Siesta Time!

Well I think this may be the end. My heart has gone out of the blogs and I'm not sure if I'm gonna continue with them or not. Why? Well Freddie is at Seattle Sounders who I just can't get into - just don't like the colour of their kit for a start. Smudge is always on the bench at Newcastle and there's just no news. Only Beckham is peaking my interest at the moment with him being at Milan so I may keep that one updated.

It's also a time thing and these days I feel like I am doing it just for the sake of it. The blogs are just getting stale without constant updating and as a result the number of visitors is falling and the comments and feedback have almost dried up.

So I'm taking a break. I'll just follow the guys myself. The blogs will stay up for a while if people still want to look around them until I decide what I'm gonna do.

Take care

Paul

Newcastle united for scrap, says Alan Smith

Newcastle midfielder Alan Smith has admitted that his team will face "10 cup finals" as they bid to safeguard the Tyneside club's top-flight status.

Smith sounded a rallying call as set his sights on bolstering Newcastle's fight for Premier League safety that begins in earnest at Hull's KC Stadium on Saturday.

"There's 10 cup finals left," the former Leeds and Manchester United player said. "I know that's an old cliche, but it's true.

"There's a lot of players at this football club who want to do well for this football club, and no one wants a relegation on their CV."

According to Smith, who started his first game of the season due to injury in last week's 2-1 defeat by United, the Newcastle camp is focused on a common purpose.

"We've got to look forward, take the positives out of the Man United game, and go to Hull with confidence," Smith added. "We've got a great togetherness and a great belief, and everyone's going in the right direction.

"I know Hull won last week, but they've had a few bad results. There's no reason why we can't get a result. We've all got to be positive.

Smith added: "As a team we've not got what we've deserved a lot of the time - we just need a little bit of luck to go our way some time. Even at Bolton, there wasn't much in the game, but we conceded a poor goal.

"If you can keep Manchester United at bay for as long as we did, you've got to take confidence from that. They didn't create a lot of opportunities. Their goal was a deflection that Harps (Steve Harper) would probably have saved.

"But it was a mistake for the second goal, and we've got to try and eradicate that."

Newcastle vice-captain Nicky Butt, who is due to return to action against Hull following injury, is prepared for relegation dogfight.

"These games are going to be battles," Butt said. "It's been a bad season, we know that. There is no point feeling sorry for ourselves.

"All we can do is concentrate on getting as many points as we can. We can't worry about how bad it is or how other teams do, we just need to get as many points as we can.

"Our last away game at Bolton was not a good performance. It was scrappy and games like that are always going to be. We need to start taking our chances in away games. Bolton had one shot on goal and scored - we had a few and didn't. It was a bad performance for us.

"We are better than that, we know we are. But it's getting desperate now and we need to start picking up points."

Butt said he sympathised with those fans who have vented their anger towards the team and caretaker manager Chris Hughton.

"I can fully understand it," Butt added. "I think the fans had thought we' d turned the corner and they were up for it again.

"They were singing and getting behind us. Then after a couple of results they are sickened again.

"It's a sickener for us, too, and the staff. But we need the players, fans and staff all together if we are to turn the corner."

Source: Telegraph

Premiership Table

POS	TEAM	P	W	D	L	GD	PTS
1	Manchester United	27	20	5	2	36	65
2	Chelsea	28	17	7	4	32	58
3	Liverpool	28	16	10	2	25	58
4	Aston Villa	28	15	7	6	13	52
5	Arsenal	28	13	10	5	15	49
6	Everton	28	12	9	7	8	45
7	West Ham United	28	11	6	11	0	39
8	Manchester City	28	10	5	13	9	35
9	Wigan Athletic	28	9	8	11	0	35
10	Fulham	27	8	10	9	1	34
11	Bolton Wanderers	28	10	3	15	-10	33
12	Tottenham Hotspur	28	8	8	12	0	32
13	Sunderland	28	8	8	12	-8	32
14	Hull City	28	8	8	12	-13	32
15	Stoke City	28	7	8	13	-17	29
16	Newcastle United	28	6	10	12	-11	28
17	Portsmouth	27	7	7	13	-15	28
18	Blackburn Rovers	27	6	9	12	-13	27
19	Middlesbrough	28	6	8	14	-20	26
20	West Bromwich Albion	28	6	4	18	-29	22
Table standings correct as of 08 March 2009

Smith couldn't bear pain of relegation again

Returning star Alan Smith is desperate to avoid adding another relegation to his CV.

The midfielder made his first start of the season against his former club Manchester United last night, but couldn't prevent Newcastle from going down to a 2-1 defeat.

The result leaves the Magpies fifth bottom of the Premier League, just a point above the drop zone.

And Smith, who was part of the Leeds United side that dropped out of the Premier League five years ago, said: "You never want a relegation on your CV – I've unfortunately experienced it.

"And for me you don't want to have two on there. It's not nice. It's horrible. And if there are people that need reminding of it, I'm not one of them.

"There's 10 games left and hopefully last night against Manchester United, we can use that as a springboard to go to Hull a week on Saturday and get a performance and result.

"We showed we have a great endeavour and belief. And now we need to continue that if we're to beat the drop."

Smith last started a Premier League game against Everton at Goodison Park on the final day of last season.

And his only first-team involvement this term was as a second-half substitute against the Toffees at St James's Park two weeks ago.

But reflecting on his 82-minute contribution last night, Smith said: "It's been nine months since I started a competitive game and there is no bigger game than Manchester United to do it in for me.

"We've come out of it with a lot of pride and a lot of respect from their players. It's just disappointing that we couldn't come out of it with a point.

"We all have to stand up and be counted now in the last 10 games."

With stars like Habib Beye, Michael Owen, Joey Barton and Danny Guthrie all still out Smith admits that the loss of such key personnel could not be at a more difficult time.

He added: "We're in a relegation battle, and we don't have everybody fit which is disappointing.

"When you look around at the players who were missing again last night it's a huge plus for Chris Hughton.

"If you do have fresh legs then you can mix and match like Man United do.

"Chris probably wouldn't have wanted to play me because of match fitness, and I was seeing stars after 60 minutes.

"He only had the option of bringing on Kazenga LuaLua, who isn't a central midfielder. We're down to the bare bones. But when that is the case everybody has to dig in and show what they're about."

Source: Shields Gazette

Match Report: Newcastle 1 - 2 Manchester Utd

Newcastle United 1 - 2 Manchester United
FA Premiership


Newcastle: Harper, Steven Taylor , Coloccini, Bassong, Jose Enrique, Lovenkrands, Ryan Taylor (Carroll 77), Geremi, Gutierrez , Martins, Smith (LuaLua 82). Subs Not Used: Krul, Cacapa, Butt, Ameobi, Edgar.

Booked: Steven Taylor, Gutierrez.
Goals: Lovenkrands 9.

Manchester Utd: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand , Vidic , Evra, Ronaldo, Fletcher, Carrick, Park, Berbatov (Giggs 90), Rooney. Subs Not Used: Foster, Anderson, Scholes, Evans, Tevez, Eckersley.

Booked: Vidic, Ferdinand.
Goals: Rooney 20, Berbatov 56.

Attendance: 51,636

Referee: Steve Bennett

Read the full match report on the BBCi website

Match Report: Newcastle 0 - 0 Everton

Newcastle United 0 - 0 Everton
FA Premier League


Newcastle: Harper, Steven Taylor, Bassong, Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Ryan Taylor, Butt, Nolan , Duff (Gutierrez 46), Ameobi (Martins 58), Lovenkrands (Smith 77).
Subs Not Used: Krul, Cacapa, Geremi, Viduka.

Sent Off: Nolan (44).

Everton: Howard, Jagielka, Yobo, Lescott, Baines, Gosling (Saha 74), Neville, Arteta (Castillo 7), Rodwell, Anichebe (Fellaini 45), Jo.
Subs Not Used: Nash, Van der Meyde, Jacobsen, Wallace.

Booked: Fellaini.

Attendance: 47,683

Referee: Lee Mason

Big Picture

Alan is on the way back!! Yeahhhh!!