Joey Barton has set a target of the Championship game with Coventry City on February 17 for his comeback game.
Joey Barton – back in full training Monday
It turns out Joey’s metatarsal injury was far more serious than first thought.
Remember Joey was playing poorly at the time – last October – but he complained that his foot kept hurting, and the medical staff were not sure what it was, so he had exploratory surgery.
Barton will now return to training tomorrow, after being out for more than four months.
The Sunday Sun is reporting today that Joey’s recovery was delayed because the full diagnosis was that he had a fracture to the host bone in his foot, rather than a metatarsal, which is more common.
It could be that Joey can play a significant part in the Newcastle run-in, if he can produce the form for which we know he is capable.
We desperately need some creativity in midfield, and not the Smith Butt partnership we saw yesterday, which seemed complete overkill as a defensive formation.
Chris could do a lot worse than playing young Danny Guthrie there on Friday night against Cardiff.
Comments welcome.
7 comments so far
Ashley Hole
Jan 31, 2010 at 11:47 AM
Comment #1Barton`s back!
Darling27
Jan 31, 2010 at 12:43 PM
Comment #2Smith and Butt should never play together in the middle of the park.
Darling27
Jan 31, 2010 at 12:43 PM
Comment #3Infact Butt shouldn’t be playing at all!!!
WesterhopeExile
Jan 31, 2010 at 12:51 PM
Comment #4I agree with the above, Butt is long past his sell-by date. We are crying out for a creative central midfielder and why Hughton hasn’t addressed this issue baffles me!
MacToon
Jan 31, 2010 at 1:10 PM
Comment #5We could really do with Barton but how’s he gonna play when he is back, will he be interested, will Hughton be able to manage him and what will his form be like………?
Out of the 3 midfielders, Butt, Nolan and Smith, Nolan is the only one I’d consider keeping if we get back to the prem.
giimps
Jan 31, 2010 at 3:13 PM
Comment #6Nicky butt should have hung his boots up 2 seasons ago, instead of taking the place of someone who can pass and move on the pitch.
I blame hughton ,firstly for the starting formation, then secondly for not changing things immediately they had a man sent off.
I was at the game and for the most part, it looked like they had the extra man !!!
We had Nicky butt (neither use nor ornament) and Ryan taylor who had no clue where to be on the pitch , and no clue what to do when they got the ball, Ryan (sideways and back) Taylor was guilty just about every time we went forward, of slowing the ball down, instead of quick passing to utilise the extra man, In fact he reacted so slowly on occasions, that Leicester had 2 players on him before he could pass the ball (even when he had plenty space to move into and people to pass to) They are the reason we failed to gain an advantage as they are not good enough (even in this league).
I must admit, when I saw the players warming up ,and Nicky butt and Ryan taylor were part of the starting line-up, I feared the worst, I think that if we had not had the 1 man advantage for 2/3 of the game ,we would have lost by 2 or 3 goals as wew were playing so badly, but Hughton will see this as a point away from home, which is the reason he is not fit to manage, can you imagine any decent manager leaving things the way they were when playing so badly?
His substitutions also leave a lot to be desired, I agree with the Nile ranger, oner but why take off Smith? We have been missing pace and width away from home (and at home for the most part) so he packs the midfield, but only plays 1 winger when we had 2 available ,the blokes a MORON and is not the answer !!!!
lewisnufc
Feb 1, 2010 at 9:27 AM
Comment #7im just happy nicky butts retiring to an old peoples home at the end of the season tbf.