Allez HBA!France begin their warm up schedule for the Euros at 8pm tonight against Iceland at the Stade De Hainaut in Valenciennes. The match will be televised in the UK on ESPN.
A number of players deployed by Les Bleus are regarded as fringe players who can still force their way into the final French squad for the European championship opener against England in June. Mathieu Debuchy, Gael Clichy, Yoann Gourcuff, Marvin Martin, Hatem Ben Arfa, Mathieu Valbuena, Jeremy Menez and Olivier Giroud are all among those who could get a look in at Valenciennes. Striker Loic Remy has been ruled out of contention for the Euros.
Yohan Cabaye will also play but his place in the final squad is thought to be secured.
Hatem Ben Arfa has admitted he is a bag of nerves going into this game, as he was in the same position in 2008 when he was cruelly left out of the final squad. (more…)
As I reported back in March and April, Reims midfielder, Romain Amalfitano, had signed a pre contract agreement to join Newcastle United on a free transfer when his Reims contract expired.
Well, as you may know already, he’s been in Toon in the last couple of days to make things official, wave a shirt around in front of a camera and such. However, he still not quite a Magpie yet, as his Reims contract doesn’t expire until the 30th June, from which point he will become a Newcastle United player. Going on previous information, it seems that the player has signed a three year contract to play with the Toon.
Pardew: Will "educate" fans in realism.In yesterday’s London Evening Standard, Newcastle United’s Silver Supremo gave a fairly lengthy and candid interview to the Standard’s Mihir Bose.
In it, he spoke of his ambition to replace Roy Hodgson as the next England manager, and also how he intends to “educate” Newcastle United fans that we cannot expect to compete in Europe AND finish fifth again next season with our current finances. He also commented on several other things, both Newcastle and non Newcastle related, including raking over the circumstances leading to the departure of Joey Barton once again, and how he convinced Mike Ashley that Papiss Cisse would be good value for the club.
Firstly though, he gave his thoughts on recently winning the League Manager’s Association “Manager of the Year” award, saying:
“To be recognised by people who do the job and understand football is fantastic”
Then, revealing his England ambitions, he felt that his CV was not quite complete enough yet, remarking: (more…)
Teamwork is the key to Toon successYohan Cabaye states in an interview that he believes teamwork has been responsibly for a lot of Newcastle United’s success this season and that it’s teamwork that can help us compete even with clubs that have better players.
Yohan Cabaye has been assessing the season for French site Sport24.com and this is what he had to say:
Interviewer: “Yohan, what is your assessment of your first season at Newcastle?”
Yohan: “I think the outcome is very positive. Early in the season, if we were told that Newcastle would finish 5th, nobody would have believed it. Our results have been beyond the expectations of the fans.”
Interviewer: “You have near caused a big surprise by getting qualification to the Champions League … ”
Yohan: “As the season progressed, we found ourselves playing in 3rd or 4th place. There is a little disappointment that we didn’t finish there but it is quickly forgotten because we had a good season anyway. And to qualify for Europe and the Europa League was really important for the fans and the club. This has been a very successful season.” (more…)
Pardew: Voted top manager (again).At their annual dinner last night, the League Managers Association presented Alan Pardew with their “Manager Of The Year” Award. The Award is the result of voting by fellow managers from the clubs in all four top professional leagues in English football.
This award is in addition to the one Alan has already received as Barclays EPL Manager of the Year. There can be no higher accolade than to be recognised by your fellow managers, and it just demonstrates what an excellent job Alan Pardew has done for Newcastle United this season, and the regard in which he is held by his peers.
Much has been said already in this blog about Alan’s achievements this season, so rather than trotting out the same stuff, lets see what the League Managers Association had to say.
LMA Chairman, Howard Wilkinson, said:
“There is no doubt that the LMA Annual Awards are perceived as the most accurate measure of a manager’s ability because there are no better judges of your performance than your peers.(more…)
