Jose Enrique played his first game on Saturday for a while and played very well against Blackburn and certainly fitted well into the Kevin Keegan style of attacking play on show against Rovers.
Jose Enrique – played extremely well on Saturday – hope he stays
However, reports over the weekend suggest that Jose has failed to settle on Tyne-side and would like to return to Spain in the summer.
That’s a pity because we think Jose has all the making of a very good player at Newcastle. His time at Newcastle has not been helped by a number of niggling injures and the fact that both Sam Allardyce and Kevin Keegan seemed to have preferred Charles N’Zogbia at left back.
However, after Jose’s performance on Saturday he must be almost a certainty to start at Liverpool next Saturday.
Even if Jose stays it looks like Newcastle will bring in one of Nicky Shorey, Wayne Bridge, John Arne Riise or Steve Finnan, all of whom look to be available in the summer. But on the other hand Jose will probably get a string of games before the end of the season to prove to Kevin he can do the job at left back.
And we hope Jose gives it at least another season. He’s a good player and could fit very well into Kevin’s attacking form of wing play.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
22 comments so far
Tom_Toon
Mar 3, 2008 at 11:44 AM
Comment #1Nicky Shorey – Not good enough
Wayne Bridge – Good
Riise – Shite
Finnan – RB
Hammy
Mar 3, 2008 at 11:46 AM
Comment #2Jose please don’t leave…where would you rather be, walking round Puerto Banus looking at mega bucks yachts or walking the streets of Benwell at 2.00 in the morning?
Hope he does not go……….
broon ale
Mar 3, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Comment #3i actually read in the sunday sun that he wants to stay. it seems todepend on the papers we read as to whether certain players wish to stay or leave.
Luke
Mar 3, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Comment #4I like him. He’s not really been given much of a chance — incredible really considering that he’ll have not settled after a season. Forward planning!
Eric
Mar 3, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Comment #5He’s got promise. He’s got style. And he is still only an under-21 for Spain. Give him a chance.
Obafan
Mar 3, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Comment #6In the beginning he never convinced me but now he plays very well. And what happens when you play good at NUFC this season; you don’t get much games to play. The staff prefers players like Smith and Taylor who are rubbish. Ridiculous.
I don’t follow all the comments regarding the summer targets, cause that is not our main concern at the moment. First we need to get 12 points more to be safe this season, they all have to focus on that!!!!!!
Percy Main
Mar 3, 2008 at 12:10 PM
Comment #7I can honestly say that with the shower of shite currently employed by NUFC, I dont care who leaves. They can all bugger off for me.
Kash2
Mar 3, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Comment #8I hope he stays, he played alright on Saturday, looks like he’s lacking confidence and match fitness. Once he has that, we’ll see a much mich better player. Better than N’Zogbia at LB, who has no positional sense for defending at all!
Kash2
Mar 3, 2008 at 12:13 PM
Comment #9I thought Smith & Butt played well on Saturday! The only player who looked shaky was Taylor, he’s the only one that made glaring mistakes (the one with the scuffed clearance)
jeff
Mar 3, 2008 at 12:15 PM
Comment #10well if he does leave we cant really blame him as he’s never been given a chance…..against Liverpool and Man Utd he was probably one of our better players yet was out the team next game…….I dont understand this thing managers say when they go on about we need to get him ready for prem league,ie leave him out for months……..if he is good enough he should play and he seems good enough to me.
Nick Dryden
Mar 3, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Comment #11taylor says a lot. in reality his decision making is truly appalling. I don’t know he and Smith keep getting games.
steve
Mar 3, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Comment #12Kash2 – did you actually goto the game !
Butt and Smith were very poor yet again ( as was Taylor ), Barton did jack all.
I would have still preferred Butt to stay on instead of moving Smith into midfield where he just got in the way and contributed nowt, at least up front no one was expecting him to actually defend
We’re doomed I tell ya 🙂
It seems that every man and his dog has now realised that Smith, Butt and co offer nothing in a relegation fight – all the broadsheet papers rated them the worst of the toon – actually thats everyone but KK
Steeley
Mar 3, 2008 at 12:27 PM
Comment #13All the news of him wanting to leave was paper talk and used to fill column inches in the bigger weekend rags.
I think if he had continued to be left out of the squad then he may have went down that road, but after playing well against Blackburn I cant see Keegan daring to drop him now, which can only be a good thing.
Of course, there is specualtion on who would actually STAY if we got relegated….oh dear! Perhaps Ramage, Ameobi, Carr et al may be playing for us in 2009 yet…..
GEORDIE69
Mar 3, 2008 at 12:31 PM
Comment #14Agrees with tomtoon Finnan RB and shite Risse LB/LW shite Shorey LB and shite. Theres only Bridge or A Cole thats English that would be better than Jose!
dingo
Mar 3, 2008 at 12:40 PM
Comment #15http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/newcastleunited/tm_headline=enrique-i-want-to-stay-in-toon%26method=full%26objectid=20546608%26siteid=50081-name_page.html
Ed where are you getting your info from nowerdays? Reading Jose’s comments in this articles it looks as if hes here for a while.
james
Mar 3, 2008 at 1:12 PM
Comment #16I like Enrique a lot. I think he was the best player on our team on Saturday (and I was at the game), with only 2 exceptions, that hand ball just after the second half kicked off which was very Taylor/Cacapa/Boumsong like and once when he lost posession on the wing near our box. Other than that he was exceptional. As good as I think N’Zogbia is, he’s clearly an attacker, he doesn’t have the size or strength or defensive instincts that Jose has. At 22 he has to be given a chance to be our LB of the future. I think if we hang on to him he can be the best LB we’ve had for ages.
Butt was awful. Apparently he defends but I didn’t see a lot of that, either. Duff was just slow. He seemed to get the ball, and look down and run around in circles a lot. I spent half the match waiting for N’Zogbia to replace him. He couldn’t do what Milner could, get past a man and create enough space to get a ball in. And the chances he wasted, the first one… a premiership player should be able to use both feet, to be honest. And the second was just perhaps a lack of confidence.
Barton was okay for me. Yeah he gave the ball away a few times and lacked a bite in the challenge but if you watch highlights of our chances, the majority came from his passes. At least twice he linked up very well with Owen and should have finished with at least 2 assists if not for some poor finishing.
Other than that, Taylor just looks out of confidence. He just needs to stick to what he does best, basic defending and concentrating more on just putting his foot through the ball. Harper is much better in goal than watching Given and worrying that he’ll pull up injured at any moment. Faye looked okay. Smith was going for the balls in the air but didn’t really have an effect on the game for me.
Davies
Mar 3, 2008 at 1:37 PM
Comment #17Yeah. He said he was “ready to fight for his place” in one article I read.
It’s so unfair, I just don’t know who to believe anymore (sob).
For the record, I think Taylor has got better days both ahead of him and behind him, however, at the moment he’s making some expensive mistakes.
Perhaps a spell on the bench might help him remember the form that made him so popular on Tynside.
ObaFan2
Mar 3, 2008 at 2:35 PM
Comment #18Hope he stays…….. enough said ! lol
Daniel Petersen
Mar 3, 2008 at 4:08 PM
Comment #19I couldn’t agree more Obafan2.
Leo* I HATE NICKY BUTT
Mar 3, 2008 at 4:28 PM
Comment #20he is a good left back, i think we all cant understand why he isnt getting a game but we all remember when we signed him, his team mates were apparntly crying and teams like real madrid and barcelona were interested in him, he will adjust eventually, as long as he gets more games in a run… nothing worse than to see charlie at left back for us…
also did anyone listen to the radio on supermacs show after the game, why cant people prounounce nzogbia properly…
ngogbia is what alot of people were saying it… made me cringe
pete
Mar 4, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Comment #21i like enrique alot, he has potential and seems dedicated to wanted a future in football.
he played well agaisnt blackburn, and whoever said barton did jack all agasint blackburn, if it werent for owen and his special ability to not score, he wudda had 2 beautiful assists to his name…..
HeronMag
Mar 4, 2008 at 4:03 PM
Comment #22Enrique was scouted by some of the biggest clubs in Europe when he was in Spain. Newcastle (as always) were prepared to pay big money and gamble on how capable he would be in the Premiership. But (for once!) I reckon we’ve got a winner here. Don’t get me wrong, he’s not the finished article, but he is the best prospective left-back Spain have to offer.
I hope KK can see what we all seem to see.