Teamwork is the key to Toon successYohan Cabaye states in an interview that he believes teamwork has been responsibly for a lot of Newcastle United’s success this season and that it’s teamwork that can help us compete even with clubs that have better players.
Yohan Cabaye has been assessing the season for French site Sport24.com and this is what he had to say:
Interviewer: “Yohan, what is your assessment of your first season at Newcastle?”
Yohan: “I think the outcome is very positive. Early in the season, if we were told that Newcastle would finish 5th, nobody would have believed it. Our results have been beyond the expectations of the fans.”
Interviewer: “You have near caused a big surprise by getting qualification to the Champions League … ”
Yohan: “As the season progressed, we found ourselves playing in 3rd or 4th place. There is a little disappointment that we didn’t finish there but it is quickly forgotten because we had a good season anyway. And to qualify for Europe and the Europa League was really important for the fans and the club. This has been a very successful season.” (more…)
Toon boss happy with 2011-2012Newcastle United couldn’t finish the season on a high at Goodison but few can deny they’ve had a successful season anyway. Pardew reflects on the season a bit and so does this author.
On the back of our 2011-2012 season Alan Pardew has been reflecting on things and considers it a good season, all-in-all. Pardew said:
“We have made a huge leap this year. Even just to compete with these top teams, and to finish above the great teams that we have, the players can be very proud. It is one of the finest seasons at this club.”
Pardew has also been indicating that he’s already looking to strengthen the squad, saying:
“We’re already thinking about two or three players, but I think you’ll find that a lot of the clubs who might want to do early business will have to wait until the European Championships are over.
“It’s going to be a bit like a roulette wheel, and I’m hoping that the players we’re looking at all have awful tournaments.(more…)
Deal dead in the water now?Does the latest injury to Newcastle United target Erik Pieters scupper any chance of a transfer?
23 year-old PSV left back Erik Pieters has been an alleged target for Newcastle United for quite some time now. Last summer we reportedly offered PSV €7m for the player and PSV went so far as to say the offer was ‘good’ in terms of amount but they withdrew from negotiations when they couldn’t be sure of getting a replacement for him before the transfer window closed.
The idea that we might still sign him has been bubbling under ever since and back in April The Mirror reported that it was pretty much a ‘done deal’.
If you remember, Pieters suffered a foot injury back in October which kept him out of action for four months, and he suffered another foot injury last month the puts him out for the rest of the season and scuppers his chances of playing for The Netherlands in Euro 2012. The first injury was a broken metatarsal and the second injury is a hairline fracture, but I can’t find anything to say whether the injuries are related or even if they’re to the same foot.
Back in mid-April Pieters still hoped to be fit for Euro 2012 when he said:
“It is very disappointing news. I will strictly adhere to the medical team’s rehabilitation programme. The gravity of the injury will be known in three weeks. I will give 200 per cent to get back to match fitness.” (more…)
Thanks Kenny: finally did something good for us!Newcastle United benefit from Liverpool’s win last night but what does this all mean in terms of where we go in Europe next season?
Perhaps the most important news of the day is that Liverpool’s win over Chelsea last night means the Newcastle are assured of at least a 5th place finish this season. So that means that Arsenal, Spurs and Newcastle will fight it out next Sunday for 3rd, 4th and 5th and any of those three teams could end up in any of those spots.
We currently have 65 points, Spurs have 66 and Arsenal have 67, and on Sunday Arsenal are away to West Brom, Spurs are at home to Fulham and we’re away to Everton. I’d say that we have the toughest fixture of those three and I suspect 5th is where we’ll finish this season as I reckon Arsenal and Spurs are probably good for 3 points from their fixtures, but I’ll be keeping my hopes alive until the final whistle.
Back in March I wrote an Idiots Guide To Toon Europa Qualification, which thoroughly confused me and everyone who read it. I’m please to say the scenario is now much simpler and looks like this: (more…)
Thumbs-up to fans, says PardewAlan Pardew praises Newcastle United fans for their support this season and reckons the fans have been worth an extra place or two for the team.
So, just the one game to go then. And then what are we going to have in terms of football until next season? Well I suppose there’ll be the Euro’s to keep to keep us amused, although I’m finding it hard to raise any enthusiasm for England at the moment. One thing we will have though is a fair few extra fixtures next season thanks to European qualification and, assuming we don’t manage a miracle next weekend, that’s looking like it’ll be the Europa League.
If we finish 5th, we’d start in the Play-Offs, which take place on the 23rd and 30th of August but if we get bumped down to the 3rd qualifier – maybe due to Chelsea winning the Champions League or us only managing to finish 6th – then we’d have two ties ahead of that on the 2nd and 9th of August.
There will of course be plenty of rumours about players leaving and joining during the summer and it will be interesting to see how our squad looks at the end of the summer transfer window, which opens in July. We’ve already had press reports about teams who might ‘swoop’ for our players and on the weekend the press was suggesting Arsenal would be in for taking both Yohan Cabaye and Demba Ba. As is often the case with such reports, no evidence by way of direct quotes from any official at the club has been offered, so it’s probably all tosh. (more…)
