Echoes of the Past - 29/11/2002

A good friend and I back him entirely

Links:  Players:    Alan Shearer    Craig Bellamy    Robbie Elliott    Lee Carsley    Thomas Gravesen  Clubs:    Newcastle United    Everton

We all saw Bellamy walking off in tears, and I have little sympathy for him. His nature isn’t going to change, but lets hope he’ll curb the stupid stuff and mature a bit. I’m a fan, and I’d love to see him terrorising defenders with his pace – rather that anything else. The Inter defence was terrified of Shearer and I’m sure the special attention Materazzi dished out to Beller’s was evidence that it wasn’t just Big Al who they were concerned about. They simply didn’t know how to play Shearer, his strength frightened them and that’s why Cannavaro was desperately trying to keep a hold of Al. I have to say that he was lucky to stay on the pitch, the ref said he didn’t see the incident – more like he didn’t want to see the incident! Sending Bellemy off was one thing, following that with the club captain was have caused a riot. I think the background to the incident was based on frustration, 1-0 down and his partner off, having to plough on by himself for the rest of the game. But with video evidence coming into play, the likely ban is going to cause big problems. Missing both first choice strikers is a massive blow.

Looking at the defensive performance, you have to have sympathy with the back four. I’ve heard about Robbie’s article and I certainly understand and support him and the rest of the defence – not because he’s a mate and it’s the ‘defender’s union’ speaking, but because it’s a simply fact. You play attacking football and you’ll score goals but also concede them – simple.

It takes me back a few years and the same things were being said. The Inter game was a disaster, and although four goals were conceded, you can’t blame the defence. After six minutes the match was effectively over, one goal and one man down – you don’t come back from a deficit like that when you’re playing teams of this calibre. I’m disappointed, because I honestly thought we had a good chance to win it. Even before the sending off the players we’re really up for it and I think, especially with our previous record, we could have come back. We’ll be facing Everton on Sunday and their midfield of Pembridge, Gravesen, and Carsley will protect their defence. Robert, Solano, and Dyer will be looking to push forward at every opportunity. Now for me, I’ll tell you that we’ve got better defenders than Everton’s, although they’ve conceded no goals in their last FIVE Premiership performances (but three against us in the Worthington Cup). But we concede more goals because we don’t protect them.

Criticism is unfair, TV highlights don’t help. You’ll never see a great tackle on the half way line, or defenders picking up clever runs from centre forwards – because that’ not good TV. What is good TV is a defender missing a tackle in the box, or failing to pick up a run – it’s a fact of life that defenders are given a hard time. Such criticism simply increases pressure and it all turns into a viscous circle. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for the other players to give a bit of praise to the defence. It’s a team game after all.

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