Toon skipper Geremi was the one he thought "should help our defenders more". Saying, "he was not adding support to the backline the way he should".
N'Zogbia A 'Luxury' At Away Games?
Newcastle have not kept a clean sheet away from home in 10 months and the defence was breached three times at Eastlands as Elano and Martin Petrov ran the match for the home side.
We have often touched on the position Charlie N'Zogbia plays, which seems to work at St James' Park, but not at away games.
He is encouraged to move out of defence and attack down the left flank, which worked well against West Ham, but Sven-Goran Eriksson pin-pointed the Frenchman for "extra treatment" because the ex-England boss knows he is not the most capable of defenders.
Allardyce: "We committed defensive suicide," moaned Allardyce after Charles N'Zogbia's misplaced header allowed Petrov to race clear and set up Mpenza.
We have often touched on the position Charlie N'Zogbia plays, which seems to work at St James' Park, but not at away games.
He is encouraged to move out of defence and attack down the left flank, which worked well against West Ham, but Sven-Goran Eriksson pin-pointed the Frenchman for "extra treatment" because the ex-England boss knows he is not the most capable of defenders.
Allardyce: "We committed defensive suicide," moaned Allardyce after Charles N'Zogbia's misplaced header allowed Petrov to race clear and set up Mpenza.
"All our defenders have to do is clear the ball back up the pitch and we just didn't.
"After that, they contained us and played on the break, which was exactly what I had asked my players to do."
Manchester City are not the first club to exploit the gap N'Zogbia leaves behind him when he pushes forward.
Derby County - the whipping boys of the Premiership - tried it too, and although they won 1-0, they would have had greater success if they were a half-decent team!
No way is this a crack at N'Zogbia. The kid is more effective in midfield, as we have seen when he bursts through to score the goals he has scored this season. More so than James Milner ... but he is being asked to play the roll of THREE players - defender, winger and support striker.