Two goals and two fingers!Seems like everybody was expecting a tight if tidy affair at St James’ today and with two of the meanest defences in the division, a high-soring game wasn’t on the cards. But with barely a third of the game gone, Newcastle were three goals to the good and showboating as some of the travelling contingent headed for early beers.
Expectations were high that Swansea would prove to be a well-organised and competent football team, particularly stingy at the back but a new-look forward line of Peter Lovenkrands and Marlon Harewood put paid to that theory within half an hour of the kick-off, and Swansea looked like just another fairly average Championship side. Eeh that Marlon Harewood, eh? I always knew he just needed time to settle in…
Harewood’s first came from a bouncing ball in the box and with the defence hesitant he headed the ball in the net to make it 1-0. After some good build up play on the left, Gutierrez finally managed to do what we have been crying out for him to do and delivered perfectly with his left, so that Lovenkrands had the simplest of headers to make it 2-0 with 21 minutes gone. And before we’d reached the thirty minute mark, more good work on the left and and an almost identical cross from Lovenkrands and a similar finish from Harewood and the game looked to be beyond the Welsh side at 3-0. (more…)
Peterborough's most famous landmark.Big spenders. To be frank, Peterborough squad are the ‘Poundland’ of the Championship. Promoted last year through the playoffs, some of the figures paid for Newcastle United players in recent times would pay for the whole Peterborough squad. They even make Scunthorpe look like Real Madrid. However, if any stray Posh fans are reading this, I come here to praise Peterborough, not to bury them. For despite their current, rather lowly position in the Championship (second bottom on goal difference with 11 points), they have been minor miracle workers who, on paper, shouldn’t even be in the Championship at all. But, like Rocky Marciano, plucky Posh have managed to punch above their weight very admirably overall. They also have the ability to slay giants too, including Newcastle United on more than one occaision.
To illustrate my earlier point, here is a list of Peterborough’s ‘Big Money’ signings (nicked from Wikipedia)
Joe Lewis Signed for £500,000 due to promotion Ryan Bennett Signed for £500,000 Gabriel Zakuani Signed for £375,000 George Boyd Signed for £260,000 Tommy Rowe Signed for £225,000 Toumani Diagouraga Signed for £200,000 Lee Frecklington Signed for £175,000 Dominic Green Signed for £175,000 Aaron McLean Signed for £150,000 Sergio Torres Signed for £150,000 Craig Mackail-Smith Signed for £125,000
Two points clearNewcastle United’s 1-0 win last night wasn’t pretty but it did the job. Newcastle go back to the top of the table, clear by 2 points.
Hughton had this to say about last night’s game:
“It was an ugly win. Sheffield play a style which makes it difficult. You have to be strong and resilient.
“For the majority of the game I thought we handled everything they threw at us. We’ve just got to make sure we keep up the performances and stay where we are.”
I suppose he’s right. We did handle everything they threw at us inasmuch as we didn’t concede a goal, although Sheffield United only really looked dangerous in that respect at the end of the game when Harper produced some good saves. (more…)
Sharp as a Blade tonight!Once again, Newcastle United managed to leave us feeling slightly underwhelmed, and yet still went top of the league after taking all three points at Bramall Lane. The fact that we managed to grind out a 1-0 win against the red and white half of Sheffield was largely down to luck at their end, resilience at our’s and some brilliance from Stevie Harper.
After a fairly forgettable first half, in which Sheffield looked probably the more organised and potent force (though I use that term lightly). This despite their having several absences while we had generally a strong squad to pick from, though Hughton again left me scratching my head with his decisions. Not for the first time this season, the opposition seemed to move the ball sharper than us an didn’t look out of ideas once they crossed the halfway line. But for all their endeavour, the score remained 0-0 at half-time.
Newcastle came out and were the better side at the start of the second half and though there should have been a foul awarded as Kevin Nolan robbed Walker, Ryan Taylor nonetheless took full advantage and our second slice of luck was about to occur as his shot from 25 yards took a wicked deflection of Morgan, with Ian Bennett rooted to the spot in the Sheffield goal, the ball nestled into the far corner.
Sheffield threw everything but the kitchen sink at us in the dying minutes but we held on strongly due to resolute defending and some heroics in the goal from Harper. (more…)
Crucial goalWell what a miserable bloody night…..stuck in a pub where I could only just about see and hear the game in the first half and where the locals seem to treat the bar as a place to lounge rather than a place to buy a drink. I was already hacked off before the game kicked off. And of course my mood didn’t improve with the events that followed.
The law of averages suggested that our luck was due to run out sooner or later again, and that when playing badly, some team at some point would take advantage. That team was Nottingham Forest. Of course it didn’t help that our, surprisingly, solid defensive start to the season was shattered with the news that both Steven Taylor and Coloccini would be missing. Really, of all the recent admissions I’ve made over things I’ve said which I never thought I’d say, to say that I never thought we’d miss Colo is right up there with the corkers……
But it’s a fact, he’s settled in a unit and has looked half decent at this level so missing both him and the combative Taylor was sure to spell trouble. Particularly when Forest came into this game with some decent form and two strikers proving to be a handful. However that aside, staying with the word ‘average’, does the whole set-up still not smack of something distinctly average? (more…)
