With a defeat last night it means that Newcastle had a terrible Christmas return. They captured just one point from 12 and that was from bottom of the league Derby County at home just before Christmas. The other 3 games were all lost.
Habib Beye – had another good game for the Magpies last night
Habib Beye, our experienced former Marseilles captain was willing to face the music today and spoke to the Evening Chronicle today:
“We need to stay together now and stick it out.†“It is difficult at the moment and we need to work at it.†“I think the fans have been very patient.â€
“They have been OK with us because we have had a few defeats and they have stayed behind us.†“Hopefully, we can give them something back and that starts at Stoke City on Sunday.â€
And talking about the game last night Newcastle had many chances to score but quite honestly looked powder-puff in front of goal as they wasted chance after chance. But Manchester City had 3 chances and rifled home two of them to show how it should be done.
Beye added:
“We had a lot of opportunities to win this game.†“In the first half alone we had 11 chances in front of goal and we couldn’t score.†“Man City had one and scored in the first half.†“It has been difficult to take and we are very disappointed because we played very well without getting a good result.â€
“We can still take positives out of this game despite the result.†“It was the same against Chelsea we played well without getting anything.†“Last night we squandered a lot of chances and City had two chances and scored and against Chelsea we were beaten by an offside goal.â€
Beye had another good and solid game last night, and had a challenge in marking the dangerous Bulgarian Petrov. But Habib did very well and got in some great tackles on the Bulgarian, and had another good solid game. Beye does his talking both on and off the field, and other players can take their role model from Habib, in this very difficult period for the club, the players and the fans.
Comments welcome.
41 comments so far
Soren
Jan 3, 2008 at 1:58 PM
Comment #1Thought that Beye did excellent last night covering Petrov, and he made some very very well timed tackles. Looks very well suited to the premiership and a good buy.
AdamJD2
Jan 3, 2008 at 2:01 PM
Comment #2I don’t know what to say. Its frustrating being a Newcastle fan. I look at the roster of players and say “hey…we have a good squad”. But then you start looking at stats. No clean sheets since Fulham and 11 chances on goal against Man City and they can’t score. Neither offense nor the defense is stepping up. Sounds like a huge motivation problem. Tactics/coaching aside…that’s a manager issue.
ObaFan2
Jan 3, 2008 at 2:08 PM
Comment #3Beye has been excellent for us. At defense he has been great but down the wing I haven’t seen many crosses come in from him but what he does do ( Milner learn) is win a corner…….. and we’ve scored from them or atleast kept the pressure on the opposition.
Well done and keep it up.
James
Jan 3, 2008 at 2:20 PM
Comment #4I know a lot of Man Utd and Liverpool fans and they all say they wish they’d bought Beye.
Will be missed greatly when he leaves to ANC as there is no one to replace him at right back
George
Jan 3, 2008 at 2:21 PM
Comment #5Rather unfortunately, our whole season now rests on a good result on sunday down at stoke.
At the beginning of the season, like all i was full of hope, and like all, i am now peeed off and it does not help when the day after another defeat it is bleeching down with snow and freezing cold.
How on earth can we look on the bright side just now eh!.
The only bit of brightness has ben the form of Beye
Howie
Jan 3, 2008 at 2:32 PM
Comment #6beye and faye have been very good this season, especially beye. he has solved that problem right back spot anyway. god forbid though steven carr might start in place of beye at man u marking ronaldo… should be a tight battle
mark
Jan 3, 2008 at 2:54 PM
Comment #7Geremi is a good right back, but he is also away. Stephhhhheeenn Carr, the Irish leprachaun, baldy midget shouts oh no my muscles torn.
Leo
Jan 3, 2008 at 2:55 PM
Comment #8he didnt just make some great tackles and marking petrov well. but he also looked composed on the ball. and under pressure he didnt have to hoof the ball up field he just carmly let the player try and run around him switched feet and he got his pass away. he was brillient as was faye
Dragoner
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:03 PM
Comment #9This guy is class, that is the one thing we all agree on
steve
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:03 PM
Comment #10your right, Beye does his talking on the pitch whilst his agent does his talking……………….to other clubs 🙁
mark
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:06 PM
Comment #11http://www.itv-football.co.uk/story/0,19239,6145_3018974,00.html
read that, I never knew Cacapa and Enrique were African :S !!! Lmao. Altho Enrique may aswell be as he is NEVER playing.
JP from The Rock of Gibraltar
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:08 PM
Comment #12Oh my God Howie you’re right!!…how in the hell are we gonna cope with Ronaldo if Beye is away! Lets just pray we manage to sign a quality RB in time cuz if we have to rely on Carr we might as well bet on Man U winning us. How he is still in our squad I don’t know. We should hopefully see the last of him as soon as this miserable season is over. When I was only full of hope I never thought we’d be in this similar scenario again this season…sadly we are 🙁
wsq
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:12 PM
Comment #13our full back problems partly solved.. beye is just class
one of two brilliant allardyce signings, which actually provided a step up from previous status quo.
the second being faye
the other part of the problem is we need decent cover for the full back positions.
Dragoner
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:13 PM
Comment #14Wsq do you not think Enrique proved he has the talent for premiership last night?
wsq
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:14 PM
Comment #15at first i wasn’t happy with his interviews just before he signed for newcastle, had a feeling he was really gunning it for the money. but wow we got our money’s worth! too bad he’s bordering on his thirties
Tom_Toon
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Comment #16Enrique last night was immense for when he played, if he plays like that consistently for 90 mins he’ll be of to one of europes top club in no time.
wsq
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:19 PM
Comment #17not referring to enrique, n’zogbia doing well enough for me.
enrique lacks pace and that’s a problem for a premiership full back. the only way for him is to pick up the pace or be really smart about it with his defending, positioning so on.
so far he’s been naive with his passes, but that is to be expected. needs to settle down to basics and play things simple just like n’zogbia and not over complicate things.
Tom_Toon
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:20 PM
Comment #18lacks pace, hes actually quite a speedy bastad and his crosses are top notch.
steve
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:25 PM
Comment #19Apparantly Oba might be available for Man Utd game – http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3019356,00.html
Or is this Sam just talking waffle to the press yet again!
mark
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:25 PM
Comment #20He is quite fast, he’s no Martins, but hes no slouch either. I remember his lovely ball over the top to Oba Martins v Spurs up here.
Dragoner
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:27 PM
Comment #21i see your point wsq, he isnt as fast as zoggy. At the moment i am so disappointed with Milner i would put zog on the right, duff on the left, and enrique at the back and just see how it works. Out of Milner and Zog i would say that Zog seems the more versatile and is more likely to be able to play both wings.
steve
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:28 PM
Comment #22Bartons been remanded for another two weeks During the hearing the assault charge against him was upgraded from a Section 39 common assault to a Section 47 assault occasioning actual bodily harm which carries a stiffer penalty
Well done Sam for signing this muppet
JoshI
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:31 PM
Comment #23Mark – How ridiculous is that article? I thought they were going to name all of our defenders away on ACN duty for a second there lol!
JoshI
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:32 PM
Comment #24Bar defenders, I think we only need arshavin if we play 4-4-2. Id also like to see Zog in lcm.
wsq
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:41 PM
Comment #25either strikers aren’t doing it for milner that he needs to delay and delay and start over doing stuff OR
he’s not smart enough footballer.
is no one telling him that he’s shite despite being a first team player.
can’t help but think of what solano could’ve done for us this season.
Kash2
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:43 PM
Comment #26Best of BSA’s signing, but no offense to Beye, that ain’t saying much. Very good player though!
Hadrian
Jan 3, 2008 at 3:51 PM
Comment #27class act is beye .
thelongshanks
Jan 3, 2008 at 4:12 PM
Comment #28Barton got out of jail.
Hadrian
Jan 3, 2008 at 4:13 PM
Comment #29Ohh , does anyone else think Sam is missing a trick with zoggy?
i think the lad could be the answer to our centre midfield problem .
skill , pace , great eye for a pass ….. what the hell is he doing at left back , get him in the centre of the park ala gerrard and lampard .
steve
Jan 3, 2008 at 4:21 PM
Comment #30We should sack Barton asap, but hold onto his registration in order we can try and get some cash back if some other mug team wants to buy him
thelongshanks
Jan 3, 2008 at 4:25 PM
Comment #31We better have a scumbag clause cause allardyce a joke if he didnt have one when he signed.Beye is a class act and i dont know how we gonna cover him for next few weeks,i guess just hope senegal do rubbish and he gets back as soon as possible.beye and faye sams best signings wanna see more of enrique.
Edd Case
Jan 3, 2008 at 4:27 PM
Comment #32Barton is out of jail – on appeal…apparently.
Tom_Toon
Jan 3, 2008 at 4:32 PM
Comment #33http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A30653679
vote on my article 🙂
Dragoner
Jan 3, 2008 at 4:35 PM
Comment #34I take back my comment about Taarabt being better than zoggy, they are equally skillful. I am so happy i got 14 on the back of my shirt.
It put a big smile on my face seeing zoggy leave three man city players completely stranded with his skill. Especially since one of them was Micah, who is a great defender
Graham
Jan 3, 2008 at 4:40 PM
Comment #35Hadrian – I think you’re spot on – Zog has played at inside left once or twice and has been very good. This would let Enrique play in his rightful position and possibly put Faye in cm with zog to hold position. This would be good on 3 counts
1 Enrique would get prem league experience – lets face it we’re not winning anything this year so give him a crack at it so he’s ready in August.
2 Nzogbia would be playing in his preferred role and would get confidence from that
3 We would have more balance and could get some tactics going
But this will never happen as long as we have a fat arrogant Lancashireman at the helm…
Obafan
Jan 3, 2008 at 4:51 PM
Comment #36The problem for our players is that they have got no confidence. If you look at them all individually they have quality, but the manager hasn’t got a clue how to build a team with all this quality; he handles them all completely wrong: 1. they start to make mistakes
=> leads to losing confidence
=> leads to bad results
If this doesn’t change soon then I see our team being in the middle of a relegation battle.
So please Mort and Ashley sack SA and find us a manager who is able to get the confidence of our players back.
An example: Cacapa isn’t always that confident in the back, but was for 5 seasons the master of the Lyon defence. Did he have 5 lucky years??? I don’t think so, he got the confidence there (was captain of a fantastic squad) so he really an be our rock solid defender, but only if he always is given confidence and that is the task of our manager…
Again many congratulations to Habib Beye who played fantastic yesterday, esp. his tackles on the fast Petrov were outstanding. We are going to miss you Habib!!! But though good luck in ANC!!!
JoshI
Jan 3, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Comment #37Has anyone got the link for the highlights of yesterdays game? i really want to see zoggys skillage!
Tripp
Jan 3, 2008 at 8:04 PM
Comment #38HB should be made Captain. He’s been our most consistent player at this point and he has experience in that role. He should be rewarded for his efforts.
Dragoner
Jan 3, 2008 at 8:59 PM
Comment #39JoshI i would say Footytube.com but we are the only match on there without any highlights. more bad luck for the toon army then lol.
Dragoner
Jan 3, 2008 at 9:01 PM
Comment #40Yeah Habib should be captain, He speaks English and French( The teams predominant languages), played and captained at the top level, our most consistent and probably best player. why not?