Former West Ham striker Tony Cottee feels Newcastle have big problems on the pitch ... as well as off it!
Tony Cottee: "In the first half I can't tell you how bad they were; they were dreadful.
Cottee Points Out Deep Rooted Problems At Toon!
By Nu Mad
Updated Sunday, 28th September 2008
"The defending was awful and they conceded a header from a free-kick. Maybe Samba was offside, but when it's going against you then you don't get those decisions.
"After that they left too much space for Brett Emerton on the right-hand side and he put a ball to the far post for a really good header from Santa-Cruz back across the keeper.
"Newcastle didn't have one shot in the first half so they couldn't have got any worse.
"Joe must have gone in at half time and I don't know whether he rattled into them or gave them a bit of a pick-me-up, but they came out much better in the second half.
"Owen was fouled for the penalty, a definite penalty, and they scored and you were thinking: 'go on, take the game to them, go and create some chances'.
"But I don't think they had the quality. There was plenty of effort but they didn't create the chances.
"They had problems getting the service into Michael Owen. I'm a huge fan of Michael Owen and I think if you give him the chances he will score the goals.
"A lot of the time the ball was up around his shoulders and he's not going to win headers. I thought he did really well, he held the ball up and did what he could under difficult circumstances.
"It was nice to see Damien Duff in form again as well, he had a really good game for them.
"But defensively and in midfield the service was poor, the midfielders had no real quality there.
"It's a difficult job not just for Joe but for whoever comes in to manage Newcastle."
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