We said we should have played Mark Viduka when he was fit, and before he got injured again.
Mark Viduka – injured again – whats’ new?
Mark didn’t make the bench last night for the 2-1 unfortunate defeat by Manchester United, and it turns out the Australian, who spends more time in the injury room at Newcastle than any other player is – guess what?
Injured yet again is the correct answer.
The Newcastle striker has suffered a recurrence of his hamstring injury, and to say he has been badly hampered by groin and hamstring injuries this season, is a huge understatement.
Viduka has made just one Premier League start for the St James’ Park side all season, and of course didn’t even make the bench last night because of this latest setback.
However, Newcastle coach Chris Hughton, is confident the former Middlesbrough and Leeds striker will be back in action soon:
Hughton told the club’s official website today:
“It’s just a minor injury which Mark picked up in training.”
“It kept him out of the Manchester United game but we don’t expect him to be out for too long.”
A hint to Chris – next time Mark is fit, start him, so we can something for the £60K a week he’s being paid by the Newcastle United club.
Mark has no chance whatsoever, of getting an extension to his Newcastle contract in the summer – just thought we’d mention that.
Comments welcome.
52 comments so far
Leo
Mar 5, 2009 at 8:18 PM
Comment #1expected it did we not?
Doocey
Mar 5, 2009 at 8:24 PM
Comment #2Wonderful player when fit and 24 years old.
Pity really, showed us against West Ham that he can score but will leave in the summer.
Doocey
Mar 5, 2009 at 8:25 PM
Comment #3INdeed
Doocey
Mar 5, 2009 at 8:34 PM
Comment #4Great player when fit and 24 years old.
Edd Case
Mar 5, 2009 at 8:36 PM
Comment #5He’s a bag of crap and a waste of a lot of money.
We can’t afford him in the Championship, that’s for sure….
NE3 NICK
Mar 5, 2009 at 8:42 PM
Comment #6Is it just me or does anyone else get f___ed off how NUFC can make the world champions look a bit ordinary, but play like timid girls against the likes if Bolton???
If we gave it a go like that every week you could forgive a lot IMO.
LooneyToon
Mar 5, 2009 at 8:44 PM
Comment #7I would have offerred him a pay as you play deal…
but due to the fact he never plays, that wouldnt do us, or him any good…
his body obviously isnt up to the rigours of top flight football anymore…
shame…quality player in his prime…wish we had seen the best of him…not meant to be….
Girth
Mar 5, 2009 at 9:01 PM
Comment #8NE3
YYYEEEESSSSS!!!!
God does it!!! Said it before the game that if results go like we usually do, we should be terrible against Bolton and loose, we did, then be spirited against Man U and get a draw, so nearly!!! We have done it the past few seasons and the outcome is starting to show, possible relegation!
For me it’s a reflection on the over priced, under committed and over the hill ‘stars’ coming here for one last pay package, but more so, the manager and coaching team! If a coaching team can only get players motivated for the big boys, then that is a massive indictment on their credibility as coaches! And again, our failures in this department are showing in the league position!
The best teams are often talked about for their flashy players and how many goals they have scored but one thing people miss out on is one thing they all have one thing in common….their work rate, they are not only 100% committed, but they are always working for each other, something sadly, I haven’t saw at St James’ park for a long long time…..
spiderpig
Mar 5, 2009 at 9:25 PM
Comment #9well said girth.the players and coaches alike should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.isnt it ironic that the two best games we play are agaainst man utd.i blame the players mostly,against most teams this season we have struggled to fashion more than a couple of shots on target.no shots,no goals,no points. simple game really
RyanToon
Mar 5, 2009 at 9:38 PM
Comment #10get in spurs out the the youth cup, two late arsenal goals! lovely 😉
NE3 NICK
Mar 5, 2009 at 9:43 PM
Comment #11Bothered Ryan. Totally agree gorth…
Penalty-Spot
Mar 5, 2009 at 9:47 PM
Comment #12NUFC will not go down.
The bottom of the table will look something like this:
14 Stoke 40
15 NUFC 39
16 Ports 38
17 Sund 37
18 BBurn 33
19 Mids 30
20 WBrom 24
If you -/+ 2 points from any one of these final points scores we still stay up. I have looked on a slightly biased plain when it comes to NUFC as if we play like we did against MU I think we can pick up another 11 points
Out of those teams above Middlesborough have 5 top seven teams to play; NUFC, Sunderland, Blackburn 4; Stoke 3; Brom 2.
If you go by Bet365s current (decimal) ‘to stay up’ odds the bottom of the table will look like this:
14 sunder 1.02
15 black 1.2
16 ports 1.22
17 nufc 1.4
18 mids 1.73
19 stoke 1.8
20 brom 7
Comment, shout, swear, I don’t care, optimism’s all I’ve got!
repo
Mar 5, 2009 at 9:49 PM
Comment #13im happy as its looks like wisey could be out on his backside in the summer..
as this lad not coming now..
Newcastle will not after all be pursuing their interest in Brazilian youngster Caio Ferreira.
The 18 year-old spent some time on Tyneside earlier this year while a three-year deal was in the process of being agreed with his present club, Atletico do Porto.
However Ferreira’s agent, former Magpie Lee Payne has now been quoted as saying that:
“Unfortunately, the Newcastle deal fell through. It was all done at our end and Caio was eagerly awaiting to get back there – but just when it looked set to go through it didn’t.
“It was upsetting as there was considerable interest in the lad – West Brom came in late to try and resurrect it, but it was just too late in the day. He is very much looking to the summer and without the constraints of the window, I don’t see it being an issue.”
jimiley
Mar 5, 2009 at 10:37 PM
Comment #14PATIENCE is the answer.
Give the Bartender, Geremi and Smudger more time and they will come good. Ably supported by manager Hughton and the backroom staff. We will sprint clear of relegation when little Mikey is fit.
jimiley
Mar 5, 2009 at 10:39 PM
Comment #15Two or three wins on the bounce and we can be in Europe. come on you lot, be positive.
Weezertron
Mar 5, 2009 at 10:46 PM
Comment #16I went to the match on wednesday. Me and my mates thought the service into the box was alot better (although nee one was there) and even though I’m not a fan of his, having a goal poacher like Owen in the box we could have won.
Hope he comes back in and gets on the ends of them.
JonnyNufc
Mar 5, 2009 at 10:49 PM
Comment #17What amazed me was Hughton actually playing loven and Martins upfront & even brining on Lua Lua…
He was almost as good as a decent manager ?
Guthrie, Owen, Gonzalez & Duff could all be back for the next game……we can do it!!
Hopefully this has lifted the players…they have to believe in their own ability. Clearly to play like that against Man united we should be much further up the table.
jimiley
Mar 5, 2009 at 10:54 PM
Comment #18Bartender wil not play again this season. 60K a week. He has started ONE game all season. £3 million quis a year for nothing. Ha ha. Sums up NUFC. Alan Smith is the same. Little Mikey is not much better. He earns a lot more so I suppose his record is worse. Can anyone be surprised we are going DOWN?
jimiley
Mar 5, 2009 at 10:56 PM
Comment #19Little Mikey can finish. Except he is always injured and our mid creates nothing. Oba will score 6 goals a season. Where is our next goal coming form? Oh yes, that might scorer Lowenkrands!!!!
JonnyNufc
Mar 5, 2009 at 10:59 PM
Comment #20Lovenkrands has started upfront twice and gotten two goals so far…..think he deserves to get more chances. He looked good yesterday.
jimiley
Mar 5, 2009 at 11:02 PM
Comment #21Lowenkrands scored a tap in. Does that make him look good?
IrishMan
Mar 5, 2009 at 11:09 PM
Comment #22Yes Jimiley – you gotta be in the right place to slot them home. That is an art in itself.
Weezertron
Mar 5, 2009 at 11:24 PM
Comment #23I was encouraged by the fact our players were shooting.
Not so long ago we only tried to score from headers. If I remember right it was Jonas’s shot that set up McLoven? Good to see Jonas trying to score.
Tom_Toon
Mar 6, 2009 at 1:02 AM
Comment #24Back on topic..
Viduka, on his day, is one of my favourite players in the prem, but these injuries are just getting annoying now.
Nick D
Mar 6, 2009 at 8:14 AM
Comment #25Owen :- hardly ever plays £110k a week
Viduka:- never plays £60-80K a week
Smith:- hardly ever plays £60K a week
Barton:- hardly ever plays £60k a week
Duff:- hardly ever plays £70K a week
Butt:- legs gone £55K a week
Geremi – legs gone £70K a week
Cacapa:- Way past it £30K a week
———————————-
Most of these were extremely poor buys from the allegedly astute and bargain hunting Allardyce. What a charlatan that man is.
Whatever we think of Ashley, I’d be sick as a pig to keep funding that shower at 20M a year, when most of them are never available.
The day performance related earnings come in, the football world would be a better place. But then you’d get the sleazy agents saying it was against their human rights to not be allowed to earn vast fortunes while not actually doing anything to earn those fortunes!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s unfortunate we have someone like Wise with his previous repas a player, but my god we need someone in future to negotiate contracts and to stop another loose cannon like Allardyce buying and saddling us with all this expensive, useless crap, we can’t shift.
All this fuss about we can’t afford to let Owen go.
Who the hell else would be stupid enough to pay him the obscene wages we do as he sits in the treatment room, keeping that lardarse company.
Darling27
Mar 6, 2009 at 9:16 AM
Comment #26Nick D spot on mate!!!
Darling27
Mar 6, 2009 at 9:17 AM
Comment #27Time to weed out the crap at the end of the season.
Toon Graeme
Mar 6, 2009 at 9:26 AM
Comment #28NickD – spot on there fella.
Its must boil your piste when you look at the money these boys are getting paid and barely even touch the grass at sjp.
If you look at it another way – we pay for them too with out season / ticket money.
Bassong in the journal about relegation and saying keegan signed him.
We all know the situation we are in and there are only 11 men who can do something about it. We can do our bit and I call on us all to raise that f’ing roof off against arsenal and one thing I know will happen on the 14th against Hull, our away boys (sell out) will get behind our lads 200%.
clinta
Mar 6, 2009 at 9:48 AM
Comment #29Only a few days before our next game, so I’m wondering why we haven’t heard the usually weekly rallying cries from our super star players about how they’re up for the fight, men not boys and all that bollocks, before the go and bottle it again on match day.
Come on lads give us something believe in!
Toon Graeme
Mar 6, 2009 at 9:52 AM
Comment #30Hello Hello are there any geordie boys????
Quiet on here today……
Toon Graeme
Mar 6, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Comment #31If Im not mistakes its the Spuds against the mackems on Saturday. Not sure who I would want to win that one.
SpartanChris
Mar 6, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Comment #32Toon Graeme – I was just about to comment on the Bassong-Keegan link. Funny how its not been mentioned by anyone before.
There was me thinking little Den had unearthed a gem.
Toon Graeme
Mar 6, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Comment #33Spartanchris – coincidence that info released in light of the keegan legal case???!!
Doubt it really.
SSN have not stopped bleating on about how man u beat us on wed. All yesterday and this morning.
Looks like the arsenal big guns are coming back from the sick too. Gonna make the 21st interesting – but I got faith.
I think we all do and god knows where we get it from…
sirjasontoon
Mar 6, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Comment #34I am here Toon G Not for long got to pop out for a bit..good post about the wages by Nickd..spot on.
Toon Graeme
Mar 6, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Comment #35Does anyone think that MO should automatically get his place back in the starting line up?
That should start a debate.
I dont think he will start against Hull as he will lack match fitness. I feel he will be used as a sub.
Would like to see smith back in the mid after Wednesday and hope he has time to aid his fitness.
R Taylor might have done a boo boo and hope it hasnt knocked his confidence.
If you look back at the match. Man U were never really that threatening. Most of the game seemed to be in the middle.
bennytoon
Mar 6, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Comment #36sirjasontoon- hurry back. You add such a positive spin to this blog and your well thought out comments are always refreshing.
I bet the hull players will all have a big smile on there faces at training in the build up to the newcastle game. They are pretty much safe now and can play without fear against newcastle. Newcastle on the other hand will be feeling sorry for themselves. They will be looking at the table feeling nervous about the game. They will be playing with fear knowing if they lose they are in real trouble. Cant wait for the game! Spurs season is over so i can just sit back and relax and watch the teams at the bottom sweat it out.
Stardust
Mar 6, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Comment #37Ive just comiled a list looking at first teamers in and out under Ashleys tenure, I have advocated that the squad has improved.
I totally accept my view is subjective and dont hold it as proof definitive however makes interesting reading.
Here I list the players what position they play, marks out of 10 for their average performance and/or potential.
Jun-07 David Rozenhal DEF 6
Jul-07 Geremi DEF 6
Aug-07 Cacapa DEF 6
Aug-07 Jose Enrique DEF 8
Aug-07 Abdoulaye Faye DEF 7
Aug-07 Habib Beye DEF 9
Jul-08 Sebastien Bassong DEF 9
Aug-08 Fabricio Coloccini DEF 8
Jun-07 Mark Viduka FWD 7
Aug-07 Alan Smith FWD 6
Sep-08 Francisco Jiminez Tejada “Xisco” FWD 7
Jan-09 Peter Lovenkrands FWD 7
Jun-07 Joey Barton MID 7
Jul-08 Jonas Gutierrez MID 8
Sep-08 Ignacio “Nacho” Gonzalez MID 7
Jan-09 Kevin Nolan MID 7
Feb-09 Ryan Taylor MID 7
Total 122
Player Ave In 7.18 out of 10 per player.
For players going out I have rated them out of 10 at the time they were sold.
May-07 Olivier Bernard DEF 4
May-07 Titus Bramble DEF 7
May-07 Craig Moore DEF 6
Aug-07 Paul Huntington DEF 5
Dec-07 Celestine Babayaro DEF 4
May-08 Stephen Carr DEF 4
May-08 Peter Ramage DEF 5
Jun-08 David Rozehnal DEF 6
Aug-08 Abdoulaye Faye DEF 7
Jun-07 Antoine Sibierski FWD 7
Jun-07 Scott Parker MID 7
Aug-07 Kieron Dyer MID 8
Aug-07 Nolberto Solano MID 8
Aug-07 Albert Luque MID 6
Jul-08 Emre MID 7
Aug-08 James Milner MID 7
Feb-09 Charles N’Zogbia MID 7
Feb-09 Shay Given GOAL 9
105
Player Ave Out 5.8 out of 10.
From the above virtaully every player in when fit is knocking on the door of the first team – though Xisco and Cacapa could be argued.
Of those out I have 10 as first teamers.
Rozenhal and Faye in and out cancel themselves out, so I have estimated we now have 14 first teamers coming in with a higher average rating throughout the whole squad and 9 first teamers out with an average rating of all players out at 5.83.
So the argument about Ashley not strengthening in terms of quality and numbers seems baseless. Therefore it can only be the amount of money spent that people can object to.
But the fundamentals seems fine to me – what do you rekon?
bennytoon
Mar 6, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Comment #38If you still had parker,jenas,dyer(fit), given, milner and nzogbia i dont think you would be in the mess your in.
Stardust
Mar 6, 2009 at 10:53 AM
Comment #39Parker always seems to pass backwards which was at odds with Dyer who made good runs forward. Jenas – I always thought he had the heart the size of a pea – it may have been age though I accept. Given – good keeper but having harper means his loss is minimised if noticeable at all. Dyer is a great player when fit. Milner profoundly average in my opinion, an Charlie isnt a fighter and too selfish to play in a “team”.
I do accept that one thing we have lost since SBR left is pace in the team – maybe its to that which you refer rather than the players themselves. Lovenkrands and Martins had it in bag fulss the other night and were well supported by Jonas. If we hang on this season – as I expect – I see good things ahead.
Subjective like I said.
Stardust
Mar 6, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Comment #40Benny – how do you see your “team” developing?
I see at the moment a collection of talented individuals – a lot of self interest and ego. Personally I think the likes of Bentley was a huge mistake.
RK coming back will help though.