Scottish Mag 3 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 From hell's kitchen to head waiter Feb 20 2006 By John Gibson, The Evening Chronicle He's a kid from the tough side of the track who is now being invited to all the swanky restaurants. Charles N'Zogbia is supposed to be only a waiter - a teenager waiting for an opportunity in a big world. However, this season the French boy from Le Havre has scored five goals and on Saturday created the winner that catapulted Newcastle thankfully through to the quarter-finals of the Cup. While another matchstick man Kieron Dyer had plenty still to do, and did it magnificently, it was N'Zogbia who muscled into possession, drew defenders towards him, and played in Dyer, fractionally onside thanks to a sleeping Jim Brennan. Dyer didn't panic and blast but ran and placed a perfect shot past Bartosz Bialkowski. After three months staring into an abyss Kieron so fully deserved his glory, the moment captured in his sudden explosion of delight which saw him jump the advertising boards to throw himself into the arms of a grateful Toon Army. That an apologetic referee Martin Atkinson had to yellow card Dyer for his display of relief at a black tunnel bursting into sunlight is one of the stupidities of football's strait-jacketed legal framework. Kieron was terrific on his comeback and did superbly well to last until a quarter of an hour from the end after being thrust into immediate action by the absence of skipper and talisman Alan Shearer. He offered something different to Shearer and Michael Owen, the big guns, coming short to receive the ball and use his pace. He obviously likes to play with Nobby Solano and early on the pair tormented a Southampton side always ready to get eight or nine men behind the ball. However, over 90 minutes it was N'Zogbia who, lungs bursting and dander up, sickened the Saints to death. N'Zogbia played like Ryan Giggs in his pomp when the Welshman ran the left flank for Manchester United and David Beckham the right. As do all good wingers who are not fancy dans, N'Zogbia worked back as enthusiastically as he broke forward. He adequately covered the one-paced Robbie Elliott to dig him out of a hole on occasions and, engine running, could still get forward to torment and create. Charles' youth coach at Le Havre, Luc Bruder, tells of a kid from a broken home who ran with undesirables, had a rebellious streak, and liked to give himself the image of a hard man. The football club moved him into a private school, St Joseph's, to get him out of his neighbourhood but it was only at the age of 16 that some promise began to emerge. Now at 19 he has the football world in his grasp. Earlier this season N'Zogbia lost his father at a tragically young age yet his character is such that he's overcome all adversaries to establish himself as a star in the making. If the last dreadful 18 months of Premier League campaigning brought us any consolation it is that United now know they have three youngsters of considerable promise in their midst - N'Zogbia, Steven Taylor and Peter Ramage, by far the best of the back four here. This cup tie ought to have been the perfect opportunity for Shola Ameobi to put down his marker as the natural successor to Shearer, bound for retirement in a few month's time. Sadly he did not. When we desperately required another aggressive performance like the one Shola showed against Sunderland - and at Aston Villa last time out - we got the one-gear amiable, loping adopted Geordie. As a consequence the only worry was from whom United were going to conjure up their goal. They dominated possession in the first half and, ironically, cut loose to finish off the visitors just as they were enjoying their best spell. While Southampton only pressurised Newcastle for a brief period early in the second-half it was enough to remind us that their B and B establishment - Boumsong and Bramble - serve up a generous helping of takeaways. Their positional sense was abysmal as they worked individually rather than as a pair and consequently a battalion of foot soldiers could have marched through the centre of United's defence at times. Our thanks therefore to the Zog and Kieron Courtney D for their very meaningful contribution to a most important victory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob W 0 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 "a kid from a broken home who ran with undesirables, had a rebellious streak, and liked to give himself the image of a hard man." No wonder he fits in at SJP then.................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smooth Operator 10 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 From hell's kitchen to head waiter Feb 20 2006 By John Gibson, The Evening Chronicle at a black tunnel bursting into sunlight is one of the stupidities of football's strait-jacketed legal framework. 97878[/snapback] Is this referring to his skin colour and lack of vision? Racialist tbh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc-mag 1 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 From hell's kitchen to head waiter Feb 20 2006 By John Gibson, The Evening Chronicle He's a kid from the tough side of the track Charles' youth coach at Le Havre, Luc Bruder, tells of a kid from a broken home who ran with undesirables, had a rebellious streak, and liked to give himself the image of a hard man. 97878[/snapback] He's called Charles for fucks sake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smooth Operator 10 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 N'Zogbia & Dyer. One's a quality young midfielder, hungry for success and willing to work for the team in any position, and the other is probably gonna go to the World Cup. Scandalous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smooth Operator 10 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 From hell's kitchen to head waiter Feb 20 2006 By John Gibson, The Evening Chronicle He's a kid from the tough side of the track Charles' youth coach at Le Havre, Luc Bruder, tells of a kid from a broken home who ran with undesirables, had a rebellious streak, and liked to give himself the image of a hard man. 97878[/snapback] He's called Charles for fucks sake! 97972[/snapback] I take your point but he is noir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shearergol 0 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 N'Zogbia & Dyer. One's a quality young midfielder, hungry for success and willing to work for the team in any position, and the other is a slightly older midfielder, hungry for success and willing to work for the team in any position (now). 97985[/snapback] Corrected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc-mag 1 Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 From hell's kitchen to head waiter Feb 20 2006 By John Gibson, The Evening Chronicle He's a kid from the tough side of the track Charles' youth coach at Le Havre, Luc Bruder, tells of a kid from a broken home who ran with undesirables, had a rebellious streak, and liked to give himself the image of a hard man. 97878[/snapback] He's called Charles for fucks sake! 97972[/snapback] I take your point but he is noir! 97988[/snapback] Howay man, it's 2006!!!! That post wants an edit tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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