Rumours gaining strength?The Dutch press appears to offer further suggestions that FC Twente’s Douglas is bound for Newcastle United this summer, although perhaps the most pertinent question is whether or not we lose any of our current stars this summer too.
Further to an article I posted last week about Newcastle’s interest in FC Twente’s Douglas Franco Teixeira, the Dutch football magazine ‘Voetbal International’ has said that the 24 year-old central defender is indeed likely to switch to Newcastle this summer.
They suggest that a fee of €5m (£4.12m) has been ‘prepared’, which is about half the figure I mentioned in the previous article (which I got from the ‘Transfermarkt’ site). This makes sense I suppose as he will in fact be out of contract this summer.
According to Voetbal International, Douglas wants to wait until late August to make the switch though. This is because he will then have spent 5 years playing his football in The Netherlands and can become a naturalised Dutchman, thus allowing him to play for The Netherlands’ national team, which is apparently his aim. (more…)
C'est magnifique!Bolton rolled into Toon on the back of a bit of a kicking at the hands of the improving Fulham, but with a trio of wins in front of that, it was always going to be a tricky fixture and so it was going to be down to who wanted it more.
Patience was the order of the day for high flying Newcastle United.
Newcastle’s Captain, Fabricio Coloccini, was back in tandem with his partner in crime ‘Iron’ Mike Williamson at Centre Back and Davide Santon had his place at Left Back. Tiote didn’t make the line-up, so Perch moved into a midfield birth along with Jonas, making a return to midfield also after his recent stint at Left Back.
Bolton lined up in a 4-5-1, which, as the game kicked off, looked more like a 5-4-1. They looked very determined to keep things really tight, and didn’t spend alot of time committing too many forward. To say that the first half was cagey would be understating things somewhat. Words like boring, dull, tight, slow, lacking any coherence, painful, kind of summed it up.
I could actually say no more about it, but… (more…)
Newcastle United v Bolton - The whole match!Full match video of today’s Newcastle United v Bolton game. A 2-0 victory featuring a superb solo goal from Hatem Ben Arfa, and a further goal from Papiss Cisse which featured an excellent assist from Shola Ameobi.
Hughton: It woz me!In a brief but revealing interview for the Independent on Saturday, Chris Hughton has decided to put the record on misinformation about his role at Newcastle United.
Speaking on his time at the club, he said (amongst other things) what some knew already, that it was actually he who brought Graham Carr, Hatem Ben Arfa and Cheick Tiote into the club.
Whilst he was managing at the club, the now Birmingham City manager was dogged by rumours in the media that he a mere cipher at the club, that the team was run by a committee of senior players who actually picked the team, and that player aquisitions were out of his control after Hughton brought his old Tottenham collegue, Graham Carr, to the club as Chief Scout. The rumours about the players running team affairs were eventually refuted by Hughton himself, who described it as a “slippery slope,” and also by Kevin Nolan and other senior players. Now, Hughton has finally hit back at other misinformation about the recruitment of key signings, Hatem Ben Arfa and Cheick Tiote, and also the recruitment of the club’s current Chief Scout, Graham Carr. After talking about the days following his sacking by Derek Llambias and Mike Ashley on the grounds they were looking for someone “with more managerial experience,” Hughton had the follwing to say, firstly on whether his sacking was “unjust,”:
“Was it unjust? Yes, and that’s how most people felt at the time.”
Papiss Demba Cisse - He Scores When He Wants Venue: Liberty Stadium, Swansea. Date: Fri 6th Apr 2012. Kick-Off: 16:30. Referee: Howard Webb.
Newcastle United cruised into 5th place in the English Premier League on the back of this victory. Both Tottenham and Arsenal are now looking over their shoulders at the Geordie charge, and Chelsea are playing catch up. And with two home games to come, against Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City, do we dare to dream?
This was United’s fourth win on the trot – 12 points out of 12 – and what a time to go on a run like this, at what the media luvvies refer to as “the business end of the season”.
Those of you who have read my drivel before will know that I don’t hold a lot by statistics. The plethora of statistics which are spouted by the media and (sadly) bloggers alike these days. To me, the only statisitics which matter at the end of the day are goals. And if ever there was a game which proved my point about statistics, this was it.
Swansea City had the ball for 77% of the time. Here’s where I make myself unpopular with any welsh folk reading this. It’s easy to have 77% possession if you largely pass the ball sideways or backwards in an attempt to keep hold of it. Ray Wilkins (Chelsea and England) made a career out of it – “my word!”. (more…)
