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Harper fears injuries and lust for revenge will help Pilgrim’s Progress.

Posted on November 30th, 2009 | 62 Comments |

Harper: FA Cup doom and gloom.
Harper: FA Cup doom and gloom.
As Newcastle United goalkeeper, Steve Harper wrestles with his slightly dodgy back before Watford, he looked forward slightly gloomily to the Magpie’s forthcoming FA Cup ‘Pilgrimage’ to Plymouth on January 2nd.

Playing down Toon’s cup ambitions, he worries about injuries may take their toll, and how re-entry to the Premiership must take priority over everything.

He fretted:

“We beat them a few weeks ago, so they’ll be looking to get one over us.

“The FA Cup’s a very special competition, but our priority this year isto get out of this division.

“We’ve got a lot of games between now and then, so depending on the injury situation, who knows how we’ll do at Plymouth?

“We’ve probably got half a dozen games between now and then, and that’s a long time in football. We could get a run of bad injuries.

“We won’t even begin to think about the FA Cup until after the game against Derby.”

So, his thinking on the FA Cup is that he’s not thinking about the FA Cup, I think.

FA Cup 3rd round, Jan 2nd, 2010 – Newcastle United v Plymouth Argyle, Home Park, Plymouth.

NUFCBlog Author: workyticket workyticket has written 1083 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

62 Responses

  1. I mentioned this in the previous thread, but will have another go, since I am sure no one is reading thread 56. 
    I for one think that a good cup run may actually have a few benefits to the team.  Sure, we probably won’t win the cup…fine.  However, I think if we give it a good run, we can run into a prem team or two.  This may be a good opportnity, especially if it’s a mid-table prem team with no other options available for Euro-play, to see how we match up.  Reading the replies here, it very evident that many feel that we’ll drop back down as soon as we are promoted.  Squaring up against a prem team may at least give the coaches some insight to where they NEED improvements, and where the would like to get improvements (should funds and MA permit that option).  I realize that promotion is paramount, but there are opportunities to be had.  If the gap between Automatic promotion and 3rd is big enough come Jan 2nd, I say we go for it.  But then, I hate to see any team NOT try.

  2. I love the FA cup but it really must go on the back burner this season. Our only goal this season has to be promotion, give the young lads a chance, as plymouth might not risk first team players as they are in a relegation battle, so i think the lads have a chance of progressing anyway.

  3. Im still no bothered about the cup. Will any prize money get re-invested? Doubtful! Its just another game that we cant afford to risk anyone in. If we play the kids and get through then fair enough, but look what happened in the last cup run. Shola out for months.

  5. I’m with you toonsy.
    While it’s great to do well in the cup/any cup, this season i feel it’s
    just not worth the risk to our players. Especially since ‘little’ clubs looking for a scalp can be, let’s say, a bit overenthusiastic in their approach.
    The last thing we need is injuries upsetting the push for promotion.

  8. Jay Jay ,Clint Flick ,  Not sure if you’re right , winning is a habit ! We lost focus for a while after being beat by Peterboro in the league cup , think we need to field not necessarily our best side but three short of our best and take it as a practise for the league and go out to WIN WIN WIN , haway the Nile Ranger its an opportunity for his likes to bag some goals and give confidence in the league !!
    KTF ….

  10. Nzedtoonman did we lose focus or were we coming to terms with the loss of shola and jonas? and wtf is haway all about, surely you mean howay!

  12. na its tattooed on me arse now was always haway when i was supporting them in the 70 ‘s sorry its me age mebbes howay is posh now !!

    will be great to see shola back ,

    but what I mean is you don’t field a side to lose , good sides keep momentum going , look at chelsea and arse and manu , they try to win every competition and game , no matter what !

  13. It’s probably deceptive and it’s actually a shot that he’s ‘watching go wide…’, he’s good with them!! ;)

    To be honest I thought it it was a glass model of Morph from Hartbeat.

  14. harper has done well since he’s got out of shays shad , but we need to keep a class cover for him as he’s nee spring chick…

  15. Apologies for lack of content today on my part ladies and gents. Tis my birthday (he says all self-indulgently). I’d write one now but I’m several glasses of sparkly to the good. worky is keeping the blog alive!! Tomorrow, I promise!!

    Toon, Toon etc etc

  17. Cheers Chuck!!

    Just been checking out season tickets. Had my MRI scan yesterday but my gut tells me my cruciate is screwed so I think my full-time supporting warrants a season ticket, saves farting on buying them every game!!

    Off to watch Micky McIntyre! Probably catch up with the insomniac Midnight Callers later.

  18. Nzed,
    i’m not suggesting we lose man.
    Just, let’s not get all humpy if we do, we’ve got bigger fish to fry.
    But we should definitely give a few a run out & keep a few back.
    Happy Birthday bowburn.

  19. Harper has been outstanding this year – he as nzedtoonman said – has certainly stepped out of shay’s shadow.
     
    When SBR was here – he couldnt split the two, I always believed Harps controlled his back line better, gave clearer instructions better, caught the ball better, controlled his box better than Shay.
     
    Is this years improvement solely down to poor standards – (as Harps has made countless great saves) or is he a a huge reason for our new success.

  20. Nzedtoonman you’re right it is a shame he is getting on, wonder how long before he starts his referee career, perhaps he can do some of our matches and even up the balance when rob styles shafts us AGAIN!

  21. Harper’s only 31 for christ’s sake.
    That’s nowt for a goalkeeper, still got plenty of good years in the tank.
    Stardust-i concur.

  23. Got to agree with you there Stardust, as much as I thought and still think Shay is a class act, Harper always seemed to control the box better. I’m so pleased to see him finally get to be number 1. With the saves he’s pulling off, I don’t care that he’s not in the top flight, he should be a number 2 keeper in the England squad, far better than some of what we have there.

  25. stardy i sed at the begining of the season they wouldnt score many past harper by far the best keeper in the leauge and then we have the geordie dynamo in front of  him s taylor :lol:

  26. happs b-day bbm

    stardust i agree harper is brilliant and its amazing to think that he has been so loyal to us when  by now he could have been an international keeper with a big reputation but thankfully he didnt move and now we get to reep the benifits also it must be said that paul barron is an immense goalkeeper coach and i believe is a big reason to why we have good keepers

  31. i still think there is worse teams in the prem than ours but we will need to buy half a dozen half decent players so we have a bit of strength in depth

  33. Batty i dont think i’ve ever seen so many poor teams in the prem, there are usually 3-4 teams you think could be relegated, this season it could be any from 6-7 teams. really hits home how bad we were when you see some of the crap thats in the prem this season.

  42. Worky, despite the stats, I still wouldn’t have RTaylor in my team now or would have put Geremi in my team last season when he had ‘good stats’.

  43. Plus Taylor doesn’t play at the back, he plays right sided midfield?… I shudder thinking about him as a right back, he’s been left exposed quite embrassingly when put there for us.

  47. Clint each to their own, I just don’t particularly rate him. Then again I love good football, and want our wingers bombing forward with lightning pace, or whipping in inch perfect crosses every time – i’m a bit too optomistic for this league! I do happily accept that for this one season, in this league, certain players will shine and get us promoted, but, not to darken things, I can’t see a whole lot of them keeping us up in the Prem. We got relegated with a lot better team than this last season.

  49. Andy,
    i hear y’man.
    But, we got relagated cos of a bunch of different things.
    Mainly turmoil, too many managers in a year & players loss of direction/focus.
    I’m not saying R Taylor in world class or owt, just that he does have a good cross/shot on him & chips in with assists & the odd goal, like worky stated.
    If we do get up, then i’d expect us to want to stay there, so therefore spend a few quid where needed.
    I’m not saying that will happen, but it’s what we all expect, isn’t it?
    Therefore, we’ll have a different team in the prem, yea?

  51. Aye but what worries me is that the Fat Man is naive enough to think that this high rolling in the Championship equals garunteed survival in the Prem, meaning he cuts spending money to a minimum. Then again he’ll probably use the smokescreen of yet another “sale” to actually surpass the summer transfer window without spending a penny.

  53. Andy when we got relegated we had players with big reputations but they failed to perform, owen, martins, viduka, duff etc. Teams with lesser players hull, stoke etc stayed up because of organisation and team spirit, that made a telling difference, a better squad without spirit will fail, we may be weaker than last season but the lads are putting in effort.

  55. Stardust, just stick “.co.uk” instead of “.de” on the end for the English version, or click the link at the top. Don’t forget that alot of the information is hidden behind tabs.

  57. Gonna get myself an asprin. I’ve had some howlers though, like we will never beat leicester with butt in the team..

  59. Whenever i give somebody stick they start to do well, liverpool supporters keep asking me to have a go at voronin, but i can only do so much!

  61. That ‘statue’ aint even a keeper – it’s a solid model of the cartoon character that used to feature in the lead into the Old Grey Whistle Test! 

  62. they should have awarded it to – the hand of frog –  for cheating the irish out of the world cup finals…