Newcastle United – The season ahead
For the first time since 2007 the Toon are in Europe! After what could only be described as a complete shock last season we finished fifth. Now, as the new season draws closer, Newcastle fans are drooling at the fact that we are in the Europa league. With the draw for the play-off round on Friday Newcastle fans are counting down the days.
First of all, what we need for a gruelling Thursday-Sunday schedule every week, all Newcastle fans will admit are squad is very weak after our first 11. In goal we are sorted for a number of years with one of the stand out keepers of last season Tim Krul, at right back we are short, we have Danny Simpson, who is blatantly not a crowd favourite and that is about it. The on-going Debuchy saga seems to have hit a brick wall with Lille saying they will not sell, so who do we get? to be honest I don’t know, the Lille man has been our only target at right back and we don’t seem to rushing to buy a new one. At centre back we are also short, we have Steven Taylor, Mike Williamson and Captain Colo, and once again that’s it. After giving up on FC Twente’s Douglas, we once again have not been rushing to buy a new player, In my opinion we are missing out on a decent player in Douglas, but the staff at Newcastle seem to disagree, we have also have been linked with Sakho from PSG, if this happens I will eat my hat...He is a world class player and as much as I would love to see him in black and white it will not happen. At left back we have two good youngsters in Davide Santon and Shane Ferguson; all Newcastle fans are more than happy with that. In midfield we seem to be ok, with either the 433 or 442 formations that we adopted last season we are fine, when we play with 3 in the middle Yohan Cabaye, Cheick Tiote and Jonas Gutierrez we are more than ok, and when we play a flat 4, Ben Arfa and Jonas make great wingers either side of Cabaye and Tiote. And lastly the forwards; as is with the midfield we are ok, when the 442 formation is deployed Ba and Cisse will be an unstoppable combination, also when we play 433 with Ba on the left Ben arfa on the right and Cisse upfront by himself we will be deadly, as was seen towards the end of last season when we won 8 of our last 10 games.
Next, what we need to do in each of the competitions, firstly the Premier League, we need to try and play our full strength team as often as we can, all Newcastle fans would love to see another top 6 finish, and that is more than capable with our squad if we were to add a few fresh faces. The next most important competition in the pecking order of Newcastle fans is of course the Europa league, as we will have a very tough schedule we will need to rest some of key players to keep them injury free, the likes of Cabaye, Cisse and Ben arfa will have to stay clear of the injury table if they are to help us to premier league glory. And as for the league cup and FA cup, these will be good opportunities to blood some of our new young talent, like Bigirimana and Amalfitano and then possibly bring in the big guns if we progress to the latter stages. In conclusion, Newcastle have the toughest season in years coming up and can we handle it? I think yes, I’m putting it out there and saying we will finish in the top 6, get to the quarter finals of both the FA and league cup, and get to the final of the Europa league, whether we win any of the tournaments though is another matter..
By Josh Birkenshaw (@ToonBirky96)
First of all, what we need for a gruelling Thursday-Sunday schedule every week, all Newcastle fans will admit are squad is very weak after our first 11. In goal we are sorted for a number of years with one of the stand out keepers of last season Tim Krul, at right back we are short, we have Danny Simpson, who is blatantly not a crowd favourite and that is about it. The on-going Debuchy saga seems to have hit a brick wall with Lille saying they will not sell, so who do we get? to be honest I don’t know, the Lille man has been our only target at right back and we don’t seem to rushing to buy a new one. At centre back we are also short, we have Steven Taylor, Mike Williamson and Captain Colo, and once again that’s it. After giving up on FC Twente’s Douglas, we once again have not been rushing to buy a new player, In my opinion we are missing out on a decent player in Douglas, but the staff at Newcastle seem to disagree, we have also have been linked with Sakho from PSG, if this happens I will eat my hat...He is a world class player and as much as I would love to see him in black and white it will not happen. At left back we have two good youngsters in Davide Santon and Shane Ferguson; all Newcastle fans are more than happy with that. In midfield we seem to be ok, with either the 433 or 442 formations that we adopted last season we are fine, when we play with 3 in the middle Yohan Cabaye, Cheick Tiote and Jonas Gutierrez we are more than ok, and when we play a flat 4, Ben Arfa and Jonas make great wingers either side of Cabaye and Tiote. And lastly the forwards; as is with the midfield we are ok, when the 442 formation is deployed Ba and Cisse will be an unstoppable combination, also when we play 433 with Ba on the left Ben arfa on the right and Cisse upfront by himself we will be deadly, as was seen towards the end of last season when we won 8 of our last 10 games.
Next, what we need to do in each of the competitions, firstly the Premier League, we need to try and play our full strength team as often as we can, all Newcastle fans would love to see another top 6 finish, and that is more than capable with our squad if we were to add a few fresh faces. The next most important competition in the pecking order of Newcastle fans is of course the Europa league, as we will have a very tough schedule we will need to rest some of key players to keep them injury free, the likes of Cabaye, Cisse and Ben arfa will have to stay clear of the injury table if they are to help us to premier league glory. And as for the league cup and FA cup, these will be good opportunities to blood some of our new young talent, like Bigirimana and Amalfitano and then possibly bring in the big guns if we progress to the latter stages. In conclusion, Newcastle have the toughest season in years coming up and can we handle it? I think yes, I’m putting it out there and saying we will finish in the top 6, get to the quarter finals of both the FA and league cup, and get to the final of the Europa league, whether we win any of the tournaments though is another matter..
By Josh Birkenshaw (@ToonBirky96)