Newcastle’s players don’t need to tell us how united you are – just show us
Let us be brutally truthful: if Newcastle can’t beat QPR tomorrow then they deserve to be in real trouble.
I mean, if you selected any Premier League opponent for their generosity it would be Rangers.
So let United take full advantage. Let them finish a sorry season on a high by securing their own future and not leaving it to Wigan Athletic to commit suicide after the FA Cup final.
We’ve been put through a long, hard winter and what we pray for now is United to save themselves and not have someone do it for them.
Have some dignity. Some pride. Get the job done.
The team one by one are always harping on about being united, about caring, and about what they are going to do. We don’t need to be told. We just want to see for ourselves.
The moment of truth has arrived.
Rangers players have two things on their minds – their summer holidays and their next club. Harry Redknapp knows it, which is why he is planning a clear-out.
If United get among them from the start, play at a good tempo and with a hunger, Rangers will give up the ghost. Their future is already sealed.
However, Newcastle must go out looking for victory instead of looking not to be beaten, which I’m afraid is what they have done recently.
As a goalscorer myself, I have been alarmed by the Magpies’ lack of goals. You can’t win a match unless you score, and United don’t do that often enough.
When Papiss Cisse had a goal chalked off at West Ham because the ball was supposedly not completely over the line every Geordie heart sank. Why? Because the feeling deep down was that another good opportunity wouldn’t come along and, sure enough, it didn’t.
I reckon I lost about 10 goals in my career because of supposed goal-line clearances, but what I did after 30 seconds of moaning was forget about it, thrust it out of my mind, and go chasing the next goal. I didn’t see Newcastle do that at Upton Park.
Let us face up to facts, Cisse is still not the player he was last season, though he remains Newcastle’s biggest hope.
The terrible dearth of goals is best underlined by the fact that Demba Ba is still United’s top scorer and he left in January.
My has he been missed!
United failed to sign a striker in the January window despite a pile of players coming in.
The single most important import was not landed.
However, the inquests are for after the season ends.
Right now Rangers must be overcome because to go to the last game of the season needing to beat Arsenal up here would be suicidal.
The Gunners are going hell for leather to finish above North London rivals Spurs and secure a Champions League place.
Of course, Arsenal can actually do us a favour rather than put the Mags down because if they beat Wigan at home that should do for Dave Whelan’s club.
It’s tight, it’s been a constant worry, and it isn’t over yet.
But it could be by teatime tomorrow if United do the job for which they are very well paid.
No comments:
Post a Comment