Papiss Demba Cisse - He Scores When He Wants Venue: Liberty Stadium, Swansea. Date: Fri 6th Apr 2012. Kick-Off: 16:30. Referee: Howard Webb.
Newcastle United cruised into 5th place in the English Premier League on the back of this victory. Both Tottenham and Arsenal are now looking over their shoulders at the Geordie charge, and Chelsea are playing catch up. And with two home games to come, against Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City, do we dare to dream?
This was United’s fourth win on the trot – 12 points out of 12 – and what a time to go on a run like this, at what the media luvvies refer to as “the business end of the season”.
Those of you who have read my drivel before will know that I don’t hold a lot by statistics. The plethora of statistics which are spouted by the media and (sadly) bloggers alike these days. To me, the only statisitics which matter at the end of the day are goals. And if ever there was a game which proved my point about statistics, this was it.
Swansea City had the ball for 77% of the time. Here’s where I make myself unpopular with any welsh folk reading this. It’s easy to have 77% possession if you largely pass the ball sideways or backwards in an attempt to keep hold of it. Ray Wilkins (Chelsea and England) made a career out of it – “my word!”. (more…)
Geordie Pride.They came, they saw, we conquered. Newcastle United 2, Liverpool 0 has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?
It’s certainly put a little skip in my step on this particular Monday morning!
This isn’t a match report as such. It’s more of a “reflections” piece featuring a few random thoughts as we find ourselves in what the trendy commentators call the “business end” of the season – or what us ordinary folk call the “last ten games”. We’ve won the first 3 of those games, and when you win, it matters not what the chasing pack are doing.
Whether the “National” (read “London”) media care to admit it or not, it looks like they are going to have to start referring to Newcastle United as a “top six side” – or whatever the latest catchphrase is. Because, barring almighty intervention of biblical proportions (or Everton winning every one of their remaining games), this result is the one that pretty much establishes United in the top six. (more…)
The CanariesVenue: St James’ Park, NE1 Date: Sunday, 18th March 2012 Kick-Off: 4pm (Sky TV) Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)
Newcastle United welcome Norwich City to St James’ Park with manager Alan Pardew hoping that a win in this game could set us up for the big push towards qualification for the Europa League next season. Pardew has targeted “4 or 5 wins” from the remaining 10 fixtures, and sees this game as a great chance to get one of them.
This is also payback time as far as the Magpies are concerned, having lost at Carrow Road earlier in the season where we had to field a defence with no recognised central defenders against the “robust” Norwich forwards. Needless to say, we lost but Demba Ba still managed to score 2 goals that day, and it will hopefully be even better this time round as we should be able to field a stronger defence. We should also be able to provide a midfield and attack which will ask the Norwich defence a few questions.
Norwich have acquitted themselves very well in their first season since promotion to the Premier League. In their 14 away games this season they have won 4, drawn 4 and lost only 6. Away wins were at Bolton, QPR, West Bromwich Albion and Swansea, although it’s also worth noting that they have earned creditable draws at such places as Everton, Liverpool and Stoke City. In away games against top six clubs like us however (did you see what I did there!), they have not fared so well! (more…)
"More Wins"Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has identified that we must win around half of our 10 remaining fixtures if we are to have a chance of Europa League football next season. When you think of the doom and gloom amongst many supporters at the beginning of the season, qualifying to play in Europe would have to be judged as quite an achievement by all concerned.
Pardew said:“We don’t want to slip. We are saying we are going to push for Europe now and let our fans know we are going to try to push for it. We are going to need four or five wins and if we don’t beat Norwich, that’s going to look difficult in nine games, because that means the task will be that much harder.”
“But if we win, then can we win three or four of our next nine? I think we can, and that would put us in with a great chance of Europe, so it’s a very important game. It’s tough to get into Europe. You have got a team with the finance and quality of Liverpool who could run us down. We will have to hold our hands up if that happens, but we are going to give them a good fight for their money.”(more…)
ClattermoleVenue: St James’ Park. Date: Sun 4th Mar 2012. Kick-Off: High Noon. Referee: Mike Dean. Crowd: 52,388
This was without a doubt a game of twos! Two totally different halves, two penalties, two red cards, two goals and two managers who should know better, being caught up in the rivalry and squaring up to each other both verbally and physically.
It was raining before the game, and it rained a bit during the game, but the wet weather could not dampen the electric atmosphere of the latest Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park, NE1. Already assured of a sellout crowd fired with the usual local pride and passion, United fans were further emboldened by the news released 24 hours earlier, that both Tim Krul and Fabricio Coloccini had signed contracts tying them to the club for the next 5 and 4 years respectively.
First Half
The referee Mike Dean blew his whistle to start the game and nothing happened, as the crowd noise was so intense that Sessegnon, who was waiting to get things under way, didn’t hear it. Eventually we got going however to a wall of boos for the Mackems. There were exactly 32 seconds on the clock when the mackem thug “Clattermole” ignored the ball completely and scythed down Tiote in what was clearly one of those “let him know you’re around” early tackles. He should have been given a straight red card but got away with a yellow, probably because it was so early in the game. Sadly though, this tackle signalled Sunderland’s clear intent to make this a very physical game, and this not only set the tone for the rest of the half, but meant that some of the football went out of the window as United were forced into a war rather than the possession game we have come to expect this season. (more…)
