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i think it could be a smart move as long as oba runs him self ragged and gets support from the midfield and since the gooners have played alot more football than us they should be on less strudy legs in the last half an hour bring owen on then

well that is risky but i think the chances of getting a win are very unlikely but if we have :
5 defenders we will just be parking the bus usually works against arsenal
5 midfielders we will try outpass them and outplay them in the idfield which only fulham were able to do imo

i am glad to see hughton finally making a big decision and taking a risk

Responses to this across the forums is really really interesting there is such a divide.

I'm not sure what i think - I think if he isnt fit enough then coming back last week was the wrong decision, however if it is purely tactical and that has been discussed with Owen - and there is actually a plan then I hope it works.

Playing 1 lone striker upfront is the sh1ttest tactic in football - I've never been a fan of it.
Owen should be playing because when he gets the ball in the box he always has the potential to score

think it may be more effective bringing owen on later in the game when opposition is tired

also dont think he was ready to start last week

feel there is some tactical decisions being made, lets see how they work

If we start with one striker i`ll be very dissapointed. No backing up, that never leads to good results, all in and 3 points!

I'll be fuming if we only play one striker, but on the other hand if Owen isn't ready yet we may as well keep him for a game we may win.

If Owen isn't upto 90 minutes then this is the best thing for the team because in this scenario Ameobi doesn't get anywhere near the pitch.
Scenario a) Martins starts upfront. After 60min Owen replaces either Martins or a midfielder.
Scenario b) Owen starts upfront with Martins. Gets substituted after 70 minutes and Newcastle fail to enjoy any possession in Arsenal's half for the rest of the game because our favourite dim-witted forward with the touch of a sedated elephant enters the fray.

lovenkrands supporting good to see

yes until he can be bothered to play for us or until he has the fitness to play for us

a wasted substitute today.

half heartedly chased to recover lost posession and struggled/couldnt be bothered to get back into position for the counter attack

would have done as equally as well playing with 10 men

actually taking ameobi into account 9men
why these 2 were substituted instead of gutierrez i dont know
i know jonas doesnt have his fans here but even without his final ball he would have been much more effective

I agree Chilango. If you cant get a goal when you have Martins and Owen on the field then bringing Shola on is not going to solve things.

Jonas should have started never mind just sat there all day.

Geremi last week and Taylor today. @#$%& @#$%&.

I too agree Jonas should have started - quite disappointed that he didnt

couple of things stand out to me here.

1. Jonas, to the fans, should always start - which makes me assume that perhaps he wasn't 100% or even that he just hasn't trained well over the last week or so. I think that Hughton loves Ryan Taylor, and i am ok with that.

2. Owen, well its difficult, it always has been and thats why he must leave us in the summer, even if we stay up. Fact is that Owen and Martins together just has never been committed to for whatever reason. I think that Owen needs to play with a big man - because he can't be the little quick one like used to be. Thats Martins job now, the other issue with Martins and Owen playing together is that neither have particulary high work rate, and needs someone up there to chase. (which Lovehandles does a reasonable job of).

That being said, the tactics yesterday where wrong for the simple reason that Oba can't play upfront on his own, he is just not a target man, and thats fine, but he can't be left up there to win headers to on coming players - it hasn't worked in the past. If they wanted to play 1 upfront it should have been Carroll - if we are going to play direct like yesterday then we need some kind of big man. I assume thats why Allardyce signed Viduka, shame that he has been healthy enough over the last 2 years.

I dont feel anything was wrong with the original selection yesterday

as the first half we created chance after chance, and pressed and harried the arsenal players stifling their attack and keeping them in their own half

the first half was spot on

people say if owen was on he would have scored the penalty but with him on the pitch would we have been as enterprising as the 11 that started?

i mentioned jonas should have played but from the first half i was happy he was on the bench as the display from the team didnt need tweaking.

it was hughtons decision to bring owen or ameobi instead of jonas which annoyed me. taylor could have dropped to RB and jonas could have played on the right, loven remaining as a second striker/AM
Owen clearly isnt fit/cant be hooped and big name or not he didnt warrant coming on.
he gave up chasing players trying to reclaim possession and was jogging to get in a scoring position on the counter attack

i saw him challenge for one header and felt he was absent for the rest of the time he was on the pitch.

there were plentiful chances from Oba and Loven supporting, but there was something lacking, like a killer instinct or just fire in the belly to force that ball in the back of the net.
it wasnt til they scored until it clicked and oba finally had that drive and got one back

if he had that aggression in the first half i feel he would have been on a hat trick

losing 2 main def, was always going to be difficult and it would be thought things would be tighten up as a result.
but the team just fell apart.
the 2nd goal in particular was totally colos fault and its hard to believe he is an experienced international being sucked into a player already marked and allowing his man free reign to score.

sorry for a major rant as ive been p155ed off all night and all day

at half time i thought i would have been gutted to draw
never mind lose