Atoksyah's Weblog

FIRST the good news for those of a black and white persuasion.

Newcastle United possessed the fighting spirit required to avoid a third successive home defeat, which would have increased concerns around St James’ Park.

Now the bad. Any more home performances like this, on the back of three defeats in four Premier League matches, including two at home to Stoke City and Blackpool, and the Magpies will have a genuine fight against relegation on their hands.

There have been promising aspects and plenty of reasons to be encouraged from the opening two months of the season, but weaknesses and cracks are emerging that need addressing by manager Chris Hughton.

The first half display against Wigan was the most worrying yet, highlighting how improvements are needed if a more damaging slide down the topflight table is to be avoided.

Once Ali Al-Habsi, the Latics goalkeeper, had got down well to hold a shot that was stabbed in his direction from Andy Carroll after 15 minutes Newcastle lost their way.

Carroll and Peter Lovenkrands, handed a start at the expense of his frustrated and dropped captain Kevin Nolan, were starved of any real service. Only Jonas Gutierrez of the four midfielders was capable of creating anything, while defensively Newcastle looked a shambles.

It did improve markedly after the restart, but by that time Newcastle’s disjointed and sluggish start had basically gifted Wigan a two-goal advantage at the break.

On the two occasions Franco di Santo had sent deliveries in to the Newcastle penalty area, Wigan had no right to score.

That, though, is exactly what they did. Twice in a little more than 100 first half seconds.

It was Charles N’Zogbia, back at St James’ Park for the first time since his departure in January last year, who capitalised on the sloppiness on both occasions.

First his diminutive frame was somehow allowed to head di Santo’s delivery into Tim Krul’s far corner by a static James Perch and Mike Williamson, who both stood by him.

Then the Frenchman added a second after Joey Barton lost out to James McCarthy in the middle and Perch was caught out of position high up the pitch.

Di Santo again picked out N’- Zogbia, who took a touch before unleashing a rasping drive into Krul’s top right corner, despite Williamson’s last-ditch rush to block.

N’Zogbia, who left under a storm after demanding a move following Joe Kinnear’s mispronunciation of his name, had silenced the Newcastle supporters who had given him a rough time.

He had also offered a further reminder of his value to Wigan, with the £9m-rated winger interesting Bayern Munich, Sunderland and Tottenham.

“He understands why he would get a bad reception, but he’s got experience and in a way he sees it as a football compliment,”

said Wigan manager Martinez.

“We knew how the fans would react and he relished the challenge. This was a game that he clearly enjoyed.”

Had it not been for Gutierrez, Newcastle would never have been able to force their way back into the match.

Following the confirmation that Hatem Ben Arfa will be missing for six months, Dan Gosling is weeks away from recovery and Wayne Routledge struggling for form, a lot of the attacking play will rest on the Argentine’s shoulders.

And, while he clearly has his shortcomings in the final third, his unpredictability means he is more often than not Newcastle’s most creative player.

That was certainly the case against Wigan. He had threatened to make an impact and then, following Shola Ameobi’s introduction from the bench, Gutierrez’s time arrived.

Eighteen minutes from the end he picked out Ameobi, who had worked ahead of his marker and headed down beyond Al- Habsi. Even then, though, there was still a lack of impetus until the closing stages.

Carroll had wasted a couple of decent opportunities, before Gutierrez floated over a sweet corner with 3mins 20secs of the four minutes of injury-time played. Carroll did well to turn goalwards and Fabricio Coloccini was on hand to power the equaliser past Al-Habsi.

While the rest of his teammates went crazy on the pitch, Gutierrez charged towards the dug-out and celebrated passionately in front of the coaching staff.

“I think the celebration was just delight,” said Hughton, who named him on the bench in the home defeat to Stoke City.

“My impression was that he is just ecstatic that we were able to get back into the game.

“If you look at the emotions of him and Colocinni when we scored that is what it meant to the team. Points in this division are valuable and to come back and get the point at that stage of the game showed what it meant to everybody.

“Jonas has certainly showed he is the sort of player who can break down resolute defences.

I think his form has got better.

I rested him at Everton and I would say since then he has been very good.

“One thing with Jonas is that you will always get a committed player, a player who absolutely loves playing.”

Having witnessed his team somehow come back from two goals down to avoid a fourth defeat in five Premier League matches, Hughton accepts he needs to find improvements.

He said: “There are concerns.

That we conceded two very poor goals, we allowed them too much possession and they showed some quality. They regained possession very well and passed it very well.

“We know that we will have to pick up a good percentage of points against this group of teams who we can expect to be around us.”

Either side of a Carling Cup date with Arsenal, Newcastle travel to West Ham next Saturday before taking on rivals Sunderland at St James’ Park on October 31. Those two matches could be pivotal in the Magpies’ season.

Sebuah skuad yang lebih berminat untuk menyerang, peminat-peminat yang setia dan sabar, dan pemain-pemain yang komited. Inilah jelmaan skuad Newcastle United yang pernah mencabar kejuaraan Premier League pada 96 dan 97. Cuma kali ini kita di tahap yang lebih rendah.

Tetapi kali ini kita memenangi Championship, satu kejayaan yang memang kita berhak atasnya. Inilah masa untuk kita bergembira, tetapi masa yang sukar akan menjelma tidak lama lagi.

Ini adalah satu kemanisan yang tak dapat diungkap. Kembali menyaksikan kem Newcastle berjuang untuk menempatkan nama Magpies gah di dunia bolasepak.

Kita akan kembali digoda, percaya bahawa masa gemilang kita telah kembali. Namun, layakkah kita?

Kita ada barisan pemain Premier League seperti Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton, Alan Smith, Fabricio Coloccini, Peter Løvenkrands, Jonás Gutiérrez dan José Enrique, dan kita ada pemain dalam buatan seperti Andy Carrol, Nile Ranger… namun kita tak patut berlari sebelum fasih berjalan.

Kita kena mengakui bahawa, seperti mana pasukan lain yang telah promoted, objektif utama pada masa depan adalah untuk kekal di dalam Premier League. Kita kena tanamkan ini dalam hati kita.

Masanya akan tiba buat kita untuk bersaing, ya mungkin untuk kekal adalah tujuan utama, namun sebagai the Toon Army, atok sentiasa berasa bahawa kita layak untuk gah, menang dalam perlawanan-perlawanan di EPL, walau menentang the Big Four.

Wigan pun boleh belasah Arsenal, apatah lagi kita?

Apa yang penting, kita mahu menyaksikan para pemain kita bersemangat waja. Anda di kelab yang besar, anda di Newcastle United!

By Craig Hope

Peter Lovenkrands

PETER Lovenkrands arrived at Newcastle United’s training headquarters ahead of sealing a three-year deal on Tuesday with one lucid intention – to help fire the Magpies back into the Premier League.

The Dane, who re-joins the Geordies having left at the end of last season, admits that the pain of relegation still lingers, although few fans would question his efforts – three goals in just eight starts – in striving to keep the club in the top flight.

And Lovenkrands, who was speaking to nufcTV in an exclusive interview, says that winning promotion is his number one goal.

“I’m delighted to be back and I’m very pleased to be here,” said the amiable former Rangers and Schalke frontman.

“It was the best move for me and my family. I loved my time here, I love the club and I love the fans.

“But I can’t forget that we were relegated. It was devastating and it was horrible to be part of it.

“But that’s why I’m back here – to help us get back up and I’ll do everything I can to make that happen.

“The boys have done a fantastic job so far and it’s a great situation to come in to with us top of the league.

“Let’s hope we can keep that going and get the club back where it belongs.”

Obafemi Martins and Peter Lovenkrands climbed off the substitutes’ bench to hand Alan Shearer a first victory and Newcastle a Barclays Premier League lifeline with a 3-1 win over Middlesbrough.

The Nigeria international struck within seconds of replacing Michael Owen with 20 minutes of a pulsating encounter remaining and the Dane secured the points with four minutes left to drag the Magpies out of the relegation zone and send Hull into the bottom three.

It was Newcastle’s first home win since December 21 and just their second anywhere in 18 attempts in what Shearer had described as the biggest match of his career, and he celebrated accordingly on the final whistle.

But opposite number Gareth Southgate could have few complaints about the effort his players put in as they fought for their top-flight lives to the death, although their plight now looks desperate after an 11th successive away league defeat.

They had taken a third-minute lead when the unfortunate Habib Beye bundled the ball into his own net after goalkeeper Steve Harper had blocked Tuncay Sanli’s close-range shot.

Steven Taylor celebrates his equaliser against Boro - GettyImages

However, defender Steven Taylor levelled within six with a bullet header after Boro old boy Mark Viduka had hit the post on a night when both sides enjoyed spells of control in front of a passionate crowd of 51,252.

Owen, who admitted his disappointment at being dropped for the trip to Liverpool last time out in his programme notes, returned to the starting line-up in one of five changes as Shearer went for broke.

However, with Boro also having reached the point of no return, Southgate too adopted an attacking approach with record signing Afonso Alves partnering Marvin Emnes in attack as the Dutchman was handed a first league start, and Stewart Downing lined up on the right in an attempt to test makeshift full-back Damien Duff.

The first goal arrived within three minutes of the kick-off, but for Shearer, it came at the wrong end and with a good deal of misfortune.

Tuncay turned well on Alves’ pass, but looked to have overrun the ball.

He got there just ahead of the fast-advancing Harper, who blocked, only to see the rebound ricochet back off Beye and into his own net.

Newcastle’s luck did not improve at all three minutes later when Viduka blasted a shot towards Brad Jones’ top corner, but with the goalkeeper looking on helplessly the ball cannoned back off the post.

But if there was any sense of despondency at St James’ it disappeared with nine minutes gone when Taylor rose to meet the first of a series of Danny Guthrie corners and guided a header past Jones.

The home side took the game by the scruff of the neck and Jones had to pull off a vital fingertip save to keep out Owen’s flicked 27th-minute header.

But Boro gradually eased their way into the game and with Downing and Tuncay prospering on the wings and Emnes causing all kinds of problems to stretch the Magpies defence, they threatened to restore their lead.

They very nearly did just that when the Dutchman benefited from Mohamed Shawky’s tackle on Viduka deep inside his own half and blasted in a shot which Harper blocked with his legs, and the striker wastefully dragged the loose ball wide.

Alves later departed on a stretcher to be replaced by Marlon King, but the game was very much in the melting pot as the players headed for the dressing room.

Viduka might have put the home side ahead with the cheekiest of efforts when he back-heeled Beye’s 46th-minute cross wide of the far post, and Nicky Butt drilled a free-kick into the defensive wall as the Magpies started brightly once again.

But Boro’s response was concerted and as the home side completely lost both their shape and concentration, it took an excellent save from Harper to keep out Gary O’Neil’s goal-bound 57th-minute strike.

The Teessiders were by now looking the more likely to break the deadlock, and Shearer decided the time had come to replace Jonas Gutierrez with Lovenkrands.

But it was Martins’ arrival as a 70th-minute substitute for Owen which proved the turning point.

Viduka headed on a high ball past Kevin Nolan and the Nigerian stepped inside Matthew Bates before dispatching the ball past Jones despite slipping as he shot.

The noise inside St James’ almost lifted the roof, although the game was far from over as the home fans settled down for an agonising finish.

But Lovenkrands calmed the nerves with four minutes remaining when he thumped home Nolan’s cross to seal a win as important as any in the club’s recent history.

Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe could make a shock return to the squad for the clash against Newcastle.
Defoe is back in full training after injuring his foot at the end of January and is pushing for a place, even though it was originally thought the game would come too soon for him.

Roman Pavlyuchenko (back) and Jermaine Jenas (hamstring) are struggling but Wilson Palacios is back from suspension and Alan Hutton (foot) is fit again.

Jermaine Jenas admits he expected Alan Shearer to be appointed Newcastle boss earlier in the season – and he just hopes there is enough time for him to save their season.

Shearer has six games to get the club out of relegation trouble and travels to Tottenham looking for his first win as a manager – one of three tough away games as they also face Liverpool and Aston Villa.

Hopes have been pinned on the remaining three games at St James’ Park, although there are fears Shearer may have been brought in too late.

Spurs midfielder Jenas, Shearer’s former team-mate, said: “I wasn’t surprised when he came in, I was expecting it all season.

“I’m sure he will do really well. I was reading that Shay (Given), another of my old team-mates, was worried that they may have left it too late. You hope it isn’t too late.”

Unfortunately for Shearer, Spurs have a place in Europe to play for and have also conceded the least amount of home goals in the Barclays Premier League this season.

Jenas has been a regular since Spurs went on a run that turned them from relegation candidates to European hopefuls, although he is struggling with a hamstring injury.

If he does not make it, Jenas will tell his team-mates how Newcastle will be “scrapping” for survival.

“If you look at the size of the club, nobody would have said at the start of the season they could have gone down,” Jenas said. “It’s unfortunate they are in that position and they will be scrapping.

“For a club like Newcastle to drop out of the Premier League is massive. We need to make sure we are up for the fight ourselves.”

Jenas saw Shearer develop managerial qualities while he was still playing.

“Sir Bobby Robson was the main man, the manager, but anywhere else you looked in the club it was Alan Shearer running it,” he said. “I had no doubt in my mind that he would be manager soon. He is a leader.”

Newcastle manager Shearer will make a series of late decisions on his injured players.

Shearer has asked striker Obafemi Martins (groin) to play through the pain barrier, while defender Steven Taylor (ankle) and midfielder Peter Lovenkrands (chest infection) were due to resume full training on Friday.

Left-back Jose Enrique (knee) remains a doubt but striker Mark Viduka (Achilles) is included in the squad.

Andy Carroll is fulfilling a dream as he attempts to follow in the footsteps of his hero.

The 20-year-old Newcastle striker’s late header at Stoke last weekend snatched a vital point for the club and sent Shearer into raptures on the sidelines.

That represented a major reversal of roles for a man who just a few short years ago was worshipping Shearer from the stands.

Whatever else happens over the remaining six games of a traumatic season on Tyneside, no-one will be able to take away what could prove a formative few weeks in his career.

Carroll said: “Playing for Alan Shearer is unbelievable. I used to watch him when I was younger, and he was a hero to me.

“He’s the manager now and I have just got to try to impress as much as I can.

“I know what he used to do. I have just got to try my best and do what I can do.”

Two of Carroll’s three senior goals to date for the club – his equaliser at Stoke and an earlier leveller at home to West Ham in January – have secured important points.

However, it is perhaps the trouble the 6ft 3ins hitman’s physical presence causes defenders which could be most useful between now and the end of May.

Shearer has been impressed with the way he has staked his claim with his performances for the reserves, and Carroll knows if he continues to impress the manager and assistant Iain Dowie, he will enjoy further involvement.

He said: “I have just got to try to impress them both and get a first-team place.

“They have come in and changed a lot of things. They have got the respect of everyone, which is what was needed.

“Everyone wants to play for them. Whether I play or not is up to them – I have just got to keep doing what I can do.”

Dimitar Berbatov fired Manchester United seven points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League, scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory at lowly Newcastle.

The Bulgarian clinched the points with a 56th-minute strike, but United had to come from behind to re-establish their advantage over Chelsea and Liverpool with a game in hand.

There was jubilation on Tyneside when, with just nine minutes gone, Peter Lovenkrands ended Edwin Van der Sar’s record of not having conceded a league goal since November 8 after the keeper failed to cling on to Jonas Gutierrez’s shot.

But it took the visitors just 11 minutes to restore parity through Wayne Rooney, and Berbatov ensured United’s run of successive league wins stretched to 11 after Park Ji-Sung pounced on an error by Ryan Taylor.

As Sir Alex Ferguson’s bandwagon rumbled on ominously, opposite number Chris Hughton was at least able to console himself with a spirited performance in front of an appreciative crowd of 51,636, although that will count for little if it is not transformed into points over the coming weeks.

Such have been the contrasting fortunes of the two clubs this season since they drew 1-1 at Old Trafford during the opening round of fixtures in August, that the talk before kick-off was not of if United would win, but by how many.

But with just nine minutes gone, it was Newcastle who took the lead against all odds as Van der Sar’s run without conceding a Premier League goal came to an end in ignominious circumstances.

The Dutchman failed to hold Jonas’ shot as it leapt up off the sodden turf and Lovenkrands stabbed the rebound home before casting an anxious glance at referee Steve Bennett’s assistant and only then beginning his celebrations.

St James’ Park erupted as fans who had arrived fearing a repeat of Liverpool’s 5-1 demolition job at the end of December – United won on Tyneside by the same scoreline last season – dared to believe their side could emerge with something to show for their efforts.

It might have been 2-0 within four minutes when Obafemi Martins fired inches wide under pressure from Rio Ferdinand, with the Nigerian also forcing a good 31st-minute block from the England defender after Van der Sar had failed to deal with a Ryan Taylor corner.

However, by that point, United had made the most of their greater share of the possession to get themselves back on level terms in fine style.

Rooney, back in the side after recovering from a virus, turned superbly past Fabricio Coloccini on to John O’Shea’s pass and blasted a left-foot shot past Steve Harper with the help of a deflection off Steven Taylor, although the defender’s contribution was largely irrelevant.

United continued to enjoy the greater share of the ball and defender Nemanja Vidic header over with the goal at his mercy after the home defence had failed to deal with a 39th-minute Michael Carrick corner.

But the Magpies continued to threaten with Martins and Jonas causing problems.

Mr Bennett had to deal with an ugly incident in injury time when Steven Taylor caught Cristiano Ronaldo with a flailing arm and then careered into Carrick on the sideline, sparking a furious response from skipper Ferdinand.

After consulting his assistant, the referee booked Taylor, and Ferdinand followed him as he continued his protests following the half-time whistle.

A feisty affair continued in the same vein after the break with Vidic accusing Martins of catching him with an elbow as the pair jumped for a high ball.

Van de Sar had to race from his line to prevent Lovenkrands from latching on to a 52nd-minute through-ball, but when the second goal did arrive, it did so predictably at the other end.

Ryan Taylor slipped as he attempted to chest a deep ball back to Harper and Park got there first to square for Berbatov, who calmly slotted it into the empty net.

Newcastle were visibly deflated by the reverse as United once again assumed control, and they might have increased their lead as they powered their way towards the final whistle.

Harper had to save from Ronaldo and Berbatov in quick succession as time ran down, and then dived bravely at the Portugal international’s feet after he had slipped away from Steven Taylor.

But Newcastle made one last push and it was Van der Sar who finished the busier of the two keepers as he kept out first Lovenkrands and then Martins, although without any great difficulty.