Am I the only one who was impressed with Tioté? When all the other Newcastle players forgot to show up today, the little Ivorian played his goddamn heart out. A bad pass here or there, yeah, but he single-handedly controlled the tempo of the game on offense and defense. He's a great dribbler and even threw a couple skills in to break free of multiple men. The tackle he made that led to Bellamy's free kick goal was perfectly clean and although I forget who it was who went down, the decision was surely awarded as a result of player collision and not a bad challenge. It was a battle in the midfield today, and there'd be a lot more casualties if it weren't for Mr. Forehead himself.
- Colo was brilliant, even for his standard. Conceding 3 goals is not a fair reflection of how well he played today. So many solid clearances, not to mention having to handle constant back passes from an overburdened midfield.
- Obertan makes one good pass a game.
- Krul played more balls forward than the midfielders.
- Raylor still can't defend.
- Carroll still can't score.
- Vuckic should never have started ahead of Ben Arfa, especially in a fixture at Anfield. Pardew's stubbornness is starting to affect results.