English Premier League: Part 4 Winners of the second weekend
One of the true winners of the weekend was Newcastle United. Newcastle got relegated from the English Premier League after finishing in the bottom three in the 2008-2009 English Premier League Season. It was back then a big heart ache for all the Tyneside football fans that supported Newcastle United. Their team had been relegated from the top tier of English league football for the first time in sixteen long years.
One thing was a surety for the football world that Newcastle would immediately bounce back and be in the English Premier League for the 2010-2011 Season. The Magpies do not have the best of squads but most of their players do have English Premier League experience. For example, Alan Smith played in the English Premier League for Manchester United and Leeds United, Kevin Nolan played for Bolton Wanderers, and Danny Simpson also featured for Manchester United. As far as rest of the players are concerned, most of them saw Premier League football with Newcastle in the 2008-2009 Season.
Despite the strong held belief in Newcastle’s abilities, they failed to impress in their first match of the season against Manchester United at Old Trafford. However, that is a hiccup that they can be forgiven for keeping in mind the daunting task that is to perform against the hosts at the Theatre of Dreams. However, Newcastle have announced their arrival on the big stage after thumping Aston Villa by six goals to nil in their first home game of the season and overall their second league match of the season.
Not only was Newcastle playing with confidence that inspired the famous support at Saint James’s Park, they were, also, clinical in front of the goal. Several players did themselves proud through their performances for the Magpies over the weekend. The first of these footballers is Andy Carroll. Carroll had and - still does have a lot of pressure on his shoulders as he wears the famous Number nine shirt for Newcastle United.
A shirt that was previously worn by their legendary striker Alan Shearer, Carroll without a doubt did himself proud after his hat trick in Newcastle’s win over Aston Villa. The English national was superb in front of goal and not only scored the goals that he was asked to but also created opportunities for others by dragging defenders out of position. Such is the situation in England as far as international football is concerned that the lack of big strikers in the league is almost surprising for a country which prides itself on producing physical centre forwards. If Carroll keeps up his performances then he can very well force Capello’s hand to add him to England’s qualification plans for the European Championships of 2012.
Objectivity demands that a player be judged fairly. It demands of us as human beings that we should hold someone’s past mistakes against him. Joey Barton’s performance for Newcastle United over the weekend, might well not tell us about English football’s perennial bad boy figure. Barton has been famous for his outrages acts on and off the field but those actions should not tarnish what was a wonderful display of determined football from English international midfielder.
Newcastle’s six goal demolition job of Aston Villa means that they have what it takes this time to stay in the English Premier League. But the English league is so unforgiving that any slip from Newcastle might become the cause of their immediate downfall to the lower echelons of English football. Thus, The Magpies will do very well to maintain this level of competitiveness and quality. Their next few games give them an opportunity to build on their win against Villa, as they face Wolves, Blackpool and Everton in their next three English Premier League matches.
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