Howard Kendall you dirty old goat!Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Date: Sat 5th November, 2011. Kick-off: 12.45pm. Referee: Andre Marriner (Linesmen: S Ledger & A Watts). TV: Sky Sports 2 / HD2.
Hello and welcome to our preview for Newcastle United’s home clash with the “Toffees” of Everton.
Don’t forget that as per usual, I will also be doing our usual “what the managers are 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.
It’s always particularly hard to predict how a game will go against the Toffees at this stage of the season. Good team, good manager. However, they do seem to have a recent history of starting erratically in the early stages of the season, then finishing with a burst to either scrape into, or just miss out on a European place. If they started seasons they way they finished them, they would almost certainly have made the Champion’s League more often than that one time in 2005. Their start this season has been dire, and sees them currently lying in 16th. However it must be said that have had had some stiff opposition and some bad luck too so far.
They have shirt hating weight watchers too!Venue: Britannia Stadium, Sir Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke-upon-Trent. Date: Monday, October 26th, 2011. Kick-off: 8:00pm. Referee: Mike Dean. TV: Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports HD 1.
Well, The Magpies must pick themselves up from their disappointing capitulation against Blackburn Rovers in the League Cup and prepare themselves for a trip to another of the nation’s great beauty spots, Stoke-upon-Trent.
A game against Tony Pulis’s hard tackling long throwing giants will be no Vicarage tea party, that’s for sure, and though there probably won’t be much “Champagne football” on the menu, it will be a stiff test for the lads. Especially so after a gruelling extra time midweek thriller which ultimately ended in disappointment. As if that wasn’t enough, we could also be without our own head of enforcement, Mr T, but more on that in the team news. Consolation for us however is that whilst the Magpies were exerting themselves in the ultimately doomed encounter at Ewood Park, Stoke were also playing in the competition, suffering the same kind of disappointment when they were knocked out by Liverpool in a 2-1 defeat.
If you won’t be at the game, make sure to check out our regular “match banter” feature, which will be posted around an our before kick off. (more…)
Two players we really need to hold on to in January?With our success in the league this year, the question was always going to be, “Can Newcastle hang onto our best players?”
With the recent article by my fellow blogger Hugh regarding Captain Coloccini and rumours regarding a potential shift to Scouserland I did begin to wonder…
In my opinion I can see this rumour being the end of Coloccini and Pardew’s patience with the board. Colo is on a high wage at the moment, over £80,000 per wekk, and has yet to sign a contract extension. He’s not getting any younger, he’ll be celebrating his 30th birthday during the next transfer window and I’d imagine Mike Ashley would be reluctant to offer him a long contract extension. With Pardew coming out recently and stating that Colo was not for sale I feel he’s set himself up on a “colosion” course (Attempt at humour there) with Ashley and the board.
I would highlight Chiek Tiote as a key player for us, without him our back four looked decidedly shaky against a poor Blackburn side. I’ve read recently that Manchester United are poking their ugly noses in to try and shore up their midfield. (more…)
Disappointed ... yet confidentNewcastle United manager Alan Pardew has been talking about Liverpool’s alleged interest in Coloccini and the defeat we suffered at the hands of Blackburn on Wednesday.
Alan Pardew has responded to recent press speculation about Liverpool’s interest in Coloccini by saying:
“Liverpool like looking at our players, don’t they? But I don’t want to add any more to that. He’s been outstanding for us as a captain and a player and we’re in negotiations with him on a new contract.”
Somehow that’s been taken to mean that negotiations are going well by some elements of the press and blogosphere, although that’s not something I’d extrapolate from the above quote. Not that it matters much what Pardew thinks anyway – it will be Ashley’s decision based on the results of the contract negotiations between club and player and on any offer we receive from Liverpool, if indeed we receive one at all.
Key player?Newcastle United appear to have ‘options’ in many areas at the moment as Shola’s substitute appearance last Sunday seemed to prove, but is there any player we simply couldn’t do without?
Remember Ultravox? They were a lively and ‘edgy’ band when John Foxx was driving things but, when Foxx left, Midge Ure introduced a brand of commercial bland that concomitantly ruined their music and launched them to commercial success. ‘Vienna’ was a big success for Ultravox whilst John Foxx skirted the lower borders of the top 40 singing about ‘Underpants’* (click click drum).
The point, though, is that Ultravox survived the change of personnel and it seemed there was no one person without whom they were in the mire. In my warped and befuddled brain, this is just the sort of analogy that leads me on to Newcastle United and whether or not there are key players without whom we’d be rowing up the creek of excrement without any paddle-shaped objects. (more…)
