Following on from part one of Newcastle United’s 2011 / 2012 season review, we begin at the start of the new year with a home tie against Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
January – Man Utd humbled / A Nightmare at the Cottage / The new number nine…
A stunning display from Pardew’s team saw champions, Manchester United, comfortably beaten 3-0 at St James’ Park. Two brilliant goals from both Demba Ba and Yohan Cabaye put United on course to victory, with Phil Jones putting through his own net to complete the rout. It was a tremendous start to January, and helped eradicate the previous month’s below par performances. Pardew got the tactics spot on, knowing that Man Utd’s centre backs Rio Ferdinand and Phil Jones couldn’t handle the physicality of Magpies front men, Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi. (more…)
The end of the season is finally upon us. A season in which defied all expectations. A season where even the most optimistic of Toon fans would have struggled to predict what would be.
Newcastle United gate-crashed the top six, and also knocked on the door of the Premier League’s top four. As it turned out at 5pm on Sunday the 13th of May 2012, Newcastle United were confirmed as finishing in 5th place, above Chelsea, above Liverpool, and above the majority of peoples expectations.
The Europa League awaits the Magpies next season, a new chapter or perhaps a new beginning is on the horizon. But before we look forward into what might be, I’m now going to relive the season that was. Cast my mind back and tell the tale of Newcastle United’s 2011 / 2012 season. I hope you are all sitting comfortably… (more…)
Attack, attack, attack!Following on from my piece on the contributions of our defenders and utilty players this season, let’s carry on with our assessment of Newcastle’s players with a view to deciding who is our Player of the season. I’ll be moving on the engine room now, and later the forwards. There are undoubtedly a few worthy recipients here!
A view from the bridge.Walking into Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening, chatting to Chelsea fans, it was plain to see that they seemed to think Newcastle were only there to make up the numbers.
But I had a good feeling about the game as we went through the various security checks and finally into the Shed (lower level gate 1). We found our seats then turned our attention to drinks. But this isn’t Ashburton Grove (Goonersville) and it was disappointing to say the least that nothing alcoholic was allowed or even for sale. Weird!
Anyhoo,
The guy with the mic walked onto the pitch to start the crowd ‘wind up’.
It was good to see that Alan Pardew put a good attacking team out. Danny Simpson didn’t make the team through injury but I wasn’t worried by the inclusion of James Perch at right back, as he’s shown us how he’s come on this season recently and was once again a stand out performer. (more…)
Wigan - Coming good just in time?Venue: D.W. Stadium, Wigan. Date: Saturday, 28th April, 2012. Kick-Off: 3.00pm. Referee: Mike Dean (The Wirral Whistler).
Hmm, well despite the large difference in the Magpies’ and the Latics’ respective league positions, this could well be an interesing game.
Roberto Martinez and Atletico Wigan’s progress has followed a fairly similar pattern to that of last season, ie staring into the abyss most of the time, then finally pulling themselves together for a string of stylish and surprising results which look like pulling them out of the mire at the eleventh hour, well they would if fellow strugglers, Queen’s Park Rangers hadn’t decided to pull off one or two surprising results of their own as the Premiership season edges towards it’s denouement. The catalyst for this change in form seems to have been a switch from what has looked like a 4-5-1 formation earlier in the season, to a highly offensive Cruyffian style 3-4-3 formation from Señor Martinez. Of course, our Silver Supremo, Alan Pardiola, has been on a similar road to Damascus recently, switching from his old 4-4-2 to more attacking 4-3-3 which has reaped remarkable dividends with the electrifying form of players such as Hatem Ben Arfa and new boy, Papiss Cisse, leading the way.
