Stuck in a rut?I know it sounds like an obvious thing to say, but it really is important that Newcastle don’t get stuck in a run of defeats this season.
That is what happened in our relegation season, and confidence drained as a result. Now I know there were other factors at play, such as the behind the scenes turmoil, but getting stuck in a run of bad results will have done the players no good at all.
It’s a vicious cycle when it happens. One or two defeats can perpetuate into a run of defeats, just look at Sunderland last season – 14 games without a win wasn’t it? That is why it is important that we start picking up points now.
Now I don’t want it to sound like I am pressing the panic button already and I know it may sound like I am going a bit over the top, but getting points on the board early simply must be the aim. Once again if we take Sunderland as an example, an inbred, six-fingered example, but an example all the same, they would have struggled to survive last season had it not been for their good early season run of results. (more…)
Stick or twist?It’s been nearly four months since promotion back to the Premier League was guaranteed.
The mood was optimistic and getting promoted so early would surely mean we could steal a march on the competition in the transfer market, right?
Wrong, or so it seems. Here we are with only 13 days of the transfer window remaining, and still we await some key additions to our squad as we preapre to fight for our Premier League lives.
I’m not suggesting that the squad we have currently can’t survive as I believe they can, if we are able to field our best eleven in every game that is, and given our record with injuries any chance of that happening would seem unlikely. I’m also not suggesting that we won’t sign anybody else in this window, we may well do. But the way this transfer window is working out certainly has a sense of deja-vu about it. (more…)
Tossers!Sunday lunchtime will see the return of Premier League football at St James’ Park as Aston Villa come to town.
That sounds suspiciously like the start of a match preview but I can assure you it isn’t. That won’t be along until closer to the match itself.
St James’ Park is likely to at least be near to being a sell-out for the match, and that should help to spur on the lads to get the first points of the new season on the board. However, if that doesn’t work then those players that were at Newcastle when we got relegated need look no further than the footage of them being mocked at Villa Park on that final day of the season for inspiration.
Still, much bigger than the need for retribution against the minority of their fans who acted like arseholes, the ones who unfurled their pre-prepared banners, the ones who lined the streets outside Villa Park to stir up trouble with a set of fans who had just seen their team relegated, is the need for three points. (more…)
Michael Owen arriving for training last year.Settle down, settle down, I’m talking about the injury league table!
Funny old world isn’t it? Last season we pretty much breezed through the season picking up relatively few injuires along the way. Strange considering we were used to having a pretty full treatment room in the Premier League.
But our return to Premier League action has signalled more than just the return of trips to Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, it has brought with it a return to our usual spot at the top of the injury league table.
For a good few years now, Newcastle fans have had to bemoan the fact that injuries seemed to strike us more than other teams. Time and time again, the same offenders were repeatedly ruled out. Michael Owen and Marcelino spring to mind as probably two of our worst culprits for missing games, although there have been more than just those two in fairness. (more…)
Ben Arfa - Decision time looms.The whole will he/won’t he saga that has been the Ben Arfa transfer story looks like it could finally be coming to an end soon, and about bloody time to!
The whole episode has been a mess from start to finish and I, along with many others, would just like to see it settled one way or the other.
Rumours are rife at the moment as a whole host of potential suitors begin to creep out of the woodwork, according to the press anyway. Newcastle still have a chance of signing of him, although nothing will be definate until we see it with our own eyes on the official website. Who knows, there could yet be some twists and turns left yet! (more…)
