http://tinyurl.com/2j7gzd Feb 11 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal 又是中肯的日报评论，我大略的翻一下大意，就不一个字一个字翻了。 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说，Newcastle的球员一点都不考虑是否会降级的事情，Well， 是时候他们停止开自己玩笑了，因为他们确实有这个危险。 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的阵容中有些Big name，也有一些富有天份的球员在，但他们在对维拉 的比赛中的下半场，并没有证明他们拥有的那些好名声是合理的。 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. 球员都不喜欢被批评，特别是他们不喜欢被那些不包含在比赛中的人批评。 但这不需要拥有多麽专业的人士或是天才来证明他们踢的多烂，而他们的表现， 确实正前往着英冠之路。 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，在近来的8场联赛中只进了三球，然後丢了18球，这是降级的表现。 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. 随着下场比赛将是曼联作客圣詹姆斯，能预期的到的是，大概不胜会继续持续。 没有任何人期待Keegan能够在他的二进宫回来後施展魔法，但至少我们预期要能够 看到一些事情正在改善的证据。 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几乎打破了俱乐部的纪录，当他在他的首个赛季连续赢了九场比赛。 而Glenn Roeder作为看守主帅，他带领了球队打入了欧协盃，而Sam Allardyce， 他带领了这支球队达到了将近11年来的最好开局。 但这些人最後都失败了。 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. 而以这些纪录来暗示Keegan将会失败是愚蠢的，他在尝试找出他从Allardyce那接收 过来的球队一些好的表现，而他从Allardyce那接收的，实际上是个很小阵容、并且 很绝望、缺乏自信心的阵容。 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，这些都不足以解释，甚至不足以当作藉口─在维拉的比赛中，当他们进了第二 个球後，为什麽Keegan没有要他的替补球员开始暖身，而等到73分钟的时候，当球队 已经3-1的落後，他才想到要将Emre换上去。 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不该，也不会被批评直到他有机会能够描绘出属於他的球队，但他知道在他 让属於他的球队诞生前，他必须让球队继续待在英超里。 下面就开始鞭球队的表现，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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