Who made it? And who didn’t?Below you can see two Newcastle United “teams of the season,” which I have assembled based on player statistics from whoscored.com, OPTA and transfermarkt.co.uk.
The first (and most important) is based on performances in the Premier League, with the second based on performances in the Europa League. The figures below the player’s names are their ratings from whoscored.com, which are based on a range of performance metrics based on OPTA stats. To put these into some kind of perspective, whoscored’s most highly rated Premier League goalkeeper last season was Sunderland’s Simon Mignolet with an average of 7.0. In defence it was Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen with 7.6 and in midfield the honours were shared between Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla and Tottenham’s Gareth Bale, both with 7.9. Finally, up front, Liverpool’s Luis Suarez narrowly pipped Manchester United’s Robin van Persie (7.8) with his 7.9 rating.
Getting back to Newcastle United though, although the goalkeepers, defenders and strikers were pretty straightforward overall, things became more complicated when it came to midfielders who had been played in several different positions during the season, gaining different ratings in different positions. However, after some work, I have finally managed to sort it out. (more…)
Simpson: Alot on his mind at the moment.Whilst we don’t usually get involved with tabloid WAG tittle tattle here on NUFC Blog, an interesting tit-bit has come to my attention in the ongoing tabloid drama between Danny Simpson, his old flame Stephanie, and his new flame, that Tulisa woman from that awful “N-Dubz”, and also that awful “X-Factor” thing.
According to the Stun, Stephanie (25) spoke on the Toon right back’s reaction when he found out the she was pregnant with the couple’s second child, sobbing:
“I found out I was pregnant a fortnight ago and he wasn’t very happy.”
Then, in news which may be of more interest to Newcastle United fans, she continued, claiming that the frisky full back said:
“I haven’t got a club — they’re not renewing my contract in May — how are we going to afford another baby?”
The road to Amsterdam.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Thusday 30th August, 2012. Kick-Off: 8:00pm. Referee: Stephen Studer . UK TV: ITV 4.
With the sides evenly matched at 1-1 after last week’s first leg Europa League tie in Athens, Newcastle United entertain FC Atromitos at St James’ Park this evening to determine which club will take the road towards the Amsterdam Arena (with some welcome additional revenue), and which team will pack away their passports and sun tan lotion for another season.
Should we prevail and make it through to the Group Stages we’ll be one of 48 teams split into 12 groups who will play one another, home and away during the next few months. After which, if we finish in the top two, we’ll move on to the Round of 32 having been joined by the eight clubs finishing third in their UEFA Champions League group.
Europa League Finances
So what exactly is at stake tomorrow evening? While we all know that this revamped second tier competition is the poor man’s version of the Champions League, it is encouraging for all competing clubs to learn they will now benefit from a greater proportion of the “Market Pool” to help add to the official UEFA prize money. (more…)
Who would you add to the team?In order to shift attention back to what this blog is all about, this is a very brief look at the new season squad and how we all think it will shape up.
According to nufc.co.uk, this is the current first team squad in advance of the new season. (more…)
Santon: Roma rebuffed and intrigue over right back slot.Davide Santon has given an “exclusive” interview for Italian football site, “Calciomercato” (football market) which was published yesterday. In it, he lifts the lid on rumours linking him with Rome, as well as a making some telling remarks about Alan Pardew’s plans for the right back position amongst other things.
Firstly though, he spoke about his disappointment at missing out on a place in the Italian side for the recent European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine. After mentioning that Santon had returned to the command of Alan Pardew “to toil under the pale English sun” (very pale in the case of Tyneside), the interviewer, Marco Guidi, suggested that Santon would have gladly given up his holidays to join the Azzurri for the championships. Santon replied:
“It would have been great. But it wasn’t to be. Prandelli (Italy coach, Cesare Prandelli) has made his choices and I have limited myself to cheering for the Blues in front of the TV. They had a great tournament until the final. We must say that Spain is very strong and when we were down to 10 it was almost impossible to get a result.” (more…)
