Hughton – Maradona No 2.

Posted on August 5th, 2010 | 71 Comments |

Gutierrez - Looking forward to the new season.
Gutierrez - Looking forward to the new season.
Jonas Gutierrez returned to action for Newcastle on Tuesday night, and quickly paid tribute to boss Chris Hughton whilst comparing him to ex-Argentina boss Diego Maradona.

Now I’m not sure how happy Chris Hughton will be when he hears that he is held in the same regard as the former Cocaine addict….. I kid, I kid. Relax.

It was purely a footballing comment from Jonas as he talked about the new season, what it could hold, and the disappointment of the World Cup in the summer. It seems that Jonas, like many other players, holds Chris Hughton in high regard, and his comparison between Hughton and an Argentinian national hero underlines this.

“Playing for Diego was a big honour for me,” Jonas told The Chronicle. “But I have a lot of respect for Chris Hughton too – he can definitely lead us to a successful season again next year and I’m really looking forward to the new season with him.”

The definition of successful has being debated by fans all summer long, with some fans saying avoiding relegation will be a success whilst other fans saying they would like slightly more from the season than to avoid the drop. Success is relative to ambition I guess, so that debate will roll on, but I believe we have enough about us to stop up, and with a bit of luck, who knows?

Anyway, I wrote yesterday about Fabricio Coloccini having a point to prove upon his return to the top flight, and Jonas is no different. Like Coloccini, Jonas started off really well and put in a man of the match performance on his debut at Old Trafford. Unfortunately, injury forced Jonas out of action and he returned in the middle of WW3. One of the criticisms of him has been his lack of final ball, which is improving whilst still needing to be worked on, but he can still be a key player for us this season.

“It’s good to be back and playing for Newcastle United again. I can’t wait for the season to begin and be back as a Premier League player.”

“I have had a long holiday after the World Cup and I feel really refreshed and ready to go again, but I know that I must play hard to get into Chris Hughton’s best XI.

Jonas will get another chance to sharpen his skill against Rangers on Saturday, and whilst a result in our favour would be nice, the key things for me are the performance and not suffering anymore injuries.

We are approaching business time. The barren summer months will soon be over and we can all get our teeth stuck into the football again. The players sound ready, I’m ready.

Are you ready?

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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71 Responses

  1. Still cannit believe he forgot to brings his claes to the World Cup. What a plank! :lol:

  3. damn it. :lol:

    Anyway, THIS WC, other than the noisy buzzing sound, Maradona truly lighten up the WC. ;)

  4. hughton-maradona no2?lets just hope during this season he doesn’t end up on the drink and drugs.

  6. I can’t wait, a bit annoyed we have to wait til the Monday for our first game, I’ll be on it this weekend watching the ex-fizzy pop league. Can’t wait to see whether we made a mistake missing out on Kris Boyd and whether Whittingham starts firing on all cylinders again for Cardiff and whether Keane manages Ipswich to another abysmal start.

  14. just been watching clips of ben arfa on youtube.i know i shouldnt be getting excited but boy,he looks a hell of a player,his dribbling and taking players on is top class,better than anything we have or have had for a long time.imagine ben arfa and jonas running at defenders when we break? it could be just what carroll needs,quality in from the flanks.plus ben arfa can play off a front man too.we really have to make sure we dont let this guy slip through our fingers,it would be just like mike to do that tho,hope he proves me wrong.and bellers to celtic on loan? why not here on loan?

  16. Raffo – Aye, it’s a shame all his technical ability will get overlooked by Delap and his long throws :lol:

  18. Bloke on Eds says L’Equipe are reporting that we have agreed a deal with Marseille but i cant find owt anywhere

  19. It’s mental that we can compete with stoke isn’t it, but Stoke are so one dimensional as you say!!

    I daren’t get excited bout ben arfa yet

  21. Raffo-just don’t think we’ve got anywhere near that sort of cash to be blowing on one player mate. Shame if he does go there because like toonsy said he’ll just be looking to latch onto long throws. Nevermind eh.

  22. reports say toon have agreed fee of 2.5 mil euro for rios and player wants to come its in greek press anybody heard owt

  24. Who be rios? I didn’t expect or in fact really want us to be going out and blowing 12 million on one player at all, I am very happy with what ch and the board are doing at the moment.

  26. Toonsy….badge still looks iffy,I’m hoping the pics are doing it an injustice.
    Anyone seen them for real close up?

  27. arevallo rios is from uruguay was going to sign for greek side but broke down when toon bid its in press in italy,some one has also said it on eds blog so must be comeing from some where

  29. AOD,dont know you might laugh but the postman yestaday asked me about toons new player,he had been on holiday there (italy)and read it,now some on eds blog today are talking about,just wondered if anybody had heard owt,or is it just another rumuor ?

  31. RICHIETOON your right m8,thought i missed out on sumit,wouldnt mind him like,had a good w.c.

  32. I liked what I saw of him in the world cup. A bit like Smithy only he could pass & tackle ;)

    Maybe we will make a double announcement tomorrow to unveil both Ben Arfa and Rios… :)
    Maybe even a 3rd new player will be in there too.

    Again will only believe it when it is offically announced..

  33. eds blog running with the rumour now richietoon,have to give toonsy six nowt if hes missed this one :)

  34. Aye ice ;-) ………whey I’m away for a couple of sherberts(purely medicinal) later lads

  36. Can’t see this ben arfa deal coming off, wasn’t he rumoured to be going to man u last season for around 10 mill – seems a bit weird he now costs 2.5 mill and wants to come to toon

    hope i’m wrong as he looks class, imagine barton will end up chinning him if he does come like

  37. arevalo rios is a quality player….if he comes to toon then it s a blessing in disguise…..i say he s a top quality dm which is exactly what we need to get smith out of the team….rios is an excellent tackler and this player is what th sjp crowd will love…determined ,committed same like nigel de jong

  39. Stevep-2.5? The rumours said we had a bid of 5.5/ 6 accepted. He has been linked with big clubs I the past but for whatever reason they’re currently not in for him.

  40. Howay the lads, bring on the PL, and in the immortal words of Hank Williams Jr., ‘ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!”

  41. Newcastle have been strongly linked with a move, while interest from Italy is said to have come from AC Milan, Genoa and Parma.

    Hoffenheim have now joined the hunt and are reported to be readying an €8million (£6.6m) approach for the 23-year-old.

    “If we can sign Ben Arfa, that would be sensational for the Bundesliga,” the club’s general manager Ernst Tanner told Rhein-Neckar Zeitung.

    source=skysports

  44. Stevep-looking at the clubs left, Milan have already said they can’t pay for him up front, and it’s being widely reported he doesn’t want to go to Germany. Obviously it’s all speculation but lots of different sources, all foreign, are all saying the same thing. Not saying I expect it to happen but I do think it has legs

  45. Ice

    The frustrating bit for me is that we seem to be somewhere between £1.5 and £2m short of what Marseille want for Ben Arfa yet we spent at least that on Best and another £500k on Simpson neither were worth bringing in permanently IMO.

    We pointlessly signed Best just as Carroll and Lover were hitting form, Shola was coming back from his injury and we had Ranger and Nolan performing well up front when they played there.

    If Hughton was so determined to sign Perch after missing out in january, Why not sign someone like Kyle Naughton who went to boro on loan until the end of the season and kept back the cash until the summer when it was becoming obvious we would need it instead of keeping Simpson who i would have behind Raylor in the pecking order.

  46. Another strange factor, when hughton was originally asked about both Ben arfa and Campbell, he said they’re names we’d been linked with, they were good players but there wasn’t any truth in the rumours. Sol signed and when recently asked about Ben arfa, hughton has kept quiet.

  47. CC i just think c.h.spent the cash ashley gave him on best when he missed out on moses,and wanted a bit cover, shola injury was a bit iffy at the time and he seems not to trust ranger at the mo.

    i never rated simpson that much, when the ball gets behind him his heed is all over if you get my meaning,big nose would not have let him go at that price if he thought he was good enough for p.l.he would have went on loan like hes done with other kids just imo

  48. aye ross a few have said that,but this ben arfa thing seems to have good legs all down to ashley now i think m8

  49. I just get the feeling there is more going on behind the scenes. We have 6 strikers when we often play a 5 man midfield. There are the Smith to Leeds rumors that some find believable. It suddenly sounds like we may have 6M available for Arfa when it didn’t seem like the case a couple of weeks ago.

  50. MDS dont think leeds could pay his wages,and dont think he would go there on loan with us makeing his wages up after the way leeds went on in the bexford carry-on imo

  51. Smith to Leeds wouldn’t bother me too much. I still think we need another strong DM. We haven’t really got a good tackling dm who can distribute the ball well and keep everything ticking along in midfield. Guthrie is canny for keeping the ball moving but he’s still attack minded.

  52. @MDS

    The last rumour I have heard is that Smith could be going to Rangers, this would free up the DM role for Rios to come in. I am sure the reduction of Smiths wages would also give CH a bit of more freedom.

  53. MDS-

    I have a hopeful feeling that the new way we do business leaves everyone (most especially the media) in the dark regarding what funds we have available and not until after business is done will we really know. Good business for us like!!

  54. MDS

    If there is £6m available then they should give Marseille the money they want, Im amazed they have been so patient with us and havent just told Ashley to shove his offer up his wobbly arse.

    £4m is a slighly respectable opening offer for a player rated at £6m, But to follow that up with a £500k loan offer is nowt short of moronic.

  59. in the immortal words of wayne and garth-he will be ours,oh yes,he will be ours….i hope

  60. TOONSY richietoon and me are going to give you some stick if you have missed out on this rios thing,eds running with it (again) ;)

  64. TOONSY i knew really you wouldnt get caught with your pants doon,lol any up-date on it with greek and italy press going with it

  65. I’m not saying I believe the Smith to Leeds rumours, just that I get the feeling that something may be going on. Your right Ice that Leeds wouldn’t pay 60K, nor would Rangers. But I think Smith himself said awhile back that he would likely agree to a wage cut if we would extend his contract. Who knows, Barton seems to making that position his own so maybe CH he’d rather start elsewhere for less money and a longer contract then ride to bench here. Again this is just me speculating, not based on anything but the usual rumours.

    Still I can’t see us going into the season with 6 forwards, especially since Nolan does play there as well at times.

    CC@54- I think they are being patient with us because (again, according to reports) he really wants to come here and seems to have a say in the matter. i don’t think Milan has any money without selling first. Either way, I say get him.

  66. smith must not have much of his contract to go.anyway lads them stories about ben arfa are 2 days old about hoffenheim.so dont read to much into them.agree pay the money he wonts to come unless we have got him.

  67. Smithy to the gers is doing the rounds in glasgee, crack is he wants to come but we can’t agree how much of his wages we will have to pay….supposedly we had offered him in pex for bougherra (sp) earlier in the window but its on again because mark hughes is after davis. Probably absolute rubbish, the same lads reckoned they were getting guttuso & they’re also celtic supporters.

  68. I know there are sic forwards here but I still think Hughton is after a proven striker. I would say Carroll is the biggest goal threat but he has never properly played at that level. I’m not expecting anything from Shola or Best and unsure about Lovenkrands or Xisco (never given a chance).

  69. The trouble marseille hav is ben arfa is only interested in movin to us according to reports so they hav to meet us half from what we bid n wht they value him at, according to that lad b4 we hav signed him for 6m

  70. @68 Agree that the quality of strikers is a concern, but Loven at least provides a bit of a different style I haven’t been one to agree with those calling for a #10 on here, but watching Tuesday’s match changed my mind a bit. it seemed like that was the most glaring thing missing from club as I was please with everything else. We created plenty of space in the final 3rd but lacked that extra bit of creative quality to finish attacks.

  71. Icedog – I honestly Haven’t seen anything about Arevalo, not yet anyway. Only what you guys have been saying :)