Papiss Demba Cisse - He Scores When He Wants Venue: Liberty Stadium, Swansea. Date: Fri 6th Apr 2012. Kick-Off: 16:30. Referee: Howard Webb.
Newcastle United cruised into 5th place in the English Premier League on the back of this victory. Both Tottenham and Arsenal are now looking over their shoulders at the Geordie charge, and Chelsea are playing catch up. And with two home games to come, against Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City, do we dare to dream?
This was United’s fourth win on the trot – 12 points out of 12 – and what a time to go on a run like this, at what the media luvvies refer to as “the business end of the season”.
Those of you who have read my drivel before will know that I don’t hold a lot by statistics. The plethora of statistics which are spouted by the media and (sadly) bloggers alike these days. To me, the only statisitics which matter at the end of the day are goals. And if ever there was a game which proved my point about statistics, this was it.
Swansea City had the ball for 77% of the time. Here’s where I make myself unpopular with any welsh folk reading this. It’s easy to have 77% possession if you largely pass the ball sideways or backwards in an attempt to keep hold of it. Ray Wilkins (Chelsea and England) made a career out of it – “my word!”. (more…)
Geordie Pride.They came, they saw, we conquered. Newcastle United 2, Liverpool 0 has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?
It’s certainly put a little skip in my step on this particular Monday morning!
This isn’t a match report as such. It’s more of a “reflections” piece featuring a few random thoughts as we find ourselves in what the trendy commentators call the “business end” of the season – or what us ordinary folk call the “last ten games”. We’ve won the first 3 of those games, and when you win, it matters not what the chasing pack are doing.
Whether the “National” (read “London”) media care to admit it or not, it looks like they are going to have to start referring to Newcastle United as a “top six side” – or whatever the latest catchphrase is. Because, barring almighty intervention of biblical proportions (or Everton winning every one of their remaining games), this result is the one that pretty much establishes United in the top six. (more…)
The CanariesVenue: St James’ Park, NE1 Date: Sunday, 18th March 2012 Kick-Off: 4pm (Sky TV) Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)
Newcastle United welcome Norwich City to St James’ Park with manager Alan Pardew hoping that a win in this game could set us up for the big push towards qualification for the Europa League next season. Pardew has targeted “4 or 5 wins” from the remaining 10 fixtures, and sees this game as a great chance to get one of them.
This is also payback time as far as the Magpies are concerned, having lost at Carrow Road earlier in the season where we had to field a defence with no recognised central defenders against the “robust” Norwich forwards. Needless to say, we lost but Demba Ba still managed to score 2 goals that day, and it will hopefully be even better this time round as we should be able to field a stronger defence. We should also be able to provide a midfield and attack which will ask the Norwich defence a few questions.
Norwich have acquitted themselves very well in their first season since promotion to the Premier League. In their 14 away games this season they have won 4, drawn 4 and lost only 6. Away wins were at Bolton, QPR, West Bromwich Albion and Swansea, although it’s also worth noting that they have earned creditable draws at such places as Everton, Liverpool and Stoke City. In away games against top six clubs like us however (did you see what I did there!), they have not fared so well! (more…)
A double victory for Redknapp this week.Venue: White Hart Lane. Date: Saturday 11th Feb, 2012. Kick-off: 5.30pm. Referee: Andre Marriner.
For Newcastle United, this was a day to forget – started poorly, defended poorly, played poorly” Those words uttered by Sir Alan Shearer just about summed up this game for us. To be fair, Alan equally poured lavish praise on the performance of Tottenham Hotspur, who started well, attacked incisively with pace and skill, and pretty much outplayed us in every department.
We can have no complaints. This was not a game where the score flattered to deceive, in fact it could have been a lot worse. Yes it might have been different if Tiote had been sitting in front of the defence, if Cabaye had been available to manufacture some bullets for our Senegal strike force to fire, if Ryan Taylor had been there to put the free kick over the wall, if Steven Taylor had been in defence.
Sadly, that’s all ifs and buts. The truth is that the 11 men we sent out to play this game just weren’t at the races. Alan Pardew took the blame for getting his formation wrong, but how many of us before the game didn’t want to see both Ba and Cisse up front in our favoured 4-4-2 formation? Personally I expected Tottenham to score, especially against the defence we had out and without Tiote to protect it. So in my book we needed some potency up front. And looking at the players actually available to Pardew, there wasn’t a great deal of scope to change things in a way which would have produced an improvement. (more…)
The Boys Are Back on Toon!Venue: St James’Park, NE1 Date: 5th February 2012 Kick Off: 1.30pm Referee: Mark Halsey
I never used to bother much about Aston Villa. They were just one of those “middle of the road” clubs who chug along season after season with reasonable-sized crowds but nothing particular to shout about. I got a bit annoyed at them when they kept trying to pinch James Milner a few years ago, but I suppose the point at which my attitude towards them changed significantly was in May of 2009.
It was during the game we lost at Villa Park which sealed our relegation from the Premier League. Being relegated was a massive blow to United, the club, the management, the fans – but the puerile chanting and infantile banners on display that day by a section of the Villa support were a disgrace to their club and will live long in the memory. These days I therefore have them in the same list as the likes of Tottenham and Man Utd – teams I just love to see us beat – for various reasons I won’t go into here, but which I’m sure some of you share.
With this in mind, Villa could hardly be arriving at St James’ Park at a better time. United are back in town after three away games on the trot culminating in the win at Blackburn Rovers. Demba Ba is also back from his exploits with Senegal and is raring to get amongst the goals once again. He’s certain to start. This time of course, we also have his Senegalese strike partner Papiss Demba Cisse in the squad, wearing the famous Newcastle United number nine shirt. We don’t know at this stage whether Cisse will start the game. Manager Alan Pardew has been hinting at allowing him to soak up the atmosphere from the bench first, before unleashing him to what would be a certain gladitorial entrance, the likes of which only a Newcastle crowd can conjure up. It’s a judgement call. Personally, the way the weather is in the North East at the moment, especially the temperature, I’d let him on from the start so he can run around and keep warm! (more…)
