Highlights of our disappointing 4-2 defeat at the hands of Delia Smith’s Canaries at Carrow Road. As usual, I will endeavour to update these when better, longer ones become available.
Alan Pardew went into this game matching his opponents with a two big lads upfront appraoch, forsaking Ben Arfa for the silky skills of Shola Ameobi. However despite their good work upfront, a patched up Magpies’ defence found themselves outmuscled in the air by the powerful Norwich frontmen, Steve Morison and Grant Holt, who scored three goals between them in this 4-2 victory for the home side.
Newcastle did settle into the game more quickly than Norwich in the first ten minutes, but there were no big chances either way. The first real shot coming from Cabaye in the ninth minute after a fairly poor lay off from Ba, but it was straight at the Norwich keeper. However there was a scary moment for the Magpies fairly early in the game when Davide Santon handled the ball in the area. The referee didn’t give a penalty, but after looking at it a few times, both Santon and Newcastle United were very lucky to get away with that one! (more…)
James Perch and Tamas Kadar: Stepping out from the shadows.As someone once said: “Defence is just another way to attack.“ You can just start to imagine (go on, imagine it) how important our stable defence has been for our attacking play this season.
Take the two central defenders out of the equation and what happens? Well, we may find out next weekend if Coloccini doesn’t make it as he hopes for our next game against Norwich. Alan Pardew and Newcastle United have managed to keep the same defence throughout the season, but could now be forced to make a big change with Steven Taylor out for the season and Coloccini possibly missing with a thigh strain. The aim of this piece is to shed light on the different defensive options for the team, and then argue which would be the strongest.
Natural Defenders Available:
Danny Simpson, Ryan Taylor, James Perch, Tamas Kadar, Shola Ameobi and Davide Santon.
Possible Defenders:
Alan Smith, Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye and Jonas Gutierrez. (more…)
Joey Barton: Saying what he sees.Well, Joey Barton did promise on Twitter that he would “tell all when the time was right” and he’s finally kept his word.
Speaking in a long audio podcast interview for the Queen’s Park Ranger’s ‘blog “Open All R’s,” he finally lifted the lid on his time at Newcastle United and his strained relationship with the infamous Ashley / Llambias regime. In the interview, he revealed what he felt were the real reasons why he and other senior members of the squad have been forced out St James’ Park, how the club tried to force him to sign a contract on a fifth of his old wage whilst he was in Walton prison, what he feels were the real reasons behind the sacking of Chris Hughton, how despite his profound hatred of Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias, he still feels a strong affinity with the club and more…
Some (misquoted) sections of the interview have already appeared in the media and other ‘blogs, so I decided to make a more accurate and extensive transcription of all the sections which related to Newcastle United. I’ve have also included the mp3 podcast of the entire interview at the bottom of the piece.
Responding to a QPR fan’s question on what swung it for him to come to Queen’s Park Rangers, Barton began by outlining the reson’s why he had to leave his former club saying:
“I was obviously deemed by the board at Newcastle “Persona non grata” (Person not welcome). They didn’t want me because I asked questions.(more…)
De Jong just making absolutely sure he maims Ben ArfaVenue: City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester. Date: Sat 19th November, 2011. Kick-off: 3.00pm. Referee: Chris Foy (Linesmen: D Bryan & D.C.Richards).
Don’t forget that as usual, we will also be doing our usual “what the managers have been saying” review in the run up to the game, and also our regular “match banter” feature where you can make comments, share good streams for the game etc while the match is in progress. This should be going up around and hour before the kick off. Also as usual, we shall also be posting our report of the game some time after.
Well, it’s all gone quite swimmingly for Newcastle United so far, even against contenders such as Arsenal and Tottenham where we departed with honourable draws. However, the next three games (Man City, Man United and Chelsea) could well be reality check time, starting with this one away against table-topping, moneybags Manchester City.
Practising for contract negotiations?Newcastle United have some player contracts to sort out, in particular the contract of team Captain Fabricio Coloccini who – it is rumoured – will initially be asked to cut his wages by half.
With all the furore over the stadium naming, let’s not forget that there’s a football team somewhere there in the background!
Apparently the international break is being used to sort out some contract issues with players, most notably those of Fabricio Coloccini and Danny Guthrie.
But one item of news I did read in connection with Coloccini worried me a bit. It comes from the Northern Echo, which first suggests that Coloccini’s wages are currently around £80k/week and further suggests that the club will be looking to cut those in half as part of a renewed contract.
I have seen quotes of £60k/week – £80k/week for Coloccini’s wages in the past, so I’m not sure how accurate the Northern Echo’s assessment is, but surely the club will struggle to get Coloccini to cut his wages by half won’t it? Again, I’m not sure how the Echo knows that’s what the club intends to do but I’m hoping that, if there’s any truth in it at all, it’s merely a starting point for negotiations. (more…)