What an ugly season. They dropped from 10th place in 2009/10 to 15th in the standings last season. They fired a solid if not spectacular manager in Big Sam and replaced him with Steve Kean who excites exactly nobody. They didn’t score well, they didn’t defend well. Really, the only thing that went even passably well was their defending at home which was the sixth most effective in the league. Sadly, their scoring at home was tied for second from the bottom so even the thing they did well didn’t help THAT much other than allowing them to avoid relegation.
Quick Reminder, Fantasy
A slight return to adequacy by Morten Gamst Pedersen and continued fantasy excellence from Christopher Samba were notable performances, as was the emergence of David "Junior" Hoillet. I suppose you could say Robbo rebounded from a long while in the fantasy wilderness. It would be stretching to get excited about much else as occasional fantasy stalwarts like Nelsen and Dunn were injured more frequently than usual.
It's a good thing the games are coming thick and fast now as I'm assuming he'll have played Fulham before any action can be taken. But this punch deserves a ban. Then again, so did THud's lashing out against Bolton, and he got off. So we'll see.
And just when I was marvelling that Barton's run of early-season yellow cards hadn't amounted to anything further.
An FA statement said: "Newcastle United FC midfielder Joey Barton has today been charged with violent conduct by the FA following an incident in his side's fixture with Blackburn Rovers FC on Wednesday 10 November.
"Barton has until 6pm on Friday 12 November to reply to the charge and under the FA's fast-track regulations, may admit the charge and accept a standard three-match suspension."
If Barton decides to contest the charge, the hearing would be next week, meaning he would be free to feature in Newcastle's game against Fulham on Saturday.
What should NUFC do? I would think they contest the charge if just to keep the momentum going with another unchanged starting XI. That would also give them another week to work in Danny Guthrie or Wayne Routledge into the team and work on how that would impact their approach. Guthrie would be the choice if they need someone to take set pieces, but he hasn't even made the bench in their last few matches. Routledge has at least been on the bench and was a substitute last night against Blackburn. He would give NUFC width, especially as Barton is supposedly playing on the right of midfield. But then NUFC would be looking for someone to take set pieces. It's been their only offensive threat, and missing Barton on kicks would be a big loss to them over the course of the next (or next plus one) three matches.
Or can they solve both problems with... Ryan Taylor?!?!?!
Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton has admitted a charge of violent conduct and apologised to Morten Gamst Pedersen for the punch that will earn him a three-match ban...
Barton will miss Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash with Fulham and the following two games against Bolton and Chelsea.
Overall Outlook - Speculation about a potentially deep-pocketed Indian buyer for the club aside, the hope for Rovers fans has to be that they can tread water this season as they search for more stable footing as Jack Walker's estate becomes less and less able to keep up financially with the rest of the league. In Sam Allardyce they have a manager who is used to punching above his (ahem) weight with a limited budget but in the absence of any established strikers as of this writing you have to wonder if Big Sam and Rovers have what it takes to grind their way to safety while they wait for funds to arrive. If David Dunn spends more than a few matches in the training room as opposed to on the pitch you have to think that Rovers will be in a relegation battle all season.
England's top five clubs are all interested in signing Blackburn winger Morten Gamst Pedersen, the player's agent has confirmed.
The 25-year-old Norway international has risen to prominence with some sterling performances for Rovers since joining from Tromso in 2004, and his representative Rune Hauge now claims he is wanted by Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
"All the big five follow Morten's situation." Hauge told Norwegian daily Dagbladet.
On a related note, I would like to inform everyone that Google, Microsoft, ESPN, Sky, and the BBC are interested in this blog.
