The updated (final) squad for the Europa League apparently has Massadio Haidara, Moussa Sissoko, and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa added to it. This leaves Deboosh out, at least it gives Simpson some game time, unless we play Maidara LB and Santon RB. If you're interested the players gone off the list are: Conor Newton, Demba Ba (obviously), Mehdi Abeid, Brad Inman, Dennis Knight (who?) and Xisco (again obviously). Gouffran was cup-tied having played against us for Bordeaux, Debuchy is left out as only one player who has previously played in a Uefa competition is eligible to be included (in this case Sissoko).
And an update on tonight's internationals: Sissoko got an assist as France lost 2-1 to Germany. Cabaye and Sissoko started the game, with YC4 playing the full 90. MYM and Debuchy were unused subs. Krul and Santon both played the full 90 in a 1-1 draw between Holland and Italy
Couple of things that have cropped up today that are well worth a read. Firstly The Guardian's interview with Saylor, something written by Louise Taylor that actually seems favourable to one of our lads. And if you haven't seen it already the Chronicle has an exclusive interview with Llambias. There's nothing Earth-shattering in there, but some nice glimpses into a few things behind the scenes, the faith in Pardew, admitting they f*cked up in the Summer.
SkySports is scrolling that Tiote has been arrested on suspicion of fraud and his car has been seized.
How is a Camaro worth £75,000? EDIT: Crisis averted. He's still expected to start tomorrow. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/feb/13/cheik-tiote-newcastle-arrest
Fraud on motoring offences usually means he was caught speeding by a camera and said someone else was driving so they gets the points on their licence. Its a hard thing to prove but carries an automatic prison term if found guilty. It could of course be something totally different, not sure why they seized his car.
http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20130301/club-statement-nile-ranger_2281670_3094148 Ranger kicked to the curb. What a waste.
Sammy scored on his debut for the Smoggies, looks like he's pretending to be HBA: I heard a radio interview with Pardew before the Swansea match yesterday, he was saying he expects Sammy and Fergie to excel at the Championship level, and if they don't then they're not for us... So the pressure is on them.
Well done, Sam I Am. He didn't seem to celebrate that much though. I like to think it's because he's helping the Smoggies.
Adios Capitan: Fabricio Coloccini has broken back Went back to Argentina. May miss up to seven weeks. Thx, Jay!
San Lorenzo tweeted out pictures of you-know-who attending a reserve game. I'm really just past the point of caring.
I moved on, just like that. Thanks for your service in this difficult time, but don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya. I just wonder if the injury is real. Thx, Jay!
Random factoid of the day: How is the new Pope and Newcastle United connected? New Pope is and has been a San Lorenzo supporter. Colloccininininini as everyone now knows has returned to San Lorenzo. Ergo, by the way of one degree of Coloccini, the Pope and Newcastle are connected. Whatever. you may now have back the 30 seconds it took you to read this post....
Good lead into my nomination for NUFC Topical Tweet of the Year award: 311931467490013186 is not a valid tweet id
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...tml?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490 HBA out for the rest of the season. Hooray depth.
HBA should have been match ready in Russia, and I think he told Pardew he was or would be, and he was not. That's disappointing and I'm starting to get the idea that HBA will spend is career injured more than match ready :-(. Do you think we could get 12-15 million for him in the summer?
The HBA thing is strange and someone seems to have f*cked up. I presume Hatem said he was fit for the trip to Russia, or the club medical staff said he was fine. Now... if we go back to when he first got the injury last year they originally took him off as a precaution, and he was supposed to be out for a couple of weeks. This week they brought in a specialist, because HBA wouldn't sprint, and the club seemed to think it was all in his head. The specialist said he needs an operation. It seems to me that if he needs surgery now, he probably needed surgery in December when this first happened. The problem has obviously been misdiagnosed by the medical staff and we've lost 7 months of Hatem bomb as a result.
I wonder how much money that translates to in wages and duration of contract. Most of us don't ever have the chance to make million pound mistakes on the job. Happens all the time in football.