Ben Arfa: Not a winger says Pardew, but is he a singer?Of course, Newcastle United are still riding high, still undefeated in the Premier League so far with Alan Pardew seemingly sticking steadfastly to an “if it ain’t broke, dont fix it!” philosophy in our Premiership campaign.
Obviously, when a team which should be nestling somewhere the middle of the table is actually third it’s hard to argue. As Napoleon Bonaparte once said (or wrote, I’m not sure), “Success is the most convincing talker in the world”. This is certainly true, at least for the moment, in Pardew’s case; though as we already know, he could blather for England anyway! However, even in the midst of success, there are always problems to be solved, and one of Pardew’s is how does he solve a problem like Hatem Ben Arfa?
He is undoubtedly one of the most talented players we have, on the ball he is almost certainly THE most talented. However, since finally returning from his double injury nightmare with his appearence against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup, he has only made four fleeting substitute appearences in the Premiership (out of six games). (more…)
How much will he be missed?Is the Africa Cup of Nations going to cause serious problems for Newcastle United, particularly in relation to Demba Ba?
The Africa Cup of Nations (ACoN) has its first group game on the 21st January and the final is on 12th February, which means that players will be away from their respective clubs for potentially 3 weeks of tournament time plus preparation/recovery time.
For Newcastle, that means the loss of two of this season’s top performers: Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote. Ba’s Senegal is in Group A along with Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Zambia whilst Tiote’s Ivory Coast is in Group B along with Sudan, Burkina Faso and Angola.
Gossip abounds about Pardew’s desire to recruit a new striker, although if Modibo Maiga is that striker then we’re no better off during the ACoN because Mali is also in the tournament.
I would not imagine that the club will be recruiting a striker simply for a 3-week tournament anyway, so presumably Pardew intends to cover for the ACoN with the players he has already got. That could mean a start for Shola (if he’s fit) or for Benny, either of who could play up front with Leon Best.
The worry of course is how we’d cope without the player who has scored half of our 16 league goals this season. Ba had this to say about his absence: (more…)
Newcastle United's dugout last Saturday.After a gutsy win over Everton this weekend I picked myself up from the floor after a nervous last 20 minutes or so and began to wonder, “Did the performance display Newcastle United’s squad depth and quality, or did it highlight our lack of it?”
Let me explain. Most so called “pundits” have attributed the main factor of our success to the ability to put out the same team each week without injuries, now with Gabriel Obertan, Yohan Cabaye and Sylvain Marveaux picking up little injury niggles as highlighted in a previous blog, I think a few fans are beginning to wonder how this will affect the team in the coming weeks against the big boys of the Premier League.
In the first 35 minutes or so at St James Park we dominated Everton in my opinion. They had a couple of chances with Seamus Coleman and Louis Saha but no real sustained pressure. Then the injuries began to appear. Cheik Tiote, having already been sidelined previously, was then joined by our midfield maestro, Cabaye. For me that turned the game on its head, something that Pardew agreed with. The lads that were brought on to plug the gaps so to speak (Dan Gosling, Hatem Ben Arfa etc) did the job and brought the 3 points home. However I can’t decide if it was a quality defensive display, or just Newcastle struggling with our 2nd string. (more…)
Watching Tony Pubis ‘kick off’ because of our defenders using their (Stoke’s) tricks, er, tactics at throw ins. Namely, taking time to dry the ball with the towels provided for Rory Delap’s thunderbolts. He must have thought double drat when Ryan Taylor actually produced some howitzers of his own; nice one Ryan.
He (Pubis) also looked ‘put on the spot’ and decidedly uncomfortable when asked by the reporter about Stoke’s reticence to buy Demba “ticking time bomb” Ba when they had the chance recently.
All in all, Stoke were ‘out Stoked’ in a game that made them look perticularly ordinary and belied their terrific and enviable home record. Newcastle took the game to them, put them under constant early pressure and were rewarded for their endeavour with a 2 goal half time lead.
Most of Stoke’s lads were rendered anonymous for large tracts of the game. The ref seemed to ‘help’ Stoke back into the game in the second half with what looked a very innocuous penalty, but to his credit, he seemed to ‘even it up’ just 6 minutes later, handing Demba Ba the opportunity to complete a ‘perfect’ hat-trick from the spot. (more…)
Highlights of Newcastle United’s superb 3-1 victory at the Britannia Stadim in Stoke.
A second hat-trick of the season from Demba Ba (12, 40, 81 minutes) along with a superb performance from Jonas Gutierrez amnogst others sealed the win for the Magpies, and there was also a consolation penalty for Stoke’s Jonathan Walters (75).
For a full report of the game, check out Hugh de Payen’s excellent match report. (more…)
