Much has been said about Newcastle United’s ‘spending spree’ in January and in the eyes of most fans, other than bringing in a superstar striker, it really couldn’t have been a better window for the club. In Matthieu Debuchy, Newcastle finally replaced the inconsistent Danny Simpson at right back and in Massadio Haidara, a superb [...]

Much is said about a team’s ability to hold onto the ball nowadays. Playing a ‘ tiki taka’ possession game is all the rage in the modern-day game and such a style is commonly laid out as the foundational philosophy many clubs and their youth sides. Keeping the ball makes a lot of sense and is a [...]

A sullen first half or so of the season doesn’t look to be getting any brighter for Newcastle United – the 2-1 defeat to Fulham continuing Alan Pardew’s record of never coming from behind in a league game as Newcastle United manager, leaving the Toon with just 17 points after 16 games and 2 points [...]

I think we can all admit that Newcastle haven’t exactly set the league alight this season! Following on from the successes of last season and attempting to show further progress was always going to be a tough ask. But, few would have predicted that the Magpies would have given us such lacklustre and unimaginative displays [...]

Veering on one quarter of the 12/13 Premier League season already completed and Newcastle United have had somewhat of an indifferent start to their 19th modern day campaign in England’s top flight. Lady lucky shone through the murky sleet –threatening skies at St James’ yesterday, as an injury time Sammy Ameobi shot deflected off the [...]

On purchasing ‘flying’ Argentinian winger ‘Jonas’ from Real Mallorca in 2008, manager-at-the-time Kevin Keegan was quoted as saying: Keegan signed Gutierrez with his typically attacking-minded tactics in place, expecting the wide man to get ‘bums off seats’ and give Newcastle the balance and forward threat they had craved for so long. And, in his earlier [...]

Reality check time at Stamford Bridge as Newcastle were cut open by the craft of Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres in a 2-0 defeat on Sunday. But, Newcastle gave a super account of themselves and the disappointment of the club and fans at losing to one of England & Europe’s top sides really highlights the [...]

Saturday provided Newcastle with a very satisfying 3 points, as they started the Premier League 2012/13 campaign pretty much where they left off. Pardew opted for more secure 4-4-2 to begin the game, which didn’t really cause too much panic to Spurs in their defensive third. But a shift to the 4-3-3 which saw Newcastle [...]

We all know the modern day game is evolving/has evolved – players are getting fitter, stronger and generally more athletic, recovery/rehab is shorter and the tempo and strategic nature of the game continues to change dramatically. However, football still remains about scoring goals. The question here is, ‘is crossing still as an effective a tool [...]

Laurent Blanc’s France team entered Euro 2012 on the back of a 21 unbeaten international run to face an embryonic England side, freshened by the recent arrival of Roy Hodgson, who themselves have looked resilient in their run up to the tournament. France have been far from impressive in recent tournament football, especially when you [...]