Should I stay or should I go?On his return from an injury picked up in pre season, Newcastle United’s most senior goalkeeper, Steve Harper, was looking forward to a return in Newcastle’s League Cup tie with Nottingham Forest.
However Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, decided instead to select his old Charlton goalkeeper, Rob Elliot, instead. This came on top of previous reserve goalkeeper, the highly talented but less experienced and sometimes mistake prone Tim Krul seemingly claiming Harper’s old place in the Premiership. This was more or less confirmed when Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, said a few days after the Forest Cup tie:
“There is no situation with Steve. Harps and Rob are here as back-up to Tim at the moment because Tim has the jersey. It is as simple as that.”
Now, in a more recent development, Pardew has now revealed that he intends to hand Elliot the substitutes jersey for Newcastle united’s next Premiership game, and rotate the backup keepers to create some “competition” between Harper and the former Charlton Athletic “Player of the Year” runner up. Pardew said of the decision:
“We want to give all of them involvement. It creates competition and it gives us a different voice in the changing room.(more…)
Colo: let's not get carried awayNewcastle United’s current 4th place position is very pleasing, if a little unexpected. But how does this bode for the rest of the season?
We’re 4th in the Premier League and we can afford some optimism about that, although I think that should be guarded optimism as I suspect the only way from here is down. Captain Coloccini’s Bouffant has been speaking recently about how we should keep our feet on the ground too. Or at least that’s the way our Assistant Manager tells it. John Carver said:
“We’re not getting carried away – it’s important we keep our feet on the ground.
“There are some good characters here, and some different characters.
“The first thing Colo said after coming off the pitch was that we need to keep our feet on the ground. That’s important coming from the captain.
“There are people here who’ve been around the game long enough to make sure not one person gets carried away with what we’ve done so far.(more…)
Geordie paranoia? Or is it only a matter of time?As the feel good factor continues around Tyneside, the question I keep asking myself is “Is this too good to be true?” The Toon has had it’s best start in years, the feel good factor is back, but just how long can this Indian summer last?
I wrote previously about the media’s relationship with the Toon in a previous blog. I get the impression that the eagles are slowly circling the club, awaiting the slightest tit bit in order to commence operation slide down the league.
The lads at work (an endless source of blogging topics, even though they are Leeds / Man U fans) expect that we will slowly start to drift down into a final finish of tenth. However one fella made a valid point; if we can keep our makeshift strike force fit we could really push on to Europe with a couple of lucky results. I personally think this a key point, the fortunes of Best, Ba and HBA will define our season.
It’s very difficult to not get carried away at this point, with Blackburn away in the Carling Cup we have a very real chance of getting to the last eight. The point I’ve been making for years is that NUFC need to slowly stabilise in order to improve, are we finally seeing our patience pay off? I just hope that come January, we don’t decide to sell half the team on after receiving “offers we can’t refuse” on HBA or Besty etc. What we need now is to invest strongly in the team, keep the momentum going but in the same manner that we have been quietly getting on with, ie the right player for a sensible price. (more…)
Demba Ba: Hat-trick hero and M.O.T.M performance.Right, let’s have some ratings for the Blackburn win!
It was pretty much good stuff all round with a decent showing from a team that’s starting to gel. Very few black marks, the odd smudge, but nothing we couldn’t surmount.
Here goes!
Tim Krul 7.5:
Tim is fast becoming yet another top Toon ‘keeper and Toon legend at a young age. He did most things well, well, he didn’t have too much to do! Maybe needs to bark at his retreating defenders a bit to get them into position when facing an attack, as it was a case of players stood waiting for the shot that got Blackburn back into the game with a goal. Not wholly his problem though.
Danny Simpson 7:
Getting better with every game. His only smudge was backing off a bit when Olsson put the cross in for Hoilett to score. Got up the field to support (even in the dying minutes), but got back to defend. Good fitness too. (more…)
Tough, but could be worseNewcastle United manager Alan Pardew sees our fourth round Carling Cup draw as ‘tough’.
Alan Pardew sees the next rounds’ Carling Cup draw as ‘tough’ but is thankful we weren’t drawn away against one of the ‘top’ clubs. Pardew said:
“It’s a shame [that it’s an away draw], but we want games because these players want to play.
“It’s a tough game, but we could have been drawn against one of the top clubs, who are all still in it, away from home, so it’s not the worst draw we could have had, but it’s still a tough draw.
“Blackburn will be hurting from today [Saturday’s game against them] and that’s going to make it even more difficult.” (more…)
