5Joe Cole: Quickly into his stride, blocking, harrying, passing Missed a shot, less effectively involved later on. 5.Eidur Gudjohnsen: Headed on to crossbar when he should have scored Errors marred lively display. 5Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink: Pacy, adventurous and threatening, he did plenty of selfless running, creating and crossing. 6Jesper Gronkjaer: His over-hit cross became an accidental goal but lapses detracted from its value 4Frank Lampard: Central figure again Less commanding than a fortnight ago Shots varied in quality. 6John Terry: Throwing himself at Morientes shot to deflect it on to the post typified dogged contribution.

6Wayne Bridge: Defended well, then scampered, crossed (or laid off) overlapped and tracked back. Chelsea

CHELSEA
Carlo Cudicini: Save denied Morientes in 11th minute but could do little to stop the goals. Mark: 5/10Mario Melchiot: Failed to cope solo with threat of Rothen Passing and movement OK 5William Gallas: Composed under pressure Tidy clearance work Pre-empted Giuly movement to limit threat. Newcastle United (4-4-2): Given; Hughes, O’Brien, Bramble, Bernard; Ambrose, Viana, Speed, Robert; Ameobi, Shearer Referee: M Lubos (Slovakia).. Marseille (3-4-2-1): Barthez; Fereira, Hemdani, Dos Santos; Flamini, Meite Beye N’Diaye; Marlet, Batles; Drogba.

“What’s in front of us is huge because we have a great chance to win a trophy,” the Newcastle captain said yesterday. “There can be no middle ground, nothing in between; it’s either going to be great or it’s going to be nothing.” The irony is that for Shearer and Gary Speed, the men who have done most to drive Newcastle this far, there are unlikely to be further chances. For Dyer, Bellamy, Jenas, the missing, the future stretches ahead of them. For one other member of Robson’s alarmingly stretched squad tonight will be a pivotal experience. As Newcastle’s season has reached its climax, the role of Laurent Robert has been questioned almost daily both inside St James’ and without. When Newcastle’s footballers talk of “a lack of commitment and work-rate”, it is the man from Reunion to whom they refer.

For someone who made his name at Paris St-Germain, the Marseille V?drome should be the ultimate stage on which to shine, however, as the floodlights were switched off and the Newcastle players trooped away from their final training session few even in their camp imagined it would be. Robson was just as forthright: “We need commitment, courage, enthusiasm and fighting to the last minute.”This message has been hammered home after every recent Newcastle game and every training session this weekFollowing the 1-0 defeat at Manchester City which so badly holed Newcastle’s chances of the fourth and final Champions’ League place, Alan Shearer marched into the away dressing-room to deliver a withering assessment of the attitude and commitment of some of his team-mates. That ended in penalties and some last night were betting that this might do too. In public, Shay Given, normally the least controversial of footballers, accused some of his colleagues of: “Not working hard enough to get results.”There has probably never been a greater weight on Shearer’s shoulders. Six years ago as the sun swung low over the hills of Provence, he scored the goal at the V?drome that began England’s abortive World Cup campaign. A repetition of the 1-1 draw they achieved in Eindhoven in the quarter-finals would be enough. Some 4,000 watched Marseille train yesterday afternoon and their coach, Jose Anigo, talked of his “obligation to win”.