Carroll - The hat-trick hero.As unexpected things go, todays game has to be pretty much up there with the best of them.
Not so much the game itself, as most of us knew that Newcastle would at the very least be up for the fight, but the 6-0 scoreline has to be, surely has to be, the most unexpected part of proceedings.
What I watched today enthused me no end.
The silly mistakes had disappeared and Newcastle looked quick whilst in possesion. Andy Carroll was again immense, and will go home tonight carrying the match ball after a fantastic, and yes unexpected, hat-trick. (more…)
Carroll will do the business.One of the question marks heading into this season has been regarding Andy Carroll and his ability to make an impact at Premier League level.
Those concerns will have been dampened for the time being given the level of performance from the new number nine at Old Trafford last night.
I know people will look back and remember the header he should have scored to give us a 1-0 lead. He should have done better, and he knows that. What is more important though is that we know he can do better. We know he can score headers and can be deadly in the air, but he isn’t going to score all the time – even Alan Shearer missed the target occasionally, only occasionally mind! (more…)
Carroll will do the business.Andy Carroll has reassured fans who are concerned about where our goals are going to come from this season by hinting that all we need to do is back him and he will do the business for us.
Carroll didn’t manage to find the net in pre-season but is confident that when it gets down to business in the league he can pick up where he left off last season.
There is going to be a lot of pressure on Carroll this season, and questions will be asked over whether or not he can handle it at such a young age. I think he will deal with the pressure, even though it will have been turned up a notch now he has the number nine shirt. I also believe that if the service is there he will score goals. (more…)
Injury problems for Carroll?Andy Carroll has withdrawn from the England Under-21 squad for tomorrow nights match against Uzbekistan at Ashton Gate.
Carroll came off at half-time with a back injury in the match against Rangers at the weekend, and was closely followed by Jose Enrique who also suffered a some form of knock.
There is still a week to go until our opening game of the season, so a lot will depend on the seriousness of any injuries sustained before any panic buttons can start being pressed. They certainly didn’t look like major injuries to me though, but slight niggles can be deceptive, and we already know that Chris Hughton tends not to risk players who are carrying little niggles, unless it is absolutely necessary of course. (more…)
Winners!Newcastle played out an entertaining pre-season encounter with Deportivo la Coruna in Spain this evening, and walked away with some silverware for their efforts.
In an enjoyable yet even match it was Newcastle who triumphed and took the Teresa Herrera trophy back to Tyneside with them, although admittedly it took a penalty shoot-out to seperate the two sides after they played out a 0-0 draw in the 90 minutes.
There was a fair amount of positives to come out of this evenings games, and the performance in general left me personally feeling satisfied as we head off to Rangers on Saturday. Joey Barton, sporting his porn effect moustache, impressed with Danny Guthrie in the middle, Fabricio Coloccini was a rock in defence, Leon Best and Andy Carroll made themselves a nuisance up front, and in general we kept the ball quite well at times. (more…)
