Cabaye & Pardew share their Champions League thoughts
Posted on April 24th, 2012 | 5 Comments |
Alan Pardew’s switch to a 4-3-3 has certainly improved Newcastle in terms of entertainment value and with players like Ben Arfa on the pitch we’re recapturing a little of the classic, 90’s ‘Entertainers’ era. Yohan Cabaye gives a nod towards that era in his latest interview. Cabaye said:
“I was young but I remember David Ginola playing here.”
Thanks Yohan, you’ve made me feel quite old. He’d have been 8-10 during those years.
“They were fighting with Man United for the title and they beat them 5-0, and I remember Ginola’s goal. We are proud to share some records with them.,” Cabaye continued.
Then, talking about our Champions League aspirations, Cabaye said:
“Why not? We have four games and we’re in a good position.
“It was important to beat Stoke to help secure the Europa League. For the Champions League though, I think we must wait to see if we are still in the race when we play Man City here and Everton away. But we have a chance.“
“We want to be focused match by match. There are 12 points for us to take.”
Apparently Yohan just sustained a ‘knock’ to his ankle on Saturday and should be fit to play again on the weekend, which is great news as he had an excellent game against Stoke.
Meanwhile, Alan Pardew is a little more sedate about things and said:
“We will keep our feet on the floor. We are not going to get carried away by it all.
“There’s less pressure on us than the others for sure, and we will see if we can win at Wigan.
“It’s amazing what you can do when you are all pulling in one direction.
“We are calm and we have got momentum, and there’s a good feeling at the training ground. That makes us dangerous.”
It does indeed. I think it’s fair to say that the weight of expectation lies heavier with Chelsea, Man City and possibly even Everton than it does with us, although maybe not Wigan. Sure, we’ll be battling for that Champions League spot but in a sense we’ve already achieved more than expected and maybe that takes a little pressure off us, which in turn might allow us to play more freely and thus perhaps better.
Howay the lads!
NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen
I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10).
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“I think it’s fair to say that the weight of expectation lies heavier with Chelsea, Man City and possibly even Everton than it does with us, although maybe not Wigan.”
Wigan may be (just) out of the bottom three, but are still trying to avoid relegation, so I would have thought that the pressure on them was higher than anyone.