Habib Beye Watch - Everton

Habib Beye was absent again as S.Taylor had his best game of the season and both were powerless to prevent Newcastle going down to 10 men. Kevin Nolan's horror tackle, accident or not, leaves us short for 3 games and not just for the remainder of the game against Everton. A senior pro should know better!

In much the same way as Habib's dismissal against Man City, Nolan's departure killed the game as a spectacle. Everton's small squad was unable to stomach the loss of Arteta and with our 2 banks of 4 the barcodes stifled the opposition.

Everton were in charge for the first 20 minutes, Gosling in particular going close to grabbing an early lead for the toffees. Newcastle couldn't have looked less like the home side and with Shola and Lovenkrands wasting another chance to impress it was left to Butt, Taylor, Castillo and Rodwell to fight it out in the middle of the park.

Lovenkrands miss goes down as the best chance of the game, if not the best move of the game. Had we taken an early lead, things might have been different but after the miss there was only one result on the pools coupon: No-Score-Draw.

There were bright spots... Ryan Taylor's performance and ability from dead balls was encouraging. Jonas returned brightly and if he were a better finisher, would be worth a fortune. Bassong was immense and is enhancing his reputation with every game, and perhaps most encouraging was Jose Enrique who is becoming consistent at left back.

With some big games coming up (two in a week), we must take these positives forward. If Jonas scores against ManU, Bassong shackles Rooney and Berbatov, R.Taylor punishes and infringements on the edge of the box and the full backs keep it solid, then an unexpected victory could be on the cards....

Oh yes, and finally....Harper's kicking?! Back to normal service please Steve!