A tremendous performance from the lads yesterday, and that should act as a spur to Mike Ashley and Dennis Wise, to go ahead and support Joe in bringing the players he wants into the club next month.
Duff – rightly goes berserk after scoring great goal yesterday
The four players we brought in during the summer, Bassong, Guthrie and Argentine pair Jonas and Coloccini again performed magnificently for the Magpies yesterday, and if we can get another four like these in January, we’ll have a much stronger squad.
That will allow us to still be strong, even with the inevitable injuries we get.
Kinnear added:
“We are starting to look upwards now, but it’s still very tight at the bottom and I’m wary of getting on a bad run, particularly as I’m concerned about the length of time my injured players are going to be out for.”
“Shola (Ameobi) has picked up a hamstring strain and that’s going to be seven to ten days.” “We haven’t been able to finish the game with the same players we started with since I arrived at the club.”
But on the good side yesterday the two subs Viduka and Duff, combined with some clas at the end of the game, to get Newcastle that winning goal, and when things are tight like they were yesterday, it’s that class that wins games.
Joe said today:
“Damien Duff and Mark Viduka gave us quality off the bench and that’s very important. I’m very pleased with all three of my wide men, but only two of them can play and Charles N’Zogbia has done very well since he came into the side when Damien picked up an injury.”
“As for Mark, he still isn’t fully fit and it has taken him a long while to get back from this ankle injury. He hasn’t got the pace he used to, but he is such an intelligent player, very bright and we saw that with the touch which set up the second goal.”
We need to keep bringing quality to the club, and maybe add to that some youth, and we’ll be in great shape come February.
While it’s difficult to know exactly who Dennis Wise has brought to the club, if we bring in another top batch of players in January, maybe, just maybe, Dennis is much better at his job than we thought.
He stays in the background, and Joe seems to get on well with him, so he should probably be retained if Ashley stays – but we’d just love to see Chris Mort back as Chairman, or someone else who will talk directly to the Newcastle fans.
If we continue playing such good attacking football, as we did yesterday, we’ll take some team to the cleaners shortly – there are not too many teams out there playing as well as Spurs are right now.
Comments welcome.
53 comments so far
bennufc
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Comment #1the big question is hu?
Born Again Geordie
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Comment #2Wey I – and who do we think these 5 players might be ?
clinta
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:23 AM
Comment #3Just watched a recorded version of the match, and chuffed with the result, thought it was going to go the other way as it tends to with us at home of late.
Shola was absolutely awful, which is a shame, and whether he was injured or not, i was calling for his substituion at the same point.
Viduka was real sluggish but need in the team.
The bull Jose’ was surperb, thought he did really well against lennon who was up for the game.
It seems a little surreal we gone from one good result to another….?! don’t know what to make of it , but am loving it at the minute.
clinta
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Comment #4I think most of us are in agreeance that Mort was good in his time at the club, but he’s chosen to move on and will not be back, so its of little use mentioning his name again and again as someone for the future.
Richard
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:33 AM
Comment #5Heard a rumour that Wise is on his way back to Leeds!?
Steven R
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:40 AM
Comment #6Coloccini ain’t worth the 10mil we payed for him. I am not yet fully confident in him, he is prone to making a few mistakes. Bassong is a great prospect and is already playing really well.
Think we obviously need a right-sided mid and lefr-back this Jan, just to back Jonas up.
Little Willie
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Comment #7It’s unrealistic to expect 4 or 5 players in in the January window, it’s a hard time to bring quality in so I would be happy if we could get 2 through the door.
Mort was at the game yesterday btw, I didn’t get the chance to speak to him but someone who did said he was there as a fan rather than on business.
martin sheridan
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Comment #8we need to follow this up with 3points at wigan and a point at home to liverpool, id gladly settle for 4 points from them two games
LarrikinDan
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Comment #9I agree….
Even 2-3 players of the Coloccini/Jonas/Bassong quality in the right positions and we might even be pushing for Europe!
There are a lot of teams struggling this year and if we strengthen significantly we can really use it to out advantage!
Javi Martinez – 7 Million
Jimmy Bullard – 6 Million
Leighton Baines – Loan with option of 5 Million transfer.
And some sort of target man….who can score as often as Owen and Martins do!
TC
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:45 AM
Comment #10you said “If we continue playing such excellent attacking football, , as we did yesterday”
Were you at the same match as me? Spurs were unlucky not to get a point; I’m die-hard newcastle but think that we were lucky to get 3 points; don’t get carried away mate, we weren’t that good.
3 points was brilliant but if we don’t get quality players in January we will be fighting relegation; look at who we play at home in the second part of the season… scary.
Matt
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:46 AM
Comment #11Ed have you read anything anyone’s been saying at newcastle for the last month or two?
Five top players? Are you off your rocker? It will be one top player if we’re lucky, one solid squad player and 3 loans.
I doubt we’ll even get that to be honest. If we can keep winning over christmas then we stand a better chance of attracting a higher calibur but come on and be realistis will you? Five top players is ridiculous.
Just to add to that aswell, when was the last massively successful january signing? January is for filling holes not changing ambitions.
Toon Graeme
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Comment #12I think Mike Ashley will be back in SJP on 10th of Jan at the West Ham match.
New year new start. Keegan has gone, Joe is here and we are moving towards the top half.
I would be happy with a nice 10-8 finish this year. I think a few teams who started off good will head down the league and they are starting to feel the pace of the prem. IE Hull for one.
Mackems have had a rocket blown up there back ends. Gonna make Feb the 1st a really tough and entertaining match!!!!
New additions is a must. Lets get Joey back and Martins off the sicknotes. The Bull is showing some excellent signs.
The back four work well together and can only see it getting better. The youth team are doing well also.
All in all its looking good but must take it one game at a time until we are safe in the prem.
neeraj
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Comment #13steven
colo’s best playing position is defensive mid. at deportivo, he plays full back for argentina, he is a squad player, who plays best as def mid
i guess joe doesn’t want to change the back 4, coz its working and doesnt want to replace butt with colo, coz colo doesnt speak good english….
Sav
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:52 AM
Comment #14Its much harder to get decent players in in January, Ed. Be an optimist by all means but asking for 5 is a bit unrealistic. If we sign up Butt and Owen and get one decent midfielder I’d be very happy with that for now.
There’ll be more to do in the summer if there’s anyone still here. to do it.
By the way, is Jeff Vetere still with the club?
Sav
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:52 AM
Comment #15Its much harder to get decent players in in January, Ed. Be an optimist by all means but asking for 5 is a bit unrealistic. If we sign up Butt and Owen and get one decent midfielder I’d be very happy with that for now.
There’ll be more to do in the summer if there’s anyone still here to do it.
By the way, is Jeff Vetere still with the club?
Sav
Dec 22, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Comment #16New York, New York!
Greg B
Dec 22, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Comment #17I think we may aswell get used to the fact that Ashley is staying and IMO will be back at games in the new year – to be fair he made a big mistake not backing his last manager but seems to be trying to put things right by backing the current gaffer – in fact to me it would seem that the pair get on very well indeed.
Id probably be of the notion that bygones be bygones if, and its a big if, the club we all love is put before any quick profit making scheme and the owner shows that he wants the club to be succesful by backing Kinnear in the transfer market.
One thing, owning a football club must be a massive learning curve for anyone, especially someone who clearly has very limited football background (aside from selling kits!) but aslong as Ashley learns from the mistakes he has made I think we should get behind him – for the good of the club.
At least he is English, he seems to want success for the future of the club by investing in youth and so far as the first team, Jonas, Coloccini, Bassong, Guthrie etc have been very good on the whole.
Ashley could show his good intentions by getting Owen to sign and bringing in a couple of decent players in January – yes, Jimmy Bullard would be a great signing IMO and just what we need.
Spyro
Dec 22, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Comment #18Steven R
Coloccini is worth every penny mate, you know why? Because he is part of our defence that has been so impressive lately. He was faultless against Spurs and his partnership with Bassong is unquestionnable. As soon as we get a young, quality DM everyone will see that our CB’s will improve even more as they come under less pressure.
bowburnmag
Dec 22, 2008 at 11:25 AM
Comment #19If we re-sign the players who are awaiting renewals, I’ll be please. Anything else will honestly be a bonus. I don’t see us doing any business in January. MA is not confident enough about his inevitable return to speculate. Loans would be as far as can stretch my imagination, and it wouldn’t take too much imagination to think of the stocking-filler types who would come through the door. As long as the current squad can get fit and hungry as a whole then we’ll be ok, regardless of what comes through the door. Some more proven faces would be a very welcome and unexpected surprise.
bowburnmag
Dec 22, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Comment #20I’m personally hoping for a grammer checker for Xmas…….
bowburnmag
Dec 22, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Comment #21“grammer” being intentional obviously (ahem).
wsq
Dec 22, 2008 at 11:29 AM
Comment #22the touch made viduka wasn’t the clever part, the clever part was getting the defender behind him i think it was dawson. he came from an offside position to an offside without stepping forward. i just thought that was brilliant
LooneyToon
Dec 22, 2008 at 12:27 PM
Comment #23Never mind the grammaaaaaaa Bowburn lad, get on the spel check….
Couple of young championship players and maybe couple of loans to come in for me….
Attacking centre mid required
Bosck
Dec 22, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Comment #24TC – I’m guessing the people we have got play at home in the second half of the season are the same as the ones we’ve played away in the first half of the season… no? thats usually the way a league system works!! nice to see you’re being so positive about the team, yeah we’re no safe yet but constantly saying we’re gonna be in a relegation fight isnt gonna help build confidence is it!?!
workyticket
Dec 22, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Comment #25“As soon as we get a young, quality DM everyone will see that our CB’s will improve even more as they come under less pressure.”
Spyro, there’s nothing wrong with Nicky Butt, it’s only the armchair ‘experts’ who know little to nothing about football who complain about him, those who know better certaily don’t. Our defence only comes under real pressure when they play Taylor, who thinks that he’s still a striker. He makes some catastrophic positional errors sometimes and Butt seems to carry the can with those who don’t really understand how the game works.
Tom_Toon
Dec 22, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Comment #26Neeraj – He was a CB at Deportivo and is a CB for Argentina.
They played 5-3-2 at Deportivo, maybe that is why you thought he was a RB.
Steven R – Coloccini is worh £10mil because he is keeping liability Taylor out of the team.
The Entertainers
Dec 22, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Comment #27I cant see 5 top players arriving in Jan’
Firstly the window is notoriously hard to buy in.
Secondly we do not have huge funds
Thirdly we are not an attrcative proposition as we use to be.
However i’m sure we can still recruit players of a decent standard, whether that be foriegners like Jonas, top British club reserves like Guthrie or top championship players.
I’m looking forward to Jan, as it will give us a better indication of Ashley’s plans.
JONNY
Dec 22, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Comment #28spyro – u r exactly right!
people have quesioned coloccini’s ability but to me it is obvious that he’s been a good signing and worth £10m.
we have spent £12 on barton and smith and what have they done for us??
1 has been mostly behind bars and the other (smith) has been either injured or a waste of space on the pitch.
coloccini has been part of what seems a solid back line at newcastle and that is something we havnt had in a while.
Tore Torell
Dec 22, 2008 at 1:40 PM
Comment #295 players? Been trying the sherry a bit early this year, mate?!
I’d be happy if we get two decent players, not sure if I want Bullard though.
Appiah would be a better call, central mid needs strenghtening. I wouldn’t mind a cheeky bid for Pennant either, 2m for him would add a bit of flair. We also need cover at the back, I trust Vetere to find a rookie left fullback in France.
I predict a left fullback, one central mid and an attacking player.
Charles Ma
Dec 22, 2008 at 1:57 PM
Comment #30We should aim for some of these players
Jermaine Defoe (If Owen decides to leave)
Dean Ashton (To replace Viduka)
Santa Cruz (Awesome signing)
Pablo Aimar
Aissati
Wayne Bridge
Jermaine Pennant
micepie
Dec 22, 2008 at 1:58 PM
Comment #31You’re always way overly optimistic though, Ed! As are some other fans. That’s a good quality but 5? If we get 5 then fantastic.
The great thing is that our improved form may mean that few – if any – will leave the club in January. If we keep everyone and get at least 2, possibly 3, very good players in we should be more than happy. Personally I’d go for 2 mf and 1 back-up lb.
Steven R
Dec 22, 2008 at 3:07 PM
Comment #32Spyro:
Colo is a good player but he has not proved he is worth 10mil yet. He is definitely playing better each week. We got Bassong for 2 or 2.2mil and he is def going be worth more than that in the near future.
Colo is not as good as Bassong aerially and does not tackle as good as Bassong (from previous games). I agree with Neeraj though that he can only improve with time and agree with you that as the back-line gets more games together they will get more and more inpenetrable.
TC
Dec 22, 2008 at 3:13 PM
Comment #33Bosck – i think you’re missing my point a bit… I am aware that we play home and away (don’t be patronising) … the thing is we we will be playing a different game at home to the likes of Man U, Chelsea, etc. to the one away from SJP – we will attack them no doubt.
My point was the over optimism (I wasn’t intending to be pessimistic, just realistic); we just beat Spurs yesterday (unless I was at the wrong game), and suddenly we’re playing attractive attacking football – bollocks! We have a long way to go and as soon as people become relistic the better. If Spurs had a Michael Owen in the team we would have got nowt.
bruTOOOON
Dec 22, 2008 at 3:19 PM
Comment #345 players…look at our bench and who will the 5 players replace?
pessimisticly, i would settle for a 1-2 signing. an average leftback as a backup for jose enrique and maybe one young “viera-like” defensive mid to replace butt.
If owen go, we will sign a new striker.
And when will we gave chance to our youngsters?
Doocey
Dec 22, 2008 at 3:50 PM
Comment #35We’re not going to get five in in January never mind have the money for it.
2 quality and I’d be happy.
Don’t want Bullad as said before, thinks he’s too big for the clubs he plays with.
Get in Sakho and Diarra/ Chryshinsky <- wrong spelling but the Ukranian centerback.
We’re not going to get Europe this season but if we can keep up the form we’l be safe pretty soon =)
adam
Dec 22, 2008 at 3:53 PM
Comment #36bridge
bullard
upson
bellamy
stiljbred
Whumpie
Dec 22, 2008 at 3:57 PM
Comment #37We have to realise that we’ve actually been lucky with injuries lately, in that (with the exception of Barton) we’ve not lost any of our players with no specialist cover, i.e. Beye, Enrique or Jonas.
If any of them goes, we lose our shape and we could easily be back to where we were a few weeks ago.
The nice problem we have now is: do we try to buy known stars, or more young talent? I was all for buying a late-20s left-back, but with Enrique showing some form, I’m starting to think someone similar in age and experience to really battle for the place is a better idea.
Basically, we now have a good team… until someone gets crocked.
Realistically, I’d be happy to see a couple of loan signings in our weakest areas, and re-signing those out of contract. Anything else would be going some for what is normally a very poor window.
Toon_Ksk
Dec 22, 2008 at 4:06 PM
Comment #38We need a left-back, a defensive midfielder and a creative play-maker. With those positions covered, we should be good enough to challenge for a UEFA cup spot. However, I do have a feeling that we will be signing 5 goalkeepers instead.
Another thing is that, why haven’t we use Edgar as a cover for left-back? I thought he did alright when he played against Man Utd.
Tooner
Dec 22, 2008 at 4:18 PM
Comment #39When will we give chance for our youngsters?
Maybe when we are actually secure? The table is so tight, we can’t afford to blood in youngsters now. None of our youngsters are ready yet anyways,
I’m hoping for 1-2 good players in January, but I don’t want to settle for an “average” left back. We have absolutely no competition at left back, and should Enrique pick up any serious injury, we have to play Zog back there. I think we all know how much he gets skinned at LB.
ashleys wallets cobwebs
Dec 22, 2008 at 4:24 PM
Comment #40i cant see us signing any players as the credit crunch will make ashley keep hold of his wallet even tighter, people willing to let this man back in amongst our fans without protest must be mad, the man bought the club to do one thing, rape it , how much has he spent on transfers net up to now ? any bid for owen whether he is ready to sign or not and he will be gone, why didnt he buy his beloved spurs if he wanted to build a club up ? he always was and always will be in it for the money , we need investment now not 14 year old players who will be outstanding in league 1 in 5 years time , lets get this cancer out of our club