The Silver Supremo: Greedy for silverware.Speaking in a rare interview, this time for BBC Radio Newcastle’s “Total Sport”, Alan Pardew has given his strongest hint yet that he no longer fears relegation, and will go all out for the FA and League Cups.
When he was asked by Total Sport listener, “Liam,” on whether going further in the League Cup would be a “realistic target”, and whether he would be fielding a full strength side in Wednesday’s fourth round tie against Blackburn Rovers, the Silver Supremo was unusually secretive, but for obvious reasons.
He started by saying:
“I knew this was a question that was going to come up today! And Mick (Lowes) will tell you that I sidestepped it this morning and there’s a good reason for that. I think that Blackburn will be watching everything I say and I don’t want to give them any indication of what I’m going to put out, because they’re in a situation where they have real pressure on them in terms of the bottom of the table. So I’m going to watch their selection at the weekend. I’m going to watch how they approach this game. I know how I’m going to approach it, I’ve already made my mind up. So I’m afraid I’m not going to give you any clues on that!”
Tiote: Out for Mackems, 'Spurs and Fulham.The F.A. anouunced today that Newcastle’s United’s appeal on behalf of the club’s defensive midfielder, Cheik Tiote, has been rejected, and that a ban for Newcastle’s next three games stands.
This means that the Ivory Coast player, who has rapidly become part of the essential fabric of the club’s first team as defensive cover for the back four will miss fixtures against the Mackems, Tottenham and Fulham.
The player was shown the red card in United’s defeat in the F.A. Cup against Stevenage on Saturday, 8 January. It was for what the referee, Andre Marriner, saw as a wreckless tackle on Stevenage’s John Ashton, where he felt that Tiote was out of control and had his studs showing, though he never really touched the player.
A short announcement from the F/A. on their website read as follows: (more…)
Tiote: Four match ban if appeal failsNewcastle United will be making an appeal to the F.A over holding midfielder, Cheik Tiote’s red card in the club’s potentially disastrous F.A. Cup defeat against League Two’s Stevenage Borough.
The Ivory Coast player was shown a straight red card in the tie, meaning that a player who has made himself practically an essential part of Newcstle’s midfield this term could face a four match ban for what many see as a debatable sending off. This would consist of three for the original sending off, and a fourth for wasting the FA’s time if the appeal is unsuccessful. This means that if the appeal fails, Tiote will miss Premier League fixtures against Sunderland, Tottenham, Fulham and Arsenal.
Speaking of the incident, the player himself told told Tyneside paper, The Chronic:
“Maybe the referee made a mistake because I didn’t touch the player.
“I took the ball – I didn’t touch the player – and I don’t know why he gave me a red card, but this is football.
“The most important thing is the next game, and I want to play.
“Hopefully the club can do something. For me, Sunderland is a very important game, and I don’t want to miss it.” (more…)
Nolan: “Kick in the cojones”Newcastle United captain, Kevin Nolan has come out and apologised for the teams woeful performance against Stevenage Borough in the F.A. Cup third round, which saw Stevenage winning in a convincing 3-1 victory. He also commented on his “disappointment” at the shock result, and that Stevenage thoroughly desrved the result. He said:
“I don’t think you could question the attitude of the lads, they all wanted to do the right thing.
“The fact is, it just didn’t happen.
“You had 11 lads from Stevenage who probably wanted it a bit more than us and that’s the most disappointing thing.
“We knew it was going to be tough with a big crowd and everything. I thought we responded really well in the first half, a few of the lads looked a bit leggy in the second.
“We weren’t very good. We weren’t how we’ve been over the last few games and we knew they’d give it a good go and they did. They fully deserved the win.
“This is going to give us a kick in the cojones, a massive one, and we have to respond.
“We have to make sure that come the end of the season Newcastle United are still a Premier League team and when we played Stevenage next year, we come down and do the business.(more…)
Pardew: Poor excuses.Speaking in his post match interview after Newcastle United’s Stevenage Borough F.A. Cup fiasco, Newcastle manager, Alan Pardew, bemoaned the lack of energy levels in his team, saying:
“The physical side of Stevenage’s game was a problem for us all night.
“I can only say we are sorry for the result and for the performance because it was the performance level which was the problem tonight.
“We were running on empty.
“It’s been such a tough sequence of games.
“The team was a shadow of the team which played at Wigan and West Ham.
“Our energy level just couldn’t match theirs.
“In both boxes we got dominated. The team looked tired.
“We had some key players missing through injury but I played the strongest team I could.” (more…)
