Du leser nå forumet som en gjest. Dette gir kun begrenset adgang til forumet og dets funksjonaliteter. Ved å registrere deg gratis, får du tilgang til å delta i diskusjonen, sende private meldinger (PM) til andre brukere, svare på avstemninger, se på vedlegg, tilgang til kalenderen, samt mange andre ting. Ved å registrere deg, får du også tilgang på mange andre nyttige funksjoner, som for eksempel at forumet gir deg beskjed om nye innlegg siden ditt forrige besøk - uansett hvor i verden du logger deg på!
Registrering er raskt, enkelt og helt gratis, så bli med i dag!
Dersom du har problemer med registreringen eller brukerkontoen din, kan du kontakte oss.
Hei, Gjest! Vi trenger flere moderatorer til forumet vårt. Har du lyst til å bli med i moderatorteamet, så ta kontakt med rEPPA.
ALBERT LUQUE spared Newcastle United’s blushes and kept their European hopes alive in this 1-1 draw with Lillestrom in the Inter Toto Cup.
Luque’s 50th minute equaliser could not have better timed after United had been truly dreadful in the first half.
They were deservedly a goal down at the interval and they could count themselves lucky that it was not two or three as they struggled against the darting pace of the diminutive Michael Mifsud and the class of Robert Koren.
As it happens Koren it was who gave Lillestrom a 21st minute lead in a move which started for the visitors after Mifsud had beaten Bramble in the air. But it still needed a deflection off Emre for the ball to loop into the net.
Just before that Mufsud had come through three weak Newcastle tackles only to see his shot cleared off the line by Babayaro.
Not surprisingly United were booed off at the interval by a surprisingly high crowd of 31,059.
Newcastle desperately needed a flash of inspiration and it came at the start of the second half after James Milner had blocked a clearance. The ball fell to Luque who still had plenty to do. And didn’t he do it well? He turned inside Bjorn Helge Riise brother of Liverpool’s John Arne and curled a brilliant left foot shot past Lillestrom’s giant keeper Heinz Muller.
Taking into account Alan Shearer’s testimonial this was Luque’s third goal in his last three appearances and it was greeted by the fans as if it had been a Champion’s League final winner.
As a result United improved but they could not have been much worse than they were in the first half. And despite a lot of possession and the bulk of the play they rarely looked like getting a second goal apart from when substitute Alan O’Brien rolled the ball inches wide in injury time.
Now United face a difficult second leg in Oslo next Saturday but at least they will have felt the benefit of what really was a tough 90 minutes for them this afternoon.
UNITED: Given Carr, Babayaro, Taylor, Bramble, Solano, Parker, Emre, N’Zogbia, Milner, (Ameobi 65), Luque (O’Brien 82). Full reports and pictures in tomorrow's Sunday Sun with reaction, analysis and opinions in Monday night's Chronicle.
Tweet
Kommentar