Basically, it is my thoughts on the following exchange between two Newcastle United fans’ representatives (Phil Patterson and Chris Forster) with unnamed representatives of the club at the recent ‘Fans’ Forum’ meeting at St James’ Park.
Cisse – Back in the goals against Leeds.My latest blog at metro.co.uk is now up!
Now entitled “Left-field selection Sammy Ameobi helps Papiss Cisse break his Newcastle scoring duck,” it orignally had the same title as this piece until a sub-editor got his or her hands on it. Thankfully though, they seem to have left the story intact this time, apart from taking my correct spelling of ‘Yoan Gouffran’ and changing it to ‘Yoann Gouffran’ like another French player, Yoann Gourcuff.
Enough of my petty griping though, the piece itself takes a look at the return of Papiss Cisse to the score sheet in Wednesday evening’s League Cup game against Leeds United. It also takes a look at the role of two of the best players in that particular game, Sammy Ameobi and Yoan Gouffran. In particular I look at how, for a change, Alan Pardew actually had a left footed player, Ameobi the younger, playing on the left hand side rather than a right footer who would constantly cut in. This resulted in a superb left footed cross by the big lad for Cisse’s goal, with Ameobi also playing a role in Gouffran’s spectacular second goal in what was an excellent performance overall on the wing from the youngster. (more…)
The men in black go into battle once again.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Weds 25th Sep, 2013. Kick off: 7.45pm. Referee: Mike Jones (Chester). UK TV: None.
This game will see Alan Pardew taking on his Reading protege Brian McDermott once again. Of course, the last time they met as opponents was when McDermott was manager of Reading, and predictably, two of the great masters of “route one” football served up a festival of long balls with Reading eventually coming out as the 2-1 victors. McDermott’s latest side certainly aren’t setting the Championship table on fire right now though, being 13th with 11 points after 8 games.
Previous results.
Newcastle United and Leeds Uniteds last six games in all competitions (most recent first).
In it I take a look at how Pardew, like a madman, seems to keep making the same tactical mistakes over and over again, always expecting a different result. It makes supporting Newcastle United like ‘Groundhog day.’ I also take a look at a few other things too, but I’ll leave that for you to find out. In hindsight though, I did omit to mention another Pardew tradition, bizarre substitutions, a tradition which goes way back in his career and if you don’t believe me, ask a West Ham or Charlton fan! Of course, I am referring to his decision to throw on Cheick Tiote and leave Sammy Ameobi on the bench when the side were 2-3 down with five minutes to go and the Magpies desperately needed a goal, but there you go.
