HAPPY TALK
Memories of the gnashing of teeth which followed the depressing stalemate with Leicester a week last Saturday were washed away at a bouncing SJP Friday gone as the lads set about Cardiff with the pace, power and aggression we’ve been longing for all season. This was easily the best performance of 09/10 and has set us up for an intense and pivotal period of the season. But before we ponder on the challenges to come it would be wrong to skim over what was as good a performance and result as we’ve seen on Barrack Road for many a season.
Starting from the back, Steve Harper and the men in front of him did really well despite a couple of first half scares. This was the first time this back-four had performed together and it is a credit to Hughton-Calderwood that Williamson and Fitz Hall should fit so effortlessly into two positions on the park Collocinni and Taylor have looked so strong in all season. With Taylor out for two months their arrival could not have been better timed. The whole of the back-line - with Danny Simpson making his “proper” debut and the on-loan Chelsea lad Van Aanholt in the full back positions, looked well-organised, on their game, full of energy, professional and basically, “at it”. That’s not something we’ve been able to say about United backlines down the years is it?
But the real difference was in the midfield. There aren’t two players on United’s books at the moment who divide Mag opinion more than Smith and Butt. For Smith there are those who recognise his competitiveness, his challenges, his appetite and leadership whilst there are those who bemoan his lack of mobility, pace and creativity. For Butt much of the same applies though the Ginga General at his age is probably nearing the end of his distinguished career and whilst Nicky’s distribution can at times be frustrating his relish for the dirty jobs, the things that make him a “player’s player” (tracking runners, showing for throw-ins in difficult areas, shielding etc) are often overlooked by those who maybe don’t appreciate the work that goes on off the ball. For all of the qualities of the two men, playing both in our midfield gives us a pedestrian air and substantially limits our attacking options. Played alongside Nolan and the lack of pace is underlined further.
On Friday, Hughton named a midfield formation which was a clear statement of intent - we were going for it - with Gutteraz, Routledge, Guthrie and Nolan across the middle with the pace of Best up top as well as Carroll the man to hit for crosses and the ball in the air and in deep positions there was a greater fluidity and variety to our play. Carroll had an outstanding game - strength, application and technique. A massive improvement on the Leicester performance. Guitteraz has his critics - mainly due to a lack of a final product but I made Friday night one of his best games for us. The Argentine was able to link up with attacking players in more dangerous positions, play a better passing game with those around him and crucially for me, received the ball in more attacking positions. I like to see our attacking wide players starting their runs inside the opponent’s half rather than on the edge of our box. To put it crudely, nee wonder there’s often not a final ball, the lad is blowing out of his arse by the time he sees the edge of the box. Routledge was full of running, his touch is good, he sees potential runs and is keen to run at the opposition. He can pick a pass as well too. He could be crucial in this run in to the end of the season. I thought Leon Best had a pretty good debut. He linked well with Carroll, there is pace and power about him and he’ll be anxious to get a first goal. That will come. He looked infinitely more effective than some of the wasters (Viduka, Owen, Martins) we’ve had on the payroll in the last few years. Best may not be as celebrated a player as some but he struck me as a hard working professional who offers something different to our forward line. He looked a better bet than Chopra who was a lost soul at times. A Rangers fan of my acquaintance spoke very highly of Peter Lovenkrands when we signed him - obviously from his days at Ibrox and on Friday night he confirmed that recommendation and to be fair he has been performing well over a very difficult period for him in his personal life. It says much for his character that at a time of personal loss he should be so professional.
I’m gushing now. The team played really well, got its just rewards and we all left a joyously beery SJP on Friday night to toast the team in the shabeens of NE1. Forgive us for the lateness of the match report going online. We were all a bit pissed. Well, a lot pissed to tell the truth.
^
Of course we’re now all looking forward to two big challenges this week. Derby showed they were no pushovers at SJP back in December and have rallied lately, particularly in holding local rivals Forest at Pride Park. I’d imagine Hughton will elect for a more conservative approach in the East Midlands and I‘d expect to see Smith or Butt returned to the team. That is probably wise as we won‘t enjoy the kind of possession down there as we did on Friday night in the Mag-dome. There will be longer periods when we don’t have possession and we’ll need to have a response to that.
Derby Co is a fine club and the town is a proper football community which has stuck by it’s club in trying circumstances. Their fans could show Boro a thing or two about loyalty if attendances are any measure. Derby has a proud support and once again, local derby aside, we will present the biggest game of the season for Rams fans. The match will likely be a sell-out and the home crowd will be massively up for it and generate a hostile atmosphere. Good, that’s their job. This is the challenge the lads will have to overcome. We are the biggest scalp in the WTCTSDTD but we travel down there full of confidence after Friday night and must be expected to maintain our impressive defensive work but buoyed with the attacking options brought to SJP by Hughton.
Swansea represents a similar challenge and two aways in the same week is a big test of the squad’s stamina and resources.
If we can get four points from these two games then we’ll be able to reflect on a very good week before we get back to SJP for must-wins with Coventry and Preston.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Derby Co. at Pride Park first. Howay The Lads!
^
It would be churlish not to offer some praise to Ashley for releasing the funds, no matter how limited, to Hughton to bring in the new recruits as well as retain all the players in the first team squad, we’d want to retain. Its pretty pointless at this point to go over the heavy terrain of Ashley’s previous but suffice it to say of all the humiliation we have endured under his ownership, he remains the only director of Newcastle United FC who has EVER put his own money INTO the club. What Ashley’s future intentions are at United remain to be seen but when observing the financial implosion at Portsmouth and their revolving door of owners its difficult to escape the notion without Ashley’s money propping United up we’d have slipped into the abyss of administration and bankruptcy. Ashley is not the beginning and end of United’s problems - that was well underway under Hall-Shepherd who had the club on the bones of its arse with appalling stewardship, their own greed and lack of a blue print for the development of the club as a top class sporting institution. Ashley has made some desperately bad decisions that precipitated last season’s relegation but I’m far from growing nostalgic for the days when Freddie Shepherd had Willie McKay on speed dial. Could there be redemption for Ashley? No-one can really answer that question but if it were to happen it would have to be based upon some changes to how the club currently operates and that would be the involvement of NUST, a much improved level of communications from the top of the club to the main body of the club’s support and evidence of a workable plan to take the club forward whilst at the same time ensuring United is secure and solvent. But all of that is currently academic.
^
For those who tuned into watch last Sunday’s Inside Out on BBC (the Ashley programme) last week there wasn’t a great deal of new stuff to get excited about. Few people inside the game or ex-employees were prepared (or legally able) to opine on the club’s operations with a few talking heads confirming what we already know - Mike Ashley has made blunder after blunder whilst in charge on Barrack Road. The real meat of the story was how Sports Direct operates with uncomfortable footage from Laos and very, very poor working conditions for workers over there who manufacture the stuff you can buy at “bargain” prices in the UK. Obviously anyone with any sense of decency about them does not want to buy goods produced by workers who have in my opinion poorly treated by their employers. I am not legally qualified to comment on whether the treatment of workers in Laos/Thailand breaches any legal agreements or whether suppliers to Sports Direct operate below industry standards of good practice but I doubt if those working conditions would be attractive to anyone buying the stuff they produce - and that is my own personal measure.
Naturally, the good people of the NE will be uncomfortable at the image Sports Direct bestows upon the region’s biggest, most famous, highest profile and best supported football club. Broadly speaking, this is a region which is left-leaning, values fairness and co-operation and has enough of the tales of industrial exploitation in its DNA to dismiss the report from the Far East as something that does not concern us. It is distasteful our club is associated with this. It does not dilute the shame some of us feel but we are hardly alone. Dildo salesmen at West Ham, the oligarch at Chelsea, the oil sheikhs at Man City are little more than egotists squandering the wealth of places faraway on their own indulgences whilst the Hedge Fund operators at Sunderland, the exploiters at Man Utd, Liverpool etc are barely immune from scrutiny. Bring back Colonel Blimp and the old farts at the FA - all is forgiven.
^
Anyway. Back to the football - all credit to Hughton-Calderwood and the players for Friday night. It’s great to hear about a set up emerging at United where key players actually seem to care about the club, set their own high standards and take personal responsibility for what happens at United. I still haven’t got over Michael Owen’s insipid “it was a shame Newcastle went down” comment last summer. A “shame” … a fucking “shame”. Cunt. If we have seen the last of the bling brigade, the cowards, mercenaries and phonies and are developing a new culture of team-work, professionalism then there may indeed be light at the end of the tunnel. Optimism? It'll never last.
Keep On, Keepin’ On …
But the real difference was in the midfield. There aren’t two players on United’s books at the moment who divide Mag opinion more than Smith and Butt. For Smith there are those who recognise his competitiveness, his challenges, his appetite and leadership whilst there are those who bemoan his lack of mobility, pace and creativity. For Butt much of the same applies though the Ginga General at his age is probably nearing the end of his distinguished career and whilst Nicky’s distribution can at times be frustrating his relish for the dirty jobs, the things that make him a “player’s player” (tracking runners, showing for throw-ins in difficult areas, shielding etc) are often overlooked by those who maybe don’t appreciate the work that goes on off the ball. For all of the qualities of the two men, playing both in our midfield gives us a pedestrian air and substantially limits our attacking options. Played alongside Nolan and the lack of pace is underlined further.
On Friday, Hughton named a midfield formation which was a clear statement of intent - we were going for it - with Gutteraz, Routledge, Guthrie and Nolan across the middle with the pace of Best up top as well as Carroll the man to hit for crosses and the ball in the air and in deep positions there was a greater fluidity and variety to our play. Carroll had an outstanding game - strength, application and technique. A massive improvement on the Leicester performance. Guitteraz has his critics - mainly due to a lack of a final product but I made Friday night one of his best games for us. The Argentine was able to link up with attacking players in more dangerous positions, play a better passing game with those around him and crucially for me, received the ball in more attacking positions. I like to see our attacking wide players starting their runs inside the opponent’s half rather than on the edge of our box. To put it crudely, nee wonder there’s often not a final ball, the lad is blowing out of his arse by the time he sees the edge of the box. Routledge was full of running, his touch is good, he sees potential runs and is keen to run at the opposition. He can pick a pass as well too. He could be crucial in this run in to the end of the season. I thought Leon Best had a pretty good debut. He linked well with Carroll, there is pace and power about him and he’ll be anxious to get a first goal. That will come. He looked infinitely more effective than some of the wasters (Viduka, Owen, Martins) we’ve had on the payroll in the last few years. Best may not be as celebrated a player as some but he struck me as a hard working professional who offers something different to our forward line. He looked a better bet than Chopra who was a lost soul at times. A Rangers fan of my acquaintance spoke very highly of Peter Lovenkrands when we signed him - obviously from his days at Ibrox and on Friday night he confirmed that recommendation and to be fair he has been performing well over a very difficult period for him in his personal life. It says much for his character that at a time of personal loss he should be so professional.
I’m gushing now. The team played really well, got its just rewards and we all left a joyously beery SJP on Friday night to toast the team in the shabeens of NE1. Forgive us for the lateness of the match report going online. We were all a bit pissed. Well, a lot pissed to tell the truth.
^
Of course we’re now all looking forward to two big challenges this week. Derby showed they were no pushovers at SJP back in December and have rallied lately, particularly in holding local rivals Forest at Pride Park. I’d imagine Hughton will elect for a more conservative approach in the East Midlands and I‘d expect to see Smith or Butt returned to the team. That is probably wise as we won‘t enjoy the kind of possession down there as we did on Friday night in the Mag-dome. There will be longer periods when we don’t have possession and we’ll need to have a response to that.
Derby Co is a fine club and the town is a proper football community which has stuck by it’s club in trying circumstances. Their fans could show Boro a thing or two about loyalty if attendances are any measure. Derby has a proud support and once again, local derby aside, we will present the biggest game of the season for Rams fans. The match will likely be a sell-out and the home crowd will be massively up for it and generate a hostile atmosphere. Good, that’s their job. This is the challenge the lads will have to overcome. We are the biggest scalp in the WTCTSDTD but we travel down there full of confidence after Friday night and must be expected to maintain our impressive defensive work but buoyed with the attacking options brought to SJP by Hughton.
Swansea represents a similar challenge and two aways in the same week is a big test of the squad’s stamina and resources.
If we can get four points from these two games then we’ll be able to reflect on a very good week before we get back to SJP for must-wins with Coventry and Preston.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Derby Co. at Pride Park first. Howay The Lads!
^
It would be churlish not to offer some praise to Ashley for releasing the funds, no matter how limited, to Hughton to bring in the new recruits as well as retain all the players in the first team squad, we’d want to retain. Its pretty pointless at this point to go over the heavy terrain of Ashley’s previous but suffice it to say of all the humiliation we have endured under his ownership, he remains the only director of Newcastle United FC who has EVER put his own money INTO the club. What Ashley’s future intentions are at United remain to be seen but when observing the financial implosion at Portsmouth and their revolving door of owners its difficult to escape the notion without Ashley’s money propping United up we’d have slipped into the abyss of administration and bankruptcy. Ashley is not the beginning and end of United’s problems - that was well underway under Hall-Shepherd who had the club on the bones of its arse with appalling stewardship, their own greed and lack of a blue print for the development of the club as a top class sporting institution. Ashley has made some desperately bad decisions that precipitated last season’s relegation but I’m far from growing nostalgic for the days when Freddie Shepherd had Willie McKay on speed dial. Could there be redemption for Ashley? No-one can really answer that question but if it were to happen it would have to be based upon some changes to how the club currently operates and that would be the involvement of NUST, a much improved level of communications from the top of the club to the main body of the club’s support and evidence of a workable plan to take the club forward whilst at the same time ensuring United is secure and solvent. But all of that is currently academic.
^
For those who tuned into watch last Sunday’s Inside Out on BBC (the Ashley programme) last week there wasn’t a great deal of new stuff to get excited about. Few people inside the game or ex-employees were prepared (or legally able) to opine on the club’s operations with a few talking heads confirming what we already know - Mike Ashley has made blunder after blunder whilst in charge on Barrack Road. The real meat of the story was how Sports Direct operates with uncomfortable footage from Laos and very, very poor working conditions for workers over there who manufacture the stuff you can buy at “bargain” prices in the UK. Obviously anyone with any sense of decency about them does not want to buy goods produced by workers who have in my opinion poorly treated by their employers. I am not legally qualified to comment on whether the treatment of workers in Laos/Thailand breaches any legal agreements or whether suppliers to Sports Direct operate below industry standards of good practice but I doubt if those working conditions would be attractive to anyone buying the stuff they produce - and that is my own personal measure.
Naturally, the good people of the NE will be uncomfortable at the image Sports Direct bestows upon the region’s biggest, most famous, highest profile and best supported football club. Broadly speaking, this is a region which is left-leaning, values fairness and co-operation and has enough of the tales of industrial exploitation in its DNA to dismiss the report from the Far East as something that does not concern us. It is distasteful our club is associated with this. It does not dilute the shame some of us feel but we are hardly alone. Dildo salesmen at West Ham, the oligarch at Chelsea, the oil sheikhs at Man City are little more than egotists squandering the wealth of places faraway on their own indulgences whilst the Hedge Fund operators at Sunderland, the exploiters at Man Utd, Liverpool etc are barely immune from scrutiny. Bring back Colonel Blimp and the old farts at the FA - all is forgiven.
^
Anyway. Back to the football - all credit to Hughton-Calderwood and the players for Friday night. It’s great to hear about a set up emerging at United where key players actually seem to care about the club, set their own high standards and take personal responsibility for what happens at United. I still haven’t got over Michael Owen’s insipid “it was a shame Newcastle went down” comment last summer. A “shame” … a fucking “shame”. Cunt. If we have seen the last of the bling brigade, the cowards, mercenaries and phonies and are developing a new culture of team-work, professionalism then there may indeed be light at the end of the tunnel. Optimism? It'll never last.
Keep On, Keepin’ On …