The yellow card - A familiar sight this season.Newcastle have had a habit of picking up yellow cards this season. In fact indiscipline has arguably played a large part in our season to date.
A quick glance at the ‘Fair Play’ table should tell us all we need to know. It doesn’t make for pretty reading, but Newcastle have racked up 45 yellow cards and one red card in their 19 games so far this season and sit second from bottom of that particular league. Add Joey Barton’s and Mike Williamson’s respective three match bans for violent conduct into the mix and things don’t look so pretty.
I think it’s pretty safe to rule out qualifying for Europe via the ‘back door’ for this season. Incidentally, the team currently leading the way in the Fair Play league is Fulham, closely followed by Blackpool. Imagine that eh? Mind you, with the way Blackpool have equipped themselves so far this season I wouldn’t rule anything out!
Anyway, I’m getting off track. The pitfalls of picking up so many yellow cards are pretty obvious, as evidenced by Kevin Nolan’s absence yesterday and the suspension of Cheik Tiote a few weeks back. Yellow cards equal suspensions, and with Andy Carroll and Joey Barton both just one away and Jonas Gutierrez, Fabricio Coloccini and Jose Enrique all two bookings away from picking their fifth booking of the season, the consequences could be disastrous. (more…)
Barton in bother again?It is being reported that The FA are poised to take more action against Joey Barton, this time for an alleged obscene gesture during the Liverpool match.
The Express claims that The FA are awaiting the match report from referee Lee Mason before deciding if any more action is taken.
If Lee Mason saw the incident, which is highly unlikely as he missed a hell of a lot of other stuff during the game yesterday, and mentioned it in his match report then Barton will be fine. However, if Mason missed the incident, which is entirely probable, then that could open the door for The FA ta take retrospective action against yesterday’s Man-of-the-Match.
I can only assume that this “obscene gesture” is referring to when Barton grabbed his testicles and hinted that Fernando Torres didn’t have any. If that is the case then The FA are clearly taking the piss with Newcastle. (more…)
Hughton: Defending his little angels.Newcastle United manager, Chris Hughton has recently come out and defended his team’s disciplinary record in the wake of three suspensions of major players, namely, Joey Barton for a crafty dig at Blackburn’s Morten Gamst Pedersen, Fabricio Coloccini for an elbow in in the face of Bolton’s Johan Elmander, and finally, Mike Williamson for a debatable ‘headbutt’, once again on Elmander.
Former Magpie, Alan Shearer, has accused the team of deliberately roughing players up in his role as a pundit on ‘Match of the Day’. However, Hughton responded to the accusations in an interview where he referred to a “freak fortnight” of disciplinary lapses from his little angels. He said:
“I don’t think that anyone who has seen us play would call us a dirty team.”
“It’s not a concern that we’ll pick up a reputation at all because we’re not that kind of side at all. But of course the players need to be aware of their actions and what it might mean.
“But what we have had really is a freak fortnight. To have one ban like this is quite unusual, but to have three in two weeks is really quite rare. (more…)
