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
Jail for Ashley
Aug 22, 2018 at 7:06 PM
Comment #41Gavin Peacock is a church minister in Canada. He was on total sport tonight, full on Christian.
Jib
Aug 22, 2018 at 7:12 PM
Comment #42https://www.ft.com/content/6c15270e-a618-11e8-926a-7342fe5e173f
Jail for Ashley
Aug 22, 2018 at 7:13 PM
Comment #43When did McLaren take over at Rangers?
Essex Geordie Bill
Aug 22, 2018 at 7:14 PM
Comment #44beermonkey, it was with great difficulty I managed to resist that joke! 🙂
beermonkey
Aug 22, 2018 at 7:18 PM
Comment #45essex
i couldnt i also had a vision of carp jumping through hoops in a poor mans (sportsdirect version) of sea world
Essex Geordie Bill
Aug 22, 2018 at 7:19 PM
Comment #46re. Venezuela, on the news tonight was a clip showing the inside of a supermarket during an earth tremor (7.0 on the richter scale) what struck me was the nearly empty shelves. Really sad for a country that should be on a par with the super rich oil states in financial terms.
Essex Geordie Bill
Aug 22, 2018 at 7:20 PM
Comment #47Got to go again, busy life, later.
one fine day
Aug 22, 2018 at 7:50 PM
Comment #48Hibbit,
Yes big lamp correct .
Not sure where I got big head from lol ..its been a while since I was back
AncientC
Aug 22, 2018 at 7:54 PM
Comment #49Geez, how many names has carl used today, 4/5? Must be a new personal record for him.
What has Venezuela got to do with Corbyn, unless you think Corbyn has a policy of redistributing land. I mean, I know he likes to grow some veg on his allotment, but that is a ridiculous suggestion.
If you want to look at nations with similar policies, lookup ‘The Nordic Model.’
Optimistic Panda
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:15 PM
Comment #50Bill
If tonight’s topic is seals, I’ve spotted a couple on a evening in the Tyne just down river from the Milenium bridge. Seen them 4 or 5 times over the last 6 weeks.
Jib
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:17 PM
Comment #51one fine day
Yes big lamp correct .
Not sure where I got big head from
Probably looking in the mirror at the time
😛
RobLeenio
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:17 PM
Comment #52ha ha, yeah not sure where crivvens came from, wanted something whimsical and there it was.
The missus still gets Oor Wullie / The Broons every year. I take the p!ss then read them when her back’s turned.
😀
RobLeenio
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:19 PM
Comment #53Bill, OP – I’ve seen seals in the river at Warkworth. Was out on a rowing boat and it came up blowing beside us, nearly dropped the oars!
G
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:21 PM
Comment #54OP, I work on the Quayside these days, chatted to some of the Matelots from HMS Calliope, and mentioned the seals. They often follow the schoals of fish into the river from the big colony at St Marys. Nice to see them in the river though.
Canuck Mag
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:22 PM
Comment #55See mbabu has just scored a champions league goal. One we should’ve kept
Jail for Ashley
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:22 PM
Comment #56There were five seals sitting on the pipeline that the tanker uses to empty us yesterday.
Optimistic Panda
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:24 PM
Comment #57G
Sure is, the river is in the best shape I’ve ever seen it. Some big Salmon get pulled out of there, quayside is a pleasure to walk along now.
Optimistic Panda
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:25 PM
Comment #58Seals are way more interesting than politicians.
DubaiMicky
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:28 PM
Comment #59Jib
Aug 22, 2018 at 7:12 PM
Comment #42
https://www.ft.com/content/6c15270e-a618-11e8-926a-7342fe5e173f
Can you copy/paste that article please?
G
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:33 PM
Comment #60Unlike the politicians its nice to see the seals alive and healthy!
RobLeenio
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:38 PM
Comment #61I’d love to slap a few politicians round the chops with a wet fish. I reckon seals would be quite stoic about it
RobLeenio
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:40 PM
Comment #62In case nobody else has posted it, here’s the link for the stiffs vs the Mackems highlights
https://www.nufc.co.uk/nufc-tv/u23s/sunderland-u23-h-highlights-18-19 (requires a log-in)
Check out the cross from Sean Longstaff for goal number 3
beermonkey
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:43 PM
Comment #63i live next to the river ouse in sussex and our local seal got hit by a boat or something and died
my little boy was a little sad
sorry its the only seal story i have and i felt left out
Jib
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:48 PM
Comment #64Sorry Micky it was open and free to read when I posted
the link.
The gist was :-
It’s the shareholders agm in September and some of the
independent shareholders groups are far from happy not
just with the HoF takeover but also that various bodies are
calling or an investigation into the timing of said takeover.
Looks like some folk feel rather than Ashley being the knight
in shining armour the whole takeover may have been rigged
to give Ashley unfair advantage Remember he was already
a HoF shareholder.
Jib
Aug 22, 2018 at 8:49 PM
Comment #65Should have said SD agm
DubaiMicky
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:09 PM
Comment #66“Looks like some folk feel rather than Ashley being the knight
in shining armour the whole takeover may have been rigged
to give Ashley unfair advantage Remember he was already
a HoF shareholder”.
Jib, I’m sure the banks agreed a deal with Ashley to ensure they got their pound of flesh first on the premise he would get a dirt cheap price.
It’s frankly sickening – and it’s not just the fat twat either – the banks in collusion with big business to make themselves more cash and the rest (ie us and smaller businesses) get shafted yet again.
Nicky the ball tosser
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:19 PM
Comment #67“We can all see that football in the modern era is a vehicle for reputation laundering. Only last month Gianni Infantino dismissed the idea the World Cup had become a way for morally challenged regimes to launder their reputations. Mere moments later the Fifa president explained: “This World Cup certainly did change the perception of the world towards Russia. It changed a lot of pre-conceived opinions.” That’s the trouble – it is such fun to watch the laundry being done that it is easy to forget what caused the stains.
And so with club ownership, Abu Dhabi style. The emirate’s rulers are hardly in it to make money and no one could accuse them of being especially interested in football. All the all-access documentaries in the world should not distract from the fact City’s owner is part of a regime of ghastly autocrats, and every attempt to misdirect attention away from that – no matter how pretty – is an action performed in that regime’s service. As the regional human rights expert Nicholas McGeehan has put it: “While Abu Dhabi may not be the most abusive government in the world, they are easily the most abusive government running a football club.”
Just a fan
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:22 PM
Comment #68I watched the reserves when I retired they played good footy under beardsley.if you actually watched them and called him that’s ok . If you never went and are just on a bandwagon that’s not ok
Jail for Ashley
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:22 PM
Comment #69Nicky,
I very rarely if ever venture in to politics on the blog but the UAE is a nation ran on borderline modern day slavery.
lochinvar
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:22 PM
Comment #70If these seals are dark blue are they Navy Seals ?
See the Mackems have scored 4 away at Gillingham so guess Division One isn’t proving too tough for them at the moment
Has Saviet actually moved to Turkey and who is left of the remainers ?
Jail for Ashley
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:25 PM
Comment #71Just a fan,
I’ve never seen them but surely the results speak for themselves.
Just a fan
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:26 PM
Comment #72Ps the fed brewery was bought by Newcastle plc the worst desition ciu clubs ever made.its now closed.
Nicky the ball tosser
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:27 PM
Comment #73“UAE husbands are allowed to beat their wives; marital rape is not a crime; hundreds of rape victims are flogged or imprisoned every year under laws prohibiting extra-marital sex …”
Just a fan
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:31 PM
Comment #74Jail for Ashley
If you haven’t seen them you can’t realistically comment
A Pain in the Blog
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:35 PM
Comment #75Lochinvar
The Chronic reported that Bursaspor are delaying the announcement of Saivet’s loan move so that they can make it a joint announcement with the signing of Tunay Torun, an incoming striker from Istanbul.
I think Achraf Lazaar is the only one left to shift after Saivet.
Just a fan
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:41 PM
Comment #76Ps jail for Ashley
Your a bit obsessed .just do as your grandkids say”let it go”
Jail for Ashley
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:42 PM
Comment #77Just a fan,
I didn’t, I asked a question!
Jail for Ashley
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:43 PM
Comment #78Just a fan,
I haven’t got grand children.
Jail for Ashley
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:45 PM
Comment #79A Pain in the Blog
Is he really that bad that we couldn’t keep him considering our situation regarding full backs.
Nicky the ball tosser
Aug 22, 2018 at 9:48 PM
Comment #80It’s time to get KiSy into that midfield. Diame is playing like a man on death row. Do the deed Rafa, and watch it light a fire under him and generate proper competition in the engine room. Rondon too. I doubt Joselu will respond quite as positively, although he’s probably more comfortable at second fiddle anyway, and while you’re at it get Fernandez in there also. Clark is capable, but the Argentine is an inevitable starter and needs a game.