Beeny boy deal sealed?Another piece of good news, well hopefully some good news anyway, as it appears that Hatem Ben Arfa is about to finalise a permanent move to Newcastle.
Local journalists started reporting the news on Twitter late last night, then national journalists such as George Caulkin and Simon ‘you’re a ***’ Bird also backed up the claims which seems to indicate that the news could be true, hopefully, possibly.
It has made today’s copy of The Mirror and The Times and the general concencus seems to be that Ben Arfa will cost Newcastle £5 million with the capture set to be confirmed in the early part of next week when the January transfer window opens up for business.
Of course, nothing is ever true until it is confirmed by the club, but the fact that so many journalists appear to be reporting pretty much the exact same details should hopefully point towards this rumour being true. Let’s not forget though that we are in silly season and rumours will be rife. (more…)
Pardew talks the talk.Alan Pardew has today come out and said what most of us have been saying all season long and has admitted that Newcastle need new faces in January.
Part of the problem is strength in depth at Newcastle. We have a first eleven that can beat anyone on their day, but it’s when players are injured or suspended that we start to struggle.
Take yesterday for example. Jose Enrique was injured, and we had no real reliable backup to come in and cover him. Another example is Kevin Nolan. Love him or hate him, surely few can deny that he was missed yesterday. At least he would have affored Andy Carroll the luxury of having at least some support up front rather than having to burdon himself with everything regarding the team attacking the opposistion.
There is part of our problem. Potentially we have a good team, but a weak squad. The better teams have the squad to cope with the various injuries and suspensions that crop up throughout the season. This is something Newcastle need to emulate if they have aspirations of pushing up the league and steering clear of the relegation battle. (more…)
No need for new signings says Hughton.It looks like the players that Newcastle have now will have to make do until the end of the season, if you go by what Chris Hughton has said today.
Hughton insists that he will not be tempted into making any new signings when the transfer window re-opens in January.
The news will come as a blow to fans who had hoped that January could see some reinforcements drafted in, especially given the fact that we have now lost one of our summer acquisitions for quite some time in the shape of Ben Arfa.
Speaking to the official club website, Hughton had this to say:
“I’m disappointed to have lost a player of Hatem’s quality – but we’ll not overreact to one injury in what is a very strong squad. We won’t be adding to the squad in January; I feel we have a lot of strength in depth with the players we have already and there’s no need to add to it.”(more…)
A strangely formidable partnership?Newcastle seem to be getting the hang of this transfer window malarkey, as evidenced by the way business has been done in the last two transfer windows.
It is just my opinion, but I would class the last two transfer windows as a success, and that success has been achieved without the club spending a fortune.
I think that by now most fans are aware that the days of signing stupidly overpriced players, like the Mackems did with Asamoah Gyan, are behind us. That is fair enough, but the club must make make sure that they don’t go too far in the other direction and end up not spending enough to improve the squad. (more…)
Things are looking up right now.Does anyone else have the feeling I am experiencing at the moment? Pack the jokes away, I mean the feeling of, dare I say it, happiness?
At this precise moment in time I don’t think things could be going much better for a Newcastle fan. It’s all relative of course, and we could be in the Champions League, 1st in the Premier League and so on, but we’re not.
However, we have made a rather solid start to life back in the Premier League. It’s only three games in and I understand that it may be a bit too early to judge things, but surely most fans are happy with the start we have made this season? A solid performance at Old Trafford, a 6-0 hammering of Aston Villa, and a point away at a ground that is notoriously tough to visit all combine to add to the feel good feeling. I mean, if you were offered four points after playing two of last seasons top six and away at a relegation rival in the first three games of the season, you would have taken that before the season started wouldn’t you? I would. (more…)
