 Won 3-0 Tudor, Macdonald, Barrowclough (FAC)
1972/73 Won 3-2 Tudor 2, Smith
1972/73 Lost 1-2 Hibbitt (TC)
1971/72 Won 3-0 Macdonald 2, Busby
1970/71 Won 2-1 Dyson, OG
1969/70 Drew 2-2 Dyson, Robson
1968/69 Lost 1-5 Robson

Full record v West Brom:

  P W D L F A
SJP 54 28 12 14 113 75
TH 55 12 18 25 70 108
League 109 40 30 39 183 183
SJP(FA) 0 0 0 0 0 0
TH 4 1 0 3 7 8
SJP(LC) 2 0 0 2 1 3
TH 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cup 6 1 0 5 8 11
Tot 115 41 30 44 191 194

Before today United's First Division loss here on Boxing Day 1984 was the last time that Albion had beaten Newcastle in the league, home or away. That was a run of 17 games (10 wins & 7 draws), although during that sequence Albion won all three cup meetings between the sides (two in the League Cup on Tyneside and the FA Cup tie in the Black Country back in January of this year).

Peter Lovenkrands scored his first Premier League goal of the season on the ground where he made his first start for United - and netted his debut strike - in February 2009. And the club even managed to spell his surname properly on his shirt this time round...

United's "unlucky" blue change strip had another outing: lost 1-2 at Norwich (FR), won 3-2 at Accrington (LC), lost 1-5 at Bolton (PL), lost 1-3 at West Brom (PL). 

A poor way for Sol Campbell to make his 500th Premier League appearance. He's fourth in the all-time PL outings list, behind Gary Speed (535), Ryan Gigggs (555) and David James (573.) Sol's nearest challenger is Emile Heskey (475).

Others with over 400 appearances including some in our colours include Alan Shearer (441), Andy Cole (414), Nicky Butt (411) and Shay Given (406).

Waffle


 

 

I left this one with the feeling that I'd just seen a relegation performance and unfortunately for us, it wasn't from the team wearing stripes.

The side that last won here in the Premier League was the one that got relegated and although we were far from impressive that day, the 3-2 victory on the afternoon after Joe Kinnear had his heart-attack showed far more spirit, cohesion and quality than this season's showing.

Extrapolating that any further than the journey home is probably a fruitless exercise, given this season's unpredictability, but there were worrying signs that early season optimism and team togetherness were starting to wear a little thin.

England's Andy Carroll was given little to work with but he seemed to be knocked off his stride by some early assaults and he and Shola never looked dangerous and working on different wavelengths. Add to that, some poor quality flank play, midfield sloppiness and a wretched performance from Sol Campbell and defeat always looked likely.

But our generosity meant that Christmas came early for Roberto Di Matteo's Baggies, as they were gift-wrapped three goals without having to play particularly well and they'll probably not find three points easier to come by all season.

An awful first half performance saw United go in at the break a goal behind after Jonas Gutierrez made the weakest of challenges and Cameroonian Somen Tchoyi was given all the time in the world to steady himself and curl the ball past Tim Krul in the 32nd minute.

The goal had been coming, with United struggling to get beyond the halfway line defending poorly as a team and showing an alarming disinterest in proceedings
Big hoofs forward to Andy Carroll and Shola Ameobi had proved fruitless and at the back, Sol Campbell looked way off the pace as Chris Brunt and Peter Odemwingie made our midfield look pedestrian and clueless.

The anticipated return of Joey Barton after suspension failed to materialise due to a groin strain that saw Chris Hughton err on the side of caution and leave him out.

Already without Kevin Nolan due to injury, United looked to have a soft centre and lack leadership, Wayne Routledge and Gutierrez marginalised on the flanks as Albion found time and space to weave some pretty patterns.

Peter Lovenkrands replaced Ameobi after the interval and we started the second half looking a little brighter. Steven Taylor had a great chance to head United level but his effort was straight at Scott Carson who saved well.

One run from Gutierrez then ended with a cross cum shot take a deflection and bobble towards goal before being cleared. And when the winger powered forward again soon after to reach Campbell's astute through ball, Carson got a vital touch as Lovenkrands threw himself at the centre.

But any thoughts of a revival ended on 71 minutes, when Danny Guthrie who had been poor all game lost possession on the halfway line and Odemwingie ran clear to double Albion's lead evading messrs Campbell and Taylor before placing a low effort beyond Krul.

Guthrie was the stretchered off but the suspicion among the away following was that it was only his pride that had been hurt in conceding possession so cheaply. However, he was seen to be wearing a protective cast when United later made their way of out the stadium.

Then it was Campbell's turn to be benevolent, standing in the middle of the pitch waving forlornly as Odemwingie raced away to make it 0-3 with a minute left on the clock.

Lovenkrands got a goal back in added time after Carroll had missed from point-blank range but it was far too little too late and a thoroughly miserable afternoon ended with United looking more like relegation-fodder than top half prospects.

The defeat saw us slip into the bottom half of the table as The Baggies leapfrogged over us into seventh. And despite a slight improvement after his half time words of wisdom, the United manager kept his squad in the dressing for an hour following the final whistle to conduct an inquest.

And a fat lot of good it did him. Midway through penning this report came the news that he had been relieved of his duties and once again Newcastle United were the cause of Sky's Jim White's annoying animation and roving reporter David Craig could once again pitch up on Barrack Road.

In a city where most of the locals support United, "Craigy"'s initial voxpop managed to dig out two poshies and an Irishman. No offence intended to the three wise men offering their reasonable opinions but we're all quick to point out the lack of Mancunian accents when similar interviews are done outside Old Trafford.

So we're in turmoil yet again and nonsense is once again being spoken by those who should know better. In lamenting Hughton's departure Andy Gray trotted out the "you simply don't sack Sir Bobby Robson" line when comparing the two dismissals.

Most people felt that Hughton deserved his chance after the fantastic promotion campaign and we never really argued with that but people have over-egged his managerial abilities to a staggering extent.

The manager presiding over the pre-season defeat at Leyton Orient was the same one in charge of the trouncing of Villa and the mackems. However, the playing squad had been drastically reduced and the collective spirit of those remaining had been ratcheted up by the senior players remaining. Hughton without doubt played his part in all that but I'm not sure how much of a leading role he had. We'll possibly never know.

What I do know is that when Kevin Nolan bellowed at his manager to "f***in' calm down" when we were 4-0 up against the mackems after Nolan had misplaced his pass into touch, it revealed a worrying lack of respect. Hughton may have put on his suit for the game but I'm not sure he was wearing the trousers....

Having said that, it feels similar to when Allardyce was jettisoned - no real tears for someone who few believed was ever the right man for the job but we seem more likely to get relegated having changed manager half way through the campaign.

Rather than needing a manager with more experience, an owner - or a Chairman - with more experience of running a football club may actually be the missing ingredient.

Niall MacKenzie 


Page last updated 05 December, 2017