MORE BAD NEWS FOR NEWCASTLE:

From Tyne-Talk:

quote:

Nolberto Solano faces several weeks on the sidelines with a groin strain, after hobbling off late in the second half of extra-time in Wednesday night's Champions League qualifier against Partizan Belgrade at St James' Park. Nobby was clearly struggling with the injury after he was named as one of The Magpies' better players on the night. Robson regretted not having Solano available to take a spot-kick, and said: "Nobby's done his groin and was clearly struggling so he had to come off. "Aaron Hughes was also struggling with cramp and Jonathan Woodgate with his fitness but Nobby's injury meant they had to stay on. "It was a big shame because it meant two of our best penalty takers - Nobby and Gary Speed - were unavailable for the shoot-out."

When will our nightmare rollercoaster end! Now with Nobby out, Sir Bobby will obviously put Lee Bowyer there. A player that cant cross and is usually invisible on the right-side.

Someone said to me that they think Lua-Lua would be a hit as a right-winger. I'd agree with him. He is an awesome dribbler, he has pace, his technical skills are excellent and when he came on against Belgrade, he whipped in some beautiful crosses. The only downside was nobody was there to meet them.

I'd like to see more of LuaLua there when Solano isn't available, I'm also keen to see how Ambrose will fit in. Bellamy is also an option on the right when he gets back to fitness, although we'd need someone to cover his runs.

UEFA Cup Draw:

AIK v Valencia
Dinamo Bucharest v Shakhtar
Maccabi Haifa v Publikum
Torpedo Moscow v CSKA Sofia
Dundee v Perugia
Cementarnica v Lens
Newcastle v NAC Breda
Benfica v La Louviere
Panionios v Nordsjaelland
Hearts v Zeljeznicar
Udinese v Salzburg
Genclerbirligi v Blackburn
Puchov v Barcelona
Dinamo Zagreb v MTK Hungaria
Hapoel Rumat Gan v Levski Sofia
Kaiserslautern v Teplice
Sartid v Slavia Prague
Villarreal v Trabzonspar
Grasshopper v Hadjuk Split
Hertha Berlin v Groclin
Liverpool v Olimpija Ljubljana
Valerenga v Grazer AK
Zimbru Chisinau v Aris Salonika
FC Copenhagen v Ferencvaros
Varteks v Debrecen
Hamburg v Dnipro
Bordeaux v Petrzalka
Roma v Vardar
Man City v Lokeren
Spartak Moscow v Esbjerg FB
Wisla Krakow v NEC Nijmegen
Leiria v Molde
Austria Vienna v Borussia Dortmund
Auxerre v Xamax
Ventspils v Rosenborg
Gaziantepspor v Hapoel Tel Aviv
Odense v Crvena Zvezda
Sporting Lisbon v Malmo
Utrecht v Zilina
Metalurh v Parma
MyPa v Sochaux
Schalke v Kamen Ingrad
Mallorca v Appoel
Southampton v Steaua Bucharest
Feyenoord v Karnten
PAOK Salonika v Lyn
Malatyaspor v Basel
Brondby v Viktoria Zizkov

NAC Breda are a Dutch side, they finished 4th in the Dutch league. The first leg is at home on 24 September, and we have to play ARSENAL at their ground 48 hours later

According to the BBC, Blackburn have agreed terms with Rangers for Barry Ferguson (for 7.5m). NUFC.com, who usually don't spread pointless rumours, say their source at the club tells them Newcastle could be bringing in a new player before the transfer window:

quote:

Only the sketchiest of details from our source adjacent to the club, but there's the suggestion of Newcastle making an attempt to bring in a new signing ahead of the transfer deadline. No hint of which player or position, but if anything changes we'll of course update you asap.

Let's hope there's some substance to this, we could do with a bit of good news.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Aug-29-2003 at 11:36

Nac Breda has Johna Elmander. he´s pretty good.

And it´s the home town of Tiesto

quote:

Originally posted by Kongo_kim Nac Breda has Johna Elmander. he´s pretty good. And it´s the home town of Tiesto

I didn't know that. Their fans seem alright, they're already on every Newcastle messageboard on the internet exchanging advice with our fans on where to drink in both cities

I wish I could go, sounds like it'll be a good laugh.

Woodgate, Bellamy and Solano will all miss tommorows match through injury, Ambrose isn't fit yet and Robert looks set to be on the bench again.

Looks like we'll be forced to play 4 central midfielders (Viana, Speed, Dyer, Bowyer), and apparently Hughes has a minor injury as well so it could be back 4 of Griffin, O'Brien, Bramble, Bernard.

The situation does not look good. I suspect this will be our lineup:

Given
Griffin O'Brien Bramble Bernard
Bowyer Dyer Speed Viana
Ameobi Shearer

No doubt Bowyer and Viana will drift into the centre which is their natural position giving our fullbacks a load of work and giving us few attacking options. Plus Speed is exhausted from all his recent games and Dyer has offered little lately, so we will probably lose the midfield battle (yet again). Ameobi and Shearer don't really go together as Ameobi is a goalscorer rather than a secondary striker. He also doesn't look his fittest, he only recovered from injury just in time for the Man U game and he was left out of the England squad.

This will be a hard game. We always knew the start of our season would be tougher than most playing 5 games in a fortnight but the injury situation is quite worrying. Even those who aren't injured don't look fully fit and it's showing on the pitch, espescially those who had international duty as well as Premiership and Champions League games. We are asking too much of Speed to do the defensive work of 4 men, espescially given his age and how many games he's played lately. If we buy one player this weekend it has to be a defensive midfielder. A few weeks ago I'd have said Right-Back/Centre Back was our first priority but Speed just isn't coping, we need a DM now.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Aug-29-2003 at 17:41

Terrible result today, although we played badly Birmingham were appalling, they offered absolutely nothing and snatched 3 points which they certainly didn't deserve, and it was sickening to see that Old Trafford apologist get a win at St James'. The first half was very open, both sides attacking each other and it was pretty end to end stuff. Birmingham had more of the possession but they were often hanging on to the ball to try and slow the tempo of the game. The second half they put 10 men behind the ball and did fuck all. On one of only a few brief counter-attacks Dunn played Johnson through into the penalty area, but as the ball was running away from him Speed gave away a penalty. Johnson wasn't even going to score, it was a silly goal to give away. Dunn's penalty was crap, Shay saved it but couldn't keep hold of it and Dunn scrambled for the rebound to score.

Once again Ameobi and Shearer just didn't work together, it's got to be someone else alongside Big Al next time, Lua Lua deserves a chance up there. Viana was poor, Dyer was poor, Speed was poor, Jenas was poor. Solano got stuck in and deserved to stay on, and the decision to substitute him was unpopular with the fans. I can only assume he isn't back to full fitness having just recovered from injury. Basically Birmingham were shite and we could, and should, have battered them.

A lot of our players are tired from a busy and tough set of fixtures the last couple of weeks, and the fortnight's rest (for some of them, international duties will beckon for others) might bring them back fully refreshed. Let's hope so. I'm disappointed that Bobby once again dropped Bernard whilst Dyer stays on the pitch after some dire performances lately, espescially given the number of attacking options we have in midfield to replace him.

We need to go to Goodison Park all guns blazing.

quote:

we could, and should, have battered them.

We didnt even deserve to win. We created nothing and im sorry to say, but i think the result was just. Fair enough they didnt attack at all and they had men behind the ball at all times. But they showed us how to defend.

Suprisingly, Bramble i thought earned himself man of the match. He had a few lapses of concentration, but apart from that he was solid.

Griffin again was useless. How he lost out to David Dunn towards the end of the second half, im clueless.

Viana was shocking. Ameobi was very poor. Midfield was pretty much useless, apart from Solano who contributed a bit to the teams effort.


People say our defence should be looked at first, which is quite true. But now i am beginning to worry that our attacking options are rapidly fading.

I cant stress this enough, but i think a change of formation would do as well, giving us a new play of confidence. Which would do us a heap of good at this time.

Right i dont even know where to start.

As for the partizan belgrade match, we played absolute wank. For a start Robson is persistently playing Ameobi and hes not providing the goods. I say get playing Lua Lua instead.

Well ffs newcastle are a tad bit poo when it comes to pens.

And as for bobby robson saying that all the players tried their best for the partizan belgrade match, he better fookn wake up. He seems to think that weve got a team which can win the premiership and we cant even qualify for the champions league.

I saw the highlights for the birmingham game and from what i saw, the defence was shit as usual and the midfield were constantly losing the ball to easily. You wud have thought getting knocked out would have been a wake up call, but obviously not, as long as there gettn there pay they dont really seem to give a shit.

There has to be some major changes in the squad.

For a start, Lua Lua should be getting his game before ameobi.

Solanos being a right cock with regards to playing for his country, he signed a contract which meant he cudnt play for his country, so i wud sell that **** and play bowyer instead of him.

As for robert, just sell him.

Bramble hes slow as fook he was a waste of money imo.

Aaron hughes isnt blatant good enough to play for the toon.

MY prediction for the end of the season, 10th-12th in the league.

quote:

Solanos being a right cock with regards to playing for his country, he signed a contract which meant he cudnt play for his country, so i wud sell that **** and play bowyer instead of him.

Sell Solano and we got no width. Our game is based on width and strikers need crosses to score the goals. Very rarely do we score any other way except from crosses. Besides, Bowyer cant play on the right.

Your spot on with everything else Alpha, SBR needs to wake up and face reality.

Wot really pisses me off is, where in the hell has all the money fkn gone?!?!

Im beginning to question the clubs financial security.