Going to Manchester to play the real Manchester club does not fill one with much excitement these days as there is always the worry about how many goals will spring up. At the very least we don't want to be embarrassed.
The game kicked off as one large grey rain cloud covered the whole of the UK. The team picked included Gutierrez and Ameobi with Carroll and Routledge thus dropping to the bench. Newcastle started well and were knocking the ball about with confidence. Then in came a horrendous tackle from De Jong. He came in with a lot of power and cut straight through Ben Arfa who immediately went down. As De Jong went in to make his so-called tackle, I heard the sound of a piece of wood cracking. It was Arfa's leg. A double break for Ben Arfa who waved to the Geordies on his way off the pitch. Tibia and fibula broken and a lengthy time out from the first team while he recovers and rehabilitates. The Referee did not red card De Jong; he did not even get a card. This could be a blessing as the rules state a player can not be punished if the referee has already punished the player concerned. That means Newcastle can take this further or indeed the Football Association can if they see it as appropriate.
The National coach of the Netherlands certainly feels the need to punish the player, and it's certainly not the first time he has done it. The World Cup saw him involved in hefty challenges against the USA and in the final against Spain.
The challenge on Ben Arfa was one that had probably been discussed, the old cliche take him out early or let him know you are there. As Ben Arfa was probably deemed their biggest threat, it was only five minutes into the match before De Jong got his chance to show Ben Arfa what he was in for. Disgusting challenge and one that deserves a hefty fine (taking into account the size of prem wages at the moment) and a lengthy ban from playing. This kind of thing does not belong in the game. A hard challenge is one thing but this is worthy of assault charges.
So with one of our better players forcibly removed, we got on with the game without even a free kick. The game unravels into match with Newcastle having lots of possession but on 18 minutes Tevez is on his own with only Mike Williamson near. The ball comes across from right to left then the tackle comes in from Williamson from the far side of Tevez. Williamson puts a leg out for the ball and clearly the path of the ball changes from right to left to left to right. Now if Tevez had got the ball it would have moved towards the goal or carried on it's original path. The tackle did get the ball and the contact that was made came from outside the box so how this referee came to the decision I don't know. He did not even consult the linesman who was in a great position to see the challenge. So the so-called big club (because they have money) get the decision they want and we have to take it on the chin. Krull was unlucky with the resultant penalty as the little Tevez put the ball away. The lead did not last long though and within six minutes Gutierrez was on the score sheet for the first time in the Premiership.
A long run and pass came back to him off De Jong in the 18 yard area where he controlled and volleyed past Joe Hart. 1-1 and Newcastle were making Man City look average. The referee must have had a sky blue top on underneath as almost every decision went their way and with another injury to us things were getting worse. Coloccini was taken off for groin strain before the break and on came Sol Cambell for what marked a playing career that has seen him play in every season of the Premiership - something only Ryan Giggs can also claim. Sol came on and helped out the defence who again looked prone to opposition attacks, defending high up the pitch. We were lucky not to get caught playing the offside trap. Campbell came on and controlled the defence and dropped them a little deeper but as we did this we invited the pressure on to us. The game was still all about Newcastle who still had much possession and were attacking as well as knocking the ball about. Cheik Tiote was looking brilliant again (man of the match in my opinion), Gutierrez looked to have a long awaited good game and Ameobi did actually do himself proud with a decent performance. Routledge looked off the mark again but Nolan and Barton were both solid in the middle of the park.
Man City threw what they could into the pot and on came Adebayor who proved fruitless so Newcastle United fan Johnson pulled on his shirt, came on, and immediately tested our defence. It was not long before he had the ball in the back of the net, 2-1. We needed at least a point from this game and so far deserved the three so Andy Carroll got his chance off the bench. No clear chances came his way and with only a few minutes to go, Man City fearing a goal brought on Patrick Viera to tie up any loose ends and to waste the little time left on the clock. The game had one last chance for Mike Williamson from a corner kick only for him to head over the bar.
After the dust had settled the Dutch coach came out and said this about De Jong:
"I've seen it (the tackle) on TV. It was a wild and unnecessary challenge. I don't think he did it on purpose, but he goes in way too hard in this challenge.
"That's a pity, because he doesn't need tackles like this. The strange thing is that the referee doesn't give a card. Apparently there are other standards over there.
"I have a problem with the way Nigel unnecessarily searches for the limit....I just told the players- I told them that I saw no other option. In the future I will agree with Nigel to talk. Now I want the staff and the players to concentrate on the next two important qualifiers."
Van Marwjik
And from St James' Park today came this from Colin Calderwood, “At first the tackle looked really strong – he went into the challenge very, very quickly. We tried to get a quick look at the replay, but there was no replay coming up on the camera in the tunnel.
“But I wouldn't want to take that type of challenge out of our football. The consequences of the challenge are horrible but there was a certain amount of misfortune in that Hatem’s legs were attached to the ground a little bit and the force with which de Jong hit him definitely moved the leg.”
Highlights
pictures soursed from http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/18092010/8/photo/newcastle-united-hatem-ben-arfa-celebrates-scoring-first-goal.html and http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/ben-arfa-suffers-horror-break-as-city-prevail-20101004-162z5.html
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