Season 2007-2008

NEWCASTLE UNITED

 v

PORTSMOUTH

- Peter Ramage (knee) is out for the rest of the season after getting inured at Middlesbrough.
- Damien Duff (ankle) is still sidelined with his ankle injury, his comeback should be before Christmas though.
- Celestine Babayaro (hamstring) has made 1 reserve team appearance but still isn't match fit.
- Stephen Carr (hamstring) is still out injured.
- Mark Viduka (calf) it has been confirmed misses out again.

"Mark Viduka is struggling and he won't be involved against Portsmouth, which is obviously frustrating for him and us. I think he's paying the price for a long hard season with Middlesbrough and then going off to play for Australia in the Far East over the summer. That appears to have taken a lot out of him and that is why he has struggled to stay fully fit. It was a demanding schedule for him in the summer in difficult conditions and, unfortunately, we have paid the price for that. The Sunderland game would be a good one for him to return for, particularly if he scores. I don't see any reason, at this stage, to think that he won't be available for that because he's pretty close now."

"We need to continue where we left off against Everton and Spurs because we've been free-scoring at home recently. We must focus on what we are good at at home and that is attacking. Saying that, you look at the defensive unit at home and it's been good. We are trying to find that clean sheet, but we are not going to detract from our attacking flow that we have at St James' Park. Our home form has been excellent and we're confident that can continue against Portsmouth."

My thoughts:

With the season roughly a quarter gone and following on from our dismal result against Reading last week, what better time to take a step back and take stock of where we are at.

Our Premiership record so far this season is played 10 (5 home & 5 away), won 5, drew 2 and lost 3, for a total of 17 points.

That means we are averaging 1.7 points per game, so that would indicate if we were to continue like this for the rest of the season we would end up with 65 points. 65 points would represent our highest number of points for 5 years and our 7th highest in Premiership history (2 of those were 42 game season’s).

Of course it’s not as simple as that and those statistics are technically floored as it doesn’t take into consideration that we are yet to play the ‘big 4’ teams either home or away but it does show just how well we’ve started the season in terms of points.

However, just like anybody who has hit rock bottom we are going to have ups and downs on our road to recovery, so despite the frustration we shouldn’t be to critical when we get beat, the main thing is the bigger picture. I call for us to stay patience, cool our expectations slightly and remember this team is a work in progress.

Portsmouth at home, this fixture brings back only one obviously memory for me. The 25th April 1992, Newcastle United 1 – 0 Portsmouth. That was the game David Kelly smashed home a late winner at the Gallowgate End to give Kevin Keegan’s men 3 vital points in our relegation battle. I was standing in the Corner section of the Gallowgate that day and from the moment Kelly hit that ball it was obvious to me, and everyone around me, it was a goal. It has been said by many people before me but that goal really did change the fortunes of our club forever. Those extra 2 points meant we didn’t get relegated to the current Division 1 the week after and we all know what happened the next season.
 
I was disappointed to read this week that Mark Viduka is still struggling with his injury and looks likely to miss out again. Is it just me or this injury dragging out some what? We need him fit because in the games he has played so far he has shown how much of an important player he is for us.

Big Sam has openly said that he still doesn’t know what his best starting XI is yet and I think after only 10 games or so that is a fair enough comment. It will be interesting to see if many changes to the team are made after the Reading performance. Allardyce criticised the manor in which we conceded the goals at the Madejski, so with David Rozenhal and Steven Taylor waiting in the wings don’t be surprised to see the odd change at the back. The midfield as well also came under the microscope and with Milner and N’Zogbia both relegated to the subs bench. You’d have to say at least one of those should come back into the team.

We can’t win every game at home this season, so a banana skin has to be round the corner somewhere. Despite their awful record in Newcastle, Portsmouth have won there last 3 Premiership away games and haven’t conceded an away goal 301 minutes. If we do manage our 5th straight home victory we will move above Pomey in the table to 7th

Something has to give in this tie, let’s hope it’s not us.