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Atromitos Athens v Newcastle United


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Guest CabayeAye

Squad that travelled: Harper, Krul, Simpson, Santon, Williamson, Tavernier, S.Taylor, R.Taylor, Perch, Anita, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Amalfitano, Bigirimana, Gosling, Marveaux, Obertan, Cisse, Campbell.

 

I'd love to see:

 

--------------------Harper

Tavernier Williamson Perch Raylor

--------------------Anita

-------Amalfitano----Bigirimana

Obertan----------------------Marveuax

-----------------Campbell

 

Krul

Santon

Simpson

Saylor

Cabaye

Jonas

Gosling

Cisse

 

Even if Campbell up front has a shocker, there are still goals in that midfield. Disappointed that Abeid won't be involved though.

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From George Caulkin on our return to Europe.

 

THERE is an ancient Greek saying. In fact, there are hundreds of them. But there is an ancient Greek saying which I’m about to write and which therefore differentiates itself from all the other ancient Greek sayings and it is this: from a bad crow, a bad egg.

 

It has nothing to do with football or, more specifically, Newcastle United’s presence in Athens, but I’m on a deadline here and nursing a mild hangover, so that’s one paragraph filled.

 

Ah, Europe. Europe! Europe, Europe, Europe. It’s back! Or, rather, Newcastle are back, and for the first time in five years I’m covering a North East club on the continent, getting back into the swing of airports and coach transfers, huddles around the baggage carousel and stilted press conferences.

 

And then, more pressingly, the three-mile walk to find ‘just one more bar because, hey, it’s only one in the morning back home and all I’ve got to do tomorrow morning is write that online column and, yeah, the office is saying it’s really important because they’re giving away these token things which means you can read it free for an hour but I’m not new to this stuff, I’m a veteran hack, I’ll just toss something off because I’m good, damn good, and yeah I’ll have another beer, why the hell not, I’ve earned this, we all have, come on let’s got a shot of Ouzo because we have to make the most of this it’s been a long time coming, look at her over there, she’s nice, yeah, two more beers please mate and some crisps if you’ve got them, what was I talking about, oh yes, the column, well I’ll probably just waffle on about Europe or something, but it looks like they’re closing so let’s get a few more drinks in, the night is young, is that a kebab shop, right, well, it would be rude not to, wouldn’t it, I don’t appear to be walking straight, Christ, there’s a lapdancing bar next to the hotel, no no nonoononono I’ve got a column to write, I’ve got to get up, I’ve got double-vision, no officer I’m perfectly fine, thank you, I just need to sleep and this historic national monument feels really comfortablezzzzzzzzz bleugh zzzzz bleughhhhh zzzzz oh God oh God oh God I’ve got to write a column.’ That.

 

Half a decade on since Newcastle lost 2-0 to AZ Alkmaar, a defeat so miserable it again shoved the club towards uncertainty, and the old routine kicks in. But there are differences between now and then which offer pause for reflection and perhaps some encouragement, too, because while Newcastle are hardly ingenues when it comes to the European experience, they are scarcely recognisable.

 

There are elements to the transformation which are obvious. Steven Taylor played in Holland in March 2007, Steve Harper was on the bench and Shola Ameobi was around but not involved, but for most of their players this is a new and fresh episode. The youngsters bubbling around Alan Pardew’s first-team squad and who will be called upon this season, will learn and benefit.

 

The greatest change is one of attitude. Elsewhere in the magical electronic kingdom which is Times Digital - and in the inky-paged newspaper - Taylor recalls Alkmaar and the feeling of complacency which hung about Newcastle like smog. They’d won the first leg 4-2 and expected to qualify for the next round and even when they failed to do so there was a sense of an interruption rather than an ending.

 

From top down, that Newcastle was a failing and flawed institution, bloated by high wages and hampered by deep debt. Freddy Shepherd, then the chairman, spoke about the “Rolls Royce treatment” they afforded players as if he had not been complicit in a transfer policy which placed star quality ahead of team-building or thought as to whether signings might actually engage with their environment. We all know the names.

 

Those famous European nights - against Barcelona and Feyenoord and countless others, accompanied by Sir Bobby Robson’s man-management and dignity -will linger in the memory, but by the time of Alkmaar, it felt tired and old and stale. Glenn Roeder would be sacked, Sam Allardyce appointed, Shepherd booted out by Mike Ashley and a cycle of decline which was already entrenched would be accelerated.

 

This is a perilous admission, because while the demands of a job which involves watching football are unlikely to prompt any sympathy, reporting on Newcastle would cease to be fun. There is a misconception that journalists thrive on controversy - ‘it must be great up there, because there’s always something to write about’ - but constant negativity corrodes the soul, particularly if you feel proud about your region and its clubs.

 

From the playing side, Taylor put that feeling into some sort of context, talking about a dressing-room which was so divided it “looked like a group of islands.” He said that “people would finish training and go straight home. I wouldn’t see them until the next day and you wouldn’t get much conversation out of them -sometimes you’d hardly speak to the players you were lining up with on a Saturday.”

 

Whatever happens in the Europa League, that division has been eradicated. Nobody should forget the pain and discord it took to get here, but the agony and embarrassment of Joe Kinnear and Dennis Wise and relegation and all the rest of that horrific stuff, has somehow left Newcastle cleansed. It has survived the departure of Chris Hughton, Pardew’s arrival and success last season.

 

“It is a very different club,” Harper, who has clung to the Newcastle roller-coaster for almost 20 years, said. “We have had some difficult characters in the past, people who dominated the dressing-room, whereas now you have a very level playing field where everyone gives and takes, no matter how young they are, and I think that is reflected on the pitch. It is a good place to be.”

 

For as long as the European adventure endures, Pardew will be required to protect and prioritise but not, as it felt against against Alkmaar, because the games are already won or beneath him. “Maybe if you have been in the Champions League for two or three years and you come in to the Europa League then it is kind of derided or looked on as not so glamorous,” the manager said. “But for us it is glamorous. A lot of this group have not played in Europe. For some, it is like a rebirth.”

 

A small thing. Without mentioning individuals, I can recall sitting on an aeroplane to European matches watching footballers playing cards, surrounded by bundles of banknotes, as if meant nothing.

 

On Wednesday morning, Jonas Gutierrez, Ryan Taylor and James Perch clambered into the back row of seats, not caring they were surrounded by journalists, and spent the next three hours engrossed in a game of Uno.

 

In spite of my daftness at the start, a return to Europe did not actually entail a lurch into debauchery. I’m getting too old for that (I’m not) and I want to take these trips in, enjoy and relish them.

 

Press conference over and work down, the hacks accompanying Newcastle to Athens were invited to the team hotel for a quick drink with the coaching staff, not to blur the boundaries of impartiality, but just to share, briefly, a landmark moment, for them, for us. It felt different. It felt good.

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From George Caulkin on our return to Europe.

 

Canny article, that. Cheers for posting.

 

Interesting to hear Taylor talking about lack of team spirit back then. I wonder if he was referring to Michael Owen, amongst others.

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A little bit more of Taylor's thoughts from SSN:

 

 

Newcastle defender Steven Taylor believes getting relegated in 2009 was the best thing that could have happened to the club.

 

 

Taylorspacer.gif was part of a squad that included the likes of Michael Owen,spacer.gifNicky Butt,spacer.gif Mark Viduka and Shay Given but plummeted out of the Premier League after a miserable run of results.

The Magpies trimmed the squad and won promotion back to the top flight at the first opportunity - beginning an upturn in fortunes that propelled the club to fifth in the Premier League last season.

"We've got players who actually want to be here and do well for the club. It's not about the pay packet."

Steven TaylorQuotes of the week

As Taylor prepares for Newcastle'sspacer.gif return to European football as they travel to Greek side Atromitos in the Europa League on Thursday, the 26-year-old looks back on the club's remarkable journey

"The best thing for Newcastle was getting relegated," Taylor toldThe Times.

"For me, that knocked everyone down to size; club, players, fans, even the media in a way because the expectations seeped away.

Drama

 

"When I think about five years ago, the club felt like Big Brother. There was always something happening, always drama.

"But those days are gone and that's important. That's why we've been able to move on as a team and as a club.

"We've got players who actually want to be here and do well for the club. It's not about the pay packet.

"Sometimes in the past, the dressing room looked like a group of islands - the foreigners stuck together, the young lads, the old heads.

"That can't happen now. We're such a small squad that everybody has got to mix.

"People would finish training and go straight home. I wouldn't see them until the next day and you wouldn't get much conversation out of them.

"Sometimes you'd hardly speak to the players you were lining up with on a Saturday. Maybe that's one of the reasons why we're succeeding now.

"This feels like an exciting time.

 

"But after everything this club has been through, it feels like we can deal with anything. We want to make the most of it.""We raised the bar by finishing fifth last season and we want to improve - that's the pressure we've got.

Rested

 

While Taylor is determined to succeed in Europe this season, the squad has been forced to travel to Greece without the likes ofFabricio Coloccini,spacer.gifCheick Tiotespacer.gif and Demba Baspacer.gif - all rested for Saturday's game at Chelsea.spacer.gif

But Taylor insists Newcastle are not taking Atromitos lightly after his last experience of European football when the Toon were eliminated despite beating AZ Alkmaar 4-2 in the first leg.

He added: "We left St James' Park after the first game with everyone thinking, 'This might be Newcastle's year'.

"We took it for granted that the game was dead and buried - we all believed we'd qualified. That was our biggest mistake.

"And then we went to Alkmaar, took our foot off the gas, and everything went wrong."

If Newcastle can overcome Atromitos over two legs they will go into the draw for the group stages of the Europa League.

 

http://www1.skysport...ation-helped-us

Edited by ADP
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I have to say it looks a bit of a shithole the area like.

 

Like 1980s Killingworth in the sun.

 

A0-Rz3mCIAAkSrf.jpg

 

I don't know ANYTHING about this team at all but I trust Dabizas saying they're shite. I hope we go for the sword, we might, Obertan and Marveaux in particular have lots to prove and will be looking to impress, Cisse looks a certain starter too.

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I don't know ANYTHING about this team at all but I trust Dabizas saying they're shite.

What's he said like?

I hope we go for the sword, we might, Obertan and Marveaux in particular have lots to prove and will be looking to impress, Cisse looks a certain starter too.

Harper's been told he's starting going by his interview and I can't imagine they'd take Cisse to Greece unless he was going to start. Get the job done as soon as possible, kill the game and take the key men off.

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What's he said like?

Did you not see the headline in the Chronicle last night?

 

DABIZAS: THESE ARE SHITE - Nicos - United will be smashing more than just plates tomorrow night.

 

Nar that wasn't the headline, nor the sub-headline, but he clearly thinks we'll have no problems.

 

 

 

"For me this is not a difficult tie for Newcastle.

 

“They have no great history generally.

 

“They have been to the cup final two of the last three years.

 

“And they did finish fourth last season so they are well balanced in that sense.

 

“Newcastle would have to play very poorly and they would have to overplay their own capabilities for there to be a shock.”

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Guest CabayeAye

I think we'll draw or get a tight win, hopefully with our 2nd XI and keep our big hitters fresh for the league. Then our 2nd XI can blow them away in the home leg.

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Did you not see the headline in the Chronicle last night?

 

DABIZAS: THESE ARE SHITE - Nicos - United will be smashing more than just plates tomorrow night.

 

Nar that wasn't the headline, nor the sub-headline, but he clearly thinks we'll have no problems.

fucking love Nicos. :D

 

nikos-dabizas-325864431.jpg

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Newcastle: Harper; Tavernier, Williamson, Perch, R Taylor; Obertan, Bigirimana, Anita, Marveaux; Gosling; Cisse.

Newcastle Substitutes: Krul, Santon, S Taylor, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Amalfitano, Campbell

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