A drunken hooligan invades the pitch at Carrow Road.Venue: Carrow Road, Norwich. Date: Saturday 10th Dec, 2011. Kick-off: 3.00pm. Referee: Martin Atkinson. Pies: D.Smith.
The Magpies of Newcastle United will be looking to pick themselves up after a tough trio of fixtures and recent injury woes as they visit the Canaries of Norwich City.
Even though this is an away game, some may have thought this would be an easy three points, until recently that is. The loss of Fabricio Coloccini with a thigh strain, as well as Steven Taylor for the whole season with a knacked achilles tendon puts a new complexion on matters as our lack of strength in depth has eventually been exposed. Like ourselves, Norwich have been something of a “surprise package” in the Premiership so far. Though Norwich City’s entire first team squad is worth far less than the amount Mike Ashley received for Andy Carroll alone, they are currently sitting quite comfortably at 11th in the table. That is quite an achievement for such a modest squad who were expected to be rooted at the bottom of the table, and not to be sniffed at, especially in the light of our recent circumstances injurywise. More on that below however…
Who will replace them?Newcastle United’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea pales into insignificance compared to the prospect of playing without Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor.
I’m not particularly worried about the 0-3 scoreline on Saturday. Things didn’t go our way with the sending off that didn’t happen, the loss of Coloccini early on then Taylor near the end of the game and the infernal woodwork that saved Chelsea on a number of occasions.
That’s not to say that Chelsea weren’t threatening – they were – but on another day I could have seen us get a draw from that game, or at least only lose to a scoreline that was more reflective of the game than 0-3. I think what I’m trying to say is that we certainly weren’t completely outclassed or anything like that.
Looking ahead, though, what is worrying is our extensive injury list, particularly in the defensive region. (more…)
Taylor back in business?Steven Taylor stepped up his comeback from a shoulder injury today as he managed to play an hour for the reserves at Wigan Athletic this afternoon.
Taylor has had an injury-plagued last ten months on Tyneside but will be hoping that his troubles are now behind him and that he can now concentrate on playing the game.
Of course, it’s not a given that he will walk straight back into the first-team anyway and he will face a fight for his position for arguably the first time in his Newcastle career. Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson will not want to give up their places in the team, and at the moment I honestly don’t think they deserve to be dropped. Likewise with Danny Simpson, who has been excellent since he came back into the first-team at West Ham a couple of weeks back.
Realistically though, a first-team return for Taylor is still a couple of weeks away in my opinion. The lad effectively has to play another pre-season again before he can even be considered, much like Danny Simpson had to do before he was drafted back into the team. (more…)
JLoyd Samuel in action for Bolton.The treatment at St James’ Park is already beginning to fill up, even before a ball has been kicked in the Premier League.
It is worrying that we seem to be losing players left, right and centre due to injury, but an additional concern is the amount of time that players will be out because of these injuries.
Take Danny Simpson as an example, he will miss the first month of the season through injury, and it looks like Steven Taylor will be joining him although that is yet to be confirmed. Tamas Kadar is another player who is fighting to be fit for the start of the season. Add all that together and it is becoming apparent that we are desperately short of players in certain positions for the new season. (more…)
Shola: "50-50" for Palace clash.In an update to our earlier story, more news has come in from Chris Hughton on the Newcastle United injury situation with centre back, Steven Taylor, midfielder, Nicky Butt, and striker, Shola Ameobi.
As reported earlier, the three hapless unfortunates were all knacked in the two titanic encounters with the butchers of West Bromwich Albion, with Shola’s shoulder, Taylor’s knee and Butt’s calf all under the spotlight.
Speaking to NUFC tv, the Stratford Supremo reported firstly on Taylor, saying:
“Steven will miss Wednesday’s game. He tweaked his knee last Monday and we’re still assessing the injury”
Although things are far from certain until all the test results have been assessed, the current Taylor situation seems a long way away from the prognosis of the Times’s North East football scaremonger, George Caulkin, who confidently asserted that the centre back had knee ligament damage that would keep him out for the rest of the season.
Moving on to Ameobi and Butt, Hughton said: (more…)
