NUFC Blog.

This is just a quick ‘blog to let you all know that my latest piece for Metro.co.uk was published earlier today. Entitled “Sissoko was great, but let’s hear it for Gouffran too” it takes a look at Yoan Gouffran’s excellent performance against Chelsea on Saturday, a performance which might be overlooked in the midst of [...]

Hello and welcome to the second of my series on the latest four Frenchmen to join Newcastle. The subject this time will be the versatile 23 year old defender Mapou Yanga-M’Biwa, purchased from Ligue 1 side Montpellier for undisclosed fee that is estimated to be around £6.9 million. For those of you who didn’t read [...]

Hello and welcome to the first in my series where I shall be probing the latest batch of French fancies picked up on Graham Carr’s Eurostar shopping trips to Lille. I will be looking at the latest four signings in no particular order, who were Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Yoan Gouffran, Massadio Haïdara and Moussa Sissoko. There [...]

“‘Phenomenal’ was all a breathless Fred Rutten (Vitesse Arnhem’s manager) could say. A word so rarely uttered in the Eredivisie it took many by surprise. Phenomenal you say? In truth no other superlative could do justice to the display of incredible forward play he had the pleasure of witnessing from one of European footballs most [...]

With the news that Newcastle United will be facing Metalist Kharkiv over two legs in the the next round of our Europa League campaign, I thought it might be a good idea to probe this side from the north east of Ukraine. Going on what Alan Pardew said when he was interviewed about the draw, [...]

He is according to football stats site “whoscored.com” anyway, where he is Newcastle United’s only representative in their Premiership team of the season so far. In this he joins players such as Robin van Persie, Juan Mata, Gareth Bale and other top players, just nudging out Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen as best centre back, and tying [...]

Part one – C.S. Maritimo. Team: F.C. des Girondins de Bordeaux. League: French Ligue 1. Position last season: 5th. Stadium: Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux. Last major trophy: Ligue 1, Coupe de la Ligue, Trophée des champions – 2009. Fixture dates: Thurs, 4th Oct (H), Thurs, 6th Dec (A). A silver haired Supremo in his early [...]

Of course, there was much delight on Tyneside when Newcastle United announced they had finally signed the very talented and versatile midfielder and defender, Vurnon Anita, from Ajax. So, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at Anita’s game gathered from my experience of watching him in the Eredivisie, though [...]

In the last game for Newcastle United’s Reserves clash against a Hamilton Academical 11, it was a young French trialist (named only as “Trialist” on the team sheet) who undoubtedly stole the show. He scored two goals, narrowly missing out on a hat-trick in a 3-1 victory for the second string Mags. Newcastle United’s club [...]

With Newcastle United being strongly linked with Lille’s and France’s right back, Mathieu Debuchy, I thought it might be a good idea to make a comparison between the player and our existing first choice right back, Danny Simpson, who had a very good season overall with the Magpies, indeed, he was statistically the best right [...]