We Are The Geordies, The Geordie Boot Boys - A Newcastle United Fifa 12 Dynasty

[james64]

We Are The Geordies, The Geordie Boot Boys - A Newcastle United Fifa 12 Dynasty

A New Direction

Local and unproven manager, James Campbell, has been appointed as manger of Newcastle United following the start of their campaign in the English Premier League. With expectations always high on Tyneside the bored and fans alike will be looking for the club to build on last season’s promising performances that saw the club with some tremendous results such as the incredible 4-4 draw with Arsenal, the 6-0 drubbing of Aston Villa and maybe most importantly the 5-1 hammering of local rivals Sunderland. With a host of big names leaving the club last January and over the summer, some may have doubts that Newcastle can perform up to expectations with the loss of stars such as Andy Carroll, Jose Enrique, Joey Barton and former captain, Kevin Nolan.

Summer signings by former manager Alan Pardew have raised questions on Tyneside whether the likes of Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye, Davide Santon, Gabriel Obertan and Sylvain Marveaux will be able to step up with only Ba and Obertan possessing any kind of premier league experience. But regardless of the questions raised over the strength of the squad, one thing is for sure, when Newcastle take the field at St James Park on the opening Saturday of the season the Toon Army will be out in force cheering for their new look team.

Preseason Campaign 11/12

The preseason started with James Campbell beginning to look for talent abroad. Keen not only to build on his team now but to build on the team down the stretch Campbell recruited Norwegian Erlend Strømstad, Russian Eveni Moskvin and Scot Steven McCormack to work as the clubs scouts. Strømstad has been assigned to France, Moskvin to the United States and McCormack to his native land of Scotland.

Troublemaking striker Nile Ranger has been placed on the transfer list, clearly manager James Campbell wanting to make an example of Ranger to show, despite being an unproven manager, he has a no tolerance ruling. It had been reported that during his time at Newcastle, Nile has repeatedly been lazy in training as well as unpunctual. Despite his tremendous potential it seems as though Newcastle aren’t prepared to tolerate the baggage that comes with the player. In other transfer news, strikers Sammy Ameobi, Ryan Donaldson and Haris Vučkić have all been placed on the loan list in hope for them to gain some first team experience elsewhere. Young goalkeeper Fraser Forster is already on loan at Celtic while promising starlet Kazenga Lualua is on loan at Brighton and Spaniard Xisco is out on loan to Depotivo.

Prior to the first friendly game of the new preseason, Newcastle announced that Millwall have taken brother of Shola Ameobi, Sammy Ameobi on a season long loan and Haris Vučkić also went out on a season long loan. Heading into the game with Watford the squad has a clean bill of health which gives Campbell a wide range of options as he uses the preseason to find his most effective line-up. Also prior to kick off Newcastle rejected bids of £4,900,000 from Fulham for Steven Taylor and £9,000,000 for highly rated Hatem Ben Arfa from Roma.

POOR NEWCASTLE LUCKY TO DRAW
A game which really did play out like a friendly saw two teams play a lot of scrappy football. Watford started the brighter of the two teams but were unable to turn chances and possession into goals as the first half ended goalless. Newcastle looked a little better when they started to play some football in the second half and were rewarded when substitute Shola Ameobi scored in the 72^nd minute. The Toon Army’s lead didn’t last long however as Krul could only block Sordell’s first attempt before the winger netted the second attempt. Newcastle almost hit right back when Yohan Cabaye beat the keeper with a curling shot from outside the box but the ball struck against the woodwork.

Jul 19, 2011 - Newcastle United vs Watford
TEAM	1	2	SCORE
Newcastle United (0-0-0)	0	1	1
Watford (0-0-0)	0	1	1

Team Stats Comparison
Newcastle United		Watford
1	Goals	1
6	Shots	9
1	Shots on Target	4
8	Tackles	13
2	Fouls	0
0	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0
0	Injuries	0
16	Shot Accuracy	44
76	Passing Percentage	89

Starting XI
Tim Krul
Danny Simpson
Fabricio Coloccini (C)
Steven Taylor
Davide Santon
Hatem Ben Arfa
Cheick Tiote
Yohan Cabaye
Jonas Gutierrez
Demba Ba
Leon Best


Substitutes
Steven Harper
Ryan Taylor
Mike Williamson
Dan Gosling
Gabriel Obertan (Hatem Ben Arfa)
Sylvain Marveaux (Jonas Gutierrez)
Shola Ameobi (Leon Best)


Goals
Shola Ameobi


Assists
Demba Ba

[james64]

LACKLUSTER NEWCASTLE LOSE IN ANOTHER POOR DISPLAY
In James Campbell’s second friendly in charge the display didn’t improve at all. The unproven manager made several changes to his starting eleven but the football was still clumsy and scrappy. Poor defending was the order of the day and it took Augsburg just 18 minutes to score when Rafael turned in the box before slotting the ball past Tim Krul. A tidy left footed shot from Leon Best only 8 minutes later levelled the match but the display didn’t improve from there. It only took a further 4 minutes for more poor Newcastle defending to result in a goal, Gogia netting on this occasion. Three second half changes couldn’t sway the match in the favour of Newcastle and they struggled to hold onto the ball for long periods of time while the result was pout beyond doubt by a 71^st minute goal by Rafael for his second of the game. A bad game got worse when substitute Peter Lovenkrands finished the game with an injury it is not yet known whether or not it will be serious.

Jul 26, 2011 - FC Augsburg vs Newcastle United
TEAM	1	2	SCORE
FC Augsburg (0-0-0)	2	1	3
Newcastle United (0-0-1)	1	0	1

Team Stats Comparison
FC Augsburg		Newcastle United
3	Goals	1
7	Shots	3
7	Shots on Target	2
9	Tackles	8
2	Fouls	3
0	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
0	Injuries	1
100	Shot Accuracy	66
88	Passing Percentage	76

Starting XI
Tim Krul
Ryan Taylor
Mike Williamson
Steven Taylor (C)
Davide Santon
Gabriel Obertan
Cheick Tiote
Danny Guthrie
Jonas Gutierrez
Shola Ameobi
Leon Best

Substitutes
Steven Harper
Danny Simpson
Peter Lovenkrands (Leon Best)
Dan Gosling (Mike Williamson)
Yohan Cabaye (Danny Guthrie)
Sylvain Marveaux
Demba Ba

Goals
Leon Best

Assists
Tim Krul

Bookings
Steven Taylor
Mike Williamson

[james64]

Prior to the final preseason friendly of the season against Bayer Leverkusen Newcastle rejected further offers for Hatem Ben Arfa this time for Premier League side Bolton. However, troublesome Nile Ranger returned to his old club earlier in the week when Southampton tabled a £1,300,000 bid for the troublesome striker which was quickly accepted by the Magpies.

NEWCASTLE OUTCLASSED BY FIVE STAR LEVERKUSEN
Newcastle United’s final preseason game of the season ended in defeat after Bayer Leverkusen showed the difference in class between the two sides. Newcastle went 3-0 down after only 13 minutes before pulling one back before half time through a controversial penalty that Demba Ba won and then slotted home. The Magpies did improve despite their inability to score and two counter attacks from Leverkusen allowed them to score goals four and five.

Aug 2, 2011 - Newcastle United vs Bayer Leverkusen
TEAM	1	2	SCORE
Newcastle United (0-1-1)	1	0	1
Bayer Leverkusen (1-0-0)	3	2	5

Team Stats Comparison
Newcastle United		Bayer Leverkusen
1	Goals	5
5	Shots	10
2	Shots on Target	7
10	Tackles	16
1	Fouls	2
0	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
0	Injuries	0
40	Shot Accuracy	70
77	Passing Percentage	87

Starting XI
Tim Krul
Danny Simpson
Fabricio Coloccini (C)
Steven Taylor
Davide Santon
Hatem Ben Arfa
Cheick Tiote
Yohan Cabaye
Jonas Gutierrez
Demba Ba
Leon Best

Substitutes
Steven Harper
Ryan Taylor
Mike Williamson
Dan Gosling
Gabriel Obertan (Hatem Ben Arfa)
Sylvain Marveaux (Jonas Gutierrez)
Shola Ameobi (Leon Best)

Goals
Demba Ba

[james64]

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE 11/12


POSITIVE DISPLAY ENDS IN DEFEAT
Newcastle United churned out their best display under new manager James Campbell in his first competitive game. Newcastle started brightly and had chances to take the intuitive but Leon Best put the ball just wide of the mark. It was Arsenal who broke the deadlock when Van Persie acrobatically overhead kicked Gervinho’s cross. Jonas Gutierrez turned provider in the second half when Leon Best rolled the ball past Arsenals goalkeeper but also agonizingly past the post.

Aug 13, 2011 - Newcastle United vs Arsenal
TEAM	1	2	SCORE
Newcastle United (0-0-0)	0	0	0
Arsenal (0-0-0)	1	0	0

Team Stats Comparison
Newcastle United		Arsenal
0	Goals	1
7	Shots	5
2	Shots on Target	2
7	Tackles	10
1	Fouls	0
0	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0
0	Injuries	0
28	Shot Accuracy	40
82	Passing Percentage	90

Starting XI
Tim Krul
Danny Simpson
Fabricio Coloccini (C)
Steven Taylor
Davide Santon
Hatem Ben Arfa
Cheick Tiote
Yohan Cabaye
Jonas Gutierrez
Demba Ba
Leon Best

Substitutes
Steven Harper
Ryan Taylor
Mike Williamson
Dan Gosling
Gabriel Obertan (Cheick Tiote)
Sylvain Marveaux
Shola Ameobi (Demba Ba)