Newcastle 0 – 0 Fiorentina – Friendly highlights.
Posted on August 7th, 2011 | 15 Comments |
Plumes of water shot up from every foot fall, a wake of rain tracked the ball through it’s journey around the hallowed turf and most annoying of all, the ball had a tendency to stick with each pass. Not the best of days to play football, then.
Contrary to popular belief, rain makes for amazing weather to play football in. You’re constantly moving to keep warm and every tackle gives you a new mark of war as mud tracks along your body and clothes – nothing better on a Sunday afternoon if you ask me. On the other hand, when you’re playing a match against the purple clad Italian giants, a kickaround with your mates doesn’t really seem to come close.
From the kick off Newcastle looked to put the opposition on the back foot and short of a beautiful passing display by the Italians, they never really looked like scoring. There were times when we overcommitted and almost conceded but Tim Krul showed some very safe hands to keep the scoreline level.
Misses from Leon Best and Demba Ba helped the Violets keep in the game but as the pitch became increasingly waterlogged and the playing surface beginning to become unplayable, the referee Mark Halsley abandoned the game on 64 minutes after informing the managers that it was a very real possibility at roughly 62 minutes of playing time.
The Toon played a lot better than we’ve seen all pre-season and Cabaye showed that he can slot into Tioté’s stomping ground of holding midfield quite happily. Marveaux also impressed with his off the ball runs and simple, neat passing and believe it or not – Fraser Forster came up with some great saves that don’t appear to be shown in this video.
The rain may have proved too much for SJP’s drainage system but hopefully it will be considerably better come the opening game against Arsenal.
Newcastle United: Tim Krul (46th); Danny Simpson, Jose Enrique, Fabricio Coloccini (c), Steven Taylor; Dan Gosling (46th), Yohan Cabaye, Haris Vuckic, Jonas Gutierrez (46th); Peter Lovenkrands (59th), Leon Best (46th).
Substitutes: Fraser Forster (46th), James Tavernier, Ryan Taylor (59th), Mike Williamson, Sylvain Marveaux (46th), Sammy Ameobi, Shola Ameobi (46th), Nile Ranger, Demba Ba (46th).
Fiorentina: Artur Boruc, Lorenzo de Silvestri, Manuel Pasqual, Valon Behrami, Alessandro Gamberini, Cesare Natali, Romulo, Stevan Jovetic, Riccardo Montolivo, Andrea Lazzari, Alberto Gilardino.
Substitutes: Norberto Murara, Cristiano Piccini, Felipe, Marco Romizi, Santos Matos, Amidu Salifu, Marco Marchionni, Adem Ljajic, Khouma Babacar, Luca Lezzerini.
NUFCBlog Author: Thump
Some say his bones are black and white but that is yet to be medically proven. Currently writes for a few different publications and likes to assert his imaginary authority on nobody in particular.
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“The Toon played a lot better than we’ve seen all pre-season”
That’s reassuring, anyway.