Miller scores against The Mags... Again!After being enthused with Tuesday nights performance, I think it is fair to say I am rather unenthused after this performance.
Newcastle tasted defeat in their final warm up game for the new season, and if we play like that we will be tasting it a lot more in the coming season.
The away side looked neat and tidy on the ball, but the lack of any real quality showed up again as they were unable to convert that possesion into any real meaningful chances. Jonas Gutierrez looked rusty whilst James Perch showed some pace, which countered some of his awful positioning. Shola Ameobi looked static, Danny Guthrie became Danny ‘hit one and miss three’ and Wayne Routledge appeared to look like he had forgotten how to cross a ball. (more…)
Winners!Newcastle played out an entertaining pre-season encounter with Deportivo la Coruna in Spain this evening, and walked away with some silverware for their efforts.
In an enjoyable yet even match it was Newcastle who triumphed and took the Teresa Herrera trophy back to Tyneside with them, although admittedly it took a penalty shoot-out to seperate the two sides after they played out a 0-0 draw in the 90 minutes.
There was a fair amount of positives to come out of this evenings games, and the performance in general left me personally feeling satisfied as we head off to Rangers on Saturday. Joey Barton, sporting his porn effect moustache, impressed with Danny Guthrie in the middle, Fabricio Coloccini was a rock in defence, Leon Best and Andy Carroll made themselves a nuisance up front, and in general we kept the ball quite well at times. (more…)
The view from the Gallowgate end.Newcastle were taught a lesson today as PSV Eindhoven took them apart at St James’ Park this afternoon. The scoreline didn’t reflect the superiority displayed by the Dutch, but I guees it is the result of 2-2 that counts.
The Dutch philosophy of ‘Total Football’ was reinforced as PSV controlled the ball and left the Newcastle players chasing shadows for large periods of the game.
I know it’s only pre-season, and it’s all about fitness etc, but these games should also serve as a warning to the management. Our starting eleven may be good enough for survival in my opinion, but if any of those starting eleven players are out through injury or suspension then we could struggle. New faces to add to the squad are still very much needed, all in my opinion of course. (more…)
Two-goal Norwich hero - Chris Martin.Newcastle suffered their first defeat of the pre-season campaign today as Championship outfit Norwich City capitalised on an error strewn performance to beat The Magpies 2-1 at Carrow Road.
Surprisingly, or perhaps not, some fans appear to be taking this pre-season defeat to heart, which would be particularly noticable if you had the privelage of keeping in touch with the match via Lee Ryder’s Blog on the Tyne live feed.
The message to those fans from me, and probably a lot of others, is simple – Get a grip!
It’s pre-season, and whilst it would be nice to have won the game I very much doubt that our whole season is on the verge of collapse because of a narrow defeat to a team that is only one league below us. It could be worse anyway, 6-1, Leyton Orient, ring any bells? Exactly. With a patched up team on the pitch there was always going to be a chance of losing, although it does highlight just how succeptable the squad is to injury. (more…)
Best off the mark as Toon win 3-0.Pre-season kicked off properly this afternoon as Newcastle travelled cross country to Cumbria to tackle Carlisle in what was our first friendly match in the run up to the new season.
The game may not have panned out as easy as the headline or scoreline suggets and the Newcastle players will head home this evening knowing they have been involved in a game of football.
That is not a bad thing in my opinion when you consider our first Premier League match will be against Manchester United where that kind of experience will be needed. Chris Hughton took a near full strength squad to Brunton Park and that enabled him to field two complete sides, one for either half of the match, which will give everyone a fitness boost ahead our next pre-season game away at Norwich in a weeks time. (more…)
