Calamity At The Cottage!Venue: Craven Cottage, London. Date: Sat 21st Jan, 2011. Kick-Off: 3:00 pm. Referee: Lee Mason (Lancs).
If ever you want to see a textbook example of “a game of two halves”, get the DVD of this game. though personally, it’s a video horror show I’ll be steering clear of.
United went into this game sitting in sixth place on merit, and with a chance of leapfrogging Arsenal and moving into fifth. It was a nice sunny day down in London, the pitch looked in good condition and there was black and white in evidence everywhere – even down to Newcastle’s all black strip contrasting with Fulham in all white. What could possibly go wrong?
First Half
The opening pattern of the game was one we’ve become accustomed to this season, a scrappy first 15 mins with Newcastle gradually settling into our possession and passing game. A foul by Ben Arfa on Hangeland after 7 minutes was also a good sign that our latest right winger was going to put his foot in. Best optimistically put a ball through for Ameobi on 8 minutes expecting him to run after it – you’d think he’d know by now. The first bit of real excitement came with a Senderos mistake after 11 minutes when he almost put the ball into his own net. United were starting to exert some good pressure now and were definitely looking the more likely team to score. Ben Arfa hit a good left-foot shot from outside the area which the keeper just got to, diving to his left. (more…)
Problematic past behind him now?Hatem Ben Arfa has been talking about some of the problems he’s faced in his career and how things are shaping up for him at Newcastle United.
Hatem Ben Arfa spoke to the French press yesterday about some of the problems that have plagued his life and footballing career to date and how they’re being addressed at Newcastle. Before going on, I should say that I used Google Translate and my grade 4 CSE French to translate a lot of this, so it might not be 100% accurate!
Benny starts by summing up the problems he had:
“I gave off something negative. I had bad energy. I am loud. I always wanted to participate in conversations. I had enormous difficulty submitting to authority”
He then goes on to say what he thinks the root cause of that ‘attitude’ was:
“My father never told me ‘I love you’. He ran out of affection in my life. He never managed to externalise his feelings. I do not want him. My father had no father. He reproduces a pattern I am trying to break for me because I have to move forward.” (more…)
"I don't see nothing wrong with a little bump and grind"I think it’s fair to say that yesterday’s win against QPR at Saint James’ Park wasn’t the prettiest game to watch, though it was still a very welcome and grinding win.
While the Toon faithful may not like seeing such meagre fare, I feel it’s a very satisfying way to collect three very important points sometimes. Of course, we can point to the players that have gone to seek their fortune in Africa Cup of Nations, not being here.
There’s also the little matter of QPR kicking one our best players (Cabaye) off the pitch with only 20 minutes on the clock.
It was good for us that their midfield schemer one Joey Barton was prevented from rocking up to SJP with his new club and manager because of suspension for a red card. They also lacked the skill of Taarabt and the power of Troare, also in Africa. It maybe would have been a very different game with them playing. Not to mention Demba Ba and Cheik Tiote.
Oh! I mentioned them!
I think I’m right in saying that Mark Highes has never lost as a manager at Saint James’ with all of his former charges? So it was always going to be a bit of a war of atrition, and so it proved! (more…)
Butch Wilkins: My Word!Venue: St James’ Park, Toon. Date: Sun 15th Jan 2011. Kick-Off: 1:30 pm. Referee: Chris Foy.
United came to this game on the back of 2 excellent straight wins against Man Utd 3-0 (got that one in early today!) and Blackburn 2-1 in the FA Cup. In contrast, Queens Park Rangers had taken only one point from their last 6 games.
Everything pointed to a fairly routine, comfortable home win. However this was the first league game without Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote, and the other potentially influencing factor was the appointment of Mark Hughes, who took charge of QPR for his first game following the sacking of Neil Warnock.
The match referee, Chris Foy, was the man who had sent off Man City’s Captain Kompany the previous week for that 2-footed challenge about which there has been much subsequent debate.
United Manager Alan Pardew was asked by Sky TV before the game about Ba and how he would deal with losing such a prolific goalscorer. He replied that it was about the team, not individuals and that Best and Ameobi would be a handful.
The day got off to an annoying start for those watching on Sky as they insisted on calling St James’ Park the “Sports Direct Arena” for some inexplicable reason. You’d think they would have asked somebody what the proper name was if they didn’t know? (more…)
Carved out his niche?Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has baffled fans for a lot of the season by not playing Hatem Ben Arfa, but Pardew has now explained his reasoning and how Benny’s work on Saturday may just have earned him the free attacking role he craves.
Until recently, Alan Pardew has seemed reluctant to start with Hatem Ben Arfa, much to the frustration of the player himself who had a few choice words to say about Alan Pardew’s tactics last week.
However, in a recent interview in the Journal, Pardew has explained how he sees the Ben Arfa situation developing on the pitch. Talking about the weekend’s game at Blackburn, Pardew said:
“It’s all about balance. His work-rate was quite good, it’s just sometimes intensity that’s the difference. It didn’t help in the first half that Mehdi stepped off a little bit and was a little bit too deep and therefore that didn’t help Hatem either. It all sort of combined.
“I was really pleased with his attitude when he went on to the right. He could have gone, ‘What am I doing out here?’ but he attacked the position. That’s really pleasing.
“I knew if we got the ball to his feet he was going to cause the full-backs a problem.“
