David Santon will be playing in his very first Newcastle Sunderland derby on Sunday afternoon.
Davide Santon – looking forward to derby game
But the 21 year-old has already played in three Milan derbies, so he should be sued to the atmosphere of these terrific rivalries.
Davide has been talking to the local press today about the game:
“I have been thinking of this game for a long time. It reminds of the Milan derby.” “The team that lose, well their fans are very quiet.”
“And the fans and the players don’t leave the house for two weeks after the game.” “Everybody here is talking about Sunday, though – the fans and the other players. I just can’t wait to be part of it.”
“I played in three Milan derbies. That will help me immensely, as I know what winning the derby means.” “There are 90,000 people in the San Siro and it doesn’t get much more intense.”
“It is as intense as it is here, people talk about the game weeks in advance.” “The fans go crazy about the game – and it’s the same here.”
He’s right about the fans being quiet when their team are beaten and Newcastle really need a win against Sunderland on Sunday, now more than ever, after out disappointing result and form in the game against Wolves.
Of course the Sunderland fans will be thinking the same thing, after they were hammered 4-0 at West Brom on Saturday and are now 10 points behind Newcastle in the league table.
Newcastle are in 6th place and Sunderland are three places lower down in 9th place so surely Newcastle will finish higher than Sunderland in the league this season?
Santon has yet to score a goal in top class football, and he has that on his mind this week, and maybe he can open his account on Sunday?
“I can’t wait to score a goal, I haven’t done so yet. I’ve never scored a goal yet full stop!” “So I would love that first goal to come against Sunderland.”
“People know I love to get forward and that would make it the perfect day if we win and I score.” “I really like the English way of playing.”
“Although it is much more aggressive, there’s also a lot of space to exploit too. And as a player who enjoys to go forward, that can only be good for me.”
“I get on very well with my team-mates and life is good here.” “I have more matches under my belt now and things are getting better and better.”
Santon is a very good full-back moving forward and like most Italians he is a very good technical player and comfortable when on the ball.
But his defending also needs to improve, and maybe he is a better winger than a full back, since he started his career as a right winger – he’s right footed but fairly comfortable with his left foot too.
It was only back in 2009 when then Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho converted him from right wing to left full-back.
He was again our Man of the Match on Saturday for the second game running, and got 41% of the vote, but we still want to see the 21 year-old a lot more comfortable when defending, than he seems to be at the moment.
This lad can turn out to be a great player for Newcastle, there’s little doubt about that.
For the record he has played 15 times in total for Newcastle so far, with 12 of those appearances being in the Premier League.
Comments welcome.
10 comments so far
Indian Magpie
Feb 28, 2012 at 10:51 AM
Comment #1when i come to think of it, selection of Perch over Gosling really gets my blood boiling.
Assuming both Are fit of course, which i think they are as gosling has been playing for reserves regularly
Indian Magpie
Feb 28, 2012 at 10:54 AM
Comment #2did any 1 here believed with the squad we had, would have got us relegated as the experts were saying.
may i also say, i tht pardew did great job with WHU in 2006 when they reached FA Cup Final, i am not asking for his haed, he just needs to know that this is NUFC, Not reading, charlton or Southampton
Indian Magpie
Feb 28, 2012 at 10:58 AM
Comment #3My biggest worry is that with 2-3 bad results our last few games may bcome non entities, as there is no relegation lack of motivation may affect us.
In addition Pardew’s penchance towards Ameobi, perch Raylor, obertan may also turn hate mob even more against him
bollance
Feb 28, 2012 at 11:02 AM
Comment #4On Coloccini
Dont think he will sign new deal so we will sell. He is on too much now and doubt he will want to take less. We have supposedly offered a 5 year deal so that teams think we think he has another 5 years at the top. Fact is that will increase his value.
Corgnet
Fact this one is out in the press usually means we are not looking at this player. Think about the two transfer windows.. Also £4.5m would be a big chunk of our transfer budget
Rotonda heights
Feb 28, 2012 at 11:02 AM
Comment #5Indian
It’s not a hate mob, that’s a bit extreme. It’s just we have all these good technical players assembled by carr and wrecked by an extremely mediocre typical English manager.
jonnymcdonald
Feb 28, 2012 at 11:08 AM
Comment #6Indian-you really do just love a rant don’t you!!!
Indian Magpie
Feb 28, 2012 at 11:09 AM
Comment #7No i dont
planb's revenge
Feb 28, 2012 at 11:15 AM
Comment #8our manager needs to prove he can be a game changer. he can and has picked the correct starting lineup in rhe past. just needs to use our subs right and stop protecting leads with 30 or more mins left
Griff-toon
Feb 28, 2012 at 1:28 PM
Comment #9Santon has been playing better and better for us. I like his assurance on the ball and he seems a lot more composed than Simpson. But then again I think Simpson is a bit better at positioning.
A coupple of times during the wolves game I felt Santon was a bit to far up the field when they where passing down the left and during half time the stats showed they had about 31% of their attack down the left side.
However I think the defencive side of Santon is getting better too and earlier in the season he lost the ball more when put under pressure. I think mostly because of the english tempo of the game. He would think he had more time on the ball.
Its good that Santon has 3 darby games under his belt. So he knows what is expected.
max
Feb 28, 2012 at 4:05 PM
Comment #10great player in future