Saturday Morning

All in all I'm happy with the signings we've made over the break with a number of quality players coming in for very little outlay but as we must have a bit of spare change after the sale of Kenwyne and Cana I'd be very happy to see N'Zogbia or maybe even Bellamy added to the squad. The defence was looking wobblier than ever against Hoffenheim but with this week's additions of Onouha and the mighty Mensah we should be able to do a lot better than that. The sight of Kenwyne doing his celebratory flip will remain as a very happy memory for all who saw it but though he's shown us occasional flashes over the last season or two, I'm sure he was never going to recapture his initial devastating form. He's just looked too clumsy and predictable a lot of the time. I've got similar feelings for Cana as he too failed to live up to his initial form and was often a tackle away from a red card. Getting £1.5 million for Murphy was little short of brilliant and let's hope some of the other surplus to requirements players can be moved on in the coming week. Ferdinand is certainly on his way and there won't be many tears shed there. Welbeck looks like a great signing and Waghorn could well make his mark this season while Al-Muhammadi and Riveros in particular should soon become established favourites. As for today's match, we've got to win it and I think we will, 2-1, though like the encounter back in March, it's going to be a tough one.

The Match

I was delighted though not surprised to see Bent in the starting line-up as I suspected his injury before the England match might not have been that serious. Having longed for his inclusion in the World Cup squad, I longed for his exclusion for the Hungary game. Our starting eleven and the subs looked strong, doing nothing to daunt my earlier hopes of a win. I tuned into Radio Newcastle and the crowd were sounding very lively with particularly loud cheers for the names of Bent and Riveros. We got off to a roaring start, almost getting penalty in the first minute, and dominated the opening ten minutes. Bramble's first good tackle was loudly cheered while a few seconds later Carr was loudly booed due to his Newcastle connections. Carr was soon the source of much cheering when he fouled Campbell in the box (or maybe outside but who's arguing?) and Bent duly scored from the spot after twenty-five minutes. A few minutes later Catts picked up his first yellow card of the season and Richardson quickly joined him. Bent and Campbell were combining well and Al-Muhammadi was winning lots of praise. Things were looking good for us but then a couple of minutes before the break Catts was off after receiving a second yellow for another apparently fairly innocuous foul. It was referee Antony Taylor's first Premier match and he seemed to be coming the heavy unnecessarily. There was a lot of stoppage-time due to O'Connor's head injury half-way through but it was still 1-0 at the break.

There were no changes as we kicked off again but it was going to be a long half for us. Our defence had ensured that Mignolet had had a quiet debut but that was just as well as he hadn't sounded too secure when he'd had to do something. Ten minutes in, ex-Newcastle sensation Steven Carr put us two-up when he looped a header past Ben Foster into the net. Brum soon brought on their new signing, the very big indeed Zigic, and he didn't take long in getting in a good shot that bought an equally good save from Mignolet. Riveros came on for Steed with much applause all round and lots of cheering for the former. Campbell dropped back into midfield, leaving Bent alone upfront and with half an hour left that seemed a good move. With just less than fifteen minutes left Scott Dann nodded one back for Birmingham from a short corner, the ball going through Mignolet's legs. The pressure was really on for us as they pushed for an equalizer and with Richardson on a yellow every tackle he made gave me the jitters. On a lighter note Welbeck replaced Bent with eight minutes left and was warmly received. With three minutes to go Birmingham's pressure paid off when Dann got the equalizer from a Larsson cross. Surprisingly there were four minutes of stoppage-time but at least we didn't concede again and it ended 2-2.

So, a disappointment in the end but considering we played more than half the game with ten men against a decent side, I suppose we can't complain too much. Though the two yellow cards against Catts were harsh we really must be extra careful this season as we ended last season on a red card or two and have started this one in the same way. Still, with the possible exception of Mignolet, the new players all had a decent game or better and that was good news. Here's to West Brom next week and speaking of which if anyone has a spare ticket, please let me know.

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