Loftus Road beckonsVenue: Loftus Road, London. Date: Sun 12th May, 2013. Kick off: 3.00pm. Referee: Lee Probert (Wilts). UK TV: None.
Hello, good afternoon and welcome to our penultimate “match banter” for the season.
This time of course, the Magpies face Queens Park Rangers and with Alan Pardew once again seemingly unable to find a win for love or money, each game becomes ever more crucial in the Toon’s bid to stave off yet another relegation. With our next opponents being Champions League chasing Arsenal, this clash with one of the three teams who have actually managed to be worse than us so far this season has assumed even more importance. (more…)
Liverpool – Top scorer will be missing.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle upon Tyne. Date: Sat 27th April, 2013. Kick off: 5.30pm. Referee: Andre Marriner (W. Mids). UK TV: ESPN.
Hello, good afternoon and welcome to our “match banter” piece for this afternoon’s late kick off at St James’ Park, which sees Newcastle United taking on Liverpool in a bid to finally put relegation fears at rest with just one more win.
As you can see above, this one will be televised live on ESPN in the UK, though I will still be posting links to watch the game online for those of you who can’t get it, as well as team sheets when they are available, and finally, match highlights, post match interviews and even a video of the whole game when it’s all over. (more…)
The real Stadium of Light.With the Newcastle United being drawn against footballing aristocrats Benfica for their Europa League quarter final on Thursday, here is part two of my guide to Benfica.
In part one, I took a look at some aspects of Benfica’s history, including it’s links to Newcastle United and the North East in general. In this one, I will looking at things like the club’s current form, it’s coach Jorge Jesus, tactics, some of Benfica’s key players and that sort of thing.
Benfica and Newcastle United have never played each other competitively, so we can get that one out of the way pretty sharpish and take a look at their current form.
Current Form.
Benfica’s form in the Portuguese League is pretty predictable. If they’re doing well they’re top of the League, and if they’re doing not so well they are second, usually behind their fierce rivals, FC Porto. Their other great rivals in the Portuguese “Três Grandes” (Big three) are fellow Lisbon side Sporting Clube de Portugal, but they seem to be in a bit of a pickle at the moment, currently languishing in eighth in a sixteen team league. (more…)
“Out of many, one.”As Newcastle United’s next Europa League opponents are the Portuguese footballing aristocrats of Benfica, I have been inspired to write a two part guide to the club.
In this first part, I will taking a brief look at the history of the club, as well as taking a look at the links between Benfica, Newcastle United and the North East in general. There aren’t a huge amount and Thursday will be the first time the teams have ever met in a competitive game, but they are quite interesting nonetheless.
History, facts and stats.
The club known as Sport Lisboa e Benfica, or simply “Benfica” was formed by 18 year old footballer Cosme Damião on 28 February 1904. In their 109 year history since then they have become Portugal’s most successful club, with 32 Portuguese League titles, 24 Portuguese Cups plus 3 Campeonato de Portugal titles (the old version of the cup), 4 Portuguese League Cups, 4 Portuguese Super Cups and not least, 2 European Cups won in 1960 and 1961. (more…)
Pochettino playing for Argentina in the 2002 World Cup.In our game against Southampton this afternoon, along with our next one against Swansea City, we will be facing the teams of the two most talented and admired young coaches in the Premiership, Mauricio Pochettino and Michael Laudrup.
Of course, English fans including those of Newcastle United are very familiar with Laudrup the coach now, who has guided the Premiership minnows of Swansea to their first ever major trophy final later today in only his first season at the club. However, some of you might be less familiar with Pochettino, and may well (with good reason) have been somewhat bemused by the sacking of his Southampton predecessor, Nigel Adkins. This is especially so as it came just when things seemed to be starting to go fairly well for the Saints under a very decent manager. However, despite a record with his previous club Espanyol which hardly seems earth shattering on a cursory inspection until you understand the context, there is an excitement being generated about the young coach at the very highest levels of the game. Guardiola is a fan, as is Rafa Benitez, and despite beating them 2-1, Alex Ferguson thought his Southampton side was the best he’d faced at Old Trafford all season. (more…)
