Jonas Gutierrez rues lack of killer instinct

Dec 14 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

JONÁS Gutiérrez blamed poor passing for the two points dropped by Newcastle United at the weekend.

Not since Manchester United in October has a team left Barnsley’s Oakwell with a victory, but that was no consolation for the Argentina international as his side’s seven-match winning streak came to an end with a 2-2 draw.

The result was so hard to swallow for the Magpies and their 6,987 travelling supporters because they had twice taken the lead, through Kevin Nolan and substitute Marlon Harewood. The latter’s 79th-minute goal looked to have rescued a victory carelessly let slip until Barnsley right-back Bobby Hassell headed home a corner three minutes from time.

“It was disappointing because we should have won the game,” said Gutiérrez, who nevertheless saw his team’s lead at the top of the Championship extended to eight points with West Bromwich Albion not playing until tonight.

“To be in a winning position with five minutes to go and only come away with a draw was disappointing for us because we wanted to win the game.”

Newcastle dominated the first half, but had only Nolan’s tenth goal of the season to show for it, apparently reluctant to force the pace after the sixth-minute

goal. That allowed Barnsley to regroup at half-time and turned the match into a far better one than Newcastle might have hoped for.

Both home goals came from crosses – one in open play, the other a corner – but Gutiérrez felt Newcastle’s more fundamental failing was an inability to retain possession which put them under pressure.

“It was more the fact that we should have kept the ball better,” he said. “We had the opportunity to kill the game off but we didn’t do that and we ended up paying for that.

“We should have had another two points.”

Newcastle have struggled at times this season at the Championship’s less glamorous venues, but Gutiérrez refused to accept a point might not be such a bad return from a ground where West Brom and Cardiff City have lost this season, and Swansea City were held to a 0-0 draw. “The way we’ll look at it is that we lost two points,” he said. One of the positives of Newcastle’s performance was the display from recalled striker Andy Carroll. The England Under-21 international responded after being dropped from Wednesday’s trip to Coventry City for disciplinary reasons by creating both Newcastle goals.

“He’s a very good player and as a winger it’s great to know that if you put a cross in there’s a good chance he’ll win it,” said Gutiérrez.

Chelsea are the latest in a long line of Premier League clubs to be linked with a player whose aerial prowess is the match of many in that division.

But there were also reminders that Carroll is far from the finished product. He lost possession for Emil Hallfredsson’s first equaliser – the 6,000th league goal Newcastle have conceded – and was one of those around Hassell as he headed in the second. And in injury-time a confrontation with Darren Moore earned Carroll a fifth booking of the season, and a suspension for Sunday’s Tyne-Tees derby.

Meanwhile, Puma are reportedly set to replace Adidas as the Magpies’ shirt manufacturer next season.