v West Brom (a) Coca-Cola Championship
The season started with a very tricky trip away from home against fellow promotion condenders West Brom I was expecting this to be a very tricky game. The game started with both team being very anxious in the first 5 minutes and misplacing a lot of the passes I couldn't say I was completely suprised with this as both teams didn't want to lose the first game of the season. The first meaningful attack of the game fell to Newcastle and to Peter Lovenkrands, after good work down the right by Simpson who played a little thoughball into Routledge he deep cross was met by Lovenkrands but a decent save from Carson denied the first goal of the game. As guessed both teams where reduced to long shot from outside the area and in was no suprised when the game finished 0-0 at half time.
At half time I told the players that they were playing well and they just needed to start creating more chances and that would hopefully lead us to three points.
The second half began in a frantic fashion with both sode picking up numerous yellow cards I was worried that this was going to turn nasty and players were going for early showers. Much to my annoyence that happend in the 64 minute when two clumsy challenges had meant two yellow cards for Fabricio Coloccini and that meant he was off. This called for a resuffle and Mike Williamson came on for the tiring Peter Lovenkrands and he moved into the central defenders position.
We continuted to dominated the game but step by step West Brom wrre getting back into it, they used the numerical advantage well and in the 83 minute they took the lead. After some good build up play Luke Moore got the ball on the edge of the box, he then easily turned Williamson to fire the ball into the bottom right hand corner past the lunge of Steve Harper. The final whistle blew and we had lost the first game of the season I was left wondering if Coloccini had stayed on would the final result have been the same. I needed a quick bounce back in my next game against Reading.
v Reading (h) Coca-Cola Championship
After a dissapointing result against West Brom I needed a quick result against Reading at home the pressure was on. We had a very positive start to this game and I was hoping this would last and after 20 minutes we got our first goal of the season. Jose Enriqe took the ball just inside Reading's half and played the ball forward to Jonas who passed first time to Ameobi from 20 yards out Shola had thought about the shot but had seen that Jonas had continued his run, he played a delightful thoughtball into Jonas' path and he slotted the ball past Adam Federici. We continuted playing good football but as football goes we were not the next team to score. After a poor Lovenkrands corner Reading quickly pushed up the pitch and were on the counter. Sigurdsson continued has run and shot from just inside the box the initial shot was saved by Harper but Noel Huint reacted the quickest and with Harper laying on the floor he smashed the ball into the top corner and it was 1-1. After the goal there was never any real clear cut chances to talk about and at half time the score remained the same.
The second half began and immediately we were on the attack. Reading had cleared the bll from a Jonas cross but the ball fell to Alan Smith and he superbly volleyed the ball back at goal and it cannoned of the bar. I was getting more and more frustrated as the game went on as we were creating a ton of chances but the finsihing was poor. My frustation were all realeased in the third minute of stoppage time when a Ryan Taylor corner was headered in at the front post by Mike Williamson for his first goal for Newcastle at St James Park on his home debut. That goal was the last kick of the game and even though it looked as if we were lucky to get a win I knew if we had better strikers he could have won 3 or 4-1.
v Sheff Wed (h) Coca-Cola Championship
We had another home game to play on the Wednesday night ironically against Sheffield Wednesday. I was looking for another three points. On the 14 minute Wednesday took a shock lead, a defensive error from Steven Taylor let in LukeVarney and he chipped the ball over the despairing Harper. This stunned the Newcastle fans and they needed a quick comeback. Lukily that came just 5 minutes later when a late challenge on Coloccini from Tom Soares saw the refferee point to the spot. It was Leon Best who picked up the ball and he despatched the penalty straight down the middle. It look till the second half for Newcastle to take the lead. A wonderful reverse pass from Kevin Nolan set up Peter Lovenkrands with a one on one and it was unlikely that he was going to miss from there it was therefore 2-1. After that second goal we looked very comfortable and never really gave the ball away. We made the scoreline look even better in the 55 minute when a Lovenkrands corner was met by the head of Coloccini who scored in his first game back from suspension. The ref blew his whistle and there it was another 3 points from home next up was a tricky game away to Crystal Palace.
v Crystal Palace (a) Coca-Cola Championship
After two successive home wins we were back on the road to Selhurst Park. Due to the fact that this was our third game this week I decided to change the team and rested Taylor, Routledge, Smith and Best and brought in Williamson, Pancrate, Guthrie and Carroll.
The first twenty minutes were quiet boring and nothing really happend. The game livened up when a pass from Stern John played in Albrighton and Enrique pulled him down in the penalty area and it was the second penalty in two games. I was suprised but relieved that Enrique was not sent off as he was clearly the last man. I was punished for that error and it was 1-0 to the home team. The scoreline at half time stayed at 1-0 and I was angry at my team as we hadn't created anything. This seemed to wake my players up a bit but not enough to get any clear cut chances so I decided some changes were needed. One of the subtitutes was Wayne Routledge and he showed he that I made a masterstroke decision and he duly scored in the 70th minute albeit a bit fortuatous. A outswinging cross from Enrique seemed to be caught by Speroni but he dropped the ball right into the feet of Routledge and he punished the mistake. The game finished 1-1 and I as mildly pleased with this as I hadn't played particularly well but managed to grab a point.
v Barnsley (h) League Cup Round 2
I was trying to concentrate more on getting the team backinto the Premier League so decided to play a weakended team but one that I thought could progress as I didn't want to disappoint the fans and the board.
The game started off pretty well with both side playing the ball on the floor and keeping possesion. It was Barnsley who took the lead thought through Iain Hume in the 8th minute they doubled there lead in the 19th minutes with a goal from Hallfreosson. Newcastle got a goal back with a typical Andy Carroll header but the fans got annoyed when Barnsley retained their 2 goal advantage with a second goal of the game from Hallfreosson. I needed a quick goal in the second half and that came from Shola Ameobi who uncharacteristically scored a belter from 25 yards. We got the equaliser in the 60th minute when Ryan Taylor hit a low, hard shot and it squermed under the Barnsley keeper for 3-3. The game went into extra time and the winning goal came in the 113th minute from Jonas Gutierrez after he curled the ball beautifully around the keeper. The game finished 4-3 it was a dramatic game and I was pleased we won we would meet Liverpool in the third round (the team that I managed to beat in pre-season)
v Leicester (h) Coca-Cola Championship
The final game of the month was another home game against recently promoted to the Championship side Leicester City managed by fromer Newcastle caretaker boss Nigel Pearson. The game started off brightly but I seemed to be restricted to long shot and a lot a them were going nowhere near the goal. The game got a much needed first goal in the 32nd minute when excellent work down the right from Wayne Routledge doug out a croos that evaded everyone apart from the onrushing Jonas who headed the ball into an empty net. I needed to keep tight for the next 5-10 minutes but that didn't happen and from a inswinging corner defender Steve Foster scored an unmarked header from 5 yards out. The game had threated to get a little heated and I was deciding weather or not to change the aggression of the players. I decided not to do this and unfortunatly I was punished for the second time this month Coloccini was sent off for a second bookable offence. I resuffled the team and didn't expect to go ahead but thats exactly what happened a throughballfrom Barton set Jonas in a great position and he scored to make it 2-1. That was not the end of the drama though as I had another player sent-off this time it was Alan Smith again for a second yellow. I ended the game with 9 men but somehow managed to get three points and keep my 100% home record.
Thanks for reading will post next blog soon
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