King Kenny has the last laugh.It was chucking it down with rain as the teams took the field at Anfield, with Newcastle United wearing their first choice kit of Puma’s version of black and white stripes. Three ex-united players were in the Liverpool team: Bellamy, Enrique, and of course, Andy Carroll. There was also some bloke called Jordan Henderson, who, as we know, has a dodgy past.
First Half
The first 10 mins saw United getting plenty of the ball without actually threatening the Liverpool goal. As expected, Mike Williamson got the job of marking Carroll. I was going to say “Williamson was preferred to Perch” but I thought better of it.
Both teams were taking a while to settle and the first bit of excitement came in the 11th minute when Downing hit the ball against Ryan Taylor’s hand. There was a shout from the Kop for handball rather than the Liverpool players, but there was nothing doing from the referee.
After a quarter of an hour we saw a dangerous cross from Enrique – cue the chant from the Geordie faithful “you’re just a s**t Ryan Taylor!” I’m sure they both saw the funny side. (more…)
Well done Benny!Bolton Wanderers 0 – 2 Newcastle United (Hatem Ben Arfa (69), Demba Ba (71)
Newcastle United were in their all black strip for this game, and enjoyed the backing of 4,000 travelling Geordies who pretty much took over the ground – at least in terms of noise! As a result of the Toon Army being in town, Bolton registered their biggest crowd of the season – 26,080, beating even the crowd for the visit of Man Utd from just down the road.
With games against Liverpool and Man Utd next, Newcastle fans could be forgiven for hoping we would bank 3 points here against the second bottom team. Santon’s knee injury saw the return of Ryan Taylor, and Mike Williamson made a welcome return after long-term injury, back at the expense of Perch and Cabaye, who also returned after his one game suspension.
Bolton looked nervous and edgy as United started the game in familiar fashion – controlling things and pressing the ball early. They continued to dominate as the game progressed, with loud backing from the Toon Army, and almost went ahead in the 16th minute, Ryan Taylor with a free kick over the wall forcing Jaaskelainen to fling himself to his left to palm away. At this stage, Bolton were only making the odd fruitless sortie forward on the break. (more…)
Ba and Mr.T: Out for Africa.As most of you will no doubt be aware, the Africa Cup of Nations will be taking place next month.
This incredibly awkward competition is held bi-annually, unlike the European Championships which are held every four years. Also unlike the Euros, it is also usually held right in the middle of the bloody football season! This time the tournament will be jointly hosted by Gabon and Equitorial Guinea from January 21 to February 12 2012, but players will usually be called for duty by their national teams some time before that, even as early as the 8th of January for pre tournament training camps and warm up games.
Cheick Tiote and Demba Ba will definitely be there representing the Ivory Coast and Senegal respectively. Inspired by Manchester City, who also wish to hold back their talisman midfielder, Yaya Toure, from joining Tiote in the Ivory Coast team for as long as possible, Alan Pardew is now trying to delay Ba’s and Tiote’s departure until around the 15th January.
If Pardew and City manager Roberto Mancini fail in their quest to hold the players back until the middle of the month, the two Silver Supremos could be missing their important players for as many as six or seven games according to my calculation. Of course, this will almost certainly have a much greater effect on the Magpies than it will on moneybags Man City with their wealth of strength in depth. In Newcastle United’s case the potential games missed will be the following if Tiote and Ba depart on the 8th January: (more…)
Douglas for the Toon?Newcastle United are pursuing (at least) two centre-backs according to rumours and Alan Pardew insists that Taye Taiwo isn’t one of them.
The rumour-mill has been doing the usual stuff and the latest has Newcastle interested in a pair of defenders.
The first is Douglas Franco Teixeira who is a 6ft 4in, 23 year old Brazilian who – in the tradition of Brazilians – is simply known as ‘Douglas’. Why do they do that anyway? And why isn’t Wayne Rooney simply known as ‘Wayne’, for example?
Anyway, Douglas started his career with Joinville, which sounds like a cartoon place but, as I’m sure you know, it’s in the Santa Catarina State in the south of Brazil. However, he only played two senior games for them before being snapped up by FC Twente where he’s been ever since, netting 8 times in 108 appearances.
What's the odds of him staying at the Toon?Reflections on Saturday’s game and a look ahead at what might and might not be happening in the January transfer window as far as Newcastle United is concerned.
How did we not win that game on Saturday? Swansea have one of the best defences in the league but luck was certainly on their side too, particularly in the first half where we were totally dominant throughout. I suppose it’s a case of what goes around comes around – I’ll be the first to admit we rode our luck a lot in the first half a dozen games this season.
The return of Colo was welcome and I thought he was fantastic on Saturday. Likewise I was impressed with Santon and Jonas. As to Obertan, Alan Pardew has been springing to his defence after he noticed the crowd getting on his case a bit. Pardew said:
“That’s a bit harsh. Because he is so quick you always want him bursting down the outside. I thought he played well first half. He created three or four situations for us. He is a player who has only played 14 Premier League games, he is learning, his discipline was much better defensively but when you get a 0-0, there can be frustration from the crowd.
“Overall, I though the crowd was very positive and I thank them for that. Yes, we want to win. We want the possibility of the top six. Don’t make me think I am happy with the draw.” (more…)
