First team future?Nile Ranger scored a hat-trick for the reserves yesterday, but where does he stand in the pecking order of Newcastle United strikers?
I can’t help but think that Ranger is sliding down the list of strikers as far as Alan Pardew is concerned.
Given that Andy Carroll is our number one striker, it seems that Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands and Leon Best are all likely to be picked ahead of Ranger, with Best’s ranking undoubtedly helped by his hat-trick against West Ham.
And what about Xisco? We paid £5.7m for him and I can’t remember seeing him since he came on as a sub during the 6-0 thrashing of Villa. I suspect that Ranger is at least ahead of him in the pecking order.
But it may even be worse than that for Ranger because there’s always the option of pushing someone like Nolan or Ben Arfa up to support a striker, which could drop Ranger even further down the list.
And then of course there’s the rumours that we might be looking to sign another striker.
So where does this leave Nile Ranger in terms of his first team status? (more…)
The future of Newcastle?Reports suggest that Joey Barton is soon to sign a new five and a half year contract with Newcastle United and Alan Pardew reiterates that Carroll is not for sale.
Apparently negotiations are underway to keep Joey Barton at Newcastle until (pretty much) the end of his playing career.
It is reported that Barton is prepared to take a £10,000/week wage drop to remain at Newcastle, which will drop him down to the £50,000/week that is allegedly the club’s maximum wage.
Barton has been in stunning form this season and has recently been making his case for an England recall. He has scored 3 times for us this season – including an absolute cracker against Stevenage in an otherwise disappointing game – and his passing has often been inch-perfect.
Beware though, some of these reports are coming from the red tops. Having said that, I can actually see the reports as having some truth in them. (more…)
Shola: Fully fit for return on Sunday.As Newcastle prepare for Sunday’s derby against Sunderland, Magpie’s manager, Alan Pardew, has reassured fans that Mackem nemesis, Shola Ameobi, along with winger, Jonas Gutierrez, left back, Jose Enrique and centre back, Steven Taylor, will all be fully fit for the game.
Shola has been sidelined with an ankle injury for the last two games while Gutierrez, Enrique and Taylor all missed the previous game against Stevenage. Vintage centre back, Sol Campbell, should also be fully recovered from a virus and available for selection.
Pardew told local newspaper, The Journal:
“The injury news is looking positive for us and we should have some important players back. (more…)
Ranger to supply the danger this Sunday?Andy Carroll looks likely to miss the game against Wigan on Sunday, and he could also miss the home game next week against West Ham after picking up a thigh injury.
Undoubtedly it is a huge blow to Newcastle as they face a very important week in the quest for Premier League survival as they come face to face with two teams that are battling it out at the bottom of the league currently, but being realistic there was always a risk that Carroll would pick up an injury at some point.
So now we must prepare to do battle against two teams that we are competing with without our star man. Kevin Nolan will return to the side to at least add some goal-scoring capability, but the main point of all this must be the fact that Nile Ranger will surely get a run out in the first-team in the absence of Carroll.
Many people have clamoured for Ranger to get some decent game time, and with Shola Ameobi still recovering from a hamstring strain, and now with Andy Carroll on the treatment table the time has surely come for our highly-rated youngster to attempt to make his impact on the first team. (more…)
Well 2010 is nearly a piece of history as we prepare to welcome in the new year. So what better time is there than now to look back at he best goals of 2010?
Of course, some of these goals will have come in The Championship, which is where we are going to start with contender number one.
