Man of the match?Goals from Lovenkrands and Best give Newcastle United all 3 points against Birmingham City.
We were out of the traps faster than a supersonic sprout and within 90 seconds we were one up. A decent run up the wing from Enrique resulted in his cross being blocked, but it rebounded only as far as Gutierrez who provided the perfect cross for Lovenkrands to half-volley past Ben Foster at the near post.
We continued to dominate for about 10 minutes and could have had a second when Lovenkrands played in Nolan but unfortunately his shot was soft and straight at the goalie.
Birmingham eventually started to come into the game a bit more and some uncharacteristically sloppy defending from Enrique saw him dispossessed in dangerous areas a few times, one of which allowed the towering Nikola Zigic to get a shot at goal, forcing Harper to make the save.
There was a worrying moment as Tiote and Coloccini managed to nut each other as both attempted to clear the ball. Both players were grounded for a few minutes but Coloccini’s superpowered hair – which contains hidden air bags – had cushioned the blow enough to get him back on his feet and Tiote – who’s just hard – followed soon after. (more…)
Alan Pardew impersonates a teapot.Speaking on this game, and the one that preceded it, Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew said that the Arsenal game was one that he would “remember for the rest of his life”. However on the game with Blackburn he commented “This is one I can instantly forget.”
Perhaps he shouldn’t though. Besides being far more exciting than the 0-0 scoreline suggests, there were lessons to be learned.
On with the game itself though. Pardew decided to revert to a 4-4-2 formation with Lovenkrands joining Best upfront. They certainly made a much better start in this game than the last one, with a first chance coming to Newcastle. Captain, Kevin Nolan almost try to get on to a very decent pullback from Joey Barton, but was unable to connect.
The next chance was one of the few that fell to Blackburn though. Around five minutes after the Nolan chance, a clearance from Blackburn’s goalkeeper, Paul Robinson, was headed on by captain, Chris Samba. This in turn found the head of Manchester City misfit, Roque Santa Cruz, who also made a rasping header which hit the post. (more…)
The Lion King leaves Arsenal reeling.It’s hard to know where to start really with an account of a game like this one.
To use one of the most common cliches in football, it was almost a game of two halves. To be more precise, it was one game in the first fifty minutes, the point where Arsenal, in a seemingly unassailable position at 4-0 up, decided to press the self destruct button in magnificent fashion. This is not to say however that Newcastle didn’t deserve enormous credit too for one of the most miraculous comebacks in recent memory, and even more miraculously, with a little help from the referee, something to which Newcastle are not generally accustomed.
Starting at the beginning though, it took less than a minute for Arsenal to score their first goal. Newcastle started the game with a new formation which looked quite alot like Arsenal’s own 4-2-3-1, with Tiote and Barton playing the deeper role in midfield, with Nolan, Gutierrez and Lovenkrands supporting striker, Leon Best up at the front. (more…)
Toon Duffed upNewcastle United are sunk by a Damien Duff goal and go down 1-0 at Craven Cottage.
If there’s one thing you don’t want to see happen after you’ve just sold your number one striker and not lined up a replacement, it’s to see your number two striker get injured. Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened to Newcastle as a 14th minute collision with Steve Sidwell saw Shola Ameobi leave the pitch with a fractured cheekbone.
There were few other notable events in the first half, although Williamson was lucky not to concede a penalty after some of his wrestling matches with Fulham players in the area.
Clint Dempsey smashed a shot over the bar and Nile Ranger, coming on for the injured Ameobi, made himself busy enough in the penalty area on the end of a Barton free kick to force a corner, but that was the sum total of first half excitement. It’s halves like that where they should really release a leopard onto the pitch from time to time to liven things up.
Fortunately things improved in the second half when Steve Harper was called into action early on to make a great save against Dempsey and Leon Best had an early chance at the other end, heading over the bar from a few yards out. (more…)
Our match correspondent is no David Bailey!Injury time sees us give up a goal for the second week running as Spurs hold Newcastle to a draw at St James’ Park.
Given that I live in Somerset, I don’t get to many home games these days, so I was keen to take advantage of my 4-day spell in Newcastle by taking in the match against Spurs. I had a swift pint in Fluid and then made my way into the ground to find that I’d once again forgotten my specs, which seems to be something of a tradition for me these days. So I watched what could have been Bruce Willis, John Cleese and Meryl Streep warming up on the pitch and then it was game on.
The first half was a fairly even affair. Spurs seemed to have plenty possession without threatening but, whilst we didn’t see quite as much of the ball as them, we looked the more dangerous in front of goal.
Jermain Defoe took a few punts at goal in the opening 10 minutes but they were neither here nor there, Enrique easily blocking one and the other flying wide. Gareth Bale then got himself crocked. I’m not entirely sure what happened but he clearly wasn’t fit to play on so he was swapped for Sebastien Bassong, who was of course roundly booed as he came on and every time he got the ball thereafter. (more…)
