Source: FOOTYMAD
Leon Best Fails To Win Over Fans
Message Board contributer 'Toon Crusader' says Leon Best is NOT good enough for the Premiership and Chris Hughton should cut his losses in the summer. What do YOU think? TOON CRUSADER ... BORO v NEWCASTLE PLAYER RATINGS ... Harper - 8 - Couldn't really do anything about the 2 goals. Made some good saves and commanded his area very well. Our man of the match.Simpson - 7 - Did well. Never really got to the line to put in a cross, but was good at bringing it out of defence. Also linked well with Jonas when he went to left back.Hall - 7 - A good game. Was good in the air and made some key challenges. Looks a good defender for this level.Coloccini - 7 - Good as usual. Was more no nonesense today and was good in the air. Thank goodness his injury was only a dead leg.Kadar - 7 - Did very well. Was OK defensively at left back, but did really well when he went into the centre. He looks to me like hes going to be a really good Prem centre-half in the future.Pancrate - 6 - Had a few fruitless runs at their defence, but never really got into the game.Guthrie - 6 - The lad was busy, and always wanted the ball, but could never really take Boro apart with his passing.Nolan - 6 - Quiet. Was always an option in the middle,and never got caught in possession, but it never really happened for him going forward.Gutierrez - 7 - A typical away display from Jonas. Gave us a great outlet by running at their defenders, and was our main avenue of attack. Though his general end product was not great, he did play a great through ball for Lovenkrands' goal. A typical example of Jonas as a player was when he beat 2 players with skills and then failed to make a simple short pass to a team-mate.Lovenkrands - 7 - Scored a great goal, and was a threat with his moevement whenever we went forward.Carroll - 7 - Got his goal, but other than that was pretty quiet. Was always a threat in the air, as he always will be with his ability.SUBS:-Butt - 6 - Played disciplined holding role and gave us greater solidity. Was often there to restart attacks when the ball broke out of their defence.R. Taylor - 5 - Never really got into the game, and his set pieces were poor.Best - 5 - Was a presence up front, and did help keep it up their end, but never looked a danger. If I was Hughton I'd seriously think about giving him up as a bad job, and sell him in the summer to a Championship side. Sometimes with all the best intentions from both sides, things just dont work out, and this looks to be one of those times.
