The Newcastle United Blog

Kevin Keegan has talked again about the Chelsea game on Monday, and it’s certainly a good chance for our boys to show what they’re made of against one of the top European football teams.

Kevin Keegan - looking forward to Chelsea test

The Newcastle manager spoke to the Evening Chronicle today:

“While Chelsea have been playing in big games for massive prizes, we’ve been resting and going about our training.” “But this is our big game, and our chance just to measure ourselves against them.”

“If we beat them, or lose to them, it will only be a measure.” “If we give them a good game, we will take something out of it, and if they cause us a lot of problems, we will learn something from it.”

“If we beat them, we can then maybe start to think that this squad is so much better than the league position.” “The spotlight is good for the players, and we have got a lot of big-name players here as well.”

“They might have more than us, but we have still got a few.” “We have a lot going for us, but that’s not to say we’ve got enough to beat them.” “We’ll have to be at our very best, and have some players playing above themselves.”

It will be a good test for our players to see hust how well they can play against top class opposition. The character of the team is first class, and they will no doubt be looking forward to testing themselves against some of the world’s top players.

Kevin was then asked if he thought Chelsea’s results of last week will have an effect on Monday’s game Keegan replied:

“I don’t think it changes it for us.” “I just think it means that at a time when our season could just peter out, with us playing nothing games, we’ve actually got a big game.”

“It’s a chance to test ourselves to see if we have progressed, or is it a false dawn? Have we rebuilt ourselves enough so we can play these teams?”

“All those possibilities are there for us. We could spoil their party, and stop them winning the championship.” “The game’s got a lot going for it. It’s another sell-out crowd, and it will be a great atmosphere.”

We’re sure the test on Monday will answer a lot of questions about our team and the players we currently have. If they can win or draw, but put up a good performance, that will show us all that we have a good foundation at the club.

What we cannot afford is a weak capitulation like West Ham seem to be performing at Old Trafford, as we write. The Hammers were down 3-0 fairly quickly.

But they may now have a chance to come back with Nani being sent off just before the break, and Dean Ashton scoring a wonderful goal, much  like the one our very own Oba Martisn scored against Bolton Wanderers in the first game of the season.

Maybe Dean is somebody we should try to bring to the club in the summer, after all.

Comments welcome.