The Newcastle United Blog

49 responses so far ↓

• 1 obafemimartins // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:49

  we have still got the mackems and fulham @ home and i am counting 6 points off those games.
  i cant see fulham getting anything away from home so they should still struggle. birmingham away is a likely win and we should stay up. reading home is a another win. reading sunderland fulham home is 9 points in the bag and that will take us up to 39.

• 2 James // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:53

  Too many of our players are first division standard, thats why we struggle against the premiership.

  First Division/Championship Wasters :

  Butt
  Cacapa
  Smith
  Shola
  Carr
  Viduka

• 3 Howie // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:53

  if someone offered you 40 points after 38 games would you take it

• 4 Rich // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:55

  I think honestly this year 35 points will see us safe, 2 wins and a draw, the points total is going to be much lower this year to be relegated! I just would love us to beat Villa give us a boost for the Man Utd game in 2 wks time!

• 5 James // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:55

  Howie - if someone offered me 40 points from 38 games I would think I was a Derby/Sunderland supporter. It just proves how many crap players we have thanks to Fat Sam, Souness, and Roeder

• 6 Rich // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:55

  Howie - id take it right now yeah, i just want this season over with and be safe!

• 7 Dragoner // Feb 6, 2008 at 11:56

  James you aint got a clue mate, Cacapa is NOT championship standard, he is our second best defender. Steven ‘mr mistake’ Taylor is currently our worst centre back yet many people dont want to believe it because they have some deluded and idiotic belief that he is geordie! HE IS NOT! HE IS FROM SOUTH LONDON, GREENWICH LOL!

• 8 Obafan // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:04

  Dragoner - I completely agree with you about Cacapa. He always is the one who gets blamed for everything. Taylor, don’t care if he is a geordie or a souther , can make as many mistakes as he wants, people don’t want to see them. Our central starting duo should ALWAYS be Faye and Cacapa.

  Let’s hope we will pick up our points quite soon, cause I don’t want us to be in a relegation battle, but I’m afraid that we might if we lose our next 3 games.

  Next season get rid of:
  Butt
  Carr
  Smith
  Ameobi
  Viduka (is more injured than fit)
  Ramage
  Barton

  and replace them with good players!!! Who I can’t give names at the moment, cause it will be very difficult to attract players after this disastrous season.

• 9 obafemimartins // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:06

  i think cacapa will stay because he is good enough as he has shown in the last few games. under allardyce he was constantly defending and you will make mistakes when under pressure. every player has a clean slate to start afresh and prove that they deserve to wear a toon shirt and wear it with pride

• 10 Me // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:08

  I’ve been thinkin about buggery can u help i want u to demostrate. i will do it to u Mwhahahahahahaha

• 11 Dragoner // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:09

  For example, last game against boro, a long ball came over and all steven taylor had to do was head or kick it clear, instead he hesitated, let it bounce and it went over his head and aliadiere was there waitin, cacapa then did a last ditch clearance to rid the danger. Now i guarantee that if cacapa had not been able to clear the ball successfully and aliadiere had scored, everyone would be saying “cacapa is shit cacapa is crap blah blah blah”. People need to look where the defensive error STARTED

• 12 Obafan // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:13

  Dragoner - once again very good comment. People don’t want to see Taylor ’s mistakes (and there are quite a lot of them in every game)!!

• 13 UTD111 // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:16

  Totally agree with Dragoner about Cacapa. On form this season the No1 Centre Back is Faye - and he seems to play best with Cacapa alongside - might have a lot to do with experience?
  I was reading somewhere that Sir Kevin has an excellent managerial record at Villa Park having lost there only once as manager of United, Man City & Fulham. Lets hope it continues :o)
  Cheers

• 14 Bosck // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:20

  one thing i’d have to pint out tho dragoner. i think steven taylor lived in greenwich for only 6 days of his life and has lived in newcastle ever since so i think that is a bit harsh to define him not as a geordie.

  would agree taylor makes mistakes and cacapa better than most give him credit for, but taylor still has a very bright future in my opinion. should be faye plaus cacapa/taylor at cb if we are gonna play 2 attacking cm. if we are gonna play a dm then that should be faye, with taylor and cacapa cb’s.

• 15 Dragoner // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:24

  Bosck, Steven Taylor is one of the players i also do not want to go, i like him, he is a good young defender, he makes a lot of mistakes but they will become less frequent as he gets older, but i just don’t understand why many on here believe him to be our current best cb, it really annoys me lol

• 16 Dragoner // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:26

  It is expecially annoying when i here things like “taylor is 10 times better than cacapa” or “give taylor what ever wages he wants, he is the next john terry” i find those statements idiotic

• 17 Kash2 // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:36

  Actually Dragoner, he was born in Greenwich but grew up in Newcastle. Shola was also born elsewhere but grew up in Newcastle. My mum was born in Kenya, but grew up in Newcastle. All of whom, in my opinion as a born and raised geordie, are GEORDIES!

• 18 JMC // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:38

  My team against Villa…

  Given

  Beye / Taylor / Cacapa or Faye /Enrique

  Milner / Barton or Duff / Emre / N’Zogbia

  Owen / Viduka

  We need to beat them Midlands boys, Agbonlahor is a doubt, BONUS!

• 19 paul p // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:47

  got to say i agree with some of the comments about stevie. yes i think he gives his all, but he does make mistakes and they are costly, just like our friend titus. The good thing is, taylor is young and the mistakes he is making will go. I would leave him out. It may be the wake up call that taylor needs. It will make him realise that his game is not up to scratch and he needs to improve. yes the squad needs an overhaul defo, new players in, but what with what we have got, I would have to go with the following for the rest of the season (if all available)

  given

  beye, faye, cacapa, enrique

  milner, emre, barton, duff

  owen, viduka

  subs martins, nzogbia, taylor, butt, harper

• 20 James // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:56

  We could argue about Cacapa all day long but the truth is like or not Keegan will get rid of him in the summer. Hence why he tried to sign Woodgate because he can see Cacapa is not good enough or fast enough to deal with the Premiership.

  As much as I disliked the signing at the time, Faye has been our best CB by miles. He has been outstanding for us and a real surprise package.

• 21 Tom_Toon // Feb 6, 2008 at 12:57

  James - Why the hell do you always say ‘I guarantee’, ‘truth is’ following that you say that KK will do this, do that. How the fook do you know?!?

  The signs are he will keep Cacapa as he has praised him recently.

  Maybe he tried to sign Woodgate to play with Cacapa, you do not know these things for fact!

• 22 Punk Skunk // Feb 6, 2008 at 13:06

  ……………..Harper………………..
  Beye-Faye-Cacapa-Enrique
  Milner-Barton/Zog-Emre-Duff
  Owen-Viduka
  Subs: Given-Taylor-Zog/Barton-Martins-Carroll
  …Poss play Zog CML beside Duff!..

• 23 Rich // Feb 6, 2008 at 13:17

  I think for Villa we should go with this team based on Martins not being fit and Zog suspended!:

  Given
  Beye Taylor Cacapa Enrique

  Milner Emre Faye Duff

  Owen Viduka

  Subs: Harper, Edgar, Butt, Barton, Smith

• 24 UTD111 // Feb 6, 2008 at 13:26

  My Team for Villa would be:

  Given
  Beye Faye Cacapa Enrique
  Milner Smith Emre NZogbia
  Viduka Owen

  Subs: Harper, Duff, Barton, Taylor, Carroll

• 25 John // Feb 6, 2008 at 13:30

  I think it should be

  Given
  Beye Taylor Cacapa Enrique

  Milner Barton Faye Duff

  Viduka Owen

  In the summer, buy a new defence bar Beye ….

  We ‘ve conceded 42 goals in 25 games .not far from being the worst defence in the premiership along side Derby and the scum

• 26 Johann // Feb 6, 2008 at 13:37

  Damn! What´s wrong with you people.
  If you´d know anything about football you´d realize Steven Taylor must be our first choice.
  Each og the top4 would jump at the chance of taking Taylor.

  Dragoner and Obafan, you say we judge him differently because he is a geordie. Ehh so DO YOU. You feel like he has to do more because he is a geordie.
  Just see games objectively and you´ll see our best defenders are Faye and Taylor. But our best combination remains to be seen. Cacapa and Taylor aint really doing it for me. Taylor must trust his central defense partner. Just look at the trust between him and Weather. They work very well together in the u20

• 27 Jesus of Nazareth // Feb 6, 2008 at 13:39

  Why do people think Cacapa is slow. Shay recently put him as one of the fastest at the club in the Soccer AM club quiz thing.

• 28 John // Feb 6, 2008 at 13:43

  @ Johann ..I think our best defender by far is Beye ..

  we have to be realistic..The rest are’nt good enough..we have conceded 42 goals ..I dont care who is in the defence but that is a rediculous amount of goals conceded at this stage…

• 29 ToonPipes // Feb 6, 2008 at 13:58

  Bey is our best defender.

  Faye is our best central-defender BY A MILE.

  Cacapa is next best - he just been settling in.

  Taylor is good and can be GREAT - just not yet. I blv all the hype heaped upon him is NEGATIVE. Let him sweat and keep pressing and pushing to improve BEFORE the adulation.

• 30 Leo* // Feb 6, 2008 at 14:13

  teams like sunderland and fulham will be very hard, because they will be fighting for survival

• 31 Punk Skunk // Feb 6, 2008 at 14:17

  iF Zog is suspened: i’d stick Lua Lua on the bench!..rather than Butt!..

• 32 Michael // Feb 6, 2008 at 14:20

  We need a full refurbishment even up to the manager. You talk abput quality, then let us not do favorites. Keegan included. Keegan is not quality. How do I asses this. He has only done well at one club in a career which includes failure at England level and Manchester city level. Being good at Newcastle once is outweighed by those failures.

  I looked at Sam when he bought Geremi, Smith, Barton, Selling Dyer in particular was the damaging point as he was a goal getting mid fidfielder and now in this modern age of football such has a midfielder developed, a top team needs a mid that scores into double figures a season. Look at united, Ronaldo, Lampard over the past years, Gerrard, as well, all goal scoring mids. Arsenal have a variety e.g. Fabregas, Flamini, Rosiscky, hleb so for them it is spread you need not depend on one, Everton have Cahill and look how high they are. But my point is goals from midfield is now the model for a team aspiring to be at the top.

  Sam bought Geremi, smith, and played butt nzogbia milner or emre who would be lucky to get 5 goals between them a season. If Owen is not scoring we will get no goals and 5 goals between 6 or so mids is not enough. Dyer had his best goal scoring season last season despite being plagued by injury. He was building up perhaps to get into doubles this season, but hey, Newcastle supporters harrased him out of st James park. If we go down, we are to blame, Too many managers Spoil everything.

• 33 paul p // Feb 6, 2008 at 14:25

  Zog is suspended defo for saturday. So midfield will be milner, emre, barton, duff unless any of them pick up injuries. taylor. he just needs a rest at the min. he got back in, played well but there have been a few signs of mistakes, maybe give him a couple of games off, especially against carew caus he won everything against taylor and rozenhal in the home game. i am at villa saturday durham mags on tour again. look out for my flag dh7 mags.

• 34 Obafan // Feb 6, 2008 at 14:27

  Johann - you can’t compare the U20 with the EPL.

  Come on man what are you saying, that I judge him because he needs to proove more than the other CD’s. You have got it wrong m8. I just see things as they are and that is how I see them:
  1. Cacapa played 2 or 3 awful games. Those games are still in the thoughts of the most and every time we concede a goal; people are looking what Cacapa did and they try very hard to find a mistake from him. sometimes it really is ridiculous to read or hear the comments about him.
  If I was Cacapa and I knew that every time we concede a goal my name (Claudio ) is mentionned then my confidence will be very little.
  2. Taylor has got a great future, but needs to learn so much more. He makes lots of mistakes which are most of the time very costly. But what happens, oh look Cacapa was marking wrong, NO FFS TAYLOR HESITATED TOO LONG OR DID NOT CLEAR ENOUGH AND A GOAL WAS CONCEEDED!!! T hen you read here and most of you mention Cacapa as the guilty one.

  COME ON 5 YEARS AS CAPTAIN OF LYON; DO YOU REALLY THINK HE IS NOT GOOD. NO, THE PROBLEM FOR HIM IS THAT OUR DEFENCE IS 90 MINUTES UNDER LOTS OF PRESSURE AND THAT IS THE REASON WHY WE CONCEDE THAT MUCH!!!!! This counts for every defender!!!!

• 35 Punk Skunk // Feb 6, 2008 at 14:30

  Right on Obafan!..

• 36 the artist formerly known as cooldj // Feb 6, 2008 at 14:48

  i don’t think we’ll be relegated but something to cheer about some point soon would be nice!!

• 37 ToonUSA // Feb 6, 2008 at 14:50

  well said Obafan

• 38 Dragoner // Feb 6, 2008 at 14:59

  Johann you say steven taylor should be first choice, but you didnt back that statement up with anything.

  You took the words straight out of my mouth Obafan

• 39 Bill F // Feb 6, 2008 at 15:07

  I have no problem with people who have been raised in an area saying they are Geordies or whatever. I think being a Geordie is probably more of a state of mind anyway.
  What I do find amusing however where (although I don’t this it happens so much now) some of our British teams and The Irish (sorry Sinead) in particular were trawling through birth records to see if there was even a hint of Irishness in their background so they could play for them. I think Vinny Jones was a prime example of this.

• 40 John // Feb 6, 2008 at 15:17

  ya he found out he a had a bit off Irish in him but we still did’nt get a place in the team . He played for Wales remember?

  Weres hargreaves from ?

• 41 Howie // Feb 6, 2008 at 15:23

  just saw that keegan said smiths a great character to have in the squad. NOT GOOD.
  however he said he may not play every week.GOOD

• 42 bottlodog // Feb 6, 2008 at 15:32

  My old man had the serious misfortune of being born in hammermith while my(Geordie) granda was looking for work.He’s lived and worked in Newcastle for all but three of his 76 years.
  You’ll never meet a more proud Geordie
  Anyway, does no-one think our midfield should take some of the blame for our defensive woes?
  The ease and speed with which all teams (including Derby FFS!) have ripped thru our midfield scares the crap out of me!
  No defence, that exposed, for 90mins can hope to keep a clean sheet

• 43 Rich // Feb 6, 2008 at 15:33

  Howie - i read that also, I think hes probably right hes a good player to have in the squad, his passion and commitment will be passed onto the youngsters and im very with the possibility he may not play every week. Emre appears to love Keegan, i read he wats to stay here for the longhaul, will we now see what he can really do? i really hope so he has so much talent

• 44 Bill F // Feb 6, 2008 at 15:33

  I wasn’t saying he was Irish was just using him as an example, I know he was Welsh??? name is a bit of a giveaway.

  I was just thinking that If I win the euro lottery outright I will give Toon the money to buy Juninho.

• 45 Rich // Feb 6, 2008 at 16:05

  juninho is quality but hes getting on a bit Bill, still would be great for a season or 2 how olds he 33?

• 46 Bill F // Feb 6, 2008 at 16:18

  I know but he is such a match winner I would be happy to gamble on him. Seeing the way he has been playing for Lyon I think he has at least 3 good seasons left in him

• 47 Punk Skunk // Feb 6, 2008 at 16:23

  Bottleofdog, ya’ dead right about our midfield allowing too much pressure on the defense…All our woes stem from there…also, we ain’t got anyone mid that scares the shit outta the opposition & keeps them busy!..Plus, we don’t feed the strikers, therefore everyone questions their ability!..

• 48 Keegan=God. // Feb 6, 2008 at 21:46

  You have to remember Steven Taylor is still young. He’s our best centre half, IMO. He’s very passionate about the game too. I personally wouldn’t sell anyone in the summer as they’re all capable players. Players some of you have mentioned:
  Cacapa- Has only has 2 or 3 bad games!

  Smith- What does he do wrong?

  Barton- Has the class no doubt.

  Butt- Our best player this season probably, Close between him and Beye.

  Some of you need to go to more of the games. We need to be a buying club not a selling one.

  Look at the players we have. Emre, Owen, Martins, Duff, Milner, Taylor etc.

  In the summer BUY, a left back, central midfielder(attacking), New striker and we’re sorted I reckon.

  Keep the faith, Howay the lads.

• 49 AndyT // Feb 7, 2008 at 11:07

  Finally a few people are starting to get the right idea. In a nutshell our biggest problem this year is a combination of conceding too many goals and scoring too few. Do we have rubbish defenders and strikers. No. Beye, Cacapa, Faye, Taylor, Enrique are all decent players. Maybe not as good as we talk sometimes, but I would say all premiership players. For all Owen is maligned, he is one of the best finishers in the business. The duke is also a fantastic finisher and a good opertunistic striker to have along side an Owen or Martins. Martins gets himself more chances than Owen, and although in a couple of years I think will be a fantastic player, still needs to polish his finishing. What we lack, especially when playing 442 is a working midfield. They give the ball away far too cheaply, most noteably round the edge of the opposition box. This means fewer chances for the front men and increased presure on the defence. Our midfield need to
  1) Control the ball better.
  2) Pass the ball more accurately
  3) When they do loose it - move quickly to try and win it back instead of wondering where it went and ambling back!
  Our midfiled get criticised for lack of creativity - I think they are able to be creative. Duff, NZogbia, Milner, Emre are all creative once they have controlled the ball, but their first touches and aplication after losing the ball are poor, and while they can all pass the ball very well, are often just careless with passes.

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