Today will be our first pre-season game at Hartlepool United in a few hours time, and Keegan will field what he has termed a strong side.
Danny Wilson – Hartlepool United manager
And Hartlepool manager Danny Wilson is pleased to hear that, as he talked this morning:
“It’s music to my ears when a club with massive resources like Newcastle’s say they are going to put a strong team out for a game like this,â€
“Big clubs can sometimes put shadow players out when they play against League One opposition but they should provide a real test for us.”
“It makes it doubly difficult but it also makes it an exciting game for the players and the fans.â€
We expect Danny Guthrie to be involved but would be surprised if Jonas Gutierrez is, since he’s only been back in training for 5 days, and the last thing Kevin wants to do in these games is to risk players.
Hartlepool are a week ahead of Newcastle in their training preparations, and they have played two games in a mini-tour of Scotland, beating Greenock Morton and drawing 0-0 with Falkirk.
Danny continued:
“We’ve had two very competitive games,†Wilson reflected. “We’ve come out of it unscathed and got what we wanted.”
“We knew when we organised these games they would be competitive and we weren’t disappointed.â€
29 year-old Goalkeeper Derek Soutar is on trial from Aberdeen, but will not play today, and it may be that former Newcastle goalkeeper Mark Cook will start the game.
Danny continued:
“We haven’t made up our minds yet but he won’t be playing against Newcastle because he’s got other commitments,â€
“In the two games he’s played he hasn’t had too much to do. The goalkeepers haven’t been tested much yet.”
“We’ve got to try and better the team and the club so we need better players. Whether that’s the case with Derek we’ll decide in due course.â€
Hartlepool have added three players this pre-season in Alan Power, Ritchie Jones and goalkeeper Mark Cook.
It seems that Wilson is satisfied with the way things are going right now:
“I don’t think a manager’s ever happy with where they are,â€
“But we’ve got a good young side and the two boys should add to that. Whether they play a major part at this time we will have to see but they’ve both got great potential.“
““But it’s never easy coming from reserve-team football into Leagues One and Two. They’re tough leagues to play in.â€
Manager Wilson has also said he expects James Brown to play regularly as center forward next season having played out wide during the previous two seasons.
Wilson explained.
“James has matured in the last 18 months or so, he’s looking physically stronger,†“There’s a physical element to playing at this level but the last two seasons have been about getting him acclimatised to the pace of the game as much as anything.”
“And playing out wide you don’t have big bruising centre-backs up your backside all the time. But he’s a clever lad, we’ve always known centre-forward would be his best position and we think he’s ready to move there now.”
“We can’t rush Michael too much at this stage. You’ve got to remember he’s only been playing professional football a bit over a year. We see him as an impact player.â€
We expect a good game this afternoon and it will give Newcastle fans a chance to see how the squad looks after a two months summer break.
It will also be interesting to see how young Danny Guthrie fares.
Comments welcome.
21 comments so far
Hammy
Jul 19, 2008 at 10:49 AM
Comment #1Wonder if Robbie Elliott is playing?
mr_flibbles
Jul 19, 2008 at 10:55 AM
Comment #2Alan Smith will be Playing, about time he got another pre-season goal.
If the match isnt on some kind of televised video stream then i dont think Jonas will be worth risking.
Hi Ed can you write us an article about Alan Smith Please, I havent seen one on him so far. Just wondered what your opinion on him is.
MattyB
Jul 19, 2008 at 10:56 AM
Comment #3Guthrie has only been training the same length of time as jonas hasnt he? looking forward to seeing both players tho, any links for footage??
beye the great
Jul 19, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Comment #4come on the toon if ant1 is going could they record the goals or something
Patrick
Jul 19, 2008 at 11:04 AM
Comment #5Where’s Owen? Actually I can’t see a pic of him in training. Does he get injured?
Toon_Army
Jul 19, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Comment #6The goals will probably be shown on Sky Sports News… 4-0 : D
Leo
Jul 19, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Comment #7sounds like it will be a competitve game- brillient i wish i could get their but i have to see the family off on their jollies unfortunatly.
RUSSEL
Jul 19, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Comment #8where’s owen?
NEZSURF
Jul 19, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Comment #9Does anyone reckon its worth giving Beye a go at being our CB this season. I think he played there for Marseille against us in the 2004 uefa cup run and did pretty well against Shearer.
nicky nicky
Jul 19, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Comment #10where can we watch this game??? do you know that??
shearer4pm
Jul 19, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Comment #11forster
beye(c),taylor,cacapa,n’zogbia
milner,smith,guthrie,duff
carroll, ameobi
mabye i dunno, not enuf players to choose from lol
Oba's Mum
Jul 19, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Comment #12At Hartlepool and that will be it, may show the goals later on though
aaron d
Jul 19, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Comment #13why are we getting rid of Tim Krul should defo hang on to him just loan him out.
What do you reckon starting line-up will be today? think guthrie will start and hope jonas does too.
Are any of the pre-season friendlies on sky or sentana?
Ian Grainger
Jul 19, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Comment #14Nezsurf – Why move our best player? He’s a brilliant right back so why not get in a good centre back rather than ruining the best part of the team
Terry
Jul 19, 2008 at 12:47 PM
Comment #15Danny Wilson was managing Sheffield Wednesday when we spanked them 8-0 in Bobby’s first game in charge, wasn’t he? Good memories.
micepie
Jul 19, 2008 at 1:13 PM
Comment #16Forster,
Geremi,
Toser,
Taylor,
Edgar,
Smith,
Guthrie,
Zog,
Milner,
Carroll or Danquah,
Martins.
Uhm, I don’t have a clue what the 11 might be, though if we play Tozer it could give him more confidence back after the Bentley game!
Just pray we don’t get any bad injuries but you can’t not play senior players because of that.
natedawg
Jul 19, 2008 at 1:13 PM
Comment #17for next year i would like our team with the players we have to look like this
harper/given
gerimi beye faye enrique
guitterez guthrie barton zog
oba owen
vid , milner, given/haper butt smith taylor and one of the kids
although i would like our right side to have an injection of pace and some new faces
eggy
Jul 19, 2008 at 2:01 PM
Comment #18Any ideas if the commentary will be available anywhere? Tried to find some listings but couldnt see it anywhere :/
geordiekk
Jul 19, 2008 at 2:19 PM
Comment #19carroll is injured martins and owen up front i think
Northumberland Magpie
Jul 19, 2008 at 2:19 PM
Comment #20What has happened to Aaron Spear signing?
RUSSEL
Jul 19, 2008 at 2:34 PM
Comment #21NUFC: Steve Harper and Michael Owen aren’t expected to be risked in this game, after picking up minor knocks in training this week.
is it true?