Phil Airey's goal wasn't enoughA draw against Lecce for the Newcastle United youngsters proves not to be enough to qualify for the last 16 of the Torneo di Viareggio.
I have been reporting the Newcastle youth team’s exploits in the Torneo di Viareggio since our first game last week, so I may as well wrap it up with a brief report on our 1-1 draw with Lecce.
After losing our first match to Fiorentina we had to win the last two matches to be sure of qualification. Unfortunately we only drew with Club Nacional, which meant we’d have to win our final match against Lecce and other results would have to go our way in order to qualify for the last 16.
Alas it wasn’t to be and we only managed a 1-1 draw with Lecce.
Apparently we passed the ball well but simply did not create enough chances and eventually found ourselves one down. We managed to level things up via a free kick from Phil Airey and continued to press forward, having a lot of possession, but we simply couldn’t get a winning goal.
We had to settle for third in the table in the end and, as Fiorentina won, we wouldn’t have qualified even if we’d won too. (more…)
Doing his stuff for the IvoriansNewcastle United’s Cheick Tiote reveals some reasons why he was happy to sign a new contract. Furthermore, could he help us sign his fellow Ivory Coast team-mate Gervinho?
Cheick Tiote has been talking to the Daily Mail. That’s the sort of thing this writer would normally recommend strongly against, like running with scissors, playing with fire or sticking your face in a fan.
In this case, however, Tiote reveals much about his contentment at the club, saying:
“As soon as I arrived here the players made me welcome. They helped me settle in and that meant I could do a good job on the pitch.”
The Mail suggests that Tiote rejected a transfer day move to Chelsea, which may be true or it may be something they’ve just read between the lines when Tiote expresses his preference for Newcastle over London as follows:
“Newcastle life is good for me. It is not like London – London is too busy, there are too many people.
“Newcastle is not so busy. That makes it easier to focus on your job. For me it is important. I would like to be here for a few years. I can learn here.
“I feel settled here. I enjoy it here. The fans are good and the new manager likes me. The club has looked after me and I do my best for the team and the fans.” (more…)
'Joey had felt his thigh a little bit'Alan Pardew has been giving us his reactions to yesterday’s draw between Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers.
It was a game I felt we should have won both from the outset and after watching the first half, but once we’d gone down to 10 players I was happy to settle for the point.
The ref came in for some stick from the fans and that’s reflected a bit in Pardew’s comments below although, to be fair, Bolton haven’t been pushovers this season and that’s reflected in their reasonably healthy league position.
Alan Pardew first talked about Ryan Taylor’s tackle (oh I say missus):
“It wasn’t high, but it was late and with that kind of take off you’re going to get sent off in this day and age.
“If I go back 10 years the boy isn’t getting sent off. He might not even get a booking.
“Unfortunately for Ryan he had a bad touch and tried to make up for it, but made a second mistake by going in with too much venom.
“He’s not got a malicious bone in him and I’m genuinely disappointed. He just knew he had to make up for his bad touch and in doing so was over zealous and got himself sent off.
“There will be no punishment from me on that. I don’t think he meant to harm the player in any shape or form.” (more…)
What's the plan Mike?Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley continues to be a perpetual source of confusion, at least for this writer.
I’m confused. Which is to say that I’m more confused than normal. For starters I’m confused as to how an email address that has never been used by me anywhere and was only set up last week has ended up on some spam lists. It’s already getting about 10 emails a day offering to increase the size of certain parts of my body, reduce the size of others or somehow make me rich from under my duvet.
But that’s an aside. What I’m confused about for the purposes of this article is Newcastle United.
We have at the helm of our club a certain Mike Ashley and I confess to not having a clue where he’s coming from and, more to the point, where he’s planning on going.
Ashley has threatened to sell the club more than once and the last I heard was that it was still his intent to sell it, but that he needed to secure Premier League safety in order to get his asking price. Has that changed?
I ask because a man whose sole purpose is to create something to sell is going to approach things with a different intent than a man whose purpose is to build something for the long-term. I think this is important and I haven’t got a clue which category Ashley now falls into. (more…)
Toon entertain Bolton on SaturdayThis weekend, Newcastle United are out for revenge against Bolton for the 5-1 hammering the Toon suffered at the Reebok back in November.
As I was sat around earlier, practising impersonations of a sprout for my regular stage show, I got to thinking that it feels like about 10 weeks since we last played but it is in fact only 10 days.
The FA Cup schedule meant we skipped a match last weekend, but we’re back to the nitty-gritty of a match day this weekend with a challenging game at home against Bolton Wanderers.
Bolton are one point and one place above us in the Premier League and they gave us a good seeing to back in November at their place, beating us 5-1 and seeing Colo sent off to boot.
History is on our side for this fixture though as we’ve only lost once at home to Bolton in the Premier League, having won seven and drawn two. Furthermore, whilst Bolton have been very strong at home, having only lost two, they’ve been weak away, having only won two. (more…)
