Newcastle United failed to produceHeat problems, turf issues and a collection of cartoon characters stood in the way of today’s game. Undeterred, Newcastle United went to watch a game of football – and that’s about all they did.
Immediately after kick off, the lads were forced to defend as Orlando City threw everything they had at us. Misplaced pass after misplaced pass plagued our team who were unable to escape their half of the pitch for the opening 5 minutes. Short of some smart runs and passing play (including a 1-6 between Alan Smith and Cheik Tioté), Orlando controlled the game.
In that time Ryan Taylor, who was playing at left back, managed to pick up a knock and was substituted on the 25th minute for Jose Enrique. Here’s hoping that knock is minor and he was taken off as a precaution.
Just so you have an idea of Orlando’s dominance, we had conceded around 4 or 5 corners at this stage – compared to the 0 Orlando had conceded.
Once the 35 minute mark had hit, Newcastle sprung to life and charged out of their end of the pitch, thanks to Enrique, and tried to keep the play beyond the centre circle. Dinks from Jonas (playing on the right!) was blocked, and as the ball was kicked out wide to Dan Gosling, he promptly ran into an Orlando defender. Canny. (more…)
Tough acts to followOn arrival at Newcastle United Demba Ba was handed the number 19 shirt, leaving the number 9 shirt vacant. Does this indicate that there are plans to recruit another striker to fill it or is the shirt going to be retired for a while?
The Newcastle United number 9 shirt is of course sacred. Leaving it unfilled for a while – after Obafemi Martins moved to Wolfsburg – was a deliberate ploy by former manager Chris Hughton who said:
“It’s something I’ve done deliberately. We have a lot of strikers here and I’m quite sure that every single one of them would have wanted to wear the No 9 shirt. As soon as I came to this club I knew what it meant and it’s both my decision and a combination of a few things.
“It can be a heavy number to carry, a burden, and wearing it is an achievement which I want somebody to grow into. I want somebody to earn the right to be Newcastle’s No 9. I don’t want to suggest that the strikers here aren’t worthy of it because each of them has a real strong value.
“I don’t anticipate years going by without one, but I know what the number nine is and I don’t want it to be an issue. The only issue I want is the normal stuff of the team performing well or not performing well, winning games or not winning games, and that’s very much team based.” (more…)
Fat-heads need not applyNewcastle United’s Peter Lovenkrands praises the team spirit shown this season.
When I first saw Lovenkrands’ quote saying: “Leave your ego at the entrance door“, I misread it and thought it said ‘egg’ instead of ‘ego’. This led to a certain amount of confusion on my part as I wondered what particular eggs they were talking about. Was it a message to the WAGs or was it some sort of discrimination against that culinary perfection that is the hen’s egg?
A swift Google revealed that I could be the proud owner of a Newcastle United egg-cup for a mere £3.99 but little else connecting eggs to our club. Thankfully after a re-read of Lovenkrands’ comment I twigged that it said ‘ego’ and all was clear.
What the Danish (or possibly Scottish) striker is getting at is that any new arrivals will be expected to buy into the team spirit initially fostered by Hughton and then maintained by Pardew, and new arrivals with big egos will not be welcomed with open arms.
Lovenkrands said:
“Hopefully there’ll be a couple of new arrivals in the summer, but whoever comes into the club will have to buy in to the spirit that’s already here.
“I think whoever comes into the club will learn pretty quickly that we’re a team and one of our biggest strengths is the way we stick together.(more…)
Barton: Victimised by Refs?Newcastle United striker, Peter Lovenkrands, has come out in defence of teammate, Joey Barton. Speaking in an interview, the Danish international said of the midfielder’s treatment at the hands of the men in black:
“Joey gets decisions given him against just because it’s Joey Barton that’s involved.
“There’s no doubt that officials look more towards Joey than they do to anybody else on the pitch. If anything controversial happens, it’s his fault. It’s a shame for Joey because he’s a good player, but he’s always having to deal with other issues.
“The treatment he’s getting is not fair, and I feel sorry for him. He’s dealing with it though and he deserves a lot of credit for that.”
Lovenkrands went on to cite a specific example in Newcastle United’s last game. against Aston Villa, where he felt that a free kick which eventually led to the only goal of the game and defeat for the Magpies.
“The free-kick that Aston Villa scored from at the weekend was only awarded because it was Joey, it happens to him all the time. (more…)
Pardew: “More than enough to see us through” Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew has been speaking once again on the long awaited return of wonder wing man, Hatem Ben Arfa, along with the loss of in form striker, Leon Best, who will now be out for the rest of the season after being told he needed an ankle operation. Talking to The Shields Gazette, he also filled us in on the other injuries which have ravaged the squad recently.
Pardew, who previously said that he would like to say that he “would like to say we won’t need him before the end of the season”, then added that he may be looking to use him in the last three games, is now suggesting that the game against Liverpool (the fourth last game of the season) is when the French Tunisian will start to figure in his thoughts.
He started on the situation regarding Leon Best, saying:
“I had an inkling last week all was not well. It’s best to get him right and ready to rumble next season.” (more…)
