Rafa Benitez wants the standards of every age group improved at Newcastle, and the U23 team had a tremendous 5-0 win against Sunderland at St. James’ Park on Monday night.
With Sunderland now in League One that’s the highest level of the Tyne-Wear derby we will have for at least two years, although there’s always a chance we could draw the Black Cats in one of the cups.
Since Ben Dawson replaced the suspended Peter Beardsley as the U23 coach in early January, he has done quite well and fitted in nicely to the job.
It turns out that Dawson had prepared the players well before the U23 Premier League Division Two fixture and the youngsters went out and were simply superb.
Steve Harper and Ben Dawson in the dugout on Monday night
This is what Ben has said on the Newcastle website:
“We had probably a five-minute blip at the end of the first half, which I wasn’t best pleased with, but for 85 minutes of the game I thought we were terrific.”
“Everything that we’d asked of them pre-match – focus, intensity, enthusiasm – and then the quality on top of that, I thought was evident for really large spells of the game.”
“It was a perfect night for it in terms of the atmosphere, the pitch, everything about the night – and then the performance just made it extra special.”
“It’s important that you have passion and you compete, but at the same time you have to have game intelligence and I thought we got a good balance of that tonight.
“I thought it was the best I’ve seen Luke Charman for a long time. I thought Sean Longstaff worked his socks off.”
“We asked him and Luke to play a little bit closer than they did on Monday in the 1-1 draw at West Brom and I thought they combined well.
“The wide lads – Callum Roberts, Tommy Allan, Adam Wilson made a difference when he came on – were backed up solidly by the two lads in the middle, the two centre-backs and the full-backs joining in when they were needed.”
“We have got good competition for places, a good honest group, and they all seem to have a desire and a hunger to improve and be better.”
“Steve (Harper) will be a great addition to the coaching staff.”
“He’s got good experience from having played the game for a long time.”
“But also he’s spent time learning his trade, a little bit away from here and more recently back at the club, so he will add something else to the coaching staff.”
Luke Charman scored a brace, and Callum Roberts, Owen Bailey, and Elias Sorensen all scored a goal.
We seem to have some (very) good young players coming through in the U23 squad, and it’s possible that Sean Longstaff has a decent chance to play some first-team games this season.
And talking about Ben Dawson, we wonder when Lee Charnley will make a decision on the appropriate action to take with former U23 manager Peter Beardsley.
This thing has dragged on since January, and that’s plenty of time for Charnley to make a decision, difficult though it may be.
Comments welcome.
133 comments so far
crawfordm
Aug 22, 2018 at 3:01 PM
Comment #1We live in a country which cannot be seen to offend anyone. Peter will not be back as people who are tarnished with this allegation are thrown out of the door before an appeal or a trial. Poor snowflake country we live in. The sense of humour and banter from our generation is no longer acceptable.
Mindshaft
Aug 22, 2018 at 3:07 PM
Comment #2Agreed, although sometimes it’s hard to tell the line between humour / banter and outright hatred and bigotry – I’m not so bothered about the allegations but more he was a crap coach – that alone should have been enough to sack him
hibbit
Aug 22, 2018 at 3:11 PM
Comment #3great player abysmal coach
should have been moved on years ago
Rotonda heights
Aug 22, 2018 at 3:33 PM
Comment #4crawford
nowt to do with snowflakes, beardo sadly is a failed coach, simple as. my favourite nufc player ever, but simply has to go on resuts alone, it’s long overdue and further evidence that charnley really is out of his depth when dealing with this type of scenario.
Rotonda heights
Aug 22, 2018 at 3:35 PM
Comment #5results
Diversity Flush
Aug 22, 2018 at 3:38 PM
Comment #6rustledust
Venezuela was the Socialist Utopia praised by Corbyn in glowing Spanish to Chavez.
It went belly-up because of Chavez and his cronies.
Venezuela was sitting on top of the largest oil reserves of any single country on the planet, and brought to penury by another Great Socialist Experiment, by another bunch of Great Leaders who stick to the Marxist script even when the people are starving.
Where have we heard that before, Folks?, yes, every time this vile dogma leaves its vile calling-card.
RobLeenio
Aug 22, 2018 at 3:41 PM
Comment #7I really like this Ben Dawson guy – he just talks sense. Sounds a lot like Rafa, too in his choice of phrase and wording.
Hopefully, we can start to see a conveyor belt of coaching talent being identified from current / former players and local club coaches who can work with the young ‘uns for a long time. This will help get the youth players working to the standard that Rafa expects, playing to a blueprint so they can slot into age group teams above them as they progress and finally step into the 1st 11 knowing exactly what is expected of them.
ie, we start to see a proper, functioning academy joined up in its approach to the 1st team squad.
Diversity Flush
Aug 22, 2018 at 3:48 PM
Comment #8lesh LOL- it’s always Uncle Sam’s fault… those f…..g Americans, buying all that oil and directly funding the Venezuelan government, by filling up at Citgo petrol stations. It would be much better, if they filled up somewhere else -LOL.
Venezuela’s problems could never have anything to do with the government setting prices in shops, attacking the private sector, putting cronies in charge of the state oil company, letting Caracas become one of the most dangerous cities in the world etc, could it?
It’s plain old Socialism rearing it’s ugly ole head.
RobLeenio
Aug 22, 2018 at 3:48 PM
Comment #9It makes me wonder if we are stressing unduly about Rafa and his plans for the long term. It does seem like he’s putting down roots here. If it’s taken him two seasons to start seeing the benefit at academy level, is he really going to walk away at the end of the 3rd season?
The club is about far more than the 1st team. Yes, he’s frustrated at the lack of transfer investment at senior level, but he must see the potential in the club and the area as a whole and lick his chops at the prospect of what he could achieve.
crawfordm
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:02 PM
Comment #10Rotonda – agree he is indeed as far as results go a poor coach. The comment was aimed upon the UK in general.
Lilongwe Geordie
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:03 PM
Comment #11Robleenio,
Yeah, Dawson is a great coach. One of 3 (Dawson, Bramley and Winskill) who were all at NUFC a few years ago when they did an UEFA elite coaching course, part of a select group of 15 for that year. It was disappointing he left the club in the first place.
Not sure if he returned under Rafa or McClaren, but either way he is a much better person to take control of the 23’s than Beardsley. It shouldn’t have taken the circumstances it did for the change to be made.
Nostradamus the Geordie
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:05 PM
Comment #12Peter, we loved you as a player all three times at Newcastle but sadly if you have said or have done what you are accused of, then its time to step aside. No one will ever forget your legend status at the club, so if this is the end, good luck Beardo, go play some golf with Alan and just be a supporters and relax and watch some games, hold on let me state the word relax, its not really a word for viewing Newcastle, lets go with relaxagitation, yeah that sounds better.
Lilongwe Geordie
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:05 PM
Comment #13As for the politics, any system run by an incompetent/selfish or power hungry individual has its flaws. To blame the system of government is flawed. We have seen plenty of communist and capitalist economies go belly up. Says more of the incompetence of those in charge than anything else.
wynsleap
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:06 PM
Comment #14I thought Yannick Toure and Longalo were signed to play. Where are they?
We seem to sign young players and they mysteriously disappear.
What about the two young players at centre back who were going to set the club alight and Mo Sangare?
Come to think of it why aren’t Rondon, Muto, Ki and Fernandez on the first team sheet?
How will we ever get to see what these people can do if we don’t play them?
Time to put Manquillo out of his misery too and get Sterry in for a run. Also give Longstaffe a chance. Couldn’t be any worse than Slowmo at the moment who is replicating last seasons early form.
The club needs freshening up with some new hungry individuals.
Lascelles sells sea shells by the sea shore
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:15 PM
Comment #15Rob @ 7
That’s exactly what Rafa done at Liverpool when he first arrived. He improved the club’s infrastructure to ensure a conveyor belt of young talent to the first team. I think we have seen in seasons past some very good youth coming through at Liverpool, I would believe this is were self sufficiency starts in football. If only the owner would invest in our infrastructure to make it more relevant for us to push forward as a self sustaining force. I’d be content of the Mitro money for example was ploughed into infrastructure improvements for longer term gains.
Jib
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:19 PM
Comment #16Siem de Jong off to the land of plenty.
I hope he likes vegemite sarnies
Lilongwe Geordie
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:21 PM
Comment #17Lascelles sells…..etc,
Totally agree. I’d love the club to be built upon a strong academy and development of young players. I’m not a fan of the Sheikh pumping £xbillions into a club to get success. I might feel different if it happened to us, but I am not a fan of it.
That was pretty much the initial Ashley blueprint though, find hidden gems to complement youth development. Shame he has never employed the people best capable of delivering that.
RobLeenio
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:22 PM
Comment #18lilongwe Geordie, thanks for that – I asked the other day for more info about Dawson as I knew nothing about him, so thanks for providing just that.
Lascelles, yep agreed – continuous improvement is the key, in playing staff, infrastructure, commercial revenues. It doesn’t require a huge amount of money for instant revolution, just a steady input of readily available funds for gradual evolution.
If Rafa could see that happening, I imagine he would be quite happy.
Lilongwe Geordie
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:23 PM
Comment #19Or allowed them to operate to the beat of their abilities
Essex Geordie Bill
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:51 PM
Comment #20What did impress me in the Sunderland game was how well our defence was organised. Strong hint of Rafa there!
Essex Geordie Bill
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:53 PM
Comment #21Barlaser is the one I could see replacing Big Mo.
Essex Geordie Bill
Aug 22, 2018 at 4:56 PM
Comment #22There was mention of an upcoming U21 game during the match, that could be why certain of the younger players weren’t used.
Essex Geordie Bill
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:05 PM
Comment #23Munster
I was chatting with an Irish friend last night and he was talking about a hurling match that apparently was played by the Tuatha De Danna and the Fir Bolg that was played at Moytura, Co. Mayo. This mythical match supposedly took place in 1072 BC! (the Bronze Age).before the big battle to decide who would rule Ireland, it’s been around for a while it would seem.
beermonkey
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:20 PM
Comment #24is yedlin fit yet
GeordieTwo
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:32 PM
Comment #25Excellent to see Lilongwe Geordie back on here. And very good to see improvement of the coaching staff at the junior levels. Dawson sounds very good indeed. Definite signs of improvement within that part of the club finally. Let’s see how Steve Harper works out. I think Yedlin is fit beermonkey. His injury wasn’t as bad as they initially feared.
Meeting of minds
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:36 PM
Comment #26Earlier debate- lesh, Ancient, Lilongwe
There are no successful socialist countries nor will there be.
There are successful social democracies within reason but they don’t really interest Corbyn and McDonnell. Corbyn has aligned himself with the left wing activists in Momentum.
They do all the dirty work in working to deselect those that speak out against Corby. Margaret Hodge saw them off by threatening legal action. Corbyn is too busy at his allotment and following Arsenal to get involved personally.
Big Momentum presence being arranged for the visit of West Ham-3 pm Saturday. Reminiscent of the National Front in the 1970’s. Think it’s time the PL/FA took a look at the growing intimidation particularly shown to young fans.
Online Guy
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:37 PM
Comment #27RobLeenio
“Crivvens” ! Haha
You been reading Our Wullie ?
Love it.
Jib
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:39 PM
Comment #28Jings – help ma boab
PC Murdoch will skelp yer lug
Online Guy
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:46 PM
Comment #29A Pain in the blog
Well said On Steven Gérrard the thug, couple days back.
I watched as he punched viciously in the face , and dozens of blows , a middle aged man who had decided not to play a cassette tape for him .
Liverpool Crown Court, a Liverpool jury , and found not guilty in the face of overwhelming evidence against Gerrard for all to see .
Replace Steven Gerrard with Joey Barton in that Video and a 2 year Jail sentence would have followed, 100%.
The British Justice system was made a mockery of with that decision.
Liverpool Jury.
Online Guy
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:52 PM
Comment #30Jib
Closest I can get to the taste and flavour of Bass is Manns Brown Ale .. Brewed in Wolverhampton by Marston.
Barley , Malt , and Hops. Tastes Great. 89p a pint .
It’s only 2.8% but perfect if your having a few beers indoors midweek..not too strong.
Online Guy
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:54 PM
Comment #31Find Manns Brown ale in some of the local thrift stores in the north east.
Good Pint.
Jib
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:54 PM
Comment #32HomeBargain 89p a bottle
cheapskate
😛
Jib
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:55 PM
Comment #33Someone told us about it like
😛
Jib
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:57 PM
Comment #34Beer was invented by the Egyptians accidently
They used it as a laxative
Jib
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:58 PM
Comment #35Today we have 4 Bass followed by a Vindaloo
then
stand back everyone
Online Guy
Aug 22, 2018 at 5:58 PM
Comment #36Jib
So the Manns Brown ale has already been mentioned here Jib ?
Online Guy
Aug 22, 2018 at 6:01 PM
Comment #37Local thrift stores in the north east , well they would be wouldn’t they ! ..I’m sure Im Irish ..well , I am if you go back 300 years… ancestors and all that.
Online Guy
Aug 22, 2018 at 6:08 PM
Comment #38Jib
Aye your right about the Egyptians and Beer , I used to enjoy the odd pint with Tutankhamun down the Half Moon on a Thursday ..he was always pissed.
9
Aug 22, 2018 at 6:38 PM
Comment #39Bye bye Pedro, Great footballer, carp coach.
beermonkey
Aug 22, 2018 at 6:52 PM
Comment #409
what does he teach the carp