The Spaniard said: ‘You can only drive the car you have’ – but could he push his side closer to the speed limit?It won’t last long, but the infant Premier League table is about as close to telling porkies as a league table can ever get at the moment, giving the wholly misleading impression that big can mix with little in England and that any team can reach any stratum. Related: Newcastle tie a welcome distraction as Aitor Karanka asks for patience| Ben Fisher Related: Who are the Premier League possession kings in a single match? Continue reading...
Arsène Wenger’s lively forwards were undermined by shoddy defending on a day when Newcastle all but secured safetyThe quest for meaning, the need to form the unbearably random constituents of our existence into some kind of order, to create a narrative or a value-system, to believe it all somehow matters – it seems integral to humanity. But sometimes a late-season game between two sides with nothing much to play for is just a late-season game between two sides with nothing much to play for. Related: Arsenal slump to another defeat as Matt Ritchie hits Newcastle winner Continue reading...
The chance conversion rate has been an achilles heel this season and so it proved again at Crystal PalaceAll of a sudden Newcastle United had two on one. The break had started inside their own half and Kenedy, the January loan signing from Chelsea, who was leading it, had time to consider his options.Everybody inside Selhurst Park knew which one he would take – the square ball to Ayoze Pérez – and so it became a question of whether he could work it or not. He could not. When Kenedy released the pass, Pérez was flagged for offside. It was the 47th minute, Newcastle were 1-0 up and they had blown the chance to take control of a relegation six-pointer....
Chants aimed at Mike Ashley and swaths of empty seats at Stamford Bridge showed the depth of fans’ dissatisfactionIt was on 17 minutes that the Newcastle United supporters first made their feelings clear. “You fat cockney bastard, get out of our club,” came the chant from one corner of The Shed and it did not require Sherlock Holmes to figure out to whom their ire was directed. Mike Ashley was not in attendance but he has remained a notable figure in proceedings, on and off the pitch.First there was the chant, which could be heard again on three occasions during the second half, and then the makeup of those responsible for it. Newcastle fans regularly travel in good numbers but...
As the Newcastle manager faces his former club in an emotional reunion, he insists money is not everything in search for silverwareRafa Benítez likes to list the very real similarities between the cities of Liverpool and Newcastle and their respective football clubs. He relishes the hallmark, often razor‑sharp humour common to both sets of supporters, appreciates the broad socioeconomic parallels and understands shared fears that their teams are in peril of turning into perennial also-rans.If such worries are markedly more pronounced on Tyneside, it is approaching six years since Liverpool last won a trophy – the 2012 League Cup, under Kenny Dalglish. Accordingly their supporters head to St James’ Park for Sunday’s meeting with Benítez’s Newcastle United anxious about the...