Hughton has some selection decisions to make for tomorrow’s game against Stoke, and we have to believe a couple of the players who played at Chelsea will keep their starting positions for the Stoke game.
Chris Hughton – two more goals please
In our poll after the game, Shola Ameobi and young Shane Ferguson were voted the two best players on Wednesday night, and perhaps Shola will get a start tomorrow, since he was on fire at Stamford Bridge and got two good goals, including the winner in the last minute with a beautiful header.
Chris talked about the fact that the Newcastle players, after two great wins, cannot be over confident against Stoke City:
“It’s important we remember what happened against Blackpool,” “I’d actually settle for the amount of goalscoring opportunities we had against Blackpool, but of course it was a game we lost.”
“We’ve got to be guarded of being too confident. We’re coming off the back of two very good wins and we have to be at our best again on Saturday. We’ve won two games we were perhaps expected to lose, but this is a game where we are at home and there will be an expectancy for us to win as a result.”
“But these are the things we must get used to in such a tough division, the highs and the lows.” “We’re not going to have the same amount of highs as we did last season in terms of the amount of games we win, so we have got to look at our home games as the best opportunities to pick up points.”
Alan Smith and Jonas Gutierrez were both dropped for the game at Everton last weekend, and Hughton has never been afraid to drop big name players , even when he was the caretaker-manager during our relegation season, and it’s another good management trait he has.
Both dropped players had good games against Chelsea on Wednesday night, but of course we have wonder-kid Hatem Ben Arfa ready to come back into the side, and he will certainly start tomorrow – on one of the wings.
Maybe Jonas has done enough to keep his place, and Ben Arfa could start in place of Routledge on the right wing, so Chris has lots of options he could take tomorrow.
And Cheik Tiote will also be an almost certainty to start tomorrow, after his wonderful display last Saturday in defensive midfield.
Hughton is making it clear that nobody is too good to be dropped at Newcastle, and he wants to maintain the very high standards the team has started this season with.
Chris continued:
“We have brought new players in, and when those changes are made, you want those players to perform in that position. At the moment we’re in quite a healthy position regarding options as was shown on Wednesday night with that win over Chelsea
” It hasn’t been a hard few days for me in terms of selection. I think it is always harder if you’ve lost the two games before. That’s when it’s really tough.” “There are more things going on in your mind about whether you need to change things.” “It is always more welcome to have selection problems when you’re winning. What we’ve done with the win is remind everyone they are not undroppable.”
“When we’re in a healthy position regards choices it’s the best position to be in. It’s up to the players to perform well enough to stay in the team.”
The win at Chelsea has raised Chris Hughton’s visibility significantly as a manager, and people are now wondering just how good the new Newcastle manager can become. Nobody at all expected a win at Chelsea on Wednesday – nobody – or the fantastic display the Reserve side put in on Wednesday night.
Well, Chris certainly doesn’t get carried away with his success, that’s for sure, and that has to auger well for the future of the Tyneside club.
We’d be very happy if Chris keeps surprising us all with just how good he seems to be as a manager – certainly he’s not out of his depth at all in the Premier League this time around – now that he has his own side.
The future looks brighter at Newcastle United right now – but we’ll take Chris’ advice, and not get carried away too much. 😀
Comments welcome.
3 comments so far
leedodd
Sep 25, 2010 at 10:14 AM
Comment #1I Think In the Next few years Chris will get Us To Were we Were 4 or 5 years ago and More and Become a true Geordie Legend !!! He is Not far from That Now !!! Who Else would have got us Back up got a good side together Like this one ?? Bobby Robson yes – Keegan No – Shearer No . Well Done Chris and Not Forgetting Colin Calderwood- This Smacks of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor ?? Now There was a Partnership !!!
GeordieToon89
Sep 25, 2010 at 11:38 AM
Comment #2Chris Hughton is safely becoming a favourite of mine in the management category rankin along side the sir bobby i mean he aint quite they yet bt the way he has turned our club round with such ease it wont take him long, i admire the way he looks upto bobby with the big picture of him in his office as if when hes sittin ther thinkin he turns to the picture and says what would sir bobby do i think in the next couple years if he carrys on the way he is we will be a premier league force to be reckoned with =] also yes leedodd Colin Calderwoon has also played a massive role behind the scenes on the trainin ground and also deserves alot of credit the players obviously all look upto both them and long may it continue.!
NUFC 3-1 Stoke
Sav
Sep 25, 2010 at 12:00 PM
Comment #3Woah there, Easy now!