Best off the mark as Toon win 3-0.Pre-season kicked off properly this afternoon as Newcastle travelled cross country to Cumbria to tackle Carlisle in what was our first friendly match in the run up to the new season.
The game may not have panned out as easy as the headline or scoreline suggets and the Newcastle players will head home this evening knowing they have been involved in a game of football.
That is not a bad thing in my opinion when you consider our first Premier League match will be against Manchester United where that kind of experience will be needed. Chris Hughton took a near full strength squad to Brunton Park and that enabled him to field two complete sides, one for either half of the match, which will give everyone a fitness boost ahead our next pre-season game away at Norwich in a weeks time. (more…)
Vuckic has been recieving praise from within.A lot of us have known about Haris Vuckic and his potential for a while now, and that potential has recieved another plug today from fellow team-mate, Ryan Taylor, who believes the future could be bright at St James’ Park for a number of youngsters.
As has been said, a lot of us are expecting great things from the young Slovenian midfielder who will undoubtedbly be looking forward to next season, with the prize of breaking into the first team being the reward for hard work and demonstrating ability on the training pitch. In fact, Chris Hughton has already dropped the hint that Vuckic will be more heavily involved in first team affairs next season, something we are all finally looking forward to seeing. I have been a bit disappointed that we haven’t seen more of the boy in The Championship, but in fairness he has only just returned from a horrendous injury, and at least we saw Vuckic make a cameo appearance at QPR on the final day of the season. (more…)
Krul: One of many talents at our disposal.It is becoming increasingly apparent that Newcastle United are bulding up quite a collection of young players, some of which have already been monitored by some of the biggest clubs in Europe.
Now we have another two youngsters that could potentially end up at the academy in the shape of Frenchman Martin Mimoun and Swedish goalkeeper Sulejmen Sarajlic, the latter spent the last week on trial with us in fact. You need to only look back a short while and see we reached the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup, something that hasn’t done for quite a while on Tyneside, and you have to admit that with the players coming through the academy the future looks bright.
The likes of Tim Krul, Tamas Kadar, Haris Vuckic and Nile Ranger are being touted as the next generation of Toon superstars, which they may well turn out to be. It’s an awfully risky strategy though, and focusing purely on youth is a potential disaster waiting to happen. I’m not rubbishing the strategy as it’s a sound, common sense and long-term plan for the future which should have been sorted out many years ago but wasn’t. What we need is sound investment in players for the future, and sound investment in players for next season. (more…)
Has been a key player for us.Having already taken a look at our goalkeepers and defenders, the focus for the next edition of our player review moves up the pitch again to see how our midfield have performed throughout the season.
It’s been a strange position for us this year. On one hand, some say the midfield has been our achilles heel, it lacks mobility and creativity. On the other hand though, it has been a position that has yielded a return of 30 goals from the season. Without checking, that is probably a damn sight more than what we have had in return from the past few seasons. Of course 17 of them have come from Kevin Nolan which has helped improve that figure, but despite the criticism that has been aimed at them from time to time they have chipped in with their fair share of assists aswell. After all, strikers need service from somewhere, right? (more…)
A beautiful strike from the Great Dane!As I took my seat at a rainy Loftus Road, it was amongst the home supporters, so it was always destined to be something of a quiet afternoon for me! As we waited for the game to commence, I reflected on my first visit to see the team in the capital this season, the 6-1 thrashing by Leyton Orient, and how far they had come since that time under the leadership of dynamic duo, Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood. From an uncoordinated rabble that was riven apart by division and lack of leadership, to a cohesive unit.
After a minute’s applause for recently deceased QPR legend, Tony Ingham, the kick-off was taken. There was some excitement as Newcastle went on the offensive almost from the off. Wayne Routledge fired in a cross, which was headed behind the goal by QPR’s Leigertwood. The resultant corner was also dropped invitingly into the area, this time by Guthrie, but the effort was cleared. A few minutes after this (about five oir six minutes in after checking), Guthrie attempted to supply Ameobi with what would have been an excellent chance, but the ball was out of control, which may have had as much to do with the highly ‘greasy’ playing surface as anything else. Around a couple of minutes later, Routledge made a decent turn and shoot, but, alas, he fired stright into the arms of the QPR goalkeeper, Radek Cerny. (more…)
