Jaztheman
Chairman of Selectors
Wednesday 5th December
I made sure training was tough this week as I increased the intensity on fitness, rather like an army drill. The boys didn't like it, good! If they start winning in style again then it will stop and we will resort to fun training, whilst improving at the same time. The balls in their court now. The other news this week is that we have been drawn to face Coventry City at St.James' Park on the 5th January in a F.A Cup third round tie. A member on Planetcricket.net, a fellow Coventry fan in fact, had this to say on the matter "****!". That speaks louder than actions in my opinion.
Forget next months cup tie, today we had the Quarter Final of the Carling Cup to play. We had an easy draw to be fair, Wolverhampton Wanderers at St.James' Park. Not only were we favourites to win this match but we were also favourites to win the entire cup. I knew this was possible! How great would a trophy be in my first season at Newcastle, especially a cup that the illustrious club has never won before! The lads morale wasn't as high as normal but I knew this was because of the training, so I was happy. I explained to them why I did it and then people were beginning to see that this meant alot to me. Team spirit was a bit higher after that but for the first time this season, I think, I started with both Faye and Beye. Even Emre started. They better not mess up!
GOAL! What a start.. Eh? The referee gave a goal for us, went to the linesman and then disallowed the goal. Well the move in itself was a well planned move with Milner passing to Emre who on the edge of the box, passed to Martins and the rest is history. I couldn't see any problems? Must of been 'offside'! Our next chance to go 1 up, comes 12 minutes later. N'Zogbia whipping a delicious ball across the box, for Martins to be denied in the air by goalkeeper Hennessey. 21 minutes in and we finally take the lead after continuous pressure.Emre again instrumental in the build up, passing to eventual scorer Barton who took a touch and then hit a sweet curling shot from 20 yards. Nice one! 9 minutes later and the fans are overjoyed as we double our lead, to bring our tally to 2-0. N'Zogbia creating the chance this time, by putting Martins in, for Obafemi to megs the oncoming keeper, to gain his 30th goal of the season in all competitions! As we look to increase our lead straight away, 2 minutes later we nearly get that third goal. Emre the man with the chance this time as he intercepted a pass from Edwards on the edge of the box, but pulls his shot just wide. Then just before half time, we get the third! Martins getting his second goal of the evening, this time from a Milner corner. A powerful header at the front post was enough to see it in the back of the net. We took them apart this half, with them having no shots, at all, at goal.
I didn't really talk to the players at half time apart from telling them that their first half display was very good and that they should keep it up. A[art form that, I just let them do what they wanted. Most just chose to sit around talking, discussing the game. From what I could gather, they were enjoying it, which is of course the most important thing in football. It's nice to win though, and I'll be damned if we are going to let this slip!
The second half was the dire-st(Is that even a word?) half we have played all season, with their only actually being three good out and out chances in the entire half. All together there were only 5 shots... even they managed two! The first chance, albeit, went to Wolves only two minutes after the restart. Stephen Elliot with a great solo run, taking on two players in the process, and then hit a powerful shot from the edge of the box, for Given to hit over. We then start playing possession football and we are then finally granted with a deserved chance. Emre picking up the ball on the half way line, put a peach of a through ball through to Martins who took it just into the box and then thumped the crossbar! Why couldn't it nestle into the back of the net? In the last 30 minutes though, we just wouldn't lose the ball. Our possession football made the Wolves players agitated, leaving them to make needless fouls. The last out and out chance of the second half came in the 91st minute. Potter with a corner from their left hand side, was met by a Freddy Eastwood header, only to see it just graze the top of the crossbar, and thankfully go over. We rode our luck a little in this half but it was rather comfortable. What a boring half though!
The lads were elated about making it to the Semi-Finals, which means we can still win the cup! I was pleased with the first half, but far from please with the amount of shots in the second half. Oh well, we didn't really need to actually do that much in the second half and it was nice to see us pick up a well deserved clean sheet, god knows how long we have gone on a conceding marathon. Would be nice for some easy games to come in now. Contemplating on what to do in training though, should be rather interesting, me thinks...
I hope we get a nice Semi-Final draw, which would of course guide us into our first ever Carling Cup Final, which would of course be great. The three other teams that have made the Semi-Final are Sheffield United, West Ham and Middlesborough. Considering we have beaten 2 of those, both being the stronger teams, I think we should win the cup. To the Premiership now where we are still top and going strong! "Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do, doesn't mean it's useless." - Thomas Edison
Newcastle United 3 - 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Barton 21
Martins 30,40
Given - 8
Beye - 7
Enrique - 8
Radoi(c) - 7
Faye - 7(Sub 45)
Milner - 8
N'Zogbia - 8
Barton- 8
Emre- 8(Sub 62)
Owen - 7(Sub 73)
Martins - 9
Harper - Unused Sub
Smith - 6(On 62)
Torje - 7(On 73)
Taylor - 7(On 45)
Stancu - Unused Sub
Round The Grounds
Newcastle 3 - 0 Wolves
Sheff Utd 1 - 0 Aston Villa
Portsmouth 0 - 1(e) West Ham
Middlesborough 1 - 0 Sunderland
I made sure training was tough this week as I increased the intensity on fitness, rather like an army drill. The boys didn't like it, good! If they start winning in style again then it will stop and we will resort to fun training, whilst improving at the same time. The balls in their court now. The other news this week is that we have been drawn to face Coventry City at St.James' Park on the 5th January in a F.A Cup third round tie. A member on Planetcricket.net, a fellow Coventry fan in fact, had this to say on the matter "****!". That speaks louder than actions in my opinion.
Forget next months cup tie, today we had the Quarter Final of the Carling Cup to play. We had an easy draw to be fair, Wolverhampton Wanderers at St.James' Park. Not only were we favourites to win this match but we were also favourites to win the entire cup. I knew this was possible! How great would a trophy be in my first season at Newcastle, especially a cup that the illustrious club has never won before! The lads morale wasn't as high as normal but I knew this was because of the training, so I was happy. I explained to them why I did it and then people were beginning to see that this meant alot to me. Team spirit was a bit higher after that but for the first time this season, I think, I started with both Faye and Beye. Even Emre started. They better not mess up!
GOAL! What a start.. Eh? The referee gave a goal for us, went to the linesman and then disallowed the goal. Well the move in itself was a well planned move with Milner passing to Emre who on the edge of the box, passed to Martins and the rest is history. I couldn't see any problems? Must of been 'offside'! Our next chance to go 1 up, comes 12 minutes later. N'Zogbia whipping a delicious ball across the box, for Martins to be denied in the air by goalkeeper Hennessey. 21 minutes in and we finally take the lead after continuous pressure.Emre again instrumental in the build up, passing to eventual scorer Barton who took a touch and then hit a sweet curling shot from 20 yards. Nice one! 9 minutes later and the fans are overjoyed as we double our lead, to bring our tally to 2-0. N'Zogbia creating the chance this time, by putting Martins in, for Obafemi to megs the oncoming keeper, to gain his 30th goal of the season in all competitions! As we look to increase our lead straight away, 2 minutes later we nearly get that third goal. Emre the man with the chance this time as he intercepted a pass from Edwards on the edge of the box, but pulls his shot just wide. Then just before half time, we get the third! Martins getting his second goal of the evening, this time from a Milner corner. A powerful header at the front post was enough to see it in the back of the net. We took them apart this half, with them having no shots, at all, at goal.
I didn't really talk to the players at half time apart from telling them that their first half display was very good and that they should keep it up. A[art form that, I just let them do what they wanted. Most just chose to sit around talking, discussing the game. From what I could gather, they were enjoying it, which is of course the most important thing in football. It's nice to win though, and I'll be damned if we are going to let this slip!
The second half was the dire-st(Is that even a word?) half we have played all season, with their only actually being three good out and out chances in the entire half. All together there were only 5 shots... even they managed two! The first chance, albeit, went to Wolves only two minutes after the restart. Stephen Elliot with a great solo run, taking on two players in the process, and then hit a powerful shot from the edge of the box, for Given to hit over. We then start playing possession football and we are then finally granted with a deserved chance. Emre picking up the ball on the half way line, put a peach of a through ball through to Martins who took it just into the box and then thumped the crossbar! Why couldn't it nestle into the back of the net? In the last 30 minutes though, we just wouldn't lose the ball. Our possession football made the Wolves players agitated, leaving them to make needless fouls. The last out and out chance of the second half came in the 91st minute. Potter with a corner from their left hand side, was met by a Freddy Eastwood header, only to see it just graze the top of the crossbar, and thankfully go over. We rode our luck a little in this half but it was rather comfortable. What a boring half though!
The lads were elated about making it to the Semi-Finals, which means we can still win the cup! I was pleased with the first half, but far from please with the amount of shots in the second half. Oh well, we didn't really need to actually do that much in the second half and it was nice to see us pick up a well deserved clean sheet, god knows how long we have gone on a conceding marathon. Would be nice for some easy games to come in now. Contemplating on what to do in training though, should be rather interesting, me thinks...
I hope we get a nice Semi-Final draw, which would of course guide us into our first ever Carling Cup Final, which would of course be great. The three other teams that have made the Semi-Final are Sheffield United, West Ham and Middlesborough. Considering we have beaten 2 of those, both being the stronger teams, I think we should win the cup. To the Premiership now where we are still top and going strong! "Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do, doesn't mean it's useless." - Thomas Edison
Newcastle United 3 - 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Barton 21
Martins 30,40
Given - 8
Beye - 7
Enrique - 8
Radoi(c) - 7
Faye - 7(Sub 45)
Milner - 8
N'Zogbia - 8
Barton- 8
Emre- 8(Sub 62)
Owen - 7(Sub 73)
Martins - 9
Harper - Unused Sub
Smith - 6(On 62)
Torje - 7(On 73)
Taylor - 7(On 45)
Stancu - Unused Sub
Round The Grounds
Newcastle 3 - 0 Wolves
Sheff Utd 1 - 0 Aston Villa
Portsmouth 0 - 1(e) West Ham
Middlesborough 1 - 0 Sunderland
