We’re not sure who the number two goalkeeper is at Newcastle right now.
Steve Harper – number 2 goalkeeper at Newcastle?
25 year-old Rob Elliot made his debut in the Carling Cup last Tuesday night, but was at fault for at least one of the goals, and seemed to have a bit of a tough night, after he was preferred to Steve Harper for that game.
But Steve was back on the bench for Newcastle in the game yesterday against Blackburn Rovers, so we’re not sure if Pardew will rotate Rob and Steve on the bench, as backup goalkeeper to number one goalkeeper Tim Krul.
After Steve Harper took over from the departed Shay Given in January of 2009, he had a good run in the first team but that run is now over, and the last time the local veteran played for the first team in a competitive game, was the 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa last April.
And of course Dutch International Tim Krul now seems to be the definite number one choice, and has been in great form so far this season.
There has been some talk of maybe Harper going out on loan, but manager Alan Pardew is having none of it, as he said today in the Sunday Sun:
“There is no situation with Steve. Harps and Rob are here as back-up to Tim at the moment because Tim has the jersey. It is as simple as that.”
“There is no chance of him going out on loan. None at all.””
Pardew was asked if he said anything to Rob after his debut in the 4-3 win at Nottingham Forest:
“I have not had to say anything to him. He is a very, very good goalkeeper.”
It’s still a bit of a surprise to us as to why we need another goalkeeper, since last season Tim Krul and Steve Harper did the duties at Newcastle.
All we can think of is that Alan Pardew wanted three experienced goalkeepers able to do the first team duties, although of course Newcastle also have Swedish U21 goalkeeper Ole Soderberg in their ranks.
Steve Harper has made 191 appearances for Newcastle in his career, and young Tim Krul, who is improving rapidly at Newcastle, now has 41 appearances.
Comments welcome.
114 comments so far
fungus44
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:09 PM
Comment #81read this it,s funny ,such sad losers Blackburn Rovers boss Steve Kean says Leon Best had fouled Scott Dann when Martin Olsson was booked for his protests, then the Rovers player tripped Best to pick up a red card.
Steve Kean spoke to referee Martin Atkinson after the final whistle: “I said to him, ‘Please look at it again, please look at the decision and give us your honest opinion’ because I don’t think you will see a clearer foul.
“It was a good back-post header and Scott was backing off and just about to head it off the line, and we felt that Leon – I know him very well and he’s aggressive – came over the top of Scott Dann.
“Scott was then pushed into Paul Robinson and it was not only a foul, but we also picked up a yellow card for Martin Olsson protesting against that goal.
“You can always tell by the reaction of the players, and not only our own players, but the Newcastle players. They all looked at the linesman and expected to see a flag go up, and it never came.”
davybtoon
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:10 PM
Comment #82I really think best is becoming a top prem league striker thought he was outstanding yesterday Blackburn just couldn’t not cope with or ba I really think they look like there forming a great partnership, I kno ppl keep saying we need a striker but who?
nimo
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:12 PM
Comment #83Surely regards to nile… if he keeps getting into bother they can terminate his contract on the grounds of bringing the club into disribute
davybtoon
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:13 PM
Comment #84I wish ranger would sort himself out he could make it if he did, but airey back from hibs now so why not start working him up to first team level
Dannyo
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:15 PM
Comment #85@davybtoon
Bests workrate is top notch, his positioning is good, but his finishing needs to improve imo.
He still has some time to improve that tho, but not very long.
On the striker, he needs to be quick, technical and nimble. One who can latch one quickly to HBA and Marveux passes.
I fear Best and Ba might just be too slow for those passes, time will tell. Atleast Ba.
Jail for Ashley
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:17 PM
Comment #86fungus44
When a manager starts to point out to one decision after his teams been humped 3-1 you know that a P45 isnt far away.
tiotiotiotaayyyyy
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:18 PM
Comment #87Believe it or not, Ba is actually very quick, its just that hes big people dont notice. perfect quick technical partner…papiss cisse. fantastic scoring record in the only league that is a true match for pl physicality…the bundesliga. senegalese teammate of ba too
NUFC 1892
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:19 PM
Comment #88how our 1st six teams did last season:
arsenal 4th
fulham 8th
villa 9th
mackems 10th
blackburn 15th
qpr 21st
with an average of:
11.167th place
not bad.. not great
toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnn armmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy !!!!!!!!!!!!
davis_toons
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:20 PM
Comment #89Players like Hatem didnt talk much rot event he was injury out for so long time without playing games.
But when ready, he was so much wanted to involve in the game these are the players that we can keep.
They dont really created or add much problem to the club development but infact added values to the club.
davis_toons
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:21 PM
Comment #90Best is quite a quality but his left foot dont work.
NUFC 1892
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:22 PM
Comment #91DID ANYONE HERE HAVE A FEELING THAT WE WOULD BE 4TH IN OCTOBER?
CERTAINLY NOT ME!
WELL DONE MIKE ASHLEY
NUFC 1892
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:26 PM
Comment #92MORE THAN 15% OF THE LEAGUE FINISHED AND WERE 4TH !!!!
GET FCUKING IN ! !! !!! !!!!
NUFC 1892
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:27 PM
Comment #931 Manchester United England 6 5 1 0 32 22 5 17 16
2 Manchester City England 6 5 1 0 32 19 5 14 16
3 Chelsea FC England 6 4 1 1 32 12 7 5 13
4 Newcastle United FC England 6 3 3 0 32 7 3 4 12
davis_toons
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:27 PM
Comment #94that might not be a joke in 3 season time…
Jail for Ashley
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:32 PM
Comment #95@ nufc 1892
Id hang fire with the thanks Mike Ashley until we’ve actually won something
GeordieRob
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:32 PM
Comment #96fungus44,
I wanted to like Kean when he got the job, like backing the underdog. But the guy is completely delusional. Rovers were awful and they were completely dominated except for one good shot on goal, their only shot on goal…
Listen to Martinez about Wigan’s defeat. No BS, just said that in the first half they were shell shocked by Spurs and didn’t defend well enough. To give away a two goal lead is tough. He may be in charge of a rubbish team, but Martinez has more integrity in his finger than Kean could ever muster. I think he’s twice the manager too.
geordiefinn
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:37 PM
Comment #97We don’t need Papiss Cisse imo. We’ll soon move to 4-4-1-1, so we’ll have two top strikers (Best, Ba) fighting for the starting spot.. Only offensive player I’d sign in january is Junior Hoilett, mainly because he’s contract runs out in year, as well as Peter Lovernkrand’s. So in Hoilett we’d have a very good replacement for Lovenkrands. Hoilett is just perfect player, versatile, fast, skillfull, cheap… But centreback-cover should be the main thing in january!
nimo
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:43 PM
Comment #983 players in jan… pieters.. Ridgewell… n a non african striker would b top banana
tiotiotiotaayyyyy
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:47 PM
Comment #99i think pieters ridgewell hoilett would be quality business. geordiefinn i agree, but if we did sign a striker thats who it would be 🙂
geordiefinn
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:52 PM
Comment #100I’m afraid we are still after Maiga, as Sunday Sun wrote today. I really don’t want him. 😀 He’s just a mercenary and too similar to our current strikers.
Hoilett would add something different.. Hopefully we are after him, it would be unbelievable if we weren’t.
toonarmy1986
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:54 PM
Comment #101I think Newcastle are just waiting patiently on Ranger’s court case so they can sack him when he’s found guilty. They can’t really sack him at the minute as he’s innocent until proving guilty.
nimo
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:54 PM
Comment #102————krul————
santa-tayls-collo-peter
—–+—TIOTE–++++++–
——cabs—–marv——
hba—————-ba——-
———BEST————-
best to b replaced by a rop class finishee when available… would b a great team wi a bench of harps…gosling…ridgewell…jonas….oba…etc
Jail for Ashley
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:56 PM
Comment #103Cant see Ashley wanting to spend more than he brings in,but I really cant see who could be sold without totally screwing us,maybe Krul could be shipped out,proper shame if he was though.
tiotiotiotaayyyyy
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:57 PM
Comment #104i think
Krul
Santon Taylor Colo Pieters
Tiote Cabaye
Hoilett HBA Marveaux
Ba
A great team, with flair in abundance.
tiotiotiotaayyyyy
Sep 25, 2011 at 9:58 PM
Comment #105Also next year, with xisco, smith and probably ranger and lovenkrands and possibly guttierez wages off the books, plenty of opportunity for improvement 🙂
Milking Mikes' bulging pockets
Sep 25, 2011 at 10:03 PM
Comment #106Fellaini is out of contract next summer – just saying.
Anyway, I’m sure AP and his staff, have all that in their peripheral vision!
nufc90
Sep 25, 2011 at 10:15 PM
Comment #107i’d still take maiga in jan. he’s hit the goal trail again (2 in his last 2) and probably just smoothing things over with sochaux until next window so he can get playing time.
that report also said we watched marvin martin against lille but think we’ve got no chance on him tbh
AMEOBI
Sep 25, 2011 at 10:49 PM
Comment #108@ Jimmy p!ss off you negative tw@t, go use a different blog…..
Dannyo
Sep 25, 2011 at 10:53 PM
Comment #109About Pards staff, anyone seen how many there was on the club photo?
There’s like one for every 2 players ffs! Wish we could hear a bit more of Pardews background setup tbh, know nothing about it.
jimmyxavi
Sep 25, 2011 at 11:04 PM
Comment #110@ AMEOBI…
Hows jimmy being negative? We have people on this blog who are still moaning! We’re 4th on the table.. Unbeaten and some still whinge about our squad or not buying a striker or mike ashley in general! ]
Ameobi you’re the negative twa t
AMEOBI
Sep 25, 2011 at 11:23 PM
Comment #111@jimmyxavi,
You’re the wrong jimmy pahaha
beddersmag
Sep 26, 2011 at 12:54 AM
Comment #112My mate coaches at the toon and by all accounts harps was in the nolan barton clique- and thats the reason hes been demoted. Shame as hes and ideal back up for krul who has to be number one now, but that seems to be the way. Theres no other way he would have fallen from grace this quickly behind elliot…..
Munster Mag
Sep 26, 2011 at 2:04 PM
Comment #113Good post Rob,@96. Well put. I’ve liked Best since he came here. Normal bloke, top attitude, quite fast, strong etc. Once he stops trying to break the ball we may be onto a winner. Ba was and is superb. He’ll be a huge success for Newcastle, mark my words.
mikeashleyisamackem
Sep 26, 2011 at 11:32 PM
Comment #114jail for ashley. what a toss pott you are ,take ya comments and go and support sunderland ya sound like a mackem ,its people like you who give nufc supporters a bad name