It's a dog's life at Ewood Park at the moment!Venue: Ewood Park, Blackburn. Date: Weds, October 26th, 2011 Kick-off: 8:00pm Referee: Robert Madley.
This evenong’s game sees Newcastle United facing a struggling Blackburn Rovers side for a place in the last eight of the League Cup.
Alan Pardew has been saying he has no worries of relegation and that he will definitely be going for a win. Meanwhile, embattled Blackburn are currently lying right at the bottom of the Premier League, and survival in the highest division will undoubtedly be their highest priority, especially after what happened to last years winners, relegated Birmingham City. On the other hand, Blackburn will have home advantage at Ewood Park, and as we all know, anyhting can happen in a cup game!
Stats, previous matches etc…
Blackburn have actually gone one better than Newcastle in the League Cup, having won it in 2002 when they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the final. Newcastle’s Previous Best was as losing finalists with the Gordon Lee “Dream Team” in 1976, when we were beaten by the same scoreline, 2-1, by Manchester City. (more…)
More cash for the club?In my previous blog “The Lesser of Two Evils” many people commented that Mike Ashley has no commitment to NUFC and will sell up as soon as he gets the right offer.
The question that has to be asked then, is, “How attractive is Newcastle United for a takeover?”
If you imagine yourself as a potential investor of NUFC you have to admit that it does look an attractive business move. A huge loyal fan base, who despite their misgivings of the current ownership are relatively content at the moment. All the club debt is out in the open, in a manageable way and is a relatively small given the revenue of the club. The team is playing well and we are flying high in the leagues and cup competitions, if we had beaten West Brom last season we would have only been a few places short of Europe.
Once that debt is cleared (hopefully in a few years) provided we continue to reside in the Premier League we could prove to be quite profitable on a long term investment.
The relegation was fantastic for a new potential owner; all the dead wood and high earners are almost out of Tyneside (Alan Smith I’m looking at you) with a new sensible wage structure and transfer policy in place. I’d argue that maybe another £20 million in transfer fees to get us a new Striker and Right Back / Centre Back would set the team up for a few years; our squad is not in need of a complete overhaul as we have a relatively young squad. (more…)
Instead of Tiote?Is there a case for giving Dan Gosling a run in the Newcastle United midfield instead of Cheick Tiote who, this writer argues, isn’t having the best run of form?
In a recent interview, Cheick Toite has been saying he’s been enjoying his new partnership with Yohan Cabaye in the centre of midfield. Tiote said:
“Last week I think we played very well together. It is good and it is working well.
“Last season was different with Kevin Nolan, it was a different style of play. Kevin went forward more and scored goals.
“Yohan is a more technical player and uses a different style. They are both good players.
“But Yohan likes to play with the ball more – he brings the best out of me. If you are a winning team the most important area is the midfield.”
Now I will admit that I didn’t see the Villa game last weekend as I was otherwise engaged, but I have seen every other match this season and I thought that the Tiote-Cabaye partnership was something that needed work. (more…)
Alan Smith: Holding on...Some time ago, when Leeds United and Newcastle United last played a friendly game in 2009, David from excellent Leeds United ‘blog, ‘The Scratching Shed’ very kindly wrote a match report of the game.
At long last I have now finally returned the favour by writing a ‘blog on one player who unites both clubs. I am of course referring to Alan Smith, who has been linked with a return to his home club in recent times.
In it, I have given a recap of Smith’s ups and downs (mostly downs it must be said) on Tyneside, since he joined the club as one of a series of somewhat misguided signings by Sam Allardyce in the Summer of 2007.
Newcastle United failed to produceHeat problems, turf issues and a collection of cartoon characters stood in the way of today’s game. Undeterred, Newcastle United went to watch a game of football – and that’s about all they did.
Immediately after kick off, the lads were forced to defend as Orlando City threw everything they had at us. Misplaced pass after misplaced pass plagued our team who were unable to escape their half of the pitch for the opening 5 minutes. Short of some smart runs and passing play (including a 1-6 between Alan Smith and Cheik Tioté), Orlando controlled the game.
In that time Ryan Taylor, who was playing at left back, managed to pick up a knock and was substituted on the 25th minute for Jose Enrique. Here’s hoping that knock is minor and he was taken off as a precaution.
Just so you have an idea of Orlando’s dominance, we had conceded around 4 or 5 corners at this stage – compared to the 0 Orlando had conceded.
Once the 35 minute mark had hit, Newcastle sprung to life and charged out of their end of the pitch, thanks to Enrique, and tried to keep the play beyond the centre circle. Dinks from Jonas (playing on the right!) was blocked, and as the ball was kicked out wide to Dan Gosling, he promptly ran into an Orlando defender. Canny. (more…)
