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Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Newcastle Thoughts...
Going into the midweek match against Man City there isn't a whole lot of positives, but here's a little optimism...
- The injury situation appears to be getting better, certainly the hamstring situation, we've had NO new hamstring problems since moving to that new ground, we're just waiting for Dyer and Moore to recover and they've both started training again this week.
- Emre and Parker are back, and this is key... While Bowyer and Clarke and good squad players and I'd prefer to have them in the middle than some Reserve or Academy players, they aren't world beaters and struggle to get a hold on a game or play a pass that will make a difference.
- Chopra's goal will have given him some confidence and with Ameobi and Luque fit, Souness really has some options up front now, and this hasn't been the case for much of the season.
- Our FA Cup draw (Home v. Southampton), is excellent, we have a really good chance of going to the next round, and with Liverpool v Man United, there's another of the big team's who will be out, so we continue to have a chance of advancing... Owen will be back by April, so if we can just keep getting lucky in the draw, once he's back, anything can happen!
Ok now for the bad news...
- We haven't strengthened during the transfer window... Many expected Bowyer would be off to London, but it appears that his history has finally caught up with him and not too many clubs are interested... It appears Souness spent his cash during the summer and with no realistic chance of Europe next year, the chairman has kept the purse strings tightly shut, which is probably a wise choice, especially with Souness' long term future in doubt.
- The press are 100% against us these days, they cannot wait to get Souness out the door. I understand that Souness has refused to speak with the Evening Chronicle and so they are all over him, and I've read that even Sky made the 'protests' of a few hundred people (from a home crowd of 50,000) seem larger than they were... Without a suitable candidate in the wings, and without a sizable transfer budget, what good would a new manager do for us now? I think Souness has a good point regarding this injury list, this is finally clearing up, let's see what the team does over the next 3 or 4 matches, hopefully they'll start to gel, start to pick-up some results, start to get some confidence back, this will translate to the fans, and it's a positive, upward cycle.
- I watched the FA Cup match v Cheltenham this weekend, and I thought Newcastle played relatively well, and yet when I read the press reports afterwards it was like they'd watched another game, going on about what a torrid time Cheltenham's striker gave Boumsong, he didn't score did he??
Anyhow, that's all for now...
HOWAY THE LADS! ¶ Tuesday, January 31, 2006
- The injury situation appears to be getting better, certainly the hamstring situation, we've had NO new hamstring problems since moving to that new ground, we're just waiting for Dyer and Moore to recover and they've both started training again this week.
- Emre and Parker are back, and this is key... While Bowyer and Clarke and good squad players and I'd prefer to have them in the middle than some Reserve or Academy players, they aren't world beaters and struggle to get a hold on a game or play a pass that will make a difference.
- Chopra's goal will have given him some confidence and with Ameobi and Luque fit, Souness really has some options up front now, and this hasn't been the case for much of the season.
- Our FA Cup draw (Home v. Southampton), is excellent, we have a really good chance of going to the next round, and with Liverpool v Man United, there's another of the big team's who will be out, so we continue to have a chance of advancing... Owen will be back by April, so if we can just keep getting lucky in the draw, once he's back, anything can happen!
Ok now for the bad news...
- We haven't strengthened during the transfer window... Many expected Bowyer would be off to London, but it appears that his history has finally caught up with him and not too many clubs are interested... It appears Souness spent his cash during the summer and with no realistic chance of Europe next year, the chairman has kept the purse strings tightly shut, which is probably a wise choice, especially with Souness' long term future in doubt.
- The press are 100% against us these days, they cannot wait to get Souness out the door. I understand that Souness has refused to speak with the Evening Chronicle and so they are all over him, and I've read that even Sky made the 'protests' of a few hundred people (from a home crowd of 50,000) seem larger than they were... Without a suitable candidate in the wings, and without a sizable transfer budget, what good would a new manager do for us now? I think Souness has a good point regarding this injury list, this is finally clearing up, let's see what the team does over the next 3 or 4 matches, hopefully they'll start to gel, start to pick-up some results, start to get some confidence back, this will translate to the fans, and it's a positive, upward cycle.
- I watched the FA Cup match v Cheltenham this weekend, and I thought Newcastle played relatively well, and yet when I read the press reports afterwards it was like they'd watched another game, going on about what a torrid time Cheltenham's striker gave Boumsong, he didn't score did he??
Anyhow, that's all for now...
HOWAY THE LADS! ¶ Tuesday, January 31, 2006
