Hatem Ben Arfa back from injury in AprilNewcastle United manager Alan Pardew is targeting the match against Wolves on 2nd April for the return of Hatem Ben Arfa. Injuries to other team members are progressing well too.
Ben Arfa was of course crocked by Nigel de Jong whose crunching tackle managed to elicit a double break in Ben Arfa’s leg.
It’s the sort of injury that can knock players out for an entire season, so the fact that he’s making a comeback before the end of this season is good news indeed.
Talking about Ben Arfa’s injury, Pardew said:
“You’d like to think he’s got every chance of playing against Wolves.
“The Stoke game is probably too soon for him.
“He will not be toned up as he has been out for so long. He’s running, but he’s a good month away.” (more…)
I'll get me coatNewcastle United manager Alan Pardew talks about the coaching structure and transfer policy at the club.
Alan Pardew has been giving people an insight into the coaching and player analysis setup at Newcastle, which apparently includes a £3k per player GPS system to monitor training.
Pardew said:
“I have changed a lot of analytical stuff. I brought in two new analysts who put together reports about how our defence, our midfield and our attack are doing. They look at how our opposition are doing, plus our scouting.
“We have four analysts now and we only had two. We have John Carver here, whose brief is to ensure he keeps on top of our attacking side of things. I concentrate on the defence and the organisation of the team.
“That, in a nutshell, is the changes I have made. I’ve also used some of the stats that we get more than perhaps this club did in the past.”
It seems like quite a technical setup with all these analysts and is perhaps reminiscent of Sam Allardyce’s own ‘technical approach’, although perhaps without the sheer number of back-room staff that Big Sam seemed to favour. (more…)
Edmundsson - consolation goalNewcastle United’s youngsters suffer 3-1 defeat in their first game of the Torneo di Viareggio.
Our youngsters had a bad start to the Torneo di Viareggio, losing 3-1 to Fiorentina in their opening game in Group 8. However, the other two teams in the group – Lecce and Club Nacional – drew and that means winning our games against them means we’d still get through to the next round.
You can read the full match report on the official NUFC site, but it seems we went 3-0 down before getting a consolation goal from Faroe Islands international Joan Edmundsson.
Pedro thinks we can still qualify though and said:
“What we did say as a group was that we knew we’d probably have to win two games to qualify.
“We still think we can win two games. We’ve got a chance and hopefully that’ll be the case because we’ve come here to stay for as long as we can.
“Willie’s just said, in the nicest way possible, that he hopes he’s away from his family for another two weeks, because if we reached the final that would mean getting home two weeks today. In an ideal world, that would be perfect.(more…)
Gis a contract. Pretty please.Speculation about disagreement between Joey Barton and Newcastle United has been hitting the press but there is little of substance to back it up.
Joey Barton has been the subject of press speculation regarding his new contract recently. I should say at this stage that I can find nothing ‘official’ – by which I mean a direct quote from someone who counts – to back it up, so it could all be complete tosh.
However, the press speculation is as follows.
Apparently Barton has offered to take a £1m/year drop in wages in return for a 3 year extension to his current contract, which runs out in 18 months.
Allegedly, though, the club have only offered him a 2 year extension to his contract and that is a point of disagreement between Barton and NUFC.
Add to that potential interest in the player from the likes of Hamburg and suddenly there’s a story about an unsettled player at Newcastle United. (more…)
Up to the job?Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew, bigs up Best and Lovenkrands and says he will be patient with them.
The much commented upon sale of Andy Carroll to Liverpool followed, 15 minutes of football later, by a fractured cheek for Shola Ameobi left what some might consider to be a hole in our front line.
Best and Lovenkrands – aptly assisted by Ranger and Kuqi in substitute’s roles – have been tasked with plugging that hole until the summer when Pardew can (presumably) hire a striker or two in the transfer market.
I think it’s fair to say that a lot of fans were reticent – if not actually doubtful – about whether Best and Lovenkrands had the wherewithal to lead the line. The Birmingham game proved that they can at least both play together successfully and they got a goal a piece. In fact they were both firing on target back in early January against West Ham when Lovenkrands got a goal and Best got a hat-trick. (more…)
