Blistering Start Shocked Jol

Last updated : 24 December 2006 By Footy Mad - Editor

But ... and there is ALWAYS a "but" ... he felt the second goal was offside. However, he admitted Newcastle's finishing had been the difference. between the two sides

Jol: "We were 2-0 down after seven minutes and that is exactly what you do not want. All credit to them because they played in a very aggressive manner. They were clinical in the centre of the park especially.

"If you are clinical, that is a big advantage, but I felt they did not play better than us. They showed us a lot of respect and we could have taken advantage of that. Although the score was horrendous, we could have had a better result because we had maybe four or five moments when we could have scored a consolation goal.

"We were not clinical enough.

"(Jermain) Defoe went out to warm up and he turned and tweaked his knee. We had a big decision to make whether to play him or not. He said he could try, but he could have gone on and maybe had to come off after a couple of minutes, and that is not what you want.

"We are gutted to concede two goals in the first seven minutes - it was a disaster. For the first they hit us on the break but the second was offside. We came back into the game but their third goal did not help. We had chances and should have taken more of them."