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Tuesday, January 03, 2006
New... Year, New...castle, Same old Woe...
The good news, got to watch 3 Newcastle matches over the 'festive' period...
Away to Liverpool
Away to Tottenham
Home to Middlesbrough
Unfortunately we only picked up 1 point (2-2 Draw w/ Boro), and unfortunately more injuries... Some thoughts...
On Souness... I have mixed feelings on this one. It's so easy to be frustrated by results and want to put the blame somewhere, and with such a big squad it's hard to blame just one or two players for bad results, so the next logical option is to blame the manager... He signs the players, he picks the team, he decides the tactics, he's the one who's supposed to motivate the players... I hated Souness before he became the Newcastle manager... I was absolutely destraught when I heard he'd taken over... How could I cope with this? How can this happen? Anyhow, overtime, I got over my dislike of him... I listened to a few one hour interviews he did on the BBC and he sounds like an intelligent, likeable, mature, strong willed character. I agree with some of the outbound transfers he's made (Robert, Bellamy), but disagree with others (Aaron Hughes), I like some of the inbound transfers (Owen, Parker, Solano), but question others (Luque, Boumsong, Moore)... No doubt we've had absolutely HORRENDOUS bad luck with injuries, we've been near the top of the EPL injury table all season, only Sunderland seem to be worse off than us... We've typically had between 5-8 players out... What is most frustrating is the lack of consistency and I think much of that blame must go on Souness, also his tactics... I don't think I've seen Nobby get to the byline once since he's been back, he's constantly playing inside, tucked in just behind the right striker, leaving the crossing up to Ramage (who's played well, but is actually a centre half, so his crossing isn't great). It may be a valid argument that Souness has to go, but the more difficult question is WHO comes in? Also, Souness has spent upwards of £50 million to assemble his team, so there won't be money for a new manager to make changes, so where does that leave us? And if we don't have a top, top manager who wants the job, then will we be in a better situation?
On Parker... He's been absolute class, definitely one of the best signings of recent years, he's got fire, energy, commitment, great tackler, great passer, gets from end to end, and has been able to stay pretty fit.
On Given... He looks more and more frustrated during games... He makes matching winning saves, but is sold out by his defenders... I won't be suprised if he leaves in the summer...
On N'Zogbia... A very, very talented young man... If he's fit, he should start on the left. He's got incredible skill on the ball, he's direct, runs at defenders, not afraid to shoot. I think he can grow into a very tidy player for us.
On Luque... Unfortunately Luque is really struggling to handle the premiership... He's been injured almost constantly, and has only started to play over the last few matches... Out on the left he has looked completely useless, he's like a new version of Robert. He gets the ball, attempts to get past a defender, fails to and then does nowt to try to regain possession, incredibly frustrating. In Monday's match v Middlesbrough he played up front with Shearer and actually played not too bad, got caught offside WAY too many times, but at least was getting involved in play and was a little unlucky 2 minutes in when he rounded the keeper, but couldn't finish from a tight angle. I'm hoping with a few more matches under his belt he'll get some confidence and start to deliver, cuz he cost £8.5m and with Owen and now Ameobi injured Shearer needs a decent strike partner, and I've given up on Chopra.
On the rest of the Season... While I'd still LOVE to finish top 6 and be in Europe next season, I'm afraid the team will continue to disappoint and we'll be lucky to finish in the top half of the table... I doubt we'll make it to the FA Cup final, probably getting knocked out by Birmingham or something like that... It's a shame that Shearer's last season will end trophyless, but perhaps they'll prove me wrong! ¶ Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Away to Liverpool
Away to Tottenham
Home to Middlesbrough
Unfortunately we only picked up 1 point (2-2 Draw w/ Boro), and unfortunately more injuries... Some thoughts...
On Souness... I have mixed feelings on this one. It's so easy to be frustrated by results and want to put the blame somewhere, and with such a big squad it's hard to blame just one or two players for bad results, so the next logical option is to blame the manager... He signs the players, he picks the team, he decides the tactics, he's the one who's supposed to motivate the players... I hated Souness before he became the Newcastle manager... I was absolutely destraught when I heard he'd taken over... How could I cope with this? How can this happen? Anyhow, overtime, I got over my dislike of him... I listened to a few one hour interviews he did on the BBC and he sounds like an intelligent, likeable, mature, strong willed character. I agree with some of the outbound transfers he's made (Robert, Bellamy), but disagree with others (Aaron Hughes), I like some of the inbound transfers (Owen, Parker, Solano), but question others (Luque, Boumsong, Moore)... No doubt we've had absolutely HORRENDOUS bad luck with injuries, we've been near the top of the EPL injury table all season, only Sunderland seem to be worse off than us... We've typically had between 5-8 players out... What is most frustrating is the lack of consistency and I think much of that blame must go on Souness, also his tactics... I don't think I've seen Nobby get to the byline once since he's been back, he's constantly playing inside, tucked in just behind the right striker, leaving the crossing up to Ramage (who's played well, but is actually a centre half, so his crossing isn't great). It may be a valid argument that Souness has to go, but the more difficult question is WHO comes in? Also, Souness has spent upwards of £50 million to assemble his team, so there won't be money for a new manager to make changes, so where does that leave us? And if we don't have a top, top manager who wants the job, then will we be in a better situation?
On Parker... He's been absolute class, definitely one of the best signings of recent years, he's got fire, energy, commitment, great tackler, great passer, gets from end to end, and has been able to stay pretty fit.
On Given... He looks more and more frustrated during games... He makes matching winning saves, but is sold out by his defenders... I won't be suprised if he leaves in the summer...
On N'Zogbia... A very, very talented young man... If he's fit, he should start on the left. He's got incredible skill on the ball, he's direct, runs at defenders, not afraid to shoot. I think he can grow into a very tidy player for us.
On Luque... Unfortunately Luque is really struggling to handle the premiership... He's been injured almost constantly, and has only started to play over the last few matches... Out on the left he has looked completely useless, he's like a new version of Robert. He gets the ball, attempts to get past a defender, fails to and then does nowt to try to regain possession, incredibly frustrating. In Monday's match v Middlesbrough he played up front with Shearer and actually played not too bad, got caught offside WAY too many times, but at least was getting involved in play and was a little unlucky 2 minutes in when he rounded the keeper, but couldn't finish from a tight angle. I'm hoping with a few more matches under his belt he'll get some confidence and start to deliver, cuz he cost £8.5m and with Owen and now Ameobi injured Shearer needs a decent strike partner, and I've given up on Chopra.
On the rest of the Season... While I'd still LOVE to finish top 6 and be in Europe next season, I'm afraid the team will continue to disappoint and we'll be lucky to finish in the top half of the table... I doubt we'll make it to the FA Cup final, probably getting knocked out by Birmingham or something like that... It's a shame that Shearer's last season will end trophyless, but perhaps they'll prove me wrong! ¶ Tuesday, January 03, 2006
