Carroll: "Raring to go for Palace".Good words today coming from two of our players, Andy Carrol and Kevin Nolan, with both of them saying the best thing to get over a defeat is another game, and that comes in the shape of Newcastle United’s home encounter with Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening.
Both lads are understandably annoyed with being eliminated from the FA Cup on Saturday, but are determined that it won’t affect The Toon’s promotion push and are seeking to use the defeat as a springboard to pick up the teams league form. Scouse Nolan said:
“Going out (of the cup) is a blow, but we can only look to our next game.”
“The fans were great at West Brom and that can only drive us on, as can this result.”
“We are still top of the league and we’ve got to finish off the job. This can inspire us to do that. We’re going for it.”
With the injury to Shola Ameobi, the onus could now be on Andy Carroll to help score the goals to keep us top of the league. His 2 goals on Saturday were excellent, and could be just the confidence boost the Gateshead born hitman has needed. Speaking of ending his 3 month goal drought, Carroll said: (more…)
Maggie bird v Baggie bird. Who'll get the juicy 3 point worm?Newcastle United take on West Bromwich Albion in a crucial top of the table encounter on Monday night at St James Park. With the Toon drawing the Baggies in the FA Cup 4th round, the two teams are forced to play each other twice in the space of six days.
We will be looking to extend our unbeaten home run of nine wins and three draws at SJP but Albion will be a real test for the lads. Recently knocked off second spot after a defeat at home to in form Nottingham Forest, Roberto Di Matteo will be looking to his team to win the two games they have in hand
over Forest to position themselves back in second place.
Di Matteo was a great midfield player, who, you will remember, enjoyed a very successful playing career with Chelsea and Italy before being forced to retire following a horrific injury. His first steps into management in 2008 with Milton Keynes Dons proved successful, as he led the League One club to within two points of their second successive automatic promotion while they played attacking, attractive football. (more…)
So who fancies living up to this then?Well here it is, the third and final chapter of my mid-term player review. And a topical area for discussion, as speculation remains over a move for Leeds Utd’s Jermaine Beckford, or A.N. Other should we fail in that bid.
The No.9 shirt is almost as synonymous with Newcastle United, as St James’ Park, the black and white stripes or that deed funny accent we’ve got. It’s been made particularly special in this part of the world because it’s been worn by some of the best players this country has seen. The likes of Gallacher, Milburn, MacDonald, Cole, Shearer have graced that shirt and it will undoubtedly always be a big shirt to fill.
Ironic then, given that the No.9 shirt and the prestige it carries with it is currently up for grabs, that we have a group of strikers who fall somewhat short of the standards we’ve come to expect from our centre-floorboards, and that none of them look like earning that honour just yet, particularly in this current barren spell…..
Sucker-punch!An early boxing day start took me to Hillsborough in the hope we could continue our fine run of form against struggling Sheff Wed. It’s been well documented recently that our boxing day winning record has been less than impressive – the next chance we get, it will have been 22 years since we won! Here is my account of the match, and the day out in general…
After arriving in Sheffield and quickly finding a car parking space, me and my mate set off for the pre-match ritual pint. After a half-mile walk up an icy hill, The White Horse beckoned. Honestly, it was just like old times when we used to take over pubs and city centres, with toon flags outside and toon fans only inside.
Feeling refreshed, we walked to the ground taking our seats (second row, directly behind the goal), and sat down to enjoy the warm-up. I experienced that heart-sinking feeling as I watched our boys warming up, and quickly worked out that there was no Alan Smith, and that Nicky Butt was warming up with the starting XI (more…)
Proving his point?Newcastle strolled to yet another Championship victory, at the expense of our Teeside rivals and in front of a record Championship attendance. And yet as bored as I’m with repeating myself, this was another game in which we failed to get the blood flowing, on a day when it was needed most. Boro’s inadequacies and the ref’s ineptitude played as big a part as Coloccini’s immense display at the back or Danny Guthrie’s pinpoint cross for the second goal.
Despite it looking distinctly like the game would be called off, reminiscent of the game the Smogs called off at their place not long back, it went ahead on a freezing day with the travelling conditions treacherous. And yet St James’ wasn’t far off being a sellout as the supporters turned out in force, tackling the deep snowfall and icy conditions, for this season’s home derby as the attendance just about tipped the 50,000 mark.
Hughton once again made some fundamental changes to the Newcastle side as Danny Simpson replaced Ryan Taylor at right back, while Danny Guthrie came in on the right midfield for Fabrice Pancrate. And as he reverted to a standard 4-4-2, Harewood and Ameobi were paired together as Nicky Butt and the suspended Andy Carroll made way, with Nolan dropping into an orthodox central midfield pairing with Smith. (more…)
