Deal down but not out?Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has not yet given up on the prospect of signing Mevlüt Erdinç despite the player’s apparent preference to stay at Paris Saint-Germain.
There may be some downtime in the transfer market while Newcastle tour the US, but speculation that the club haven’t yet given up their hopes of signing Mevlüt Erdinç continues. According to the press, anyway.
A little while back, Erdinç stated that his preference is to stay at Paris Saint-Germain after being given assurances that he won’t be completely sidelined but the incoming transfers of players like Kevin Gameiro and – potentially – Mauro Zarate.
In fact, Erdinç played for PSG on Wednesday in their pre-season match against Brighton, although he was used to plug a gap on the right wing after Guillaume Hoarau and Kevin Gameiro were give the two front positions. It’s possible that things like that might force Erdinç to reconsider a move to Newcastle where he would most likely be the first choice striker. (more…)
I wondered where I'd left themThe stretchering off of Newcastle United’s Hatem Ben Arfa has raised some questions (at least with this writer) about whether we are indeed an injury-prone club.
As I write this, we sit at the top of the Premier League injury table alongside Spurs and the rabble from down the road and my perception is that we get a lot of injuries compared to other teams.
However, my perception might be clouded by the fact that I support Newcastle, so I set about trying to find some historical stats about injuries and – in the main – failed dismally to do so. I did find a site called LadyArse – a gooners’ fan site – which does contain an injury list that has us 5th, but I can’t vouch for the accuracy of said table.
Another thing that might cloud my perception is that injuries to key players are obviously noticed more than those to squad players, and we seem to have had a lot of those in recent seasons too.
So I guess my first question is: do we get a lot of injuries for a Premier League club? (more…)
Down but not outNewcastle United get their US pre-season tour underway with a 0-0 draw against Sporting Kansas City and Ben Arfa is stretchered off with a leg injury.
The 100 degree Fahrenheit climate was described as ‘brutally hot’ in Kansas as Newcastle lined up to take on Sporting Kansas City in the first of three matches as part of a pre-season tour of the United States.
The weather, combined with an in-form opposition who are unbeaten in 11 games, transpired to create a 0-0 draw.
Newcastle started with:
Tim Krul.
Ryan Taylor, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Jonas Gutierrez.
Peter Lovenkrands, Dan Gosling, Cheik Tiote, Sylvain Marveaux.
Hatem Ben Arfa, Demba Ba.
Jonas played at left-back, Lovenkrands was on the right wing and Ben Arfa was up front with Demba Ba.
Sporting Kansas tried to take advantage of our unfamiliarity with such hot weather by keeping the tempo of the game high but we were up to the task, at least defensively. (more…)
Pardew speakethNewcastle United manager Alan Pardew does not expect much in the way of transfer activity while the squad is away in the United States for its pre-season friendlies.
Any transfer expectations we Toon fans have can be put on hold for a few weeks until the squad returns from its US tour and we get into the first week of August. Pardew said:
“I think that a lot of business will happen but not just yet.
“There are a lot of teams away at the moment on tour like ourselves. And I don’t think anything will happen while we are away.
“Like at every club, there are things going on behind the scenes. I think, though, that the first week in August may see a bit of a flurry in transfer activity.
“There are also some players that will be moved on and that will also affect things.” (more…)
SKC v ToonNewcastle United take on Sporting Kansas City tonight in the first match of their 2011 pre-season tour of the United States.
Sporting Kansas City are currently 5th (out of 9 teams) in the Eastern Conference division of America’s MLS, but they’re on the rise with 3 wins and 2 draws (or ‘ties’ as the Americans call them) in the last five games. In fact they’re currently on an unbeaten 11 game run in the league. They did however lose their last game 2-0 away to the Richmond Kickers in the US Open Cup.
Although the English Premier League might lay claim to a higher quality of football than the MLS, this will still be a tough pre-season test for the Toon. They’ll be up against a team in mid-season who are on a run of form and the climate they’ll be playing in is likely to be a fair bit warmer than they’re used to. (more…)
