It was a close game against Arsenal yesterday, and for once Newcastle could get nothing out of the game after going 1-0 down to an Olivier Giroud header after 65 minutes, and even though Newcastle attacked Arsenal to try to get something out of the game, it was not to be, and we suffered our second home defeat of the season and the second loss in the last 10 league games.
Mathieu Debuchy in action yesterday
But it was a confident Alan Pardew who talked to the press after the game:
“I’m happy with the way we’re finishing the year, and more importantly, I’m delighted that we’ve got our best players fit.”
“If we can keep them fit, then I think we can replicate what we did in the first half of the season in the second half, and possibly even better it.”
“It’s not like I feel that we’ve reached a position that should really be beyond us. I think 33 points is a fair reflection of how we’ve played, and we need to try to improve that in the second half. I think we can.”
Newcastle have 33 points after 19 games and if we do as well in the second half of the season, we’ll end up with 66 points, one point better than we did two years ago when we finished 5th top.
And there are a couple of things going for us this season, one is we don’t have the European games, and the second is maybe because of that we have very few injuries, and in fact we’ve had none in the squad over the last several weeks.
As Alan says, if we can keep our best players fit we should do well this year, and it starts with a game at West Brom on Wednesday afternoon – New Years Day – and a win there would see us get 9 points from our four holiday games, and that would be a good haul.
Howay The Lads!!
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7 comments so far
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Dec 30, 2013 at 8:44 AM
Comment #1Our main problem is still regardless off Europe that we don’t use the full capacity of our squad and we still ruin our youth players by not loaning them out when they should be!
We need to have a 22/23 man squad that we use to its full extend!
jazzyp
Dec 30, 2013 at 8:45 AM
Comment #2Morning all
Are we all still suffering from yesterdays loss. Personally thought we have nothing to be ashamed of as we put in a top draw display and have shown we can mix it with the big boys this season,With a bit of luck could have sneaked it but a draw would have been a fair result.
@7-Personally mate we should be aiming higher than thinking hull are of the same calibre as ourselves.
Kets-im beginning to think you know jack about football pal,How can you start cisse over remy or gouffran with the form hes in. And you keep banging on about marvs in the team. there is a reason for that mate and that’s he just hasn’t cut it at nufc. This is his what third season now and how many games has he had and put in positive displays ???
Himanshu Dhingra
Dec 30, 2013 at 8:47 AM
Comment #3can’t trust Joe Kinnear one bit.
he will not sign anyone disappear in Feb and reappear when we are doing Okay
Himanshu Dhingra
Dec 30, 2013 at 8:53 AM
Comment #4Yes we did okay and that’s it.
Against man City in League cup it was a similar story. They did not have Toure, Nasri, Aguero and Silva was on the bench.
Yesterday, Arsenal did not have Ozil, Ramsey, Podolski and Arteta did not start.
Yet they beat us without much danger.
We need players to go up a notch or too. We also need a goal scoring threat against UCL level clubs.
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Dec 30, 2013 at 8:54 AM
Comment #5Jazzyp…when I think back I do remember Marv having great games and then being benched the next game; the same with Anita or Benny for that matter 😉
…always thought Pardew had a problem getting both the best out of technical players and utilize them to their and the teams best ability!
…but we are doing great at the moment no doubt…would really have liked to have seen the game yesterday 🙁
shanghai fan
Dec 30, 2013 at 11:53 AM
Comment #6That photo deserves a caption… One better than I am capable of writing…
jimmygscot
Dec 30, 2013 at 1:11 PM
Comment #7No chance of Europe present position is flattering, Toon were second best against Stoke until sending offs,2 goals for Remy were flattering i think he is now struggling but lack of options up front at the moment , Toon will finish mid table with approx 55 points which is still much better than last season.