Not bale. What does he do? He is bad tactically. Always trying to play in the middle and breaking down spuds shape. Also his touch is too poor to be in the middle. ALL he can do is tap it down the line, run, and then hit it hard into the box. He never even picks a player out. Looks dangerous but not effective. Also vs a fullback with any sort of pace = bale nullified because he has no tricks. He just taps it and runs. Add to that he is a poor finisher and bottles it when he has simple passes to create a goal.
Arsenal will take 3rd, easily. They're looking dangerous again, much more so than Spurs and Chelsea. Newcastle might pinch 5th place, can't see much better than that though. Even if one of the teams above has a big dip in form. here's hoping Chelsea get distracted with FA cup / Champs league, I expect the result when they visit St. James Park (that's it's name) will determine 5th place. Also, if Man Utd. win the title before Man City visit St. James Park, will be a big factor in deciding the final places of the table.
Newcastle win again and go level on points with Spurs and 3 points above Chelsea. Can they do it? Well Cisse and Ben Arfa are saying they will! A recap - remaining fixtures: Newcastle - Stoke (h), Wigan (a), Chelsea (a), Man City (h), Everton (a) Spurs - QPR (a), Blackburn (h), Bolton (a), Aston Villa (a), Fulham (h) Chelsea - Fulham (a), Arsenal (a), QPR (h), Newcastle (h), Liverpool (a), Blackburn (h) At this moment, Chelsea has the hardest fixture list going away to Fulham, Arsenal and Liverpool. Add to the fact that they need to sandwich in the Champions league and FA cup, playing Barcalona and Spurs. They have the hardest fixture list of any team in the premiership!
Newcastle have some team: Ben Arfa Cisse Ba Tiote Krul to name five players who could make it at any team in the top 4.
Newcastle have a bloody difficult last 3 games though, probably won't get more than 4 points from those.
They do have some tasty players don't they. They didn't pay too much and got some quality players. Ben Arfa was am excellent purchase. This guy was up there talent wise with the likes of Nasri, Benzema etc and for Newcastle to get him under everyones noses was great business. Also he's come back from a double leg fracture and playing fantastically well so quickly.
True, but Bolton kept them quiet for 73 minutes at St. James' Park. There are too many variables though. Chelsea may be distracted by other competitions, City may implode, and you never know who'll show up for Everton. It's possible, but the most likely 4th place is still Spurs.
I'm not so sure Chelsea away - Many of their games for weeks have been less than convincing, and they struggled to break down Wigan. If they have another so-so game and we turn up with a good performance a win is very possible. Man City home - Man City's away form has cost them the title this season, and if Man Utd have the title mathematically sewn up by our game, Man City will no longer have the main goal they've been basing their motivation on all season. With Balotelli unlikely to play again, and players like Silva looking out of form, they could bring a lacklustre performance we're capable of beating. Everton away - Probably the toughest game. They struggle when it comes to goalscorers though (although you wouldn't think it after battering Sunderland 4-0 today) so we're fortunate to have such a strong forward three of HBA, Ba and Cisse and simply need to outscore them. So it could be 4 points, but madly enough, it could be 9.
Im with Chappaz on this one. Newcastle seem to have the personnel to force the issue. Whenever you have players on top form or special players like Ben Arfa, they can get a result even if you are struggling. It's all about being clinical and when you're at the business end of the season, you need your players to score goals even if you have few chances....
I just think we're doing what Man Utd are doing to be honest - grinding out results even during off days.
I really hope newcastle get 4th. I think 3rd is ours. We are comfortably the 3rd best team in the league. bar the shambolic start (due to transfer sagas) we would be up with the manc clubs. I dont think there is much between spuds, chavs and newcastle. But I think player for player newcastle have the best side of those 3.
No point aiming for 5th. Getting 4th will get you Champs league money which will allow you to invest further into your squad. You have a good squad already so you want to keep it.
Given Chelsea's recent fondness for late goals it's not inconceivable to think they could still win this...
