Various
positions
Burnley 0 Newcastle Utd 1
Becko
Stan thinks the most important things about pre-season friendlies are
regaining fitness and avoiding injuries. It's also about trying out different formations,
permutations and positions, or is that the Kama Sutra?
Anyway, this game confirmed that Mitchell Thomas is still a class act.
What he lacks in pace he more than compensates for in positional sense and timing. He is
going to be both busy and important this season. We also learnt that Phil Gray playing as
a lone striker won't work. The first 45 minutes of this may have been a test run for way
games. Beware! On that point, some of you may know I occasionally listen to John Peel and
have a couple of tapes of old programmes lying around the house. September 1997, Peel
recounts a game he'd seen on Saturday at Portman Road, Ipswich v Bury: a dour scoreless
draw in which he points out that Bury looked entirely content if they didn't score another
goal all season. Of course, Stan was in charge of Bury. So we have some indications that
it won't be pretty but it just might be effective. Following on from that, my real fear
this season is where are the goals going to come from if Payton doesn't get them? On
Monday night out best chances were all headers from Steve Davis. Andy Griffin cleared one
from the line; the other two were headed over.
We started with a 4-5-1 formation with Thomas at rightback. 2,000 Geordies
booed every time Kevin Ball went within ten yards of the aforementioned round object. Not
to be outdone, Kevin Gallacher bore the brunt of the Clarets' fans derision in the absence
of Alan Shearer.
There were some good touches by Cox, Davis, Mellon and Paul Cook, and as
you would expect, Glen Little caused problems, but rather than shoot or pass with his left
foot, he always plays it back onto the right foot. Kevin Ball got stuck in, timing tackles
well and beefing up the midfield. Lee Briscoe looks more than useful on the left, and
although Carl Cort lost his marker and smartly headed past Paul Crichton for the only
goal, the defence generally looked composed.
John Mullin and Andy Cooke came on at half time for Mellon and Johnrose
and Burnley certainly looked more attack minded. Weller and Branch were introduced with
twenty minutes to go, but there was no way through the visitors' defence.
Overall I think we played reasonably well, and the scoreline was just
about right. It had been raining heavily most of the day and evening, so the pitch was
saturated, particularly in front of the Bob Lord Stand. Some players changed shirts at
half time and at one stage there were two Burnley No. 18s on the pitch, with Briscoe and
Paul Weller. The referee kept free kicks be taken from the incorrect place and didn't blow
for a foul every time players went near each other.
Yes, it was a friendly.
Team:
Crichton, Thomas, Davis, Cox, Briscoe, Little (Weller 70), Mellon (Mullin 46), Ball,
Johnrose (Cooke 46), Cook, Gray (Branch 70). Subs not used: Jepson, Lee, Mawson
and West.
