Botallock Mines (Cornwall 2006)

Thrift on the cliff near Botallock

Cornwall 2006

The cottage had great vews over st Michaels Mount and for the first few days had a number of visitors

The great striker debate

Well, with Alan's injury bringing an end to a great career peoples minds are already heading to who will attempt to replace him.

Despite his decreasing mobility there are few players who can match him in his ability to lead the line. Therefore this should be seen as a an opportunity to change the dynamic of our forward line, otherwise any striker would look a poor replacement.

Newcastle will hope that Michael Owen lines up in the black and white at the start of the new season as the prospect of replacing both our strikers just doesn't bare thinking about.

I still hope to see luque prove to the geordie fans what a good player he is, and given how his value has plummeted this season there seems to be little reason to sell him.

Chops has done well in recent weeks but three successive managers have failed to give the young lad a regular starting place so it may be better for him if he were to drop a division in order to play regular football. I wouldn't be concerned if he was to be offered a new short term deal as I do believe he can be a valuable squad member.

Shola has started 25 games this season (further 6 as sub) and has only produced 7 goals, that's a return of aprox 1 in 4 which is just not good enough for a top level striker. In much the same way as chopra I feel he could be useful in a squad system but feel that we may be better off cashing in on a player that isn't strong enough to lead the team.

At the start of this season we had the following forwards:

1. Shearer
2. Owen
3. Luque
4. Shola
5. Chopra

Of those strikers I expect the following to start the new campaign:

1. Owen
2. Luque
3. Shola / Chopra

If this is the case then we will need to bring in two new strikers, this could be 1 expensive 1 cheap or two mid range. I don't expect the board to sanction another huge outlay given the money spent last season.

Some names to consider:

1. Harewood
2. D. Bent
3. Yakubu
4. Beattie
5. Trundle
6. Kuyt
7. Mido
8. Zigic
9. fowler
10. Johnson
11. Ronaldo
12. Baros
13. Defoe

So many of those players wont move, or will move to another side, but if football fans cant speculate at this time of year then life would be much duller....

GWIP

Full predictions

With 4 games remaining (5 for Bolton) predictions were made regarding the chase for Europe.

My predictions were as follows:
Newcastle (then 48 pts) - 57 pts

• Beat Sunderland (4-1, never a doubt)
• Beat West Brom
• Beat Brimingham
• Lose to Chelsea (would fancy some points if needed)

Bolton (then 48pts) - 56 pts

• Beat West Brom (0-0)
• Draw with Charlton
• loose to Spurs
• Draw with 'Borough
• Beat Birmingham

Wigan (then 48pts) - 54 pts

• loose to Villa (won 3-2)
• Beat Fulham
• Beat Portsmouth
• Lose to Arsenal

West Ham (then 49pts) - 53 pts

• Draw with Borough (lost 2-0)
• Lose to Liverpool
• Beat West Brom
• loose to Spurs

The Chase for Europe

With 4 games remaining (5 for Bolton) predictions were made regarding the chase for Europe.

My predictions were as follows:
Newcastle (then 48 pts) - 57 pts

• Beat Sunderland
• Beat West Brom
• Beat Brimingham
• Lose to Chelsea (although a draw is expected)

Bolton (then 48pts) - 56 pts

• Lose to West Brom
• Beat Charlton
• Draw with Spurs
• Draw with 'Borough
• Beat Birmingham

West Ham (then 49pts) - 56 pts

• Draw with 'Borough
• Lose to Liverpool
• Beat West Brom
• Beat Spurs

Wigan (then 48pts) - 55 pts

• Beat Villa
• Beat Fulham
• Draw with Portsmouth
• Lose to Arsenal

17 possible results, with 4 played I have a 50% hit rate. Lets see how close I was in a couple of weeks.

Shearer latest

Alan is due to have a scan on his knee this Thursday which is expected to confirm medial ligament damage. If this is proved to be the case Shearer will have played his last game in what has been a phenomenal career.

While all hope these fears prove to be unfounded, should he have kicked his last ball in anger then perhaps it is fitting that his last game saw him score and captain his side to a 4 - 1 away victory against Sunderland.

Amongst the less obvious facts, the record books will also show that the man approaching his 36th birthday scored 4 goals in his last four games at the highest level.

'If Alan Shearer's legs have gone then he's the best since Douglas Bader took to the skies.' John Gibson, Evening Chronicle.

Fingers Crossed.

Round 1

Well with the first round of matches almost complete (Villa play on tuesday) AG and Gwip are tied with 1 correct and 2 wrong each.

Wigan vs Villa
Gwip - Villa Win
AG - Wigan Win

Newcastle stay in 7th place following the stalemate at the Hawthorns, this leaves Bolton 2pts adrift with a game in hand. Defeat to Boro has left West ham 2pts behind having played the same games. Wigan would move level with Newcastle on points and games (though have inferior goal difference) should they beat Villa.

Challenge Extended

With only four games left to play the predictions have been made. If either set proves to be accurate come the end of the season both parties will be more than happy.

Tayls update

Quote from Glen Roeder

"I've been very impressed with Steven Taylor," said Roeder. "Some days he works on his own but he's back to a level of physical fitness. If he had full movement in the shoulder he'd be fit enough to play."

"Physically he'd have been okay to send out to play on Sunday but we have to get the full range of movement in his shoulder,"

"He's been doing lots of swimming and working in the gym. In between times he's out working with us."

"It's not a problem of us saying, `Be careful, no crashing into Steven.' The problem is to get Steven to stop crashing into players,"

"It's a long time since I've seen a player who I get the feeling would kick his granny to win and that's lovely - although not for granny."

Football

A 3-1 win over Wigan kept Newcastle's slim chances of a european place alive. Uriah Rennie had a truly awful game, Wigan and Newcastle fans both incensed by what was one of the most inept performances in recent years. Despite lacking the pace he once had, and playing the last few matches of his career, Shearer bagged a brace and drew the defenders to allow Bramble a free header for the third.

With 7th place likely to carry the reward of european football the last few games of the season still have all to play for.

Boltons game in hand puts them in the driving seat but Newcastle do have a good run in and have struck form since the introduction of Roeder.

Newcastle (prediction 57 pts)

Trips to all three relegation favorites on paper gives an easy run in, but with the teams playing for pride this could be a bad time to play them. A win over the mackems is a must (as always) but this game has more sitting on it than many thought likely only a month ago.

Bolton (prediction 56 pts)

The side most likely to stop Newcastle's charge. Despite playing two relegation candidates Bolton may have difficulties with the two trips to the capital.

Wigan (prediction 54 pts)

Wigan have had a stunning season, with the manager and players catching the eye of a number of clubs. Injuries and strong opponents will make it difficult for the club to push on to europe

West Ham (prediction 52 pts)

Despite occupying the 7th spot West Ham will find it hard to hold on to as trips to arsenal and spurs who are fighting for the last champions league spot will prove to be too much.

Happy Birthday Me!

Many thanks to PW for the yummy coconut birthday cake (and the prezzies)

EOS 350d

These photos were taken with my new toy! (Happy Birthday to me....) using the standard 18-55mm lens kit. The biggest drawback with this camera is that the images average 2.5mp (RAW images about 10mb) so i will quickly need aditional hard drives....

Whats with the pictures?

This page has just started to use HELLO to publish photos. The software works like any other chat client but is designed with picture handling in mind. This allows fast and simple sharing of photos without messing with e-mail attachments, with the added bonus that it has been designed to integrate with blogger, allowing the easy update of this blog.

Anything that shaves seconds off jobs is a good thing in my bone idle mind.

GWIP.

From the www.Hello.com website

Share pictures like you’re sitting side-by-side.
Hello is a new way to look at pictures with friends and family.
When you use Hello, you get to see your photographs together with your friends online. You don’t have to wait for huge email attachments to download or upload your pictures to a public website. Just point at a picture and you can tell the person who sent it exactly what you think. With just one click, you can get the original high-quality, full-sized file to print.

Hello is easy to get going (as long as you have someone to share with). You’ll be talking about pictures in just minutes.

Testng HELLO

Yet another for AG

Hello Tests (3/3)

Sunset (Cornwall 2005) ...Its even happy with HTML tags and lets me write these entries. GWIP