Goodbye from NUFC Blog!Venue: Carrow Road, Norwich. Date: Tues 28th Dec, 2013. Kick off: 7.45pm. Referee: UK TV: None.
Hello, good evening and welcome to my last match banter!
Please forgive me if it doesn’t follow the usual script but this piece is really just a way of saying thankyou and farewell to everyone who has read and contributed after almost five years of blogging on Newcastle United here.
A few years ago my ex-friend and colleague, Hugh, left the site suddenly. I’ve managed to struggle along on my own since then, but I now have other things to do with my life, and in the last few days, the abovementioned Hugh has also informed me that he’s going to cut off the server on the 21st February. (more…)
With so many France internationals in the Newcastle United team nowadays, I just thought I’d post a live stream for this evening’s crucial World Cup Qualifier between France and the Ukraine so you can see how the likes of Cabaye, Remy and Sissoko get on. Alas, there will be no Ben Arfa as he is about as popular as Eichmann at a Bar Mitzvah with current France manager Didier Deschamps, who was Benny’s manager when he went on strike at Marseilles.
The kick-off will be at 8.00pm UK time and the show should start around 7.45pm. (more…)
NUFC Blog on metro.co.ukMy latest blog on metro.co.uk is now published.
In my last piece on there I looked at Yohan Cabaye and Mike Williamson, and specifically, their perfomance against Liverpool in our last game. In this one however, I take a look at a player who was relegated to the bench in that game, Papiss Cisse. In the wake of his recent struggle for goals, I take a look at what Alan Pardew can do to help the Senegalese hitman get back on the scoresheet as often as he used to for Newcastle United.
Originally, it had the same title as this piece, however it is now called:
Yohan Cabaye: A man of the match performance.My latest blog on metro.co.uk was published yesterday.
Usually I would just write a few words about it and post a link. However, I am getting so sick of them being hacked to pieces by trainee Metro sub-eds that I have now decided to publish the original version on here, complete with the original title.
If you like, you can see the butchered version on the metro here.
Key performance #1: Yohan Cabaye.
The fleet-footed Frenchman was the fulcrum of Newcastle United’s midfield on Saturday, and was at the heart of most things for Newcastle United in attack.
Besides scoring a brilliant goal in the 23rd minute, he also provided the great set piece which led to Paul Dummett’s goal in the 56th. Of course, the Magpies’ set pieces have been the focus of much criticism in recent times and rightly so when you look at the amount of goals scored by this method over the last season or two. Although it could be said that Aly Sissokho made things slightly easier than he could have for the second goal, Cabaye’s free kick was excellent, and the way Dummett exploited this with a true poacher’s instinct was superb, remarkably so for such a young, inexperienced player who is supposed to be a defender rather than a striker. But I digress… (more…)
Cabaye: Have we been conned again by Newcastle United?As I wrote at the time, with Newcastle United, the club of smoke, mirrors and downright lies under current owner, Mike Ashley, there are things we still do not know about the Yohan Cabaye kerfuffle at the start of the season.
In an interview as part of the France squad at the side’s Clairefontaine HQ, Cabaye made some rather suggestive comments about what Alan Pardew called “the situation” at the time. If you recall, Pardew made a series of simlarly suggestive statements, implying that Cabaye refused to play in early season games in order to allegedly force a move to Arsenal. However, he steadfastly refused to mention it outright under the pathetic pretence that he was “protecting” Cabaye, even though he was actually hanging him out to dry with innuendo. When interviewers did ask for a direct answer, interviews were quickly halted by a female press secretary and they quickly got the message.
However, the fleet-footed Frenchman has now cast doubt on the Pardew’s and the club’s narrative, suggesting that only he and Joe Kinnear know the truth of what really happened, challenging Kinnear to play “Deep Throat” and finally come clean on what really happened in the ‘Cabayegate’ scandal.
Below is the full exchange about Cabaye and the Newcastle United imbroglio (translated by myself):(more…)
