Roberto Martinez: Difficult start to the seasonVenue: St James’ Park, Newcastle Date: Saturday, October 22nd, 2011 Kick-off: 3:00pm Referee: Neil Swarbrick.
Roberto Martinez brings his Wigan squad up to Tyneside this Saturday, as Newcastle United will look to continue their undefeated record in all competitions so far this season.
There is no live UK broadcast of the match, but due to the wonders of the internet, you may likely be able to find a link here
Wigan’s form so far this season has been dreadful. They started the season with a 1-1 draw at home to last seasons Championship winners, Norwich City, followed by another share of the spoils against the newly promoted Swansea City. Franco Di Santo helped Wigan record their first victory of the season in their third Premier League match against QPR at the DW Stadium, but after that victory, they went on to suffer four straight defeats. Their most recent encounter was versus another struggling side – Bolton Wanderers, but they suffered yet another defeat, losing 3-1 in front of their own supporter(s). Away from the DW Stadium, Wigan have played four, drew one and lost three. In that process they have scored one, and conceded eight.
Craig Bellamy: Controversial as ever.Newcastle United old boy, Craig Bellamy, has a long and insightful interview on American site ‘EPL Talk.’
Given while Bellamy was in Orlando, Florida last month, coaching the youngsters at the 2011 Disney Soccer Academy, it covers quite a few topics from Bellamy’s time in the game. This included recollections of his five years at Newcastle (including a spell at Celtic on loan), and working with then manager, Sir Bobby Robson. This section has been transcribed for your reading pleasure below. As usual, Bellamy pulls no punches, accusing the Newcastle United fans for playing a big part in the Sir Bobby’s exit from the club, and saying that there is “no chance” he would ever play for Newcastle again because “there is no one else to play for up there”.
EPL Talk:“Lets talk about Newcastle United. What was was your greatest memory of playing there?”(more…)
Concentrate!On the pitch, what needs fixing? Most would point out the glaring lack of fire-power within the ranks, for the ‘number 9′ Shirt is lies dormant at St James’ Park.
This of course has been true since January, when a certain someone departed to join Kenny Dalglish’s revolution, and our inability to act for a replacement due to the timing of the transfer. Now summer has arrived, we do have the time, and already names are being linked for the vacancy, some realistic, some not so, but the obvious fact is, the owners and management are in the process of finding the man to shoulder the responsibility of the number 9 shirt.
Goals…
Newcastle, performed admirably in front of goal in the Premier League last season, with our captain, Kevin Nolan, managing 12, Carroll 11, Ameobi, Lovenkrands and Best each netting 6, Joey Barton hitting 4 and Jonas along with Steven Taylor netting 3. There were also a couple from Coloccini, and solitary strikes from Ben Arfa and Cheick Tiote, along with an own goal from West Broms Olsson, taking Newcastle’s Total to 56. Not Bad, in fact it was the joint 6th highest in the division. The 41 goals scored at St James’ was the most we have managed in the last decade (not counting our Championship season). (more…)
