Insert thoughts here. Apparently Given may play. If he does, I give us half a chance at a draw. If not...
It's Boro ffs. Surely Harper's not so inept as to let Boro score on him. If we get Emre back (please, Lord, please) and put Luque and Alan up front, we should be able to score more than they do. Of course, with our defense, I just don't know how many we'll concede.
THAT was my concern. I have faith in Harper, but he's no Given. Shay's saved that defense more times than I care to recount.
Doubt it. Our offense really lacks something without owen To tell you the truth, I just want shearer to break the record and retire.
I doubt Shay will play. This will be a tough game, but one that you can win. Is the game at home or at the canal-side?
45 Half time at St James in an entertaining first 45 minutes of football 42 Nolberto Solano puts in Alberto Luque wide right and the Spanish internationals centre is poor and Boro clear 39 Guidoni Junior Doriva overplays in a dangerous area and Alberto Luque almost capitalises but Boro's Brazilian defender manages to clear the danger 35 Gaizka Mendieta has his flicked header destined for the bottom corner was cleared on the line by goal scorer Nolberto Solano 32 Jean-Alain Boumsong again looks uncertain in his clearance putting the Newcastle back four under pressure 30 Alberto Luque breaks through Mark Schwarzer comes rushing out but neither player with any conviction and the keeper manages to squeeze the ball to safety 26 Nolberto Solano fires the magpies ahead from a 25yard curling free kick 24 Mark Viduka is played in by James Morrison but the Australian fires over from 2 yards, the ball popped up of his shin and over 22 James Morrison fires a volley just wide from 20 yards after a poor clearing header from Jean-Alain Boumsong 20 The corner was driven in from Nolberto Solano but the Peruvian international could not beat the first man 19 Nolberto Solano forces Gaizka Mendieta to concede a soft corner for the home side. 18 Alberto Luque smashes the ball against the Boro bar but the linesman rules the Newcastle man offside 15 Young Lee Cattermole has started brightly for Boro, winning a succession of headers while under pressure 12 Newcastle bossing possession in the opening 10 minutes as Middlesbrough are finding it hard to pick up the second ball 8 Alan Shearer and Nolberto Solano link up well but the ex-England hitman fails to control the final ball leaving the Boro defence to tidy up 7 Alberto Luque beats the offside trap and has a clear run on goal, the Boro man rounds the keeper and hits the outside of the post from a tight angle 6 Middlesbrough play the ball into the box early but Gaizka Mendieta is obstructed by Yakubu Ayegbeni and the chance goes begging 5 Alberto Luque concedes a needless foul as he pulls on the shirt of Gareth Southgate 3 Free kick to Middlesbrough from 25 yards, Gaizka Mendieta steps up and fires inches over 2 Alberto Luque playing alongside Alan Shearer today in the absence of the injured Michael Owen - Newcastle get the game underway at St James park, Ref Steve Bennett
drew 2-2 ..we play crap !! and sick !! we miss emre ..parker .owen !! and luque he can see tha goal clarck scored in last minute 90 .. we just need new coach ..with this contract and big money we should by in top 4 .. i dont believe many team dont have big money like us but he play very good and batter than us .. bolton ..wighn ..blackburn elc !!
The fact that we scored two goals without Owen in the lineup is encouraging. Even moreso is the fact that Given played today. Perhaps the injury is the kick in the arse that this team needed to step up. Then again, Boro could just be as bad as we are.
It sounds like luque is improving each game he plays though, he may not have been great but at least you can see he is involved quite alot from that post above from THOMA GOL ^
Luque was a "mixed bag" today. He had moments of great play and he had moments of shear laziness.....but I think he is coming along.
For 9 mil he should have been playing well from the get go, not improving. I say can the sad bastard and kiss his poor finishing and way too frequent offsides goodbye. And send Ameobi with him.
From a couple other NUFC boards, some were quick to offer to fly Luque back to Spain. there were so many emotions going on at that match, so I've read. Bittersweet because it wasn't a derby loss, but it wasn't a win and the tie (allegedly) saves GS again. (sort of like the Columbus Crew's year! )
I'm not so sure this game saves GS for another spell. The team clearly played like crap.....I think everyone was able to see that.
with 9 mil we can contract with some striker batter than luque .. search in france league we can find great talent ..like what we have now like nzogbia ..he is great talent come from liga 1 for small money .. pizzaro from B munich or klose from bremn can by great for us now..
ye but after tearing your hamstring for the first time your going to be very uneasy for a long time not playing the way your used to. and each game he is getting better and better, also you wana get rid of him now, but atm he is getting involved with nearly all of our attacking play and he can only get better as his leg gets stronger. as far as im conserned today was his real debut and i want to judge him from now on.
Blah, clearly not the type of result we wanted, but thankfully Clark saved us there. Defending was horrid(what a shocker) The real question right now is where do we splurge, because we obviously need a CB desperately as well as a striker. A CM wouldn't hurt us either considering how many are injured and with Faye leaving for Nations. I'm just shocked we scored twice without Owen, let alone once.
When Clark scored, my wife saw my face and wondered "I thought you were cheering for Newcastle???" My reply: "We were 2 minutes away from Souness being fired... crap!" Is it just me or has constructing with passes from the midfield has been banned by Souness? All we seem to do is sending in long balls and praying Shearer gets his head to it.
The team has been playing like sh1t this whole season. But at least we got a point. If we can just draw the rest of our matches, we won't get sucked into a relegation battle. It was great to see someone other than Owen score, but we desperately need Emre and Parker. WTF has happened to Carr? I'm not even going to bother asking where Moore is, because I doubt even Souey knows.
Word. I got a good feeling about Luque. Before his injury I thought he did alright and now that he's recovering, he's gonna have to shake off the rust.
There has never been a spanish player come to england and performed in his first season. Just look at Xabi Alonso, last season he was ok but now he's adjusted his style of play and got used to the tempo of the game he's a different player. Luque doesn't lack confidance or skill, he just doesn't know how to play the english game yet. I just hope he's given time.