Newcastle haven’t been placed as high in the Premier League at this stage of the season since way back in 1995, when Kevin Keegan was managing the Entertainers.
Things are looking up at Newcastle!
Newcastle are 4th top at the moment and in a Champions League position, and we are hoping after the game at home to Spurs on Sunday afternoon, that we will remain in 4th position, and we definitely will do that with a win against the top London side.
With Tottenham doing so well under Harry Redknapp, we often wonder how Newcastle would have fared if Harry had accepted the offer to manage Newcastle United in January of 2008, after Sam Allardyce had been fired.
Harry accepted the position on a Friday evening but then overnight changed his mind and turned the job down.
Kevin Keegan was appointed the following Wednesday, and Kevin’s second management stint at the club ended in disaster and his untimely exit at the club was partly responsible for Newcastle being relegated that season.
The players simply didn’t produce that season, and we have to remember Newcastle had the 6th highest wage bill in the Premier League that season.
We don’t have the 6th highest wage bill any longer, and we don’t have the star players we had then, but Newcastle are nevertheless a much better side now than three years ago.
It’s sometimes hard to give any praise to owner Mike Ashley, but since we were relegated he seems to have done most things right at the club, in retrospect, although he is still disliked by an awful lot of Newcastle fans.
Even the sacking of Chris Hughton and the selling of Andy Carroll have not turned out to be the absolute disasters we thought they would be at the time.
To be fair, Mike has put the club on a much more solid financial footing, although the club owes Mike a lot of money he has loaned at a zero interest rate to Newcastle.
And there’s every chance Newcastle will soon actually make a profit on a financial basis, and wouldn’t that be something.
Fabricio Coloccini epitomizes the new thinking at Newcastle, and the Argentine is not getting carried away at all with Newcastle’s high position in the Premier League.
This is what the Newcastle captain said today:
“We are not looking too much at the table now as it is still early in the season. As long as we are not losing matches, that’s what counts.”
“We just want to keep working the way we are, and play the way we are playing – that’s all we can do.” “I think if we keep it this way we will get a lot of good results.”
Coloccini seems to be almost the perfect captain for this new Newcastle side, and we should see a very exciting game on Sunday afternoon, with both sides having some very good players and both sides playing attacking football, which is good to watch.
We may need some luck on Sunday, but we are looking for an outright win against the top North London side.
And then we can talk next week about Newcastle still being in 4th position in the league, as unbelievable as that may still seem at this stage of the season.
Comments welcome.
56 comments so far
boater
Oct 13, 2011 at 7:50 PM
Comment #41woodsee – there’s still the small matter of modric, defoe, lennon, van der vart, and adebayor if he’s fit – Bale hasn’t even been playing at his best so far this season.
toonLYF
Oct 13, 2011 at 7:56 PM
Comment #42Sunday…..
i would find it hard to criticise pardew too much if he was to leave the team completely unchanged, i’m sure he wants to see ben arfa’s genius as much as we do, week in, week out…but how do you drop best or ba? you just can’t as a manager.
i think with the team that started at wolves, we could scrape a draw from spurs, 1-1, but the last 15 of that game wouldn’t be good for the heart.
HOWEVER! if pardew uses his subs well, and in good time, i honestly, genuinely think we can take spurs and the rest of the league by surprise, and absolutely dominate most regions of the pitch.
setting aside the not changing a winning formula thing, my team would be…
——————-Krul——————-
-Simmo—–Taylor——Colo——Santon-
——————–Tiote——————-
-Jonas———–Cabaye——–Marveaux-
—————–Ben Arfa (:D)————–
———————Ba———————
with this line up…i just feel a sense of completion, santon provides the blast of pace down the left, with obviously jonas providing on the right, and also offering cover to simmo, marveaux over obertan simply because of santon bring the pace (i do like obertan however)
Tiote for me will be sweeping side to side in that gap between the defence and midfield, offering cover for when lennon and bale cut inside. Cabaye will just boss the centre of midfield, i think he’ll really enjoy this game as it will be more open and free flowing like he is used to.
…and it goes without saying, demba ba making those tricky darting runs around the 18 yard box will allow our Hatem the space he needs to produce sheer GOLD.
with the line-up above…and with our home crowd, 3-1 toon!
absolutely buzzing for Sunday!
woodsee
Oct 13, 2011 at 7:56 PM
Comment #43Boater,defoes never done owt against us,lennon a flukey late goal and the odd run,van halen aint playin or adebayor and modric the witch is overated.
Bale is the main threat,did you see him for wales midweek;the lads got wings on his feet ,and he can cross and shoot.
p
Oct 13, 2011 at 8:02 PM
Comment #44Spurs are the bookies favourite for the win and you can’t ignore that.
If we win, it will be massive – even if it is via luck/home advantage as opposed to outclassing Spurs.
I would be ecstatic with a draw.
rexthemascot1
Oct 13, 2011 at 8:03 PM
Comment #45Slightly off topic but for those of you going to match this Sunday via Barrack Road you will be greeted by 2 rather large Sports Direct @ St James Park signs either side of the glass atrium main entrance. Rather naively when I passed this morning on way to work and saw the lifting gear I thought the windows were getting a clean, my trip home tonight has proved otherwise!!
Dannyo
Oct 13, 2011 at 8:05 PM
Comment #46A fun fact:
Newcastle United have completed 150 tackles so far, the most in the Premier League.
boater
Oct 13, 2011 at 8:14 PM
Comment #47woodsee – and I forgot sandro. In my humble opinion if anyone is overrated it’s chimp heed bale.
They have 2 or 3 more matchwinners at the moment, but we have played as a very slick unit since villa. We still fall off in the last half hour of games, going back to last season, Pardew needs to get his subs right to help us see out games.
Could be time to unleash Arfa – he should get plenty of time and space to shine against an open Spurs side.
woodsee
Oct 13, 2011 at 8:15 PM
Comment #48I ve seen us clout spurs probably more times than any other club i can remember the 7 1 drubbin when one of there fans ran on the pitch to confront ian walker was hilarious,the laurent robert long distance shooting practice game.ohh throw in a cup semi final,a martins rocket at white hart lane
i truly hate spurs,get into them lads,cos they dont like it up em
woodsee
Oct 13, 2011 at 8:16 PM
Comment #49Chimp heeds very good boater lol
Scottishmag1
Oct 13, 2011 at 8:54 PM
Comment #50been away for a while lads
We know that Harry R has a habit of lying, in other words, do we believe the injuries he is declaring?
scottoon
Oct 13, 2011 at 9:23 PM
Comment #51Lot of speculation about the side that Pardew will field on Sunday. I don’t buy the mentality that you don’t mess with the winning formula. Squad rotation is not messing with a winning formula. Winning comes from the mentality of the players. I think the side has good self belief at the moment. We should be rotating our strengths, to match or better the competition. We know the spuds have pace out wide so why would we stick with tried and true just cause it worked against plodders like Wolves, scum, fulham. SWP raped Raylor and he is no Lennon. We need to adapt and employ every tool in the shed!
Kc-Toon
Oct 13, 2011 at 9:31 PM
Comment #52Ben arfa dusnt have to start right now, we have enough upfront. its just the defense that worry’s me, raylor was ripped apart by a mediocre swp, up against bale on form, i dread to think, we need santon to drop in.
On another note, im wanting to do a video compilation on one of the players so far, any suggestions ?
toonLYF
Oct 13, 2011 at 9:42 PM
Comment #53Kc-Toon….Tim Krul, surely?
Benton Toon Exile
Oct 14, 2011 at 8:50 AM
Comment #54First test of the season for me!
If we win then credit to Pardew and the lads!
Also praise indeed for Collo, but remember he is one of the old guard of high erners reported at £85K per week.
He definatly wont get that offer again, so will be interesting January for him me thinks!
Benton Toon Exile
Oct 14, 2011 at 8:53 AM
Comment #55KC – Toon – Do Collo, cultured player!
Davies
Oct 14, 2011 at 10:42 AM
Comment #56We might lose on Sunday, we might not. We might hamer them 6-0. Of course, the only way we’ll find out is to wait and see. I get so hacked off with people saying you can’t ignore the odds the bookies are giving. I do. The odds are based on form what bets are placed. They mean nothing, and, unless you know a bookie with a crystal ball, you may as well ignore them.
As for our finishing spot this season, I think, if we manage to avoid injuries, we could find ourselves in a European spot, but to say that we’ll still be in 4th place is, perhaps, a little optimistic. We’re going to need to spend at the end of the season, whatever happens.