We cannot help but contrast the fortunes of our youngsters with the players of the first team, as it’s an interesting contrast in guts and fortune. But fortune always favors the brave.
Ben Tozer – just one of the youngsters creating a buzz at the club
Yes, fortune favors the brave but the corollary of this is that catastrophe is a friend of the timid, and that’s exactly what’s happening at the club right now. We’re in a little bit of a catastrophe, but please don’t blame the bairns for any of this – far from it.
On the one hand we have our star players, who get massive wages, struggling in most games to even match the fighting spirit and skills shown by the opposition. Far too many times this season they have given up the fight long before the final whistle. We want to see the lads play as they did against Blackburn, when they were little short of magnificent, even though they lost the game at the end of the day.
The spirit usually just isn’t there, and the skills we pay them big wages for – have been sadly missing these last 3 months. It has resulted in Newcastle having the second worst goal difference in the league (-26 – our worst ever) with recent defeats of 6-0, 4-1, 3-0, 5-1 and 3-0 .
We’re in big trouble in the league and after the poor second-half showing on Saturday it has become a distinct reality that the club could go down. And we on this site on Saturday have had just about enough of these under-performing and spineless displays of some of our players.
We use our words advisedly, and with some restraint.
But compare this situation to our Reserve side, who easily beat a far more experienced Blackburn Rovers Reserves team, 3-1 on Monday night at Morecambe. The average age of that team was just over 17.5 years, even with old man and captain David Edgar in the side. 😀
The bairns even went down to a very poor goal early in the game – but the comparison with our first team lot ends right there.
They did what Birmingham did last night against Portsmouth, and fought back with conviction.
The youngsters came storming back to lead the game 2-1 at half time, and then dominated the game in the second half with a 3rd goal coming just 4 minutes from time. And the Reserves even had two of the team, Fraser Forster (19 – with the first team), and Tamas Kadar (17 – with the Hungarian Under-19 squad), both missing the game. But the lads still won convincingly.
Adam Sadler is also a coach to watch out for, and he was just delighted with the performance on Monday night, which means the lads have lost just one game in eight since Adam took over the team – and that was against Wigan. Earlier in the season we had been beaten 4-2 at home by Blackburn Rovers on 26th Novermber.
Adam’s a local boy who seems to be able to inspire the youngsters quite easily, and of course he knows exactly what this club is all about.
There is no problem at all with the spirit in the side. Just take a look at some of the interviews with young lads like Ben Tozer, Fabio Zamblera and Andy Carroll. The really positive thing is the youngsters, from all over Europe, seem to be loving their time at Newcastle.
Of course Newcastle is a football mad city – where nothing much else counts. The lads obviously feel that buzz, as they mix with the local Geordies. In fact 17 year-old Fabio Zamblera already wants to be an adopted Geordie – is that possible if you don’t speak the Geordie dialect? Yes we suppose it is – anything for Italian Geordie Fabio 😀
It’s the best times and the worst times for the Newcastle club right now. The first team must be causing Newcastle Chairman Chris Mort many insomnia problems, but on the other hand the Youth Policy Chris and Ashley put in place, seems to be showing great promise already.
The Reserves Results and performances have at least provided a boost and some wins for the fans. But most important is that they give us some real hope for the future for this club, something that the current crop of first-teamers hardly do.
It should really be the other way round with the senior players showing the way for the youngsters, shouldn’t it?
But that speaks oceans for the youngsters we’ve brought into Newcastle, regarding their skill and character. It also tells us quite clearly that quite a few of the first team squad should not be at Newcastle United, and will not be around when next August some around.
We are looking forward to the clear-out and just hope this overpaid lot can save us from relegation before that.
The fact that avoiding relegation will require a fight in almost every game doesn’t leave us with any great hope to be honest. But that’s why we are turning to our great young talent at the club – it stops the depression becoming too deep, which is something we have to fight against these days.
Oh, the hopes we had last August, dashed yet again
Comments welcome.
11 comments so far
Beattie
Mar 13, 2008 at 11:53 AM
Comment #1Is it possible to be an adopted geordie?
ever heard of Julio Geordio?
dougnufc
Mar 13, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Comment #2“Villa to offer £8M for Newcastle’s Milner” – Tribalfootball
Not sure if we should sell him, he is one of the best this season, and his work rate is second to none
broon ale
Mar 13, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Comment #3ed- do you think its relevant to compare a reserve side to a premier league team?
toonhitman
Mar 13, 2008 at 12:36 PM
Comment #4broon ale the kids are playing with more passion and heart than the first team maybe keegan should make the first team watch these kids
Eric
Mar 13, 2008 at 12:37 PM
Comment #5We know KK has got to have a clear-out at season’s end. But will Butt, Barton, Smith, Owen etc, be on their way. It will be a tragedy if the aspiring and inspiring youngsters we have are not allowed to progress to the first team. We cannot continue with a bunch of first team wasters and gutless wonders at the expense of the real up and coming talent at the club. If we go down, and we will not, it will be the young ones who will fight us back into the Premier – not this half a first team of donkeys who will desert as soon as the final whistle blows. Come on KK – wake up and shakeup. This is our NUFC not some circus cowboy show. We need to kick some Butt!!!!
Egar
Mar 13, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Comment #6Broon ale, it depends on which premier league team you’re comparing them with. NUFC? If the losing streak continues, what more can we lose? Let the bigger youngsters get some gradual 1st team action now as sub. Remember young Rooney at Everton? Remember Arsenal youngsters in the Carling Cup? Who knows what change in fortune some of these fearless youngsters might bring?
Beezeri
Mar 13, 2008 at 1:01 PM
Comment #7“The spirit usually just isn’t there, and the skills we pay them big wages for – have been sadly missing these last 3 months. ”
Hmmm…just last 3 months? Excluding the pre-season and maybe a few opening games…I’m not that sure this “skill” have been seeable at all this season.
Age is not a factor not to play our well performing youngsters when our so called first teamers just don’t care anymore!
tdt
Mar 13, 2008 at 1:25 PM
Comment #8yep we’r in a bit of a predicament, but it you look at boltons run-in between not and the end of the season, also fulham, reading, they all have way harder fixtures than us! so as long as we get a few points on the board, we’l be ok. it depresses me to think we are so close to disaster, but i think andy carroll is the man to help the 1st team this term, then take it from there next season?
Leo
Mar 13, 2008 at 3:41 PM
Comment #9i hate the phrase fortune favours the brave, yak…
john
Mar 13, 2008 at 4:50 PM
Comment #10we may aswell put some youngsters in, at the moment put some life and fight in the team (because were not winning anyway) buy a young superstar (pay way over the odds) to play in the 1st team next year, slowly add the young ones in the 1st team next year and do a man utd (or arsenal) lol.seriously though lets get rid of some shite, carr, ameobi,viduka,barton(like him to much trouble)cacacpa, and add some young hungry players in the team (they will impove much faster if you play them in the league) id really like to see bentley at our club if he would come he should go for it be a great keegan player . what u think?
Gun "Indonesian Geordie"
Mar 14, 2008 at 4:24 AM
Comment #11just like what i said in earlier articles, they’re load of junk if not given a chance. KK hasn’t seemed to let go his ‘youngster can produce no good mind’. If this is the case, then the club are really wasting their money