Since Kevin Keegan came into manage the side for the second time in mid January the results have been disappointing.
Kevin Keegan – team short of 3-4 good players
But the last two games, in which we have collected 4 points, have given the fans a lift and Kevin seems determined to finish the season on a high. He talked at some length this morning to the Newcastle Journal.
“I think it’s vitally important we finish on a high,†“It can never be a great season for Newcastle this season, it couldn’t be when I came through the door in January. But we need a good end to the season. We need something, so that when the players come back from their break there is something that shows this club is on the move upwards.â€
“This club can do it quicker than most because of things like the fan base, the city, the area we live in. If we’ve got a good team up here, people don’t like coming to Newcastle. It’s like that more here than other clubs and I know that because I’ve done it once. It’s a special club and I keep saying to the players that when they manage to turn things round it will happen quicker than any other club.â€
“I suppose we’re still looking and assessing the players we’ve got, up to a point. The bad news here is that we’ve got a small squad, but the good news is that it’s got a lot of quality, so I don’t think it needs major surgery.”
“We’re going to look to bring in three or four players who are going to set it alight in certain areas.”
We cannot believe that this team is only short of 3-4 players. Some players will leave like Ameobi, Carr and Rozehnal so surely Kevin will need to replace them with better players so we’d expect at least 6-7 new players in the summer.
Kevin continued:
“It’s still a vitally important time for the players and it’s still vitally important for me because it’s not like pre-season, it’s in real situations. I’m looking and learning every day.†“I think the challenge is for us is to get into the group below the top four.”
“We belong in the group with Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton and that’s where we’re trying to be. It’s not always going to work like that because teams can get a good group together and a little bit of impetus, but I think we can safely do that once we get this season out of the way and a bit of momentum behind us.â€
But that’s all for next season and surely we can have a better season next time around. This season is the worst and most disappointing season for a long long time, and yes, it would be nice to finish it off with a few wins and some momentum.
We’re still not out of the relegation woods yet, and we must try to get something out of the difficult game at Tottenham tomorrow. Our display there will better tell us how we are shaping up as a team.
Anything we can get out of the game would be a good result for us, to keep our mini unbeaten streak alive.
Comments welcome.
19 comments so far
Bobby Choung
Mar 29, 2008 at 9:40 AM
Comment #1“We belong in the group with Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton and that’s where we’re trying to be” ??????????
During Sir Bobby’s reign … we were in the group with MU, Arsenal, Liverpool …
Sean
Mar 29, 2008 at 9:41 AM
Comment #2My 4 players I think we should buy are:
-Diego (werder bremen)
-Nasri (marseille)
-Dawson (Tottenham)
-Coruch (liverpool)
stk
Mar 29, 2008 at 9:54 AM
Comment #3we all do this exact thing, look at the newcastle squad and convince ourselves we’re actually great!
i know what kev’s saying though, we have a group of average to good talented individuals and with the right signings it could be the makings of a very good team.
i saw someone yesterday mention diego capel if we’re in for fabiano…. couldn’t agree more! would be much better and more consistent than reyes.
Stocksy
Mar 29, 2008 at 9:55 AM
Comment #4Agreed we were up in the top 4 under Robson and the fickle fans couldnt even be bothered to cheer the lads on the last day of the season for a 5th place finish!!!!!!!!!
3-4 players, more like 5-6!
geordie nick
Mar 29, 2008 at 9:58 AM
Comment #5we need way more than 3-4 players. we need 3-4 extra players plus replacements for all the shit tht should be shown the door in summer such as shola, rozy, carr, cacapa, geremi.
stk
Mar 29, 2008 at 9:58 AM
Comment #6yea i agree with the above, non of this group rubbish, with an ambitious billionaire owner, the sky should be the limit, title in the next 4 years, its achievable, no kidding, get some of these youngsters snapped up, quick!!!
Eric
Mar 29, 2008 at 10:01 AM
Comment #7Only four? We need some quality to come in and some more quality to replace the dead wood ready for the P45 stakes. Only four? We play 2 men short anyway if you include Smith and Barton.
wsq
Mar 29, 2008 at 10:10 AM
Comment #8im sure he wants to be in the same group as the current top4. but that is just not realistic guys. the quality the top4 have can’t be match in 1 year.
He’s saying that to manage our expectations and not to put much pressure on the players. if we spend a considerable amount of money come summer expect other teams to spend relatively the same amount. So in terms of comeptitiveness it’ll still be the same.
What i expect to change is the quality of play and players’ mentality which won’t lead to any more demoralising displays against lower teams.
Only if we spend astronomical wages and fees-, pay every newcomer “John Terry’s Wages”- will we break off from the eufa cup grouping into the champions league grouping. Which willl be unlikely, even if we have a billionaire’s backing. Chris Mort has said above all things he wants improve this club in a sustainable manner.
Obafan
Mar 29, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Comment #9I think we need a lot more players than just 3 or 4. KK is saying that like no-one is going to leave, but I think we should release a few of the overrated players:
Carr; Ramage; Barton; Smith; Rozehnal; Ameobi; …
Even Taylor can go if he does not agree a new deal (he was by miles the worst defender this season, but people don’t want to see that, they prefer to point Cacapa after his poor Pompey game).
So those 6 going that needs us to buy 10 new players; here are a few of my suggestions;
LB: Dante (Standard) => fantastic defender
CB: Campbell (Pompey) / Dunne (Man City)
CDM: Edmilson (Barça)
RW: Arshavin (Zenit)
ST: Gomis (Saint-Etienne) / Fred (Lyon) / Fabiano (Sevilla)
CAM: Diego (Werder Bremen) / Juninho (Lyon)
LW?: Diego Capel (Sevilla)
Please don’t let us go after Dawson; Riise; … Cause they will not strengthen our team.
What do you think? Or who would you add to the defo wanted list of targets???
Vitorbarbosa
Mar 29, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Comment #10Totally agree with wsq. KK vision is not to be the best of the rest, but I’m sure he is told to win the league title by MA. If you guys still remember, MA did say he want to challenge for title(or is it win the title) in 3 years. And he is sure we are not going to get it by SA approach. THat’s why KK is brought in.
Managing the club in sustainable manner is very important. That means, no matter MA is here to support us financially or not, we must be solvent enough to run our NUFC business. A chairman is not about pumping money into a club. He become a chairman because he want profits and profits can only be generated through proper business strategy, budgeting, etc.
We thought we are big but we are way far below teams from top 4 in terms of marketability. They sell more shirts than us, they have more “world-wide” brand players and thus they will have more source of income. They made themselves a big brand. MU is like a household brand now. Others are catching up but we still no where near that.
Getting too many players in one time will destabilize the team. I have no idea if it is good to change all the players we have right now because I can think of better player in every position. However, football is not about best player. It’s about best team. We could be the best team without the best players. And if we are the best team, our good players will become the Best Players.
Players are judge on their performances. If the club is doing well, they are better players. If the club is struggling, they worth nothing.
Leo
Mar 29, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Comment #11he surely means only 3-4 central midfielders. im going to cry if we only bring in 4 players.
Macca
Mar 29, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Comment #12I’d rather us buy just 3 0r 4 very very good players then a whole lot of ok’s or has beens just for the sake of buying in bulk.
We need a few all right though,
Our midfield needs to be woken up, and we need wingers who can you know, put in crosses for the likes of Owen and creating chances.
Aiden McGeady
This kid has a massive future and so help me I’ll go mad if we’ve a chance of buying him and we let him slip buy. He’s come so far in the last season and the fact that the majority of the time he gets the ball he’s got 3 lads on him marking him, even against Barca and that just shows how far he’s come. Like one of the so called experts said “If Newcastle were to sign him in the summer and actually create some decent chances for Michael Owen, they might start to look like a team.”
Stephen Hunt
I’m a big fan of his, I don’t think he’ll leave Reading but if he did I’d love if we got him. He’s a really good player, one of the most underrated players in the Premiership, a very honest hardworking player, you never see him walking anywhere, not only is he a good starter he’s a massive impact off the bench. He’s a very different unique player and tbh, looking at all the crap that goes around in the premiership with the so called amazing players tumbling to the ground every 5 seconds, he’s a breath of fresh air.
Clearly we need defenders as well, we always do, and someone up front, maybe even, Crouch, as much as I hate to say it, I don’t like him at all, but he could make a difference all right.
The 2 lads above, if we both either of them we’d look like a completely different team.
Polish magpie
Mar 29, 2008 at 12:25 PM
Comment #13R. Quaresma (Porto)
S. Nasri (Ol. M.)
M. Richards (City)
E. Garay (Racing S.)
S. Ireland (City)
W. Brown (mAN. uTD.)
at least… 🙂
Pete
Mar 29, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Comment #14“The bad news here is that we’ve got a small squad, but the good news is that it’s got a lot of quality, so I don’t think it needs major surgery.â€
Well.. I’ll take this with a pinch of salt. Let’s be fair here, this squad has consistently shown it’s lack of quality throughout the entire season.
Even though we did manage to beat Fulham, the situation is sadly still the same.
This current squad is contrary to what KK says, in dire need of major surgery this summer if we have any ambition at all. In my opinion we could use as much as 9-10 new players, but unfortunatly that only happens in lala land.. we need at least 5-7 though. And lose the dead wood…
CRAIGG
Mar 29, 2008 at 1:24 PM
Comment #15“Even Taylor can go if he does not agree a new deal (he was by miles the worst defender this season, but people don’t want to see that, they prefer to point Cacapa after his poor Pompey game)”
Obafan you are a bell end,
The reason Taylor doesnt get much stick is because he has been for the last 2 and a half seasons been our best defender and has had a rough patch, And Dont give me Cacapa because if you had watched matches without your blinkers on you would see that he sticks out like a sore thumb, with his lack of pace, power, height and is a 32 year old has been after a last big pay out.
Taylor is the England Under 21 captain, Been in the full England squad and will improve in the future.
The thing i will say on Cacapa is if he is that great why has he been capped only 3 times for brazil when they have always had problems at Centre half ??
Any way we need 6-7 players but KK is trying to keep some of them interested so wont say a number like that.
Michael Carrick
Djibil Cisse
Shaun Wright-Phillips
Gonzalo Rodriguez
Wayne Bridge
James McFadden
Aaron Hughes
All would fit into KKs passing game, Add goals from midfield, Solidity at the back and strength in depth in all areas.
That will put us easily on par with Spurs, Everton, Pompey and Villa.
Hadji
Mar 29, 2008 at 1:53 PM
Comment #16Knowing the fact that we gonna release at least 3 players in the summer,we gonna need 7 new players.
1-Pandev
2-Reyes
3-Scott Brown
4-Gomis
5-Kallstrom
6-Rafael Marquez
7-Gonzalo Rodriguez
Next season’s line up
…………………………Given………………………………
Beye………….Marquez…….Gonzalo……Enrique
……………………….Brown……………………………….
Pandev……………..Kallstrom…………Reyes…….
…………………….Owen……….Gomis………………..
wsq
Mar 29, 2008 at 10:09 PM
Comment #17mario gomez!
Tom_Toon
Mar 29, 2008 at 10:12 PM
Comment #18no chance!
michael
Mar 30, 2008 at 3:30 PM
Comment #19Thierry Henry, Shaun Wright Phillips, Micah Richards. Three players who actually would set the place alight.