http://tinyurl.com/2j7gzd
Feb 11 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal
又是中肯的日報評論，我大略的翻一下大意，就不一個字一個字翻了。
ACCORDING to Steven Taylor, Newcastle United’s players are not even
contemplating a relegation battle. Well it is about time they stopped
kidding themselves because that is what they are in.
Steven Taylor說，Newcastle的球員一點都不考慮是否會降級的事情，Well，
是時候他們停止開自己玩笑了，因為他們確實有這個危險。
There are some big-name players in Newcastle’s squad and there are even
some talented footballers among them, but on the basis of the second-half
display against Aston Villa, they are doing little to justify their
reputations.
Newcastle的陣容中有些Big name，也有一些富有天份的球員在，但他們在對維拉
的比賽中的下半場，並沒有證明他們擁有的那些好名聲是合理的。
Footballers do not like criticism, particularly from people who are not
directly involved in the game, but it does not take an FA coaching badge to
work out they are playing badly, it does not take a cabinet full of
international caps to suggest they should be embarrassed at recent results
and it does not take a football genius to see they are, on current form,
heading towards the Championship.
球員都不喜歡被批評，特別是他們不喜歡被那些不包含在比賽中的人批評。
但這不需要擁有多麼專業的人士或是天才來證明他們踢的多爛，而他們的表現，
確實正前往著英冠之路。
Newcastle, a team with eight full internationals in their starting
line-up at Villa Park and another three on the bench, have taken just three
points from the last 27. They have scored three goals in their last eight
league games and have conceded 18. It is relegation form.
Newcastle，在近來的8場聯賽中只進了三球，然後丟了18球，這是降級的表現。
As for Kevin Keegan, most new managers enjoy a honeymoon period, but
Newcastle’s results have been more in keeping with a divorce and, with
Manchester United the next visitors to St James’s Park, that winless run
is expected to continue. Nobody expected him to wave a magic wand on his
return to St James’s Park, but we at least expected to see some evidence
that things are improving.
隨著下場比賽將是曼聯作客聖詹姆斯，能預期的到的是，大概不勝會繼續持續。
沒有任何人期待Keegan能夠在他的二進宮回來後施展魔法，但至少我們預期要能夠
看到一些事情正在改善的證據。
While they ultimately failed in the job, Graeme Souness almost broke a
club record when he won nine consecutive games in his first season. Glenn
Roeder’s arrival as caretaker manager took the club into the Uefa Cup and,
lest we forget, Sam Allardyce guided the team to its most successful start
to a season in 11 years last year.
Graeme Souness幾乎打破了俱樂部的紀錄，當他在他的首個賽季連續贏了九場比賽。
而Glenn Roeder作為看守主帥，他帶領了球隊打入了歐協盃，而Sam Allardyce，
他帶領了這支球隊達到了將近11年來的最好開局。
但這些人最後都失敗了。
It would be foolish to imply Keegan will fail. He is after all trying to
make the best out of what he inherited from Allardyce, which was a small
squad desperately short on confidence.
而以這些紀錄來暗示Keegan將會失敗是愚蠢的，他在嘗試找出他從Allardyce那接收
過來的球隊一些好的表現，而他從Allardyce那接收的，實際上是個很小陣容、並且
很絕望、缺乏自信心的陣容。
However, that does not explain why, after Villa had scored their second
goal, Keegan did not instruct his substitutes to warm up and it does not
excuse the fact that it took him until the 73rd minute – by which time they
were 3-1 down – to change things with the introduction of Emre.
但是，這些都不足以解釋，甚至不足以當作藉口─在維拉的比賽中，當他們進了第二
個球後，為什麼Keegan沒有要他的替補球員開始暖身，而等到73分鐘的時候，當球隊
已經3-1的落後，他才想到要將Emre換上去。
Keegan should not and will not be judged until he has had a chance to
design his own side, but he knows he must keep the club in the Premier League
before that can happen.
Keegan不該，也不會被批評直到他有機會能夠描繪出屬於他的球隊，但他知道在他
讓屬於他的球隊誕生前，他必須讓球隊繼續待在英超裡。
下面就開始鞭球隊的表現，不翻了。
There were, as the manager indicated as he picked at the pieces of
Newcastle’s corpse on Saturday, some decent individual performances against
Villa.
Michael Owen scored – expertly heading in James Milner’s near-post
cross – and looked sharp throughout. Damien Duff was lively and, at times,
threatening. The same could be said of Milner while, at the back, as those
around him fell apart, Taylor was once again a domineering figure.
Unfortunately, with the exception of the goalkeepers, that leaves half a
team of under performers.
Keegan was quick to back Alan Smith after the final whistle because of
his work rate, but ultimately strikers will always be judged on goals. The
￡6m signing from Manchester United does not look like he will ever get one,
while his hold up play in the second half left a lot to be desired. As his
game disintegrated after the break, Mark Viduka was left on the bench with
a face like thunder.
In midfield, Joey Barton looks like a man with the weight of a court case
on his shoulders. He is combative enough and made one excellent tackle on
Ashley Young in the area, but he also should have conceded a penalty when he
blocked Gareth Barry’s volley with his hands. He looked ponderous in
possession and his passing was wayward throughout.
As for the defence, Stephen Carr was given a torrid time in the second
half by Villa substitute Marlon Harewood and gave away a needless penalty to
gift John Carew his hat-trick. Carr is not a left-back, of course, but that
can only excuse him so much.
On the other side, Habib Beye who, to be fair, has looked the best of
Allardyce’s signings, looked as though his miserable experience at the
African Cup of Nations with Senegal has had a lasting effect. In the middle,
Cacapa, who has previously done well for Keegan, looked incapable of dealing
with a physical centre forward.
Newcastle, though, as the old footballer’s cliché goes, win and lose as
a team and this was a collective debacle. We will never know if things would
have been different if Wilfred Bouma’s shot had not taken a cruel deflection
off Beye to give Villa their equaliser minutes after the restart.
After that, Newcastle’s defence crumbled under the pressure of Carew –
whose first goal came from a glancing header at the near post and his second
when Nicky Butt headed the ball to him – and Harewood. It was torture to
watch.
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