Souness vs. Player Power

impr0v

Anyone who watched the Newcastle - Charlton match last night would have seen Bellamy's reaction upon been substituted. He wasn't happy to say the least, and understandably so. Up until that point Bellamy had put in more work, been much more involved in play, and had scored one more goal than his strike partner, one Alan Shearer. At that point Shearer had also just received a gash above his eye which ideally would probably have warranted a stitch to tidy it up, as it continued to leak for the remainder of the match.

Up to the point of the substitution Newcastle had been the stronger team after dominating the first half. A Charlton resurgence occurred following the break, but personally I think Newcastle were still well in control of the and it looked like it was there for the taking.

Following the substitution Newcastle had trouble retaining possession in the final third and generally looked a lot less calm. This wasn't solely down to the replacement of Bellamy by Ameobi, as the introduction of Robert in place of Ambrose took place at the same time. Ambrose wasn't playing especially good or especially bad, but Robert added absolutely nothing to the game, he never adjusted to the pace of the ball on the slick surface and surrendered possession a number of times. Ameobi did likewise, though he did make a number of interceptions and put the ball on Shearer's forehead from a cross shortly after coming on.

According to the sky commentary Ameobi had been performing in training and warranted an introduction at some point, however in my opinion Shearer should have been the player to make way for him, given how well Bellamy was playing. Newcastle ended up nervously defending the single point while Charlton hit the woodwork twice within a few minutes and shearer cleared off his own line in between the two, when they should have been taking the 3 points.

Charlton have a decent home record so far this season, but Newcastle had them on the ropes for the majority of the first half, including scoring a (rightly) disallowed Bowyer goal, and maintaining anything near the pressure they had Charlton under would more than likely have seen them leave with the points. However Newcastle were somewhat laconic in clearing the ball out of defense in the lead up to the Charlton goal, Given having the ball at his feet numerous times and playing short passes to his defenders when pressure was put on him. Whatever about the Charlton equaliser, caused by an Andy O'Brien mistake AND finishing touch following an assist from Stephen Carr, the substitution of the wrong player effectively removed any possibility of Newcastle scoring a winner.

Shearer did have a header cleared off the line following slack Charlton defending, but overall imo Bellamy would have been far more effective had he stayed on the pitch. If I was a Newcastle fan I'd be starting to think that Shearer's presence is starting to hinder the club more than he is helping it.

leeroybrown

I think Souness decided on Bellamy on the grounds that he had played two losing matches for Wales and hence mightn't last the 90 minutes. He probably should have substituted neither but every manager makes a few wrong decisions from time to time. As for Robert...

If it's a case of Souness v.s player power then he'll sell them all or get sacked. He's anything but a soft touch.

Boro

Souness could fall out with his own shadow. I reckon we will either see a very quick appology from Bellamy or see him 'rested' next saturday. Didnt he fall out with Kluivert straight away?

The Muppet

The cracks are beginning to show. I saw Souness interviewed after the game and he publically criticised Roberet saying he does not track back enough and the more he is asked to do defensively the less he appears to do.


It will be interesting to see what developes there but Shepard knew what he was hiring when signing Souness so I,d be surprise if he got rid of him for doing the job he was hired for. I,d say Robert and anyone else who is not toeing the line will be leaving newcastle come january

Xterminator

Belamy had a busy international week, and besides that has shown himself to be a little injury prone too!

So i think Souness waas very savvy in tasking him off, and replacing him with a very talented England U21!

As for Bellemy, Dyer, Robert et al, they have show they are spoiled whingers. Souness will make an example of one, possibly two before the rest of the team cop on!

I think newcastle have a lot of talent, but under Robson, not every player gave 100% all the time! Souness is just the type of manager they needed!

X

leeroybrown

Robert will be out on his ear anyway. On his day he's can be Newcastle's best player and he probably has the best shot in the Premiership (that is on his day). Unfortunately he's such a whinger that he rarely has a good day. If Newcastle didn't have such a crowd of whingers in the first team he would have been at the top of Souness' list of players to 'sort out'.

thejollyrodger

What did Bellemy say exactly ? Has anyone got any quotes ?

Bellemy did play a lot of games recently and I think it was ok to take him off like that.

I think its just the newcastle squad adjusting to some discipline, as someone said, Souness is just the right man for the job.

Boro

It was something like "you ****ing prick" to Souness as he took him off.

Xterminator

thejollyrodger wrote:

What did Bellemy say exactly ? Has anyone got any quotes ?
.

... LOL... you have to try your lip reader skillz to get the exact words!!!

Anyway it didnt look polite

X

puntosporting

If bellamy realy said that you can expect an apology in the comming days or he will see a lot of bench warming duties in the next few weeks.
Souness is a manager not to be messed with he will sort that club out in terms of spoilt antics and player egos!

therecklessone

Seems this has legs...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/3755874.stm

Hard Scottish Basta*d wrote:

Souness had earlier warned his team he will not stand for players behaving "like children".

He added: "These things must stop and will stop, I guarantee that. Bellamy in particular must sort himself out."

:eek:

TwoShedsJackson

There seems to be an unacceptable level of player power at Newcastle with Bellamy, Dyer et al thinking they can shoot their gobs off whenever they like.

I hope Souness does get Bellamy to cop on, but I fear this will end with Bellamy being sold - he's been disruptive at every club he's played for so far.

eirebhoy

Reports in today's papers say Bellamy and Dyer will be gone in January. The Indo say Man U are interested in Dyer, and Bellamy may want to go abroad. It also says Souness is still really interested in Duffer, I doubt Mourinho would let him go.

impr0v

If I was Bellamy I'd leave too. He's too good to be a pawn in the 'let's not piss off Alan' game, which is what I'm convinced his sustitution was about. I take the point of Bellamy having played two internationals and possibly being tired, and also that the manager might have wanted to rest him for tonight's UEFA cup game, but he looked far from tired on the pitch. Given how it was the first time he'd been picked up front in a while, and it's where he likes to play best, surely Souness should have seen that taking him off when he was obviously playing well was going to cause trouble. Then again, perhaps Souness wanted to make the point that's he's the boss and will do what he likes. Either way, if I was a Newcastle fan, I'd be very unhappy to see him go.

thejollyrodger

I wonder if Duff would be allowed to join Newcastle. It might be a good move for regular first team football but he would miss out on the champions league and have to settle for the UEFA Cup.

Souness is on about getting new defenders, who is the problem at the back ? Is it one of the irish players or the left back position ?

eirebhoy

thejollyrodger wrote:

Souness is on about getting new defenders, who is the problem at the back ? Is it one of the irish players or the left back position ?

Newcastle's first choice centre half pairing is O'Brien-Elliott. Elliott is 31 and backup Shítus Bramble.