Overview of what has happened whilst I have been away (excluding the stadium palaver)

Hey readers, sorry for the lack of recent posts, computer has been a nightmare and I won't have an iPhone until Christmas.

So.....the games since my last post have been:
26/10/2011. Blackburn vs Newcastle - Carling Cup - 4-3 AET.
Key points:
Blackburn were 2-0 up until the 92nd minute then Newcastle bagged 2 in 3 minutes from Guthrie and Cabaye.
Newcastle were very poor but somehow made the scoreline look a lot nicer than it should have been.
Last touch of the game won it for Blackburn, Gael Givet header won it.

29/10/2011. Stoke vs Newcastle - Premier League - 1-3
Key points:
Newcastle breezed to victory with a hat-trick by Demba Ba.
A penalty gave Stoke a way back into the match until Newcastle were awarded a very soft one at the other end. Demba Ba with a cool finish to take the match ball.
Great performance at the Britannia which is never an easy place to go to. No problems from Stoke's set pieces helped ensure an unbeaten league record.

05/11/2011 Newcastle vs Everton - Premier League - 2-1
Key points:
Newcastle took the lead in the 12th minute via a Jonny Heitinga own goal.
Ryan Taylor's wonder-strike doubled the advantage (check it out if you can).
Newcastle took another 3points and were 2nd in the league with nearly a 1/3 of the season gone (well for a couple of hours).

Mehdi Abeid - One of the rising stars of NUFC.

When Mehdi Abeid signed for Newcastle as a free agent after his Lens contract ran out, we all expected him to be stuck in the reserves with all the other future prospects we have. However, although he has been playing with the reserves as we thought, he has been excellent in those games and in training.

He got his first piece of 1st team action in the 3-4 win at Nottingham Forest and he was very impressive. AP has stated that Mehdi could indeed be the man to take over Mr T's (Tiote) role in the middle of the field when he leaves for the African Cup of Nations along with Demba Ba. We expect he could start tonight against Blackburn Rovers in the Carling Cup K.O 8pm with Tiote out through a knee injury. Should he start he will have a great opportunity to show Pards what he can do when called upon. Tonight's performance could be the clincher for the available first team spot come January.

Good luck to Mehdi and let's hope we see a MOTM performance from the tricky youngster.

Venir sur les gars!  (Howay the lads!)

Blackburn VS Newcastle - Carling Cup 4th round.

Newcastle will be hoping they can reach the quarter finals of the Carling Cup on Wednesday night when they face a Blackburn side in turmoil. Steve Kean has less backing than we gave Pardew when he replaced Chris Hughton last december ( and we all know how little that was ). Newcastle played Blackburn only 2weeks ago and won fairly convincingly with a lovely hat-trick by Demba Ba, things are expected to go the same way wednesday and hopefully my review will be telling of another Demba Ba hat-trick with the toon in the quarter finals of the cup against Aldershot Town, well, we can all dream!

Shola's out for until December. OH NO! (Do we really care?)

Shola Ameobi has always been a will he or won't he player. He can deliver on occasions however, the team may as well be playing with 10men on other occasions. So, what are his stats like? Shola has scored 71 times in 310 games for Newcastle ( according to Wikipedia so it may be wrong however it appears about right). A ratio that is very similar to Carlton Cole's ratio for West Ham. However, Shola has been with the club through thick and thin and is an incredibly loyal player to the toon ( that or no-one else wants him ). Ameobi is now seeing his younger brother Sammy Ameobi come into the first team and fair play to the lad when he has played he has really played, Scunny goal anyone?

Having to rely on Demba Ba's knee may be a worry however, with Leon Best and Peter Lovenkrands as experienced back-up I don't think we are in too much trouble. Especially with the youngsters we have that could play up front, e.g Haris Vuckic, Nile Ranger and of course younger brother Ameobi.

It could be we see an Ameobi pairing starting up front in the future! Highly unlikely but anything is possible with NUFC.

Newcastle United VS Wigan - 22/10/2011 REVIEW.

Afternoon all, I would just like to start by saying how delighted I am to see our beloved NUFC flying high again!

It's nothing more than we deserve. I have supported newcastle for as long as I can remember! With my earliest footballing memory being a wondergoal from our own fan favourite Sir Alan Shearer in 1999. Anyway, enough about me, lets recap this weekends performance.

It was fairly obvious the side that would start at Wigan with the club having the 8 of the starting XI start every game this season and it remained unchanged as we all expected. No surprises on the bench either however Smith returned from injury to retake his place warming the bench ( something Abeid, Vuckic or Gosling would do just as well )

The unchanged side struggled to find anything special in the first half and the only piece of Newcastle brilliance came from on-form keeper Tim Krul (must be Netherlands number 1 in the near future) as he managed an excellent stop from a lively Victor Moses. That was the only exciting thing in the first half and we could count ourselves lucky that we still had 11 men on the pitch after Best lunged in with a rash tackle that some referees could have deemed worthy of a red.  

Second half and Demba Ba wasted the opportunity for his sixth goal in four games with a timid header straight at Al-Habsi. Some claimed it crossed the line however replays show it wasn't fully over. The first tactical genius from Pardew was to take off the woeful Obertan and replace him with Marveaux. 6minutes after his introduction and the magpies were a goal up. Marveaux's touch set up Cabaye for what was a well taken curler that glided into the top corner. 

1-0 final score. In seasons gone by Newcastle would have lost that at the death however this new look side that is now only a win away from second place has shown character and a willingness to succeed for the full 90minutes and most importantly we are scraping the results in. It wasn't a convincing victory but it's 3points and that's all we could have asked for.