A possibility?Newcastle United’s current 6th place Premier League position with 2/3rds of the season gone raises the possibility – albeit an outside one – of European qualification, but how will we cope if that happens?
I think it’s fair to say that Newcastle United have exceeded most people’s expectations so far this season. There are still 13 games left this season, which is plenty time for things to collapse in a heap of course, but – as I write – we’re currently 6th, 3 points clear of Liverpool in 7th and just 1 point behind Arsenal and Chelsea in 4th and 5th respectively.
You can credit our lofty position to Pardew, the team or even Ashley, or you can call it blind luck and quantum silliness if you like. But we are where we are and with cracks in Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool this season you might have at least one eye on the possibility that we might qualify for Europe.
We’re not completely safe from below. Liverpool – cracks notwithstanding – are still a threat and both Everton and the Mackems have been charging up the table recently while Norwich have gone quietly about the business of finding themselves the 8th spot at the moment.
So we certainly we can’t count our chickens before we’re sure they’ll fit through the eye of a needle, but it would be a very pessimistic supporter indeed who hasn’t once wondered if would might just edge into a European spot this season, even if it’s just that Europa League thingy, which could stretch as far as 6th or 7th depending on where teams like Chelsea and Liverpool finish and how they do in the domestic cup competitions. (more…)
Ashley's ninjas move in.“All this was inspired by the principle – which is quite true within itself – that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.”
One's gannin', one's stayin'.Just as the last of our African players (Cheick Tiote) was returning from the recent Africa Cup of Nations finals, there was news that Papiss Cissé will have to pack his bags for Africa once more.
Cissé, though not his fellow “Lion of Teranga,” Demba Ba, has been selected for to play for Senegal in a friendly against South Africa at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday, February 29th. This will come in the middle of Newcastle United’s next game, with Wolves on the 25th February, and the Sunday Mackem battle on the 4th of March in what could be an exhausting week for the Senegalese hitman. South Africa will also be the venue for the next Africa Cup of Nations, which will be held next year too as in future, the competition will be held in odd years rather than even ones.
As mentioned above, Demba Ba has not been selected, and has faced some criticism for tweeting about missing club football at Newcastle United as he trained with Senegal. The offending tweets being: (more…)
Cheer Up!It’s probably a demonstration of how far we have come in such a short space of time that some United fans have been decidedly grumpy following the recent setback at Tottenham. That’s understandable. However it’s a very short-term view of a one match blip in what has otherwise been a highly successful season so far. We have a number of reasons to be optimistic about the rest of the season, and perhaps the longer term future of our beloved club. Here are some of those reasons.
First of all, let’s put the Tottenham thing to bed. It was only one game, only 3 points. With their current players and manager not many teams will go there and get anything. We went there without key players like both Taylors, Tiote and Cabaye, and with our relatively small squad, didn’t have anyone as effective to replace them. We’ll no doubt repay the Spuds after “Harry” leaves in the summer. We’ve stuffed them before, we’ll stuff them again, that’s inevitable. (more…)
Pardew - Learning lessons?After Newcastle United’s 5-0 thumping at Tottenham on Saturday, silver supremo Alan Pardew has reflected on his teams defeat and performance at White Hart Lane.
Recent quotes attributed to Mr.Pardew happen to mention the use of formation in recent weeks, which is something I am interested in venting my thoughts on. But before I begin, in case you haven’t had the pleasure of reading his recent reflections on all things Newcastle I shall include the most important snippet for you below. Enjoy…
“We have two good strikers but they didn’t have a chance at Spurs. Papiss isn’t going to win you the game when you’re 2-0 down after five minutes.
“We need to be able to cope with having two strikers. The Press and the fans have criticised us when we have played 4-5-1 at times this year. Now they understand why.”
The formation debate is something that I see / hear on a regular basis, right through all the Newcastle blogs it’s a topic discussed between fans. The main issue I see however has never been in regards to United utilising a 4-5-1, rather, it has been more notably about United using a 4-4-2. It seems, certainly in my case anyway, that most are against Newcastle using 4-4-2 and more pro towards using a 4-5-1. So where Pardew has got this information from seems lost on me. Moreover, Newcastle haven’t used a 4-5-1 all season, but have dabbled with a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-1-1. The latter formation has only been used when Hatem Ben Arfa has been included in the starting eleven (hardly ever), and the former was recently used at Fulham and Brighton. (more…)
