Jonas not celebrating yesterday.Newcastle United wing wizard, Jonas Gutierrez explained his non goal celebration for a fantasic solo effort against Peterbourough yesterday. While many fans were expecting some kind of extravaganza involving ‘that’ mask as Guti covered St James’s Park in an invisible spider’s web, he eventually made even Alan Shearer look ostentatious.
Maradona’s third favourite player explained thus:
“I left it (the mask) in the changing room because I have read something in the newspapers that I didn’t like about me, that I want to leave Newcastle, so I didn’t want to celebrate because it’s not true,”
The ponytailed dribbler went on to explain his loyalty to the Magpies, and his delight at scoring his first ‘proper’ goal for Toon, the first being in a pre-season friendly with Darlington: (more…)
Still 2 points clearChris Hughton claims that the team’s focus was the key to Newcastle United’s win over Peterborough yesterday.
Cardiff lost away to derby rivals Swansea and West Brom managed to beat promotion hopefuls Leicester, which means a bit of a gap has opened up between the top 2 and the chasing back.
After the game, Hughton said:
“We have got a totally focused group of players who, from minute one, saw an opportunity for us to stay on top of the division, and very much took that opportunity.
“We have got used to getting on with the job. There are things we can’t affect, but I am very lucky that I have got a group of players who are focused on one thing, and that’s on staying where we are at the right end of the table with the ultimate aim of getting promotion.
“We are focused enough and it certainly hasn’t taken anything away from the victory.” (more…)
One Gutierrez, there's only....At one point during this game, I thought my match write-up might be best illustrated by a big daft grinning smiley. Because at one point, that seemed to sum up the sort of mood around the ground today among Newcastle fans despite all of the ill-feeling toward the current incumbent. This also despite the fact that we should really have finished off Peterborough in the first half and that we allowed them a fleeting glimpse of hope in the second when we took our foot off the pedal.
The truth is though, that this was nothing short of a walk in the park, give or take a few nifty saves from Steve Harper. In fact a viewer might have been forgiven for mistaking this as being a football lesson to the minnows by the professionals in the FA Cup First Round today. If you ignored the 40,000 people in the ground, of course……
Perhaps we shouldn’t get too carried away though, because Peterborough are now rock-bottom and should the remainder of the season follow current form, there will be a full division between these two sides come next season. However, let’s focus on the plus points because there were quite a few. (more…)
Spinning his web elsewhere?According to press speculation, Newcastle midfielder Jonas Gutierrez, is preparing for a move away from St James’ Park (or whatever it might be called by then). As the January transfer window looms, we will inevitably watch with wary eyes, as the likelihood of some departures is high, but the subjects still unknown. It seems like the Argentinian is the first our big-name and high-salaried players to sound out suitors, following rumours of interest from Roma.
Despite sticking around and working gallantly (?) as a regular starter for Hughton in the second tier, while other big names deserted us, it seems now he too is ‘ready for a new challenge’. His agent, Pedro Jimenez-Bravo, is quoted by The People as saying:
“We know European clubs are interested.
“We have held meetings with Newcastle but there is an option for the player to leave – although it must be a good offer.”
I think most regular contributors to the blog, will know my feelings on Gutierrez. While I acknowledge he gets a sweat on, I feel much of this is down to ‘being seen to get a sweat on’ and he actually does a lot of his hard work at the wrong times. As for his ability, you will hear a lot of fans talking about flattering to deceive and the phrase is made for Jonas. Doing the simple thing and making the ball do the work are often alien to him. (more…)
Looking and feeling a little rusty in the middle?Yesterday’s review of the current squad, took a look at the Newcastle defence, an area that this season we’ve been surprisingly strong in, given our poor reputation in recent years.
Tonight looks at arguably the fulcrum of a successful team, the midfield, the place that could and should control a game and dictate the style of play. That doesn’t bode well for our side at the moment because arguably, we have a midfield full of players who are very similar and lack pace. Therefore, the pace is often pedestrian and the game often goes stale.
Looking at the current crop, it really makes you pine for some of our former midfielders who have graced the hallowed St James’ turf in the last couple of decades. Reminisce about the grace of French wingers David Ginola and Laurent Robert. Recall the guts, determination and drive of Robert Lee and Gary Speed. Consider the guile we had in Emre, albeit fleetingly, and the sheer brilliance of Nobby Solano. Even having pure pace ala James Milner, Keith Gillespie to worry the opposition. You can even look at some of the less popular characters. We would kill for the pace of Kieron Dyer and dare I say, I could forgive Jermaine Jenas. Possibly even Damien Duff is a big miss? Maybe that’s stretching it…..
Anyway, that was the past, what about the present? – (more…)
