Good mid morning and welcome to the Europa.
My first observation is that Rubin Kazan would have been a great name for a character in Angel Heart. And my second is that this will be the battle of the nearly men.
Louis Cyphre: Are you an atheist?
Harry Angel: Yeah, I’m from Brooklyn.
Sure I was put back in my box by the vast majority of you that voted in a recent poll. Things have changed and clearly most people don’t give as stuff about this competition. So tonight will be interesting as I believe that Rubin Kazan do care and they will be fielding their finest.
So will Arry play the kids? My guess is that the side will remain slanted that way. The Europa is a pleasant enough distraction for the up and coming players but essentially a nuisance in respect of the first teamers. Why would he make dramatic changes now?
Gio and Pav are pretty much guaranteed a start I guess. So if they fail again to set the world alight being serviced by children, their coffins will have definitely more nails in than wood.
I hope I am wrong. I hope we get cracker of a game, but if we do it may be down to the visitors kick starting proceedings.
Gio was pretty crap and deserved to be subbed..you would have thought the boy would take his chance to shine but he looked like he couldn’t be assed to chase back and help his FB
was great to see pav score a belter tonite although his probably off come january he loves the fans and the fans always love super pav.. agree about Gio think harry must have forgotten to tell him to run about a bit?..
I think super Gomes would have saved Newcastle’s second.Its great the young lads are getting this experience under their belts,and the bull is starting to look very composed.All in all not bad for a team with 9 starting changes.
Shame to see so many empty seats tonight, attendance was around 24,000.
Not much interest in the competition at this early stage.
Most important we came through the game with no injuries.
Take on board the point re: Gio not chasing back but playing on the wing in a 4-4-2 or similar is not his preferred position. Same with VdV, and you get the same result, they’re either out of position or somewhat half hearted on the chasing back. In VdV’s case that’ll probably end on a bit more effort followed by a petty clip of the opponent’s heels, mind.
Gio should play in VdV’s preferred position just behind the striker, IMO, and likewise VdV should play in his preferred position or not at all.
This wouldn’t be such an issue if we sold Defoe :freu
Anyway, as the missus had me under strict orders to sanitise my office (ongoing – shredding takes too bloody long to do) I couldn’t catch as much of the game as I would like to have had. I thought Carroll looked bright for a 14 year old again :-D , but seriously when Pat Nevin gave him the big ups after the game I wish I’d watched it all, and hope he’s right. Plenty of compliments for Walker from the studio, but in Nevin’s opinion Carroll was the star.
We just need to get some of that gear Davspurs keeps referencing to build up his physique :daumen:
P.S. Harry’s tactics were superb. Must have been, cos we won. :angel: