Sing Your Hearts Out For The Lads

With the Mackems just around the corner United are under pressure to perform. So far Newcastle's season has been up and down with some big highs and some big lows and it's difficult to say how it will turn out with the results we have been having.

Losing to Manchester United away from home was acceptable as was the draw away to Wolves.
However to win our first home game of the season 6-0 against one of the Premiership's better teams was very unlikely but we did it. The away victories at Everton and then at Chelsea in the League Cup were astonishing(we were one down after 6 minutes after all) but the defeats to Blackpool and Stoke at home caused much unrest with the home crowd. The League Cup has taken us to the extremes of the football league in the form of Accrington Stanley and Chelsea and produced 12 goals. A very welcome addition to the season if only we could bring some much needed silverware, even if it's "just" the League cup.

Is the premiership season going to carry on like this? It would certainly be a change for the regular away fans to see us winning but are we going to change it around and start getting results at home? We certainly need to or we know what Hansen et al will say.

Far be it for me to offer advice to Chris Houghton but the team looks like it needs a bit of pace upfront. With Lovenkrands not featuring much this season we have been left with 3 players who are all roughly the same kind of player albeit of differing abilities.

The one good thing that has come through this season is the young talent on show and in the wings of the first team - they certainly have made a big splash in the League cup so far. Has Mike Ashley got something right? It's not something I would like to admit or shout from the Gallowgate end but the youth set-up certainly looks very healthy and the two promising buys in the off season in the form of Ben Arfa and Cheik Tiote have certainly boosted the squad as well as the confidence of the fans with some promising performances. They will need to stand up and be counted in the game against the Mackems as will every player on the pitch. Experience will no doubt be a key factor in the derby so don't rule out Nolan, Smith and Barton starting as they all know how to handle themselves and seem to thrive on a tackle. Just what the Toon Army love to see but a winner from a local lad would be hard to beat and Andy Carroll could do some damage to the black cats' back four. He will be looking at the wingers to provide ammunition; failing that we can always rely upon Aycliff and his old NME boys to get the job done.


"The League Cup has taken us to the extremes of the football league in the form of Accrington Stanley and Chelsea and produced 12 goals"

With arguably 12 players under the age of 25 looking at the first team for a place and 6 more under 20 waiting in the wings - it's not a bad position to be in, especially with the balance of experience we have in players like Smith, Nolan, Barton, Campbell, Lovenkrands, Coloccini, Gutierrez, Enrique and Harper. Obviously we will have our injuries but fingers crossed nothing compared to the two years pre-Championship.

Our young lads will get a chance just like Krull, who now finds himself starting, and they need to grasp that chance by both hands as competition for places looks hot. To be in the starting 11 at St James' Park on 31st October should be a massive motivation. We look good enough to beat the auld enemy by playing football but we can also get stuck in. With our Geordie Number Nine leading the lads to battle we can rest assured they will take the battle to the enemy. They do care who wins, they will play for you and me. That does not mean we can't help though. You know what you need to do - get up and sing your hearts out for the lads. Turn St James' into a deafening arena and put the enemy to bed. Again.