Concentrate!On the pitch, what needs fixing? Most would point out the glaring lack of fire-power within the ranks, for the ‘number 9′ Shirt is lies dormant at St James’ Park.
This of course has been true since January, when a certain someone departed to join Kenny Dalglish’s revolution, and our inability to act for a replacement due to the timing of the transfer. Now summer has arrived, we do have the time, and already names are being linked for the vacancy, some realistic, some not so, but the obvious fact is, the owners and management are in the process of finding the man to shoulder the responsibility of the number 9 shirt.
Goals…
Newcastle, performed admirably in front of goal in the Premier League last season, with our captain, Kevin Nolan, managing 12, Carroll 11, Ameobi, Lovenkrands and Best each netting 6, Joey Barton hitting 4 and Jonas along with Steven Taylor netting 3. There were also a couple from Coloccini, and solitary strikes from Ben Arfa and Cheick Tiote, along with an own goal from West Broms Olsson, taking Newcastle’s Total to 56. Not Bad, in fact it was the joint 6th highest in the division. The 41 goals scored at St James’ was the most we have managed in the last decade (not counting our Championship season). (more…)
Who's best?Right, there has been many an argument / heated debate between Toon followers about the perceived merits of our 2 top ‘keepers. Some say that current number one choice, Steve Harper, lacks ambition for staying with the club so long as perennial back up to Shay Given, while others praise his loyalty.
There were plenty who claimed Harper was the better option, but that due to Given’s whining in the press when coming back from injury, he forced various manager’s hands and got back into the team, not always on merit.
Some would say Harper wasn’t tough enough and gave way to Given for the sake of ‘team morale’.
Some prefer Tim Krul to Harper. Being the younger option to Harper, who is in the Autumn of his career and claiming he needed ‘blooding’ into the Premiership way of things and that he wouldn’t get that ‘doing a Harper’ from the bench.
Harper certainly has the experience through years at the club and his loyalty can’t really be questioned. Steve has also waited patiently for his opportunity. (more…)
Dan Gosling: Ready for action at last!As most of you are no doubt aware, midfielder, Dan Gosling, was signed by prevous manager, Chris Hughton on a free when his contract lapsed at Everton. This was despite him carrying a fairly serious anterior cruciate injury, which he picked up after been flattened by Wolves goalkeeper, Marcus Hahnemann, in an Everton game with Wolves. This was always going to keep him out for several months, and he is still to make his Magpies debut. With the latest news coming in that the young star is finally ready for action, with current manager, Alan Pardew, arranging a special training game against Colin Calderwood’s Hibernian, I will take a look at Gosling, and what he brings to Newcastle United as a player.
Playing style.
I suppose that primarily, Gosling is what would usually be described nowadays as a classic “box to box” midfielder, ie a dynamic midfielder who can operate in many areas of the pitch, combining both attacking and defensive qualities as needs must, and not a million miles away from existing Newcastle players such as captain, Kevin Nolan, and Joey Barton. He is also what could be described as a “versatile” player too, who can play both on the right, in the centre, and also in defence at right back. He is also a player of some talent who has been sought by major clubs in the past, has played with England Under 21s and is still only twenty years old.
When he signed for Newcastle United, Chris Hughton described him thus: (more…)
The Boys Are Back In Toon!Apart from having headlines telling you that you had just won the lottery, isn’t a 5-1 drubbing of the unwashed the perfect reading material?
A certain amount of trepidation had begun to creep in on the generally buoyant Geordie spirit after a series of mixed results. At the same time, there was a lot of paper talk that the club had decided that Chris Hughton’s time at the helm was quickly approaching an end. The club promptly went out, decided to be more vocal (about time too), and stated where they stood regarding the situation. With the expectations higher than ever, the need to put more points on the board, and a manager clearly favoured by the board, the excitement surrounding the always enticing ‘Tyne-Wear Derby’ had now reached fever pitch.
In fact, I wonder whether Chris’ contract talks are already fairly advanced and more lucrative than before. For a man apparently working for peanuts, that was a pretty sharp suit he was wearing.
Anyway, the player’s fairly outstanding performances, are summed up below:(more…)
Lovenkrands: A story of turmoil, tragedy and success.The last in the series of our player reviews for the 09/10 season will take a look at our strikers and how they have done this season.
We have already worked our way through the team starting with goalkeepers before moving onto have a look at our defence and midfield. Our strikers have been very important for us this season and have combined to score over half of our goals this season, 47 of them in fact, and they have been spread pretty evenly between the various front men. For the first half of the season we spent our time playing mainly one striker with Kevin Nolan in an attcking support role, something that has probably helped Nolan score so many goals whilst limiting the chance of any strikers hitting the 20 goal mark. Still, it’s a team game as the saying goes, and as long as the ball is hitting the back of the net I don’t really care which player scores them. Let’s take a look anyway. (more…)
