Newcastle played a lot better, than of late last night, against PSV Eindhoven.
Kevin Keegan – very pleased with performance
Keegan talked about the game last night:
“I really enjoyed tonight and I thought the lads, especially in the first-half, put on a great show,” “We deserved that early lead and we started fantastically.”
“We’ve played two midfielders, James Milner and Damien Duff, in attack and they have done magnificently well.” “We had plenty of chances to win the game but PSV are a good side and they punished us twice.”
“It was a real step up tonight and I’m very encouraged by our performance.”
“Don’t forget we’ve still got a lot of players to come back, but the lads who played tonight have all done extremely well and it sets us up nicely going into Saturday’s game with Valencia.”
It’s true that both Milner and Duff looked very lively up front, and the thing we noticed about both of them was their enthusiasm, and they seemed to be enjoying their game – that’s always good to see.
Damien was a little unlucky not to score and Milner of course set up young Danny Guthrie beautifully for the first goal.
But we were a little weak in defense and it’s true that PSV did punish us for some sloppy marking. However, considering the number of players we have out it was a good performance from the lads.
It’s the first time we had some spark up front for a while, and of course Alan Smith was not playing.
While we hardly want to harp on about it too much, we just don’t think Alan or Shola Ameobi are good enough for this team.
Last night the energetic duo up front looked much better prospects than either Alan or Shola, at least on their recent form.
We expect Shola to be moved out before the end of the month, but right now we think it’s touch and go with Alan, although we think Kevin wants to keep him at the club, for his experience.
Comments welcome.
88 comments so far
GoesseN
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Comment #1seen the highlights, guthrie has a brilliant first touch on him, great goal by the lad.
irish_al
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Comment #2good assist from milner also
gutierrez looked decent running at players swell
geordiegraham
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Comment #3first half was gd. second half was poop. we spent more time jumpin aboot nd singin than we did watchin the match. Is smith goin 2 everton?
Ian-first one!!
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Comment #4Agree with KK and GoesseN , however I cant believe that pre season we do not have one striker to put on the pitch!!!
That isnt a a warning signal, it is an obvious flaw in the whole plan which must be the priority to sort out. Imagine going 4 premiership games with no real striker available, that would be more or less our hopes of being secure or moving up lost altogether or making it an uphill task for everyone at the very least.
sweendog
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Comment #5guthrie is surprising me .. he is playing more and more like a young rob lee .. he looks a bit like him to.
Beardsley8
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Comment #6It was an improvement on our previous two performances, but I’m still concerned by the lack of (i) quality and (ii) depth in our squad.
I’m sure Keegan realises we’re short in several areas, not least midfield, and with Owen’s injury problems, Martins inconsistency, and Smith’s impotence in front of goal, we could well find ourselves short of goals.
Gutierrez looks a promising signing, and certainly can’t be any worse at crossing a ball than Milner, but I’ve lost patience with Duff. Butt and Geremi are past it. Guthrie, for me, is one for the future, but we have so few options in the middle of the park, he may be a regular starter. Bassong looks a decent buy as well, but will need time to settle.
We are in desperate need of some creativity in midfield and a reliable striker.
I can honestly see us fighting relegation unless we can add some quality to our squad.
I wish we would show the same ambition as Spurs in the transfer market.
antz
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:29 AM
Comment #7ok ed, i know you now reside in the states, but you are an englishman, and a geordie at that, please please please remember its ‘DEFENCE’ not defense
:-):-)
Faustino
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:32 AM
Comment #8Ed… please add ‘Spurs’ to the post filter please. I feel it should become a banned expression.
Matt
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Comment #9ED, it was the second goal the Milner set up Guthrie for 🙂
Couple of signings and we’ll be sorted.
adam
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Comment #10completely agree with Faustino, spurs is a dirty word
Ivan
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Comment #11where to watch highlight?
shearer4pm
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Comment #12http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11854_3944403,00.html
i hope not 🙁
Beastie
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:41 AM
Comment #13Has everyone seen the sad news on sir bobby robson?
Faustino
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:41 AM
Comment #14ha ha aye a 32 year old Ghanain legend – sounds just like our remit for players at present
Spyro
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Comment #15Faustino, Kauffour is class, a real enforcer, if we can get him on a free it will be good business. This leads me to believe we are going to lose a couple of CB’s
Tom
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Comment #16Kuffour might not be too bad as a backup, if we were going to get rid fo Cacapa.
Midjew
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:54 AM
Comment #17Looks like Aston Villa are gonna get Young and Shorey.
Damn they are good Full backs.
toonfan1
Aug 7, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Comment #18lol ed- you have an advert about rock hard erections on your site 😆
chinzaknuk
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Comment #19I know it was just a pre-season friendly but let’s not forget that PSV were Dutch Champions last year and at times we had them rattled, and we didn’t have any recognised strikers on the pitch.
This is the team i’d like to see start any Manure
Given
Enrique
Coco
Taylor
Beye
Jonas
Guthrie
Milner
Duff
Oba
Owen
Let Jonas and Duff the freedom to swap flanks and make sure they give cover to Enrique, especially Jonas he’s shown he can be a box to box player and has strength and skill to play the role well
A geordiedoonsooth
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Comment #20Neither Young nor Shorey are better than the fullbacks we have. I live near Reading and their fans aren’t sorry to see Shorey go. He is good going forward but is not fast enough for the premier league.
craig chisholm
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Comment #21our squad is just not good enough as it stands. we need in addition to coluccini, a LB, world class gifted midfielder and a tall striker. otherwise is gonna be a relegation dog fight all season long. we all know really.
toonfan1
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:08 PM
Comment #22chinzaknuk- i think that newcastle will start with faye and coloccini instead of taylor.
Ian-first one!!
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Comment #23Cisse latest, he is still holding out hope for a move to England, he has spoke to several english clubs, West Ham the most serious, no-one has placed an offer yet.
His manager is saying he is staying, but Cisse and his agent are waiting for the first serious offer, that must mean he isnt interested in a Roma move above a premiership move.
Newcastle be first to put in an offer, this fella is an absolute bargain for the money and he has an excellent attendance record in spite of his much publicised leg breaks, they havent slowed him down unlike Smith’s and Owen’s injuries.
I would love us to have the choice from that line up, Martins, Owen, Viduka and Cisse.
It might just happen with the latest striker problems.
NANDO
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Comment #24WOOHOO. we will qualify for europe this season, no problem. guthrie will be a legend.
Spyro
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:10 PM
Comment #25i agree doonsooth, there is far too much made about Shorey on here, i dont really care if we miss out on him, he aint nothing special.
Spyro
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Comment #26We wont sign Cisse as MA wont want another Striker on ridiculous wages, we already have Owen on 100k and Viduka on 60k (i think). Cisse would want around 90k as he is already earning mega bucks at marseille
Tom Cairns
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Comment #27can anyone tell me a site i can see the highlights of last night?
Sun'lun's Burnin'
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Comment #28Affelay is available for 15 million Euros…..
SIGN HIM UP!!!
scott9
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Comment #29i hope if we dnt get a new striker he just goes for it and plays owen and martins up top if he plays smith and owen thats is a disgrace but i can see it happening playin smith over martins wud be mad cause smith cnt even hold it up that well.
JOeT
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Comment #30couldnt care less about shorey…..we’re interested in walnock anyway – hence the bids! May be a late one with the LB though as think blackburn will want to recruit a fair few first teamers first – there fans are not happy with them being seen as a ‘selling club’ too soon after the sale of bentley and now maybe mcCARTHY would cause uproar
CRAIGG
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Comment #31If we are really interested in signing Kuffour then it must mean that its really true about Faye wanting to go back to lancashire.
Even if Faye does leave i think two out of Collocini, Taylor, Bassong, Edgar and Cacapa are decent enough without wasting time on another has been who will hardly play like Diatta last season.
gavilan
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Comment #32Goesse where did you see the highlights may I ask?
Spyro
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:26 PM
Comment #33I said that yesterday Sun’Lun
Craigg, Kuffour is a really good player available on a free, he is very fit and a real enforcer. I rate Faye, but he is a better version of Faye as he can read the game better. If we lost Faye and signed Kuffour we would have the better player
Macas
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:26 PM
Comment #34Faye won’t be leaving and we wont get Kuffour, its just lazy journalism linking him to us, as we have been interested in the past.
CRAIGG
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:27 PM
Comment #35Did anyone read that thing about Ince alienating himself from all the players at Blackburn apparently he makes them do 20 press ups for minor things like crossing their arms and they slammed his and his coaches training methods as ameuteurish,
Bentley stamped out of one of his sessions and Friedel apparently left because of him so surely nows the time to sign Warnock and maybe have a punt at McCarthy looks like he might be going to the mackems!
gavilan
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Comment #36Chinzaknuk…. that’s a decent side I wouldn’t argue much with that although I think we are grasping at straws having milner as our attacking central midfielder- he isn’t intelligent enough alas for that position.
Affelay is a robben-esque little dynamo and I’ve always been a fan… that would be a good signing but who says PSV would sell him? They haemmorage players every summer – no Farfan now – who we SHOULD have had by the way..
CRAIGG
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:31 PM
Comment #37Spyro
Kuffour was and is probably as i havent seen him in a few years still a very good centre half.
But even without Faye do you not think that this should be an afterthought now we have collocini and we should concentrate on another Left Back, A quality midfield player and another Striker.
AndyNUFC
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Comment #38If Duff and Geremi had put their easy chances away we would have wrapped the game up.
Spyro
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Comment #39i think if its on a free it cant be too bad as it will give us depth in defence. However i agree with most that our priority is midfield. Yesterday i suggested Affelay as he fits what we are after perfectly; versatile, young, fairly low wages, and there has been no transfer speculation concerning him thus far. He would cost around 12-13million. You never know, maybe the friendly was part of the deal…doubt it though. Opinions?
Ian-first one!!
Aug 7, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Comment #40Spyro, he is on £74k per week (Cisse) he wants back to England so he may work for the same, but I am fairly certain we would pay under £80k per week for him.
To me he is an absolute giveway. I suspect Moyes wanted him for the Johnson role but they have financial problems, Man City look as if they have fund troubles they were trying for a loan no way would they loan him out they are trying to keep him, I am surprised Man Utd arent looking for a striker but he isnt their type of player, Chelsea have no vacancies, Blackburn have problems, West Ham surely cant buy more players, Portsmouth dont need anyone, surely he wouldnt go to Wigan?
We have an opportunity here, if another club gets the funds I think he will be gone.