It’s looking like Steven Taylor will join Fabricio Coloccini on the sidelines and not be available for the game against QPR at home tomorrow afternoon at St. James’ Park.
Mike Williamson in action against Hull City
The words Alan Pardew used in his press conference yesterday were that Steven was still a big doubt, and it would be a surprise if he now plays tomorrow.
But the Newcastle manager was fairly upbeat in his comments because Mike Williamson is available, and Mike was easily our Player of the Season last term – so this is a great opportunity for the 6’4″ center-back to stake his claim for a role in central defense again this season.
Mike has been troubled with injury this season but he’s now fit.
The Newcastle manager also had ample praise for local lad Paul Dummett, who has shown some great form recently at both left back and center-back.
Here’s what the manager had to say:
“We’ve suffered some injuries, managed to repair the squad somewhat, but we are still missing one or two for Saturday, which is a shame.”
“Aarons won’t be available, Cheick Tiote won’t be available, Coloccini is not going to play and Steven Taylor is probably a big doubt as well.”
“So we are short at center-back but we have good cover there. Paul Dummett has been brilliant for us and there is a good chance he will play in there again. If he carries on like he has, we will be absolutely fine.”
“You would really be kicking yourself if you were on the back of five defeats, losing your captain and the other first-choice centre-half, but we have a good replacement in Williamson.”
“He has been a great servant for us and our player of the year last season in a lot of respects, so there’s no worries with him.”
We just hope Mike Williamson can come in and play somewhere near his best tomorrow, but we’ve noticed that the former Wycombe Wanderers and Watford stopper is at his best when competition for places is high.
That’s also true of Cheick Tiote, but surprisingly Cheick is still not fit, and it seems a toss up between Vurnon Anita and Ryan Taylor as to who will play in central defense for the injured Mehdi Abeid.
We’ve got a feeling Ryan could get the start tomorrow after playing so well there at Manchester City.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
You can follow us on our three social media sites below:
2 comments so far
SpaceGhost
Nov 21, 2014 at 8:36 AM
Comment #1Raylor in for Abeid but I have a sneaky suspicion the Algerian will make the bench. Abeid’s a tank, that broken toe’s would be like a scratch to him. I fancy our chance if Dunne takes out Perez outside the box and Raylor steps up for his 1st goal of the season! *camera zooms in on Harry’s melting face*
70TWO
Nov 21, 2014 at 9:01 AM
Comment #2In relation to a lot of posts about the clubs standing and trying to take an objective view, rather than negative, MA has generally stablised the club. But has not been successful at establishing the team in the top half or removing the debt.
The average 12th place finish has been achieved whilst generating a working profit, if there is any ambition from those in charge the obvious action to take would be to cautiously increase investment. However the unprofessional nature that the club presents does not attract significant sponsorship, or potential buyers are excluded by the high value.
Any further achievement is still a longer term aim, however whilst domestic and European cup competitions are not immediately profitable, their longer term positive exposure should be appreciated.