Watching Tony Pubis ‘kick off’ because of our defenders using their (Stoke’s) tricks, er, tactics at throw ins. Namely, taking time to dry the ball with the towels provided for Rory Delap’s thunderbolts. He must have thought double drat when Ryan Taylor actually produced some howitzers of his own; nice one Ryan.
He (Pubis) also looked ‘put on the spot’ and decidedly uncomfortable when asked by the reporter about Stoke’s reticence to buy Demba “ticking time bomb” Ba when they had the chance recently.
All in all, Stoke were ‘out Stoked’ in a game that made them look perticularly ordinary and belied their terrific and enviable home record. Newcastle took the game to them, put them under constant early pressure and were rewarded for their endeavour with a 2 goal half time lead.
Most of Stoke’s lads were rendered anonymous for large tracts of the game. The ref seemed to ‘help’ Stoke back into the game in the second half with what looked a very innocuous penalty, but to his credit, he seemed to ‘even it up’ just 6 minutes later, handing Demba Ba the opportunity to complete a ‘perfect’ hat-trick from the spot. (more…)
Nile Ranger: A reformed character on the comeback trail?The somewhat unexpected inclusion of Nile Ranger for Newcastle United’s ill fated League Cup encounter with Blackburn signals something a second chance for the young striker.
Although he is still way back in the pecking order, with Alan Pardew suggesting in a phone in on BBC Radio Newcastle’s “Total Sport” that even 19 year Sammy Ameobi has overtaken Ranger in the manager’s thoughts, he’s now back training with the first team and that’s a start. It’s cerrtainly something of an improvement on the previous situation, where he found himself completely out in the wilderness with the club simply itching to offload the recently troublesome young gangster striker permannently at the earliest available opportunity.
Whilst there could be several reasons for the club’s change of heart on Ranger, reasons such as the forthcoming loss of Demba Ba, and possibly Shola Ameobi to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, a rumoured improvement in his attitude in training, a recent impressive performace for the Reserves against Liverpool where he scored two goals, or possbly a lack of interest in a permanent £1 million move from other clubs due to his reputation preceding him, he still has some way to go to make up for lost ground. The question I will be asking in this piece, or specifically, the poll below, is can he make it? (more…)
Same master plan for world domination.In the wake of Newcastle United’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon, Managing Director, Derek Llambias, has released another club statement.
The statement once sgsin highlights the clubs finances, summer transfers, youth development, managing / coaching staff, training facilities and supporters. Basically, I’m still struggling to dissect the differences between this statement, and the recent Q&A with the Evening Chronicle a few months back.
Either way, it’s good to have some communication from boardroom to fans, and below I have included the whole statement for your viewing pleasure. I hasten to add also that the statement, unsurprisingly, has a little bit of information about our new under-soil heating.
Enjoy…
Introduction
Now that the summer transfer window has closed and the new Premier League season is underway, the board of Newcastle United Football Club wish to present this review of our progress and set out our aims for the 2011/12 campaign and beyond. (more…)
Tim Krul: A fine exampleI think it’s safe to say that recently Tim Krul has been on fire, I believe that he has been instrumental to the best defence in the Premiership so far.
Danny Simpson doesn’t turn into a fantastic left back overnight, it’s Timmy who won the 3 points for us at Wolves with a couple of ridiculously good double saves, some of which a certain Mr S.Given would be proud of.
I remember that away game against Palermo when he made his debut so many years ago, whilst looking jittery (to be fair it was a hell of a game to be thrown into) he made some cracking saves, and if memory serves me right, a certain Albert Luque scored to bring home an away win.
With Tim having “matured” so to speak, we must look again to our youngsters to see who else we can promote through the ranks. I think it’s fair to say that the Toon will drop down the league as time goes on, so why not try and integrate a few younguns into the team if and when it can be permitted. (more…)
'Trying is the first step towards failure'Seven months after the sale of Andy Carroll, Newcastle United have, to the surprise of no one, failed to sign a suitable replacement to fill the void up front.
A day of deadline drama, in which saw United lodge a “bid” for FC Twente’s Bryan Ruiz, has ended up falling flat on it’s face as Newcastle, for reasons unknown, decided to try and bring in a striker by submitting a bid 4 hours or so before the close of the transfer window.
Mr. Ashley had a helicopter ready to swish our man from the clutches of Martin Jol’s Fulham waiting in the capital, but (shock horror), the inevitable news from David Craig was that “unfortunately” United just couldn’t quite seal the deal for Ruiz, and also defender, Liam Ridgewell.
This ‘bid’ seems slightly reminiscent of last January’s “attempt” of bringing in a player (Charles N’Zogbia) just hours before the window closed. So after fans have endured a summer of rumours or “smokescreens” as I’d prefer to call it, Newcastle have failed in their quest to find a striker.
