“Goals in the Championship doesn’t relate to goals in the Premier League for some players. I saw Abel Hernandez score 20-odd goals to get Hull up last year and he’s struggled badly this term. (more…)
As we managed to fall over the line to a 1-0 ‘win’ over QPR its got to be said that was one of the worst games of football I have ever seen in my whole life. Which was caused by mainly two things a) QPR being one of the worst teams that have ever shown up at St James’ Park and b) Our defensive starting line up. Those two miserable things cancelled each other out into an insufferable bore fest that would kill anyone’s Christmas spirit no matter how jolly they were feeling prior to kick off.
But this kind of performance from us on our own patch against a completely inferior side is no surprise whatsoever to all of us, or it shouldn’t be. It’s a typical Alan Pardew performance which we have come to expect in his 2 years here as manager. We didn’t exactly ‘win’ that game on Saturday afternoon but just managed to get the ball into their net on that bare minimal occasion, as the opposition had no chance of doing the same to us. QPR were hopeless. We were not much better. (more…)
Date: Sunday, 11th November.
Kick off: 3:00pm
Referee: Mike Dean (the Wirral).
UK TV: None.
Good afternoon and welcome to our “match banter” feature for this afternoon’s game against West Ham.
Today, around 50,000 Geordies and a few Londoners will gather to watch Big Sam’s long balls and Alan Pardew’s long balls clash. As I mentioned in my previous match preview for the game, Newcastle United and West Ham are two of the biggest “route one” teams in the Premiership, so expect to see quite alot of “mortar fire” into both teams’ penalty areas this afternoon, and possibly a fairly tight contest between the ninth and tenth placed teams in the Premiership, as though Big Sam’s teams may not be they most entertaining to watch, they are usually tough nuts to crack.
Of course, today’s game will see the return of no less than three ex-Magpies, Big Sam, Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll, so let’s hope that they all get a real Geordie welcome! (more…)
Date: Sunday, 11th November.
Kick off: 3:00pm
Referee: Mike Dean (the Wirral).
UK TV: None.
In case you are one of those who have successfully deceived yourselves that our manager’s real name is Alan Pardiola, and today’s fixture will be a match between a cultured, elegant passing side of fancy foreigners against big, “long ball” Sam, well think again!
As we go into this game Newcastle and West Ham are currently the two biggest “route one” sides in the Premiership. Looking at my OPTA stats, which defines long balls as passes of over 25 yards, Newcastle United and West Ham are the two biggest long ball merchants, with 17.5% of Newcastle’s total passes being long balls, and 17.9% of West Ham’s.
To put this into some kind of perspective, the percentage for Swansea City (our next opponents incidentally) is 9.7%, which is even bigger gulf than it sounds. Of course, this is not to say that the lower the percentage, the better it is or any nonsense like that. As the great Mackem Buddha of football, Bob Paisley, once said (and also Michael Laudrup more recently), “it’s not about the short pass or the long pass. It’s about the RIGHT pass.” Though the great Dane could say that as he could pass a ball 30 yards on to a team mates foot (and from a tight space too) effortlessly! (more…)
Nolan said:
“Would Joey Barton come here? Well, I came here, so I can’t see why Joey Barton would not come, it is a massive club.
“The way he has been treated over the last couple of years, he is probably looking for an escape.
“He knows I’m here, he knows Sam (who brought the player to St James’ park in June 2007) is here and what we are about – I can look after him and he can look after me!
“It would definitely be good for me. Joey is a great player to play alongside and he is a winner.
“He tells it straight, as people know, but deep down he is a lovely lad and I get on really well with him.
“He would be a great acquisition to the squad if we got him here. (more…)