Danny Guthrie had a very good game last night in the Reserves 3-3 draw with Manchester United, in what turned out to be a thrilling game at St. James’ Park, and some of our readers who were at the game, have commented on what an excellent game it was to watch.
Danny Guthrie – in great form for Newcastle Reserves last night
Danny also hit a stunning goal near the end of the game, but Manchester equalized in the last few seconds, and it was another game that this fine Newcastle Reserves side came within seconds of winning.
As expected, first-team coaches Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood were there to see the game, because not only Danny, but also Xisco and Cacapa started the game.
Guthrie was the game’s best player, and his strong performance in the middle of the park just had to impress Hughton. Danny will be in the squad for Saturday’s game against Chelsea, and while we don’t expect him to start the game, Chris knows the lad is in form and will no doubt give him some action.
We would expect Nolan and Butt to start in central midfield on Saturday, but it will be interesting to see how Kevin and Danny play together, since they were both at Bolton last season.
After the game last night Guthrie talked to Newcastle TV:
We should have won the game after my goal but we got caught on a long ball which was not ideal.” “But it was a good performance and we played well as a team and did well to come back from a goal down.”
“It was nice to score but it would have been even better had it been the winner.” “It’s been a long two months and it was great to be back.” “I felt good and hopefully I’ll be involved on Saturday.”
“It was good to get 90 minutes under my belt and now I’ve got a couple of days to recover ahead of Chelsea.” “I hope I impressed Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood, but all I can do is just keep training hard and pick up my fitness as I go along.
“It’s been a tough couple of months for me and I can’t wait to get back.” “But it’s been a tough few months for everyone and the more bodies we have the better to help us stay in the league.”
Danny suffered his hamstring strain during training in January, and it’s been a long two months to get him back, and the side’s missed his consistent play. One thing Newcastle have missed is players who can put the ball in the back of the net, that’s for sure.
And Danny is aware that if he is to become a top midfield player, he has already said he has to become like Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, two of the best club midfielders in the world, and plonk that ball in the net regularly.
From last night’s evidence he’s on his way to doing just that.
Hey, maybe Danny will be brought on for the last 20 minutes on Saturday, and score the winner – just a thought. 😀
If that happens there will certainly be some celebrating by Newcastle fans on Saturday night, that’s for sure.
Howay The Lads!!
Comments welcome.
28 comments so far
sirjasontoon
Mar 31, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Comment #1Drop most of the senior team for the last games of the season and get the reserves playing with some energy and pride.
We have nothing to lose now anyway.
Kash
Mar 31, 2009 at 11:18 AM
Comment #2ED – Some of the comments from those who attended the game suggested that Guthrie actually didn’t play that well apart from his goal. It was also suggested that Xisco had a good game!
Matt
Mar 31, 2009 at 11:22 AM
Comment #3Guthrie should be playing instead of Butt. Infact, Geremi should be ahead of Butt in the pecking order.
Irish-Toon
Mar 31, 2009 at 11:25 AM
Comment #4SJT, you’re right, a lot of the first team need a right good kick up the arse!. I woul dgive my left bollock for a chance to pull on the black and white as I’m sure most people on here would. It really winds me up when you see some f*** getting paid 50 grand a week and can’t put in a bit of effort
RyanToon
Mar 31, 2009 at 11:27 AM
Comment #5wesley ngo baheng and nile ranger were good last night. stick em on the bench soon please!
RyanToon
Mar 31, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Comment #6kash i watched on the internet mate
and cacapa and xisco were well out of touch and tbh guthrie wasnt awesome.
Irish-Toon
Mar 31, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Comment #7#4 I reckon Ranger deserves a chance on the bench, he’s been pretty consistent this year. Can’t really se Baheng getting anywhere near as he’s just back from injury
Ross
Mar 31, 2009 at 11:31 AM
Comment #8from what i saw Guthrie had a good game. alot of what we did going forward went through him and he was spraying the ball about quite nicely. Excellent strike for his goal too, would like to see him play some part against chelski.
RyanToon
Mar 31, 2009 at 11:33 AM
Comment #9irish agreed about ranger
your probably right about baheng (with him just coming back) but he look decent on the ball
Jan Stavik
Mar 31, 2009 at 11:37 AM
Comment #10Midfield: Guthrie – Nolan – Butt (gosh…) – Gutierrez
We’ll probably loose against the russians no matter what team we put on, but this midfield is the best we have as Barton is out.
Irish-Toon
Mar 31, 2009 at 11:37 AM
Comment #11Lua Lua and Donaldson have been on the bench a few times, but have seen little action, think Hughton is too scared to give youth a go
Wiser_than_wise
Mar 31, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Comment #12I watched the game on MUTV and xisco was beyond horrible he was piss poor not involved in the game at all no wonder he is droped all the time USELESS
big boomer
Mar 31, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Comment #13chelski is a nothing game. we have been written off as getting nil points. lets go then with some hungry players. Donaldson, Donniger instead of Butt and ryan taylor. my preference is for carroll as the big man if we go that way but xisco has to be in front of bambi
workyticket
Mar 31, 2009 at 12:25 PM
Comment #14Matt // Mar 31, 2009 at 11:22 AM
“Guthrie should be playing instead of Butt. Infact, Geremi should be ahead of Butt in the pecking order.”
Matt, Guthrie and Butt are different kinds of midfielder, so it depends what qualities you are looking for in the centre. Though Butt and Geremi are somewhat comparable.
Ericles
Mar 31, 2009 at 12:27 PM
Comment #15We need to play the youngsters for their pace, their passion, and their commitment. I am sick and tired of seeing has beens and forgettables (Butt, Owen, Smith etc) being picked when they can no longer hack it. If we get relegated these youngsters, some of whom are local talent, will be our mainstays in the Coca Cola anyway. Why was not Owen playing for the reserves to get match fit? Beneath his dignity or is Hughton saving his next injury for the Chelsea game?
Tom4Nufc
Mar 31, 2009 at 12:32 PM
Comment #16LOL Bent injured, so they call up Ablongahor! Owen is stuffed!
workyticket
Mar 31, 2009 at 12:33 PM
Comment #17Wiser_than_wise // Mar 31, 2009 at 12:07 PM
“I watched the game on MUTV and xisco was beyond horrible he was piss poor not involved in the game at all no wonder he is droped all the time USELESS”
From what I saw he was either lazy in some sections of the game, or STILL quite unfit. Good penalty though.
Macedonia toon
Mar 31, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Comment #18————-Harper————
Beye–Colo(Taylor if he is fit)–Bass–Enrique
Jonas——Guthrie—–Nolan——–Duff
Loven(Owen-replace 65min )–Martins(Xisko-rep.70min)
waddler
Mar 31, 2009 at 1:23 PM
Comment #19There’s an interesting article on Newsnow about internet streaming of live matches, the writer believes Sky and Setanta will lose revenue due to people watching freely football matches.
This in my view is going to be a major problem and will indeed lead to a reduction of revenue available to clubs.
Which brings me nicely to my point, we need to develop not buy our future team.
Nobby_Long
Mar 31, 2009 at 3:03 PM
Comment #20I was at the match last night.
Firstly, Cacapa was truly awful. He wasn’t at fault for all three goals though – he wasn’t on the pitch for the last goal !! Heaven help us if he has to play on Saturday or perhaps even worse, against Stoke.
Xisco – had a few neat touches, but just does not seem to be a £5.7m striker. A bit one paced, but took penalty well.
Guthrie – slow start, many stray passes, but grew into the game and was better after the break – very good goal. He needs to up his urgency on the ball – gets it in good positions but then often takes too long to decide what to do. However, was the best of the three ‘first team squad’ on show.
Thought Tavernier looked OK & Ranger looks promising.
Nobby_Long
Mar 31, 2009 at 3:05 PM
Comment #21Have to add – don’t think many of the youth & reserve players looked ready for the first team as yet though.
JonnyNufc
Mar 31, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Comment #22Guthrie had a class game.
Dotn know why people are complaining about stray balls from guthrie, these are called “through balls”….they dont always come off. The point is to try them.
Guthrie was spraying the ball around with ease, looked a class above all of them.
He set up both of our goals. It was his cross that we got the penalty from & it was his cross that we got our 2nd goal from. Then he scores the 3rd with a great strike.
How can anyone say he didnt have a good game ffs.
Cacapa isnt good enough for the reserves, let alone the first team bench.
Xisco didnt come into it much, prob still getting his fitness back.
Nile started well but was being marked by their defender Eckersley who had a great match & kept him out of it most of 2nd half.
JonnyNufc
Mar 31, 2009 at 3:34 PM
Comment #23Only other players who stood out was Baheng.
Some over hit passes, but he was very good at driving runs at their defence. Similar to Lua Lua, both should be getting chances for our first team.
Guthrie being back will be a big big plus for us though.
sirjasontoon
Mar 31, 2009 at 3:59 PM
Comment #24Thanks for the update Jonny..reckon the players mentioned are ready for 1st team championship football next season?
Nobby_Long
Mar 31, 2009 at 4:04 PM
Comment #25JonnyNufc – stray passes are important – keeping the ball has been one of our biggest problems. Granted Guthrie was our best player, but don’t over play his abilities. He may be better than some of our midfielders, but that’s not saying much.
Was very disappointed with Danquah when he came on.
JonnyNufc
Mar 31, 2009 at 4:40 PM
Comment #26SJT – we can still stay up lol
Nobby, no point keeping the ball in the first place unless you’re going to be able to do something with it though.
Our biggest problem is creativity. We need a player who goes for through balls & looks for runs, thats what we’re missing.
Danquah was a let down, agree with that.
workyticket
Mar 31, 2009 at 5:31 PM
Comment #27JonnyNufc // Mar 31, 2009 at 4:40 PM
“Our biggest problem is creativity. We need a player who goes for through balls & looks for runs, thats what we’re missing.”
We did get a player like that (albeit on loan), but of course this IS Newcastle, so he was completely knacked after five minutes!
Tom_Toon
Apr 1, 2009 at 1:57 AM
Comment #28Guthrie is far better than the fat and slow Nolan so I’d pair Guthrie with Butt v Chelsea.