Martinez brings his Wigan team to Toon next.Whilst I think it’s fair to say that Newcastle haven’t always got what they have deserved this season in terms of points, the fact is that we can’t change that now.
The games that we have played have gone now, and now the focus has to shift to what is in front of us and not what could have been.
Next up, after another irritating international break, will be Wigan at home, and that is a game that we simply have to take three points from. We can’t afford to keep slipping up against teams that are likely to be around us come the end of the season. The kind of slip-ups that we witnessed against Blackpool and Stoke cannot be repeated if Newcastle are to harbour any real intention of staying in the Premier League beyond this season.
It sounds harsh, but in my opinion it’s true. Newcastle simply must start putting points on the board. You could argue that we have played well anough to deserve points at Manchester City and at home to Blackpool all you want, but the fact is that we didn’t get anything. (more…)
Hatem Ben Arfa - Get well soon bonny lad.As Hatem Ben Arfa begins the long and winding road to what will hopefully be a full recovery, many people have been waiting to see just where the Frenchman would be conducting his rehabilitation.
What usually happens when a loan player suffers a serious injury like this is that the player will end up going back to his parent club, in this case Marseille, to conduct their rehabilitation.
The reason for that is that he is still technically their player and the club who own him will usually want to look after their own player, plus there is usually an unwillingness for the club that is loaning the player to take the financial hit of paying wages and medical bills for the player.
As I say, that is the usual way things happen, but it seems that things are happening differently with Hatem Ben Arfa. The news is that he will be staying on Tyneside and letting the Newcastle medical staff nurse him back to full fitness. That, in my eyes, is a very very positive move regarding the future of the player. (more…)
Give shoddy refs the red card!I can only assume that in a former life, Newcastle United must have been some form of evil tyrant that tortured that families of referees up and down the land.
Perhaps not, but there has to be some excuse for some of the lousy officiating that Newcastle have found themselves on the end of so far this season.
There is a saying that goes something like ‘it’s tough at the top’. Well let me tell the people who said that that it is far far tougher at the bottom, and getting wrong decisions going against you all the time makes it that much harder. I’m not talking about small decisions here, I’m talking whopping great massive decisions that either aren’t being spotted or are just being ignored. Take your pick.
So with that in mind, is it now the time for match officials to become more accountable for their decisions? (more…)
A sorry sight indeed.With the news that Hatem Ben Arfa has broken both the Tibula and Fibia bones in his leg still being digested by many Newcastle fans, it is perhaps inevitable that questions will now be asked about how long the player will be out of action for.
The sensible thing to say is that nobody will really know until Ben Arfa has undergone surgery in Manchester later today. These kinds of injury can be very different from person to person and the length of time it can take for someone to recover can vary greatly.
Without wanting to sound too grotesque, the best thing we can hope for is that the breaks are as far away from the ankle or knee as possible and that they are clean breaks. In a strange kind of way, that is the best outcome of this terrible situation Ben Arfa has found himself in. (more…)
Martin Atkinson - The man in question.As days go, they really don’t get much worse than today given what we had to witness at Manchester City this afternoon.
The performance was sound enough for us, we played well enough throughout the game and deserved something from the match, in my opinion anyway.
Referee Martin Atkinson though had an absolute shocker as he took control of the game this afternoon.
If his decision to award a penalty to Manchester City after Mike Williamson won the ball from Carlos Tevez, outside the box I hasten to add, was harsh then his decision not to award a penalty to the away side was ridiculous after Joleon Lescott took away the legs of Shola Ameobi in the City penalty area. (more…)
