Marseille Ratings (From Terraces at the Velodrome)

By Martyn Osmond
May 7 2004

Martyn Osmond reports back from the Velodrome with his ratings from Newcastle's bitterly disappointing away defeat in the second leg of the UEFA Cup semi-final.

I had a decent view from the Stand, so here are my ratings:

Given - 7: Not all that much to do. Felt sorry for him, special mention for him coming over to the fans straight away after full time and (attempting) to kick the ball into the fans section. he missed.

Hughes - 5: Touch was off and maybe a bit easily beaten for the first goal.

Bramble - 7: Had quite a good game, distribution was poor.

O'Brien - 7: Was excellent except for the second goal, when he was slow off the mark.

Bernard - 6: Not his best, but not bad.

Ambrose - 5: Out of his depth. Kept wishing we had Nobby in the side, and thinking what a difference he could've made.

Speed - 6: Was 1 man against 3 Marseille players in the middle, worked tirelessly.

Viana - 2: Conclusive proof that he is not good enough. Not sure that he completed a pass all night, stupid mistakes, taking too much time on the ball, marking not goalside to let them break away for the first goal. A disgrace. Didnt seem to want to make up for it by working, thought he'd leave it to Speed.

Robert - 3: Not much better. What happened to wanting to prove a point to the Fisheads? Set pieces poor, work rate poor, drifted in the centre all the time (i dont know whether he was told to or not). Didnt even care enough to come over to the fans, and only clapped us when Bobby told him to.

Ameobi - 5: Not bad but not good either. Shouldve had a penalty from where i was sitting, shouldve hit the target a couple of times.

Shearer - 6: Can't give him a 5 cos he did nowt wrong, but hardly knew he was playing to be honest.

Sub:
Bowyer - 7: Shouldve started. Showed Viana how it should be done.

Toon support to team - 8: Very subdued after the second goal, but perked back up again after full time in defiance. Earned a standing ovation from the Marseille fans for our support.

Marseille supporters - 9.5: If only SJP could get atmospheres like this (BRING BACK TERRACING!!!). Fantastic, innovative chanting and dancing, scarf waving, bouncing etc. Fantastic. Apart from a couple of dips in dull moments, pretty much the best atmosphere you could hope for. Started a huge fcuking fire with their flares. Friendly pre-match, some bloke gave me a Marseille scarf for nowt, loads of friendly banter and chanting on the metro on the way. Won the match for their team i would say, if this had been at a neutral ground it wouldve been very different. Fantastic. Earned a standing ovation from the Toon fans at full time.