Ugly, ugly, and more ugly. The weather was ugly. Newcastle's play was ugly. Kuyt and Bellamy are ugly (I still love them though).
Well, I could blame the refs, their calls were very inconsistent, but the real blame is our lack of teamwork and inability to finish. On numerous occasions, especially in the second half, one of our boys would bring up the ball to the box and then, instead of making a pass, would shoot. Gerrard did it a couple of times, Agger did it, Bellamy did it... What are they thinking? We looked worse than England out there. And what was with Riise taking the two thirty plus yard shots? I know he's done it a dozen times throughout his career, and it's pretty much his trademark, but we had a pretty good offensive set both times and his attempts were way off. Agger did it too, only once, but his was on target and it took an effort from Steve Harper to prevent the goal.
I've always thought Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt were good enough. I vehemently defended them on numerous occasions, but after today, I'm shutting my mouth. They didn't get the job done. Pennant and company set them up on a number of opportunities and they failed to shake the net. It could have, and probably should have, been 3-1 at the half. Instead Bellamy blew it time after time. This makes me think we need a world class striker, something that's been forced down my throat by opposition fans and a number of supporters, but I believed in what we have. I think even Robbie Fowler would have done better today. I hate to rake on Craig B and Kuyt, but when our team plays a decent match and we lose, something's got to give.
The Man of the Match was Jermaine Pennant. He is looking closer and closer like a class player with each game. When Rafa took him out with fifteen to go, I knew the game was over. Sissoko played really well too. I was glad to see him back in his trainwreck form. He truly is boss. What I can't figure out is why Rafa took Zenden out just as he seemed to be playing well. I can't believe I just wrote that, by the way. He made an amazing pass to Kuyt in the box, which Dirk screwed up, go figure. Bolo appeared to be settling down at that point. I don't know, maybe JP and Bolo were tired?
I can't finish this without mentioning a couple of things. Call me a poor sport if you will, I don't care. That was not a penalty. If it was, then we should have gotten a couple of 'em. Like I said, the calls were inconsistent. Obafemi Martins is good, but a brat. Can someone please tell me how Scott Parker plays for England? He looked like rubbish. (Maybe that's part of the problem.) Also, take note Christy Ronaldo, Bellamy doesn't dive. He could have a couple of times, but didn't, I'll always respect him for that.
Finally, Pepe, what the hell were you thinking? Looks like fourth place awaits. (And before anybody points out that Arsenal can't take third even with a win, they have a game-in-hand.) Go Wigan? Hopefully, Heskey will find in his heart to score a couple tomorrow.