David: Young, versatile, consistent and not injury prone. When Callum Wilson signed for the Magpies in 2020, I think it’s fair to say that many fans who were initially underwhelmed were very pleasantly surprised by his goals. However, his achilles heel is, his achilles heel, and numerous other parts of his body which seem to get injured whenever it looks like he is finally going to get a good run in the side.
In 2022, the club then signed Alexander Isak for a record fee of over £60 million. Though Isak has definitely shown his potential on the pitch since coming to the club with some great skills and goals, he too has been somewhat prone to injuries, which has left the club bereft of a proper Centre Forward at times. Wilson has been great when he’s been fit but he has been so fragile, the club needs someone else. (more…)
NUFC Blog on metro.co.ukMy two latest blogs for metro.co.uk are now up!
The first one, entitled “Pardew – Is he deluded to the point of insanity?” takes a look at some of the talking points from Monday evening’s game with Manchester City. Talking points such as the gossip surrounding Yohan Cabaye and not least, something all we Newcastle United fans have become wearily familiar with, Alan Pardew’s total lack of a grip on reality in his post-match assessment of games.
The second one is called “Were Newcastle’s ‘Three Stooges’ in Nice to sell Cabaye or buy Cvitanich?” (The sub-editor changed the original title so don’t blame me!). Basically, it is my ruminations on what Newcastle United’s “Three Stooges,” Alan Pardew, Joe Kinnear and Graham Carr might have been doing at Nice airport, where they were spotted and photographed by a Northumbria University student and Toon fan who calls himself “Sewelly” on Twitta. (more…)
Christopher Jullien – He’s a very big lad.Well, I hadn’t seen a great deal of the previous subject of my little mini series of players being followed by Graham Carr, EA Guingamp’s Gilbert Imbula Wanga, but I have seen even less of this tall (6’5″) Centre Back from another Ligue 2 side, AJ Auxerre.
I have only seen the compilation below and a few very small bits on the Ligue 2 highlights I picked up on YouTube, plus a very brief glance of him in a film on Carr himself. Hence, I can write even less from personal experience, and am pretty much totally reliant on a few snippets about the player online. In other words, not alot!
As you will see from the highlights video below, at the start at least it looks more like a collection of “bloopers” than “highlights,” with the defender being shown in the worst possible light. In many of the better bits, he is mostly at the other end of the pitch using his height as a target man heading crosses at goal. The player can’t really be assessed to any degree from that though. (more…)
Imbula: A midfield General of the future?The first in my mini series on players being followed by Newcastle United’s chief scout Graham Carr is the much fancied 20 year old, Gilbert Imbula from French Ligue 2 side, Guingamp.
Though Imbula is yet another central midfielder, and yet another player from France, he does look like a very talented central midfielder who could well be a top player in the fullness of time, the downside being that Carr isn’t the only scout to realise this, as he has also being watched by Carr’s collegues from the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and probably several others too.
Before I proceed further, I must issue a warning that I usually like to watch players in several full matches before I write about them. However, when it comes to the lower leagues overseas, obviously this is much more difficult. Hence, I must admit that I have not seen much more of this player than the videos you can see below, so please bear this in mind! (more…)
