Below is a table comparing the main statistics of all of Newcastle United’s main strikers who have played in the Hughton / Pardew years. There are six, Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands, Andy Carroll, Leon Best, Demba Ba and most recently of course, Papiss Cisse.
Please note that this is for Premier League games only. Championship stats have been excluded as they would obviously give the players who played a full season in the lower division an unfair advantage. As well as that, cup games have also been escluded too to make as level a playing field as possible (if you’ll pardon the pun). I think you might find one or two surprises in there, which was partly the reason I did this post in the first place.
I suppose I could have included Kevin Nolan too, as his goalscoring and assist figures would also stand up with the names below after Chris Hughton moved him further forward into the “hole” as they say, however this one’s for strikers and Nolan has always been a midfielder, albeit a highly attacking one in recent seasons. (more…)
An early return for Arsene Wenger’s side after our last meeting ended up, deservedly, with a share of the spoils after Newcastle came back from 4 goals down – a first in Premier League history.
A late 5:30PM kick off for the Toon after an eventful first day of football. Bolton sit at the top of the table after trouncing newly promoted Queens Park Rangers 4-0, Wolves sit in second place after a 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers, followed by Liverpool, Norwich, Sunderland and Wigan – all of which scoring 1 goal a piece while Aston Villa and Fulham drew without finding the back of the net.
As it stands, Newcastle stand 14th in the league while Blackburn and QPR opening their season in the relegation zone. (more…)
The last in the series of our player reviews for the 09/10 season will take a look at our strikers and how they have done this season.
We have already worked our way through the team starting with goalkeepers before moving onto have a look at our defence and midfield. Our strikers have been very important for us this season and have combined to score over half of our goals this season, 47 of them in fact, and they have been spread pretty evenly between the various front men. For the first half of the season we spent our time playing mainly one striker with Kevin Nolan in an attcking support role, something that has probably helped Nolan score so many goals whilst limiting the chance of any strikers hitting the 20 goal mark. Still, it’s a team game as the saying goes, and as long as the ball is hitting the back of the net I don’t really care which player scores them. Let’s take a look anyway. (more…)
“Make it real” was the Coca-Cola slogan for 2005, and while that was arguably the year we began a slippery slide to Championship oblivion and the league that bears that famous brand name, tonight Newcastle United stepped three points and one game closer to making promotion back to the big time a reality. On a wet, windy but wonderful Monday evening, the 2-0 defeat of Nottingham Forest all but ends their hopes of overhauling us and barring a disaster all that should be left is a battle with West Brom for the title.
The Championship journey has been a humbling and perhaps necessary journey for some Mags but one season is just about enough, cheers all the same. While we’ve had some difficult games, none more so than tricky tests against the Tricky Trees, our lads have come through the test and are so close to a victorious 90 minutes which should culminate in a mathematically certain return to the top flight and a silent two fingers at those that wanted us to fail miserably. It would take a monumental 7-Up, if we were to fail to realise the dream of going back up at the first time of asking.
On a greasy surface and with the wind and rain driving across the pitch, Newcastle weathered both the elements and a determined Forest attack. Despite good possession for both sides though, neither side looked like breaking the deadlock and this Level 7’er is fairly certain he didn’t see a save from either keeper until after the hour. And when the deadlock was broken, to bring effervescence to both players and fans alike, who other than Shola ‘Offside’ Ameobi, returning from injury, would be more appropriate? With a neat turn, great control and a tidy finish to make it 1-0, proving yet again that if he can stay fit he offers us something our other strikers don’t. (more…)
Newcastle United’s extensive injury list appears to be showing signs of relenting as the season draws to a close. A number of both long term and short term injuries appear to be clearing up which can only be a good thing as the Toon seek to finish off the job of promotion this season.
Arguably the most notable of those injuries to clear up is Jose Enrique. The Spanish left back has been out for five weeks, and had his comeback against Barnsley two weeks ago cut short with a slight recurrance of his hamstring injury. He was named on the bench against Middlesbrough although manager Chris Hughton decided not to risk playing the defender and decided a couple of days extra rest would be better than risking losing Enrique for a longer period of time.
The Spaniard is raring to go for the title run in and firmly believes his injury problems are behind him, something we all hope is true such has been his influence this season. Speaking to The Chronicle of his injury, Enrique had this to say: (more…)