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…)
Captain Colocini: Level headed.He’s come a long way since he joined the ranks of Newcastle United as a £10.3M Centre Back under the control of Kevin Keegan.
It’s probably debateable whether Keegan even wanted him in, but I don’t remember there being too much dissent when he transferred.
We all knew of him through his days playing for Argentina, so we expected big things from him. His first season started really well, putting in some top class, assured performances, starting away at Man. U. in the league. It was clear that he’d be a great acquistion. But as that ‘ill fated’ season progressed, things started to go wrong ‘upstairs’ at the Toon, all of which well documented, so I won’t go there. Suffice to say, Keegan ended up leaving, the club went into turmoil, a series of caretaker managers presiding over the drop down to the Championship by the end of that chaotic season.
After the “deadwood” was shipped out, the players that stayed got their heads around plying their trade one league down. Some of our ‘better’ players hung around, when no doubt they could have moved on to top league clubs, Fabricio Coloccini being one of them. (more…)
New look midfield: Cheik Tiote and Yohan Cabaye in actionAfter the comings and goings of the ‘off season’, some of them obvious,, predictable, profitable and manufactured, it’s safe to say we now have a far more fluid midfield.
On top of the fluidity, we have also aquired a hell of a lot more pace. We seem very midfield focused at the moment, what with the possibilty of Yohan Cabaye being missing for the upcoming Spurs game. We also will lose the services of one Cheik Tiote when the African Cup of Nations swings around in January. No doubt losing his services a week or so before, as he meets up with his Cote d’Ivore team mates.
Both players will definitely be missed whenever they don’t play, whether by injury or suspension, but can we fill the sizeable gaps left? We have midfielders like Hatem Ben Arfa, Sylvain Marveaux, Dan Gosling, Haris Vučkić, Danny Guthrie to come in, not bad stand-ins, if you ask me. We also have versatile players like Ryan Taylor, James Perch and Shane Ferguson to come and ‘do a job’ if we get Davide Santon, Mike Williamson back into the defensive fold. So, as I was saying: We have a much more fluid arrangement from midfield to defence. (more…)
Pardew: Keeping expectations down.Alan Pardew states in a recent interview that the team is keeping it’s collective feet firmly on the ground.
After Saturday’s dramatic win away to Wolves that has us still in the top four after all the weekends games, briefly peaking at third spot, it’s good to know that the lads are aware that there are bigger fish to fry just around the international corner.
Some will say we’ve had an easy-ish set of early fixtures, but you can only beat what’s put in front of you. We’ve done that and we are where we are through some solid hard work and a little bit of the fortune that has frequently deserted us in the past. There are always going to be knockers of NUFC, that’s par for the course, but this set of lads has given the manager a good headache about selecion, when everyone’s fit.
Here’s what Pardew had to say:
“To be where we are now is an outstanding achievement, not just by the players, but by the staff I have around me,” (more…)
It's Demba Ba day on NUFC Blog!Demba Ba got his Newcastle goal tally up and running against Blackburn on Saturday at Saint James’ Park in sensational fashion.
After early indifference from some, when he was not quite up to pace due to his religious commitments, he’s slowly started to build his fitness. He started to show some of his movement, touch and hold up ability last week versus Villa and before that in a brief cameo at home against Fulham.
Like all players coming into a new club, and in this case a ‘new’ team, it was always going to require a little patience while he found his feet and got to know his new team mates and surroundings.
Well it seems he has!
What a cracking first goal for your club at home his first strike turned out to be! (more…)
