A truly ecstatic Kevin Keegan said that every one of his Newcastle United players today were heroes after Sunday’s brilliant 4-1 rout of Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.
Michael Owen celebrates his goal – look at those players’ faces!
Newcastle truly ran riot in the second half as Geremi, Michael Owen and Oba Martins added to Nicky Butt’s equalizer which came right on half time.
It was a delighted Keegan who spoke to Newcastle World TV after the game:
“It’s hard to single players out because we had 11 heroes out their today,” “Even when we went a goal down I had seen enough to convince me we would get back in the game.”
“Of course Nicky Butt’s equalizer has come at a crucial time but even then, it didn’t affect my half-time team-talk because I always thought we would get something.”
“But happened in the second-half was incredible and every one of the players deserves credit.”
“It’s a massive win but the performance was outstanding and it’s a very happy dressing room in there.”
Most of the Newcastle players had heard of Kevin Keegan when he took over, and they seem to have worked together over the last two months through some very difficult times.
But the players now at Newcastle United must be thanking their lucky stars that they have a chance of being part of this new Newcastle United that Kevin is starting to build.
There is little doubt we are now seeing what the maestro can do. OK, so it took him a few weeks to finally get the best out of the Newcastle players. 😀
But this result is significant because it shows the Keegan magic is still there big time, and the players are now starting to play out of their skins for the manager.
While we have to be careful not to make too much out of this one game, who else could have got a result like this at White Hart Lane?
After a difficult two months it does seem that Kevin and his staff are starting to pull the very best out of the players at the club right now, and this must auger well for our chances of a very good season next season.
And the football Newcastle are playing under the new coach is just a joy to watch. Roll on the last 6 games of this dour season – and roll on next season – we just cannot wait.
Comments welcome.
49 comments so far
wayne
Mar 31, 2008 at 6:41 AM
Comment #41Great result what about this for arrogance http://www.clubfanzine.com/tottenham_hotspur/showNews.php?id=9869 glad we stuffed em
ELFER
Mar 31, 2008 at 6:50 AM
Comment #42yes, I’m happy too…but what I really think is very very dangourous is to say that one or two summer addings are fine enough! that’s simply not true and I hope KK does it just to keep the mood up.
We still need a new chief in defence! And some young but very very good central midfielders plus maybe in exchange of SMITH and AMEOBI another one or two good striker (probably an attacking midfielder to help out the MO position? and a big striker as backp for viduka?) as well as maybe another winger?
But yes, let’s say the strikers are replacements and not count them, we still would love to add 3-5 players.
Irish-Toon
Mar 31, 2008 at 7:23 AM
Comment #43A fantastic result, but let’s not get too carried away. We still have things to do in the remainder of the season. We want to finish as high up the league as possible in order to attract new players in the summer months.
I liked the way we played yesterday with 3 up front, but if we played that way against Manure they’d rip us apart. We’ve got to pick and chosse who we play that system against so we need more players to fill whatever other formations Kev chooses to use.
One thing he needs to to do is get Geremi on the practice pitch and show him how to get his corners over the first man,
Stami - PLAY CARROLL
Mar 31, 2008 at 8:13 AM
Comment #44what a win! what a good feeling! outstanding play, we played them off the park in the 2nd half! everytime our midfield got the ball we looked a threat! Martins was great and Butt was fantastic!
nice to see Carroll get a run. he looked good on the ball!
Gloryhunter
Mar 31, 2008 at 8:17 AM
Comment #45Arrogance is bliss 🙂
http://www.clubfanzine.com/tottenham_hotspur/showNews.php?id=9869
hahahahahahahahahaha. Where’s me washboard?
Whumpie
Mar 31, 2008 at 2:18 PM
Comment #46Nice tome, ende – quite agree.
Just one plea to all of those whose answer to everything for the past 6 months has been to sack every player and buy a load of current footballing deities from around the world:
NEXT TIME THINGS DON’T GO RIGHT – HOLD BACK ON THE VITRIOL AND BLAME A BIT, EH??
Look at the players who really made the difference yesterday – all the names most derided by the “fans” when things weren’t going right. We need to learn to stay behind our team – collectively and individually – when things go wrong.
Ok, soap box back in cupboard. I’m going back to jumping on my desk and chanting “Four-One, Four-One; Pride of North London, My Arse”. The locals down here do love it when I do that.
Irish-Toon
Mar 31, 2008 at 3:49 PM
Comment #47Today in work has been fantastic, I work with a Spud supporter who spent all last week telling how they were going to wipe the floor with us, funnily enough he’s been pretty quiet today….I wonder why?
Reb
Mar 31, 2008 at 5:47 PM
Comment #48Whumpie — I agree with you in general about laying off the players. I will admit that I’ve been critical of Barton, mainly because of his off-the-field problems which I don’t think helped his state of mind during a tough time for the club. Everyone on the squad needed to be concentrating on football, and he undoubtedly was distracted with all this mess hanging over him. I’m still not sure about Barton’s temperament…but he’s a good player when he keeps his head. Keeping him out of gaol may be an issue, however I hope not. I’d like to see the lad sort himself out, honestly.
Did anyone else see Owen’s face light up when he got his name sung/chanted? A little love from the fans and the lad’s like a Christmas tree. Probably because the Liverpool fans sung his name about twice the whole seven years he played for them. I’ve always wondered if that wasn’t a source of his much-commented-upon “loyalty” to England — the England fans in general seem to love him, his club’s fans have tended to be indifferent at best and highly critical at worst.
Nicky Butt — I’ve always rather liked Butt, but thought he was underperforming in general this season until the last two matches. Could be another Keegan resurrection, and I hope it is. But cover is still needed for him, as he’s unlikely to get any younger and he does tend to serve suspensions for his addiction to yellow cards.
Geremi — ACoN seems to have been good for him, but he’s also not getting any younger. Cover needed.
Still, all in all, it was a great performance and a sign of what can happen when a club and squad get a bit of confidence and enjoy the sort of support Newcastle are famous for. Owen and Keegan have both remarked upon the joys and occasional pains (Owen said he was hurt by the comments about his coming back earlier in the season ‘just for England’ and other similar heckling) of playing in front of the Toon faithful — let’s try to make it more joys than pains, eh lads?
Punk Skunk
Mar 31, 2008 at 8:53 PM
Comment #49That’ll learn the doubters!..
…Of the players, KK & 433!..