Newcastle United are one of the teams to watch out for this season in the Premier League. The club has come a long way ever since experiencing relegation in the 2008-2009 season under manager and former talismanic striker Alan Shearer. This was the first
time since 1993 that the club had to leave the Premier League.
Newcastle however bounced back. They went on to win the 2009/2010 Football League Championship, securing automatic promotion to the upper reaches of English football after only one season away. This was all accredited to manager http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chris-c9006 Hughton’s hard work.
Perhaps this is why many were surprised when the club sacked Hughton, stating that ‘an individual with more managerial experience was needed to take the club forward.’
Enter Alan Pardew. The Englishman was appointed as new Magpies manager, among much criticism and disapproval. Fans were angry at the club for selling off captain Kevin Nolan and getting rid of star players such as Joey Barton and Andy Carroll. The club looked
to be in shambles as it finished the 2010/2011 season at twelfth place.
This season was however full of surprises and outcomes that perhaps no one saw coming. Alan Pardew had taken it upon himself to start assembling a squad that would push Newcastle up in the top half of the league table. Frenchman Yohan Cabaye, Italian international
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Brighton-c38685 & Hove Albion while Dutchman Tim Krul was given the nod and made first choice goalkeeper.
Newcastle had an impressive start to the season where they remained unbeaten for 11 games until suffering defeat at the hands of Manchester City. Newcastle experienced a dip in form in January, partly due to the absence of key players http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Demba-Ba-c10812 and Cheick
Tiote who had gone off to represent their respective countries in the African Cup of Nations. The acquisition of another Senegalese, Papiss Demba Cisse, lifted them to greater heights as the striker scored 13 goals in 14 appearances for the club.
The club did recover after a series of wins against the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 saw them climb from seventh spot to secure the fifth place. Newcastle missed out on the fourth spot by just one point, and defied expectations and surprised
many with their performances.
What had caused this sudden resurgence? The club played some of the most exciting and impressive football, and this was partly due to the hard work of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alan-c4244 Pardew. The manager had managed to assemble a squad that boasted of top individual players who collectively
formed a great unit.
Tim Krul had been a dominating presence at the back, with his consistent performances in front of goal. This was largely due to the Newcastle back four, especially a certain Fabricio Coloccini. The Argentine was made captain following the departures of Nolan
and Barton, and led the team by example. Coloccini was partnered by Mike Williamson in the centre, while Cheick Tiote sat in front of them as a holding midfielder. Newcastle were very solid defensively and had very decent full-backs in the shapes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Danny-c10193
Simpson and Davide Santon.
Perhaps the squad’s greatest strength lay up front and in the midfield. New signing http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mikel-Arteta-c25715,
Yohan Cabaye stood out as the best box-to box midfielder in the Premier League. His http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Job-c18684 was probably made easier by Tiote’s willingness to run back and forth and defend along with the back four.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hatem-Ben-Arfa-c15884 operated on the wings and provided support to Demba Ba, who scored an impressive 16 goals in 32 appearances in the black-and-white jersey. The striker did experience a dip in form towards the end of the season, but that was mostly due to the
fact that he was played out of position. The arrival of Cisse brought more goals and a certain directness to the side that many teams will be wary of.
Pardew had been successful in his mission, and looks set to add more faces to the squad to continue building on last season’s success. Newcastle are still very active in the transfer market and could add more signings. The club has already signed Gael Bigirimana
and Frenchman Romain Amalfitano, with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mathieu-Debuchy-c24682 expected to arrive sometime later this week.
It will be interesting to see how Cabaye performs in his second season for the club. The arrivals of Bigirimana and Amalfitano give Pardew a number of options in the centre and it is understood that another striker is on the cards for the manager. The club
already has adequate defensive cover at the back and have just signed Australian defender Curtis Good.
Newcastle are expected to play a 4-4-2 for the most part, with Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Tiote and Gutierrez in the centre and Ba and Cisse up front. The strike pairing is guaranteed to give any Premier League defender nightmares.
However, the season will be no walk in the park though. With clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 also active in the market and signing new players as they prepared for the season, Newcastle will be hoping to start fresh and maintain the
form that saw them finish at the highest spot in the league since the Bobby http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robson-c31388 days.
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