Proving his point?Newcastle strolled to yet another Championship victory, at the expense of our Teeside rivals and in front of a record Championship attendance. And yet as bored as I’m with repeating myself, this was another game in which we failed to get the blood flowing, on a day when it was needed most. Boro’s inadequacies and the ref’s ineptitude played as big a part as Coloccini’s immense display at the back or Danny Guthrie’s pinpoint cross for the second goal.
Despite it looking distinctly like the game would be called off, reminiscent of the game the Smogs called off at their place not long back, it went ahead on a freezing day with the travelling conditions treacherous. And yet St James’ wasn’t far off being a sellout as the supporters turned out in force, tackling the deep snowfall and icy conditions, for this season’s home derby as the attendance just about tipped the 50,000 mark.
Hughton once again made some fundamental changes to the Newcastle side as Danny Simpson replaced Ryan Taylor at right back, while Danny Guthrie came in on the right midfield for Fabrice Pancrate. And as he reverted to a standard 4-4-2, Harewood and Ameobi were paired together as Nicky Butt and the suspended Andy Carroll made way, with Nolan dropping into an orthodox central midfield pairing with Smith. (more…)
Sideshow Bob: "A real class defender" says Hughton.Newcastle United manager, Chris Hughton, has been giving ’nuff respect to more players on nufcTV. This time, Hughton’s effusive praise has been heaped upon the two Fabs, Colloccini and Pancrate, and a back in the goals Peter Lovenkrands.
Lovenkrands hailed.
First to be showered with praise was recently troubled Dane, Lovenkrands, who has struggled with family illness and a lack of full match fitness in the last few months. On the Great Dane, Hughton gushed:
“He gives us that pace up the middle and is a great outlet,”
On his goalscoring performance in the Swansea game, he effused:
“I thought he coped with the 90 minutes tremendously well given the fact it was his first game for a while.
“He was full of running towards the end and that’s testament to his hard work.
“He got a good goal and it was a great assist for Marlon.
“That performance will lift him and I thought overall he was excellent.”(more…)
Loving it!It was something we were crying out for and something even Big Al couldn’t muster amongst the n’er do wells that passed themselves off as professional footballers last season.
Having rid ourselves of some inflated-egos following the drop, we hoped for some solidarity this year. Unity in the camp and everyone pushing for the same things and nobody better or more deserving than anybody else. That way everybody would have each other’s back and we’d be a ‘team’ again instead of just individuals who happened to be wearing the same shirt and kicking in the same direction on a Saturday.
One thing we probably didn’t expect after relegation though was for this to be much fun for the players. Although some of us tried to see opportunity in adversity and treat it like an adventure, we didn’t expect a beaming squad of player at the prospect of capped wages and capacity crowds lower than five figures. However, Steven Taylor has gone on record to say that it’s all smiles around the training ground at the moment and it sounds like life couldn’t be better for the young defender. He said: (more…)
Toon's 'Three Amigos'.Toon midfield dynamo, Danny Guthrie, has been expressing his admiration for Newcastle United’s ‘Three Amigos’, Jose Enrique, Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez. As Newcastle United prepare for a wet Monday evening at Deepdale in Preston, Guthrie mused on how they have defied the stereotypes about fancy foreign players who aren’t up for a good scrap in the English Championship.
On their spirit, and the so-called ‘English mentality’, Guthrie gushed:
“You might talk about the so-called English mentality, about being able to fight when your back is against the wall and showing strength in adversity,”
“But the foreign lads have also shown plenty of spirit and that’s really good to see. You sometimes hear stories about players who don’t really fancy a battle when they come over to play in this country, but Jose, Jonas and Fabricio have really knuckled down. It would have been easy for them to fob it off once we had been relegated, but they have stayed and they have got on with it.
“People have preconceptions about what foreign players are going to be like and whether they have the stomach for it, but they have been brilliant and haven’t been fazed by anything this season.” (more…)
Sharp as a Blade tonight!Once again, Newcastle United managed to leave us feeling slightly underwhelmed, and yet still went top of the league after taking all three points at Bramall Lane. The fact that we managed to grind out a 1-0 win against the red and white half of Sheffield was largely down to luck at their end, resilience at our’s and some brilliance from Stevie Harper.
After a fairly forgettable first half, in which Sheffield looked probably the more organised and potent force (though I use that term lightly). This despite their having several absences while we had generally a strong squad to pick from, though Hughton again left me scratching my head with his decisions. Not for the first time this season, the opposition seemed to move the ball sharper than us an didn’t look out of ideas once they crossed the halfway line. But for all their endeavour, the score remained 0-0 at half-time.
Newcastle came out and were the better side at the start of the second half and though there should have been a foul awarded as Kevin Nolan robbed Walker, Ryan Taylor nonetheless took full advantage and our second slice of luck was about to occur as his shot from 25 yards took a wicked deflection of Morgan, with Ian Bennett rooted to the spot in the Sheffield goal, the ball nestled into the far corner.
Sheffield threw everything but the kitchen sink at us in the dying minutes but we held on strongly due to resolute defending and some heroics in the goal from Harper. (more…)
