A potential Newcastle United 11 without Ba and Cisse.Following the departures of Leon Best and Peter Lovenkrands Newcastle United have only three recognised strikers in our 12/13 squad – fact.
A much documented lack of transfer activity has left countless Geordies despondent with the size of our squad entering a hectic season, yearning for the signature of a new striker. The biggest worry is that whilst both Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse are competing in the African Cup of Nations (or potentially injured) we will be left unable to cope without arguably our two most recognised strikers, where a lack of goals could become a defining factor in our Premier League campaign. It’s worth noting that Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse contributed a huge 53% of our goals total in the Premier League last year (29 of 55), highlighting their importance.
So, should we of signed another striker? Not necessarily. Can we cope without Ba and Cisse? I believe so. A conventional 4-4-2 formation is unachievable should only one recognised striker in Shola Ameobi be available, but alternatives can be utilised to apt effect. Of 38 Premier League fixtures last season a 4-4-2 formation was utilised 26 times (68.4%). What about our other fixtures? We were often tagged as operating in a 4-5-1, 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation with 1 conventional striker, 3 advanced mid-fielders and 2 central defensive mid-fielders in behind operating predominately defensively. Why could this not be used in the few games where both Cisse and Ba would not be available? Another alternative would be to play a 4-4-1-1 formation (often favoured by Alan Pardew’s predecessor Chris Hughton) with Ben Arfa operating in what is essentially a free role behind Shola Ameobi. (more…)
Highlights of today’s Newcastle United pre season friendly against Turkish Super Liga runners up, Fenerbahçe, at the Sonnenseestadion in Ritzing, Austria.
It was Newcastle United who opened the scoring, with youngster, Mehdi Abeid, cracking one off in the 76th minute. However Fenerbahçe drew level with an strike from Cristian just before the final whistle.
Newcastle United’s series of pre season fixtures starts this evening in Chemnitz, as the Magpies kick off their European tour, playing six games (if you count one against the Dutch Den Haag which is yet to be officially confirmed). Two of the games will be played in Germany, one in Hungary and two in Portugal, though not necessarily against local sides.
The teams will be Chemitzer at their place in Saxony, AS Monaco in Bavaria, Fenerbahçe in Hungary, Olympiacos and SC Braga at Braga’s unusual Estádio Municipal de Braga, which has a huge rockface at one side of the stadium instead of the usual terracing. Finally the as yet unconfirmed one against ADO Den Haag will be played at Den Haag’s Kyocera Stadium in the the Hague. Although not officially confirmed by NUFC, the game has been definitely been confirmed by Den Haag.
Finally (for the moment), back in the UK, there will be another “Battle of the Birds” as the Magpies take on the Bluebirds of Cardiff City at their place, and the reserves / bairns will also take on Gatesheed at the Intenational Stadium. (more…)
Chemnitzer Fans.Dear reader, I realise that I’m probably setting myself up for a fall with this piece.
Actually, I sincerely hope that I am, just as the BBCs “Panorama” programme did when they screened a documentary about racism in Polish and Ukrainian football on the eve of the recent European Championships. However, I feel that even if things do go well in the first of Newcastle United’s first pre season friendlies tomorrow evening against Saxon third division side, Chemnitzer FC, it was an extremely foolish decision to arrange it against a team with such an awful reputatiion for overt racism with it’s fans, and even it’s security staff (see below) with several black and / or Muslim players in the current Newcastle United side. One thing’s for sure, there certainly won’t be the same kind of policing that there was at the above mentioned European Championships when the game takes place.
Saxon lower league sides are one of the largest hotbeds of neo-nazi activity in the whole of football, and Chemnitzer FC are one of the worst. As you will see below, sometimes the behaviour of a very vocal and violent group of their fans can go far beyond the usual monkey chanting and so on. But first, here’s an extract from a 2010 report by the European Forum for Migration Studies (EFMS). On German lower league football in general, especially amateur sides such as Chemnitzer, they write: (more…)
Pardew: The silly season intrigue continues!Newcastle United’s Silver Supremo, Alan Pardew, played down transfer fever at the club, saying that he doesn’t expect too many players to be coming in during this transfer window.
Speaking at his first press conference for the forthcoming pre-season programme, instead, Pardew preferred to put the emphasis on younger players such as Mehdi Abeid and Haris Vuckic breaking through for more first team action in the absence of departees such as Peter Lovenkrands, Danny Guthrie, Leon Best and several others. The Grey Gaffer said:
“I don’t envisage too many coming in.
“We have a lot of young players here who haven’t played much football.
“People like Mehdi Abeid and Haris Vuckic.
However, he was heartened that the club were still looking at players who could take the club forward, adding: (more…)
