Pardew: Problems at the rear.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Saturday 17th Dec, 2011. Kick-off: 3.00pm. Referee: Lee Mason.
With the Magpies still lickng their wounds after a 4-2 mauling by some powerful Canaries, they return to their nest at St James’ Park to face another bird attack, this time from the Swans of Swansea.
In case you were wondering about the title, Newcastle United are not the only team to have a very promising flying Dutchman between the sticks. Tim Krul’s biggest competitor for the Netherland’s substitute goalkeeper slot (behind Roma’s Maarten Stekelenburg) is Swansea’s £1.5 million bargain buy from Utrecht, Michel Vorm. Like his Dutch compatriot, Vorm has also played a significant role in his team’s good start to the Premiership season. The unfancied Swans have certainly been no ugly ducklings in a fairly respectable 11th place, which is quite an achievement for a team on their budget and in their first season after promotion. However, as in our previous game against those other Premiership underdogs, Norwich City, it will be other areas of Pardew’s back end where attention will be focused, but more on that in the team news… (more…)
On their way to SJP? Probably not.I was thinking about this recently – if I was sitting down writing my letter to Santa Ashley c/o the Sports Direct North Pole, what would I want as a Newcastle United fan this Christmas?
I suppose the first thing I’d ask is for Santa not to take any of our best players away and deliver them as presents to the boys and girls who’ve been good at other clubs. But knowing the track record of Ashley in dealing with transfer business I don’t suppose that’s very realistic. If the money is right, the presents will be delivered. So I’m left with the line from the current Fosters TV advert ringing in my ears “that thing you’re thinking? It won’t be that!”.
So let’s concentrate on what we could get – the positives. We believe that Santa Ashley has already got Modibo Maiga wrapped up in Christmas paper and hanging in our Christmas stocking. That pressie sounds like a really good one, with the mouth-watering prospect of Maiga lining up alongside Demba Ba as a perfect foil for our top scorer. (more…)
Nearing full fitnessNewcastle United centre-back Mike Williamson nears fitness and, whilst an alleged bid for a West Ham defender fails, it seems that Modibo Maiga is actually heading to Tyneside.
With our central defence currently emptier than a Mackem’s head, there’s some welcome news that Mike Williamson managed 45 minutes for the reserve team against Bolton yesterday and apparently feels okay after it. Williamson said:
“I feel completely fine. That was the plan today – to play 45, to get myself back in and try and get the cobwebs out and then train on Thursday and Friday.
“It reminded me of what I’ve been missing. It was good and I enjoyed it. It was great to get the boots back on and now that I’m back, hopefully I can just get fitter.
“Injuries are frustrating but it’s just part and parcel of football. It has been really good to see the team doing so well and enjoying the plaudits that they deserve for working so hard.
“I’ll accelerate it as quickly as possible, but not to the detriment of anything. But my knee and ankle are completely fine now, so it’s just about getting the minutes under my belt. And I’ll try to get as much fitness and running as I can.“
I still doubt he’ll be fit enough to play in the Swansea game though.
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…)
A drunken hooligan invades the pitch at Carrow Road.Venue: Carrow Road, Norwich. Date: Saturday 10th Dec, 2011. Kick-off: 3.00pm. Referee: Martin Atkinson. Pies: D.Smith.
The Magpies of Newcastle United will be looking to pick themselves up after a tough trio of fixtures and recent injury woes as they visit the Canaries of Norwich City.
Even though this is an away game, some may have thought this would be an easy three points, until recently that is. The loss of Fabricio Coloccini with a thigh strain, as well as Steven Taylor for the whole season with a knacked achilles tendon puts a new complexion on matters as our lack of strength in depth has eventually been exposed. Like ourselves, Norwich have been something of a “surprise package” in the Premiership so far. Though Norwich City’s entire first team squad is worth far less than the amount Mike Ashley received for Andy Carroll alone, they are currently sitting quite comfortably at 11th in the table. That is quite an achievement for such a modest squad who were expected to be rooted at the bottom of the table, and not to be sniffed at, especially in the light of our recent circumstances injurywise. More on that below however…
