Ups and downs

Not Toon-related, but Saturday's trip to the Madejski to witness Reading at first hand occasioned this post assessing the starts made to the 2012-13 season by the Royals and the five other teams either promoted from or relegated to the Championship. It was a bit upsetting having to be complimentary about Fat Sam, but there was at least the consolation of getting to mention Kevin Nolan being the Mackems' bogeyman.

Trouble at t'mill town

The Two Unfortunates' season preview kicked off today with a lengthy piece on the woes of Leon O'Best's new club Blackburn contributed by yours truly. Hard to imagine, I know, but Rovers seem to be in a more parlous and farcical state than even we've managed over the years...

Bye bye O'Best

So it's farewell to Leon O'Best, who today completed his move to relegated Blackburn Rovers for a fee said to be in excess of £3m. That means we've doubled our money on the Republic of Ireland striker, signed in January 2010 as part of a posse to help get us over the promotion line - and the fee could rise higher should he help Rovers bounce back into the Premier League. Good business, arguably, for a player who's suffered with more than his fair share of injuries.

Most of us had O'Best pegged as an out-of-his-depth try-hard, even after he got off the mark for the club in spectacular fashion with a hat-trick at home to a hapless West Ham, and it's true that he probably didn't quite have the quality or finesse required of a real top-flight forward. Nevertheless, he scored skilful winners at St James' Park last season against both Fulham and QPR, and was also on the scoresheet in that phenomenal 4-4 draw with Arsenal. The writing was on the wall in February, though, when he limped off injured at home to Villa and had to watch from the sidelines as debutant Papiss Cisse pinged a left-foot scorcher into the top corner of Shay Given's net.

As a forward who made the most of somewhat limited abilities, he followed in the footsteps of Antoine Sibierski and, like the Frenchman, can leave the club with his head held high and with our best wishes to send him on his way.

Of course, O'Best's departure leaves us with fewer striking options - beyond Cisse and Demba Ba, we're now looking at Big Lad, essentially, as the Lone Ranger and Xisco are currently well out of the frame and Peter Lovenkrands has also left. So, in other words, selling the Irishman can only be considered genuinely good business if we can strengthen the squad by bringing in a superior replacement. Which is where Twente's Luuk de Jong comes in - and hopefully come in he will. His agent Louis Laros' recent comments will have given us some encouragement: "Luuk is still a Twente player. If the right club comes along then he will happily make the move. The club doesn't need to be a top club, but a good club in a big league where Luuk can play regularly and develop as a player."

The Dutch club might be trying to play hardball over the fee (as is their right, of course), but given that de Jong's agent has declared that his client "has taken the decision to move on", you do wonder whether they might come to view dispensing with a disgruntled wantaway player swiftly as the most sensible course of action.

Soldiers of fortune

Blackburn Rovers 0 - 2 Newcastle Utd

If you do make your own luck, then we were very industrious indeed in between Saturday's game and the trip to Blackburn, the two clubs' fourth and final meeting of the season. It was a night where pretty much everything went our way: numerous wasted chances by the home side to add to a missed penalty, plus a heavy deflection for the game's first goal and (perhaps most remarkably of all) Obertan Kenobi finding the back of the net for the decisive second.

Some credit is certainly due to our defence, superbly marshalled by returning captain Sideshow Bob, but it's fair to say that Blackburn missed their predatory poacher Yakubu far more than we missed our own suspendee, Dreamboat. The Frenchman's place was filled by Raylor and, after an encouraging opening period during which Big Lad had a couple of opportunities, it was our utility man who was instrumental in giving us a 12th-minute lead.

Steve Kean will presumably be cursing his decision to leave out wantaway defender Chris Samba, who'd declared himself keen to play, having witnessed Scott Dann guilty of fatally hesitating in response to a loose pass and then diverting Raylor's subsequent somewhat optimistic effort past Paul Robinson. Football bores are fond of saying that things even themselves out over the course of a season - well, as far as wickedly deflected shots go, they've evened themselves out over the course of five days.

That should have been our cue to seize control and overpower our relegation-haunted opponents, but instead we sat back - or, more accurately, were pinned back - by a determined and gutsy home team. Gael Givet, who got the last-gasp winner in the League Cup tie back at the tail end of October, was denied by a goal-line clearance from Danny Simpson, new loan striker Anthony Modeste was regularly troubling our back line (though he was also doing the same for the offside flag), and efforts were flying in from all angles. Meanwhile, only the crossbar saved Leon O'Best from joining Dann on the wrong side of the scoresheet.

Two minutes from the interval referee Phil Dowd decided Rovers needed a little assistance and presented them with the chance to equalise from the spot. While Junior Hoilett had earlier done very little to endear himself to his prospective employers by taking a tumble in the area, Raylor sufficiently riled to earn a yellow card, there was probably a case for a penalty when Simpson collided with Modeste. Tim Krul, though, was undaunted, keeping out both David Dunn's effort and Givet's follow-up. It's reassuring to know we'll have him performing heroics between the sticks for the second half of the season, at least.

A Blackburn goal just before the break would have put a very different (if more equitable) complexion on the match, but we made it into the dressing room in front. The Silver Fox's response was to withdraw HBA - not a sniff of a sensational goal-of-the-season contender this time - and replace him with James Perch. Tactically astute, or (as my inward groan implied) just an invitation for Blackburn to attack us more?

In truth, our opponents were less of a threat in the second period. Sure, Modeste, Dann, Steven Nzonzi and Mauro Formica all had reasonable opportunities that they failed to take, and Morten Gamst Pedersen's dead-ball ability was a continual concern, but we contained them better and restricted them to fewer openings. Not that we looked capable of making the game safe either, though - there were a few speculative efforts, but O'Best and Big Lad toiled ineffectually up front until the former was replaced by Peter Lovenkrands.

Our third and final substitute, Obertan Kenobi, had been on the pitch all of two minutes when he belatedly made the game safe. The man at fault for Givet's winner in October made amends by finishing off a swift counterattack to deliver the sort of bullet that usually has our names on it.

In October we had been 2-0 down in stoppage time and yet had still managed to force extra time, but thankfully there was no stirring comeback on this occasion. Kean is notorious for his glass-more-than-half-full post-match assessments of Blackburn defeats, but for once he had a point in suggesting that his side created enough opportunities to win three games, let alone one. Still, the victory - and fifth place, above both Liverpool and Arsenal - was ours to savour.

Other reports: BBC, Guardian

Good goal? Not Arf

Newcastle Utd 2 - 1 Blackburn Rovers

For the most part yesterday afternoon's match was a classic case of after the lord mayor's show. But in the end a sensational goal by HBA and another from Spidermag - the latter in the fifth minute of stoppage time - were enough to ensure we avoided the ignominy of a second cup exit of the season at the hands of the Premier League's crisis club.

With Demba Ba and Mr T en route for Africa, the Silver Fox was always going to be forced into making changes, but he also took the opportunity to drop/rest Big Lad and Raylor. HBA was Leon O'Best's nominal partner up front, Obertan Kenobi returned on the right and there was another cup start for Mehdi Abeid in central midfield. While our manager could hardly have been accused of fielding a weakened side, the same wasn't true of his under-fire opposite number, Steve Kean opting to leave out both Chris Samba and surprise goal machine Yakubu.

As would have been expected with Wednesday's tremendous victory still fresh in the memory, we began at a blistering pace, threatening to blow Blackburn away within the first ten minutes. Mark Bunn had to save from Dreamboat, Spidermag and O'Best, while efforts from Dreamboat, Abeid and Mike Williamson all flew high or wide of the target.

When the early breakthrough didn't come, we lost a bit of impetus and allowed the visitors back into the game. Ruben Rochina fired a couple of warning shots at goal before his side took the lead through David Goodwillie. Tim Krul made a fine save to claw away Grant Hanley's header from a corner, but the diminutive Scot was on hand to bundle the loose ball in.

For the remaining ten minutes of the half we looked at a bit of a loss as to how to get back onto level terms, and the Silver Fox's half-time pep talk didn't do much to change that. What did, though, was his introduction of Big Lad for Obertan Kenobi ten minutes into the second period. Not that Big Lad himself was key, missing a decent opportunity shortly after coming on - more the fact that it meant HBA switching to the right wing. An unfamiliar role, but one which to which he adapted with great aplomb.

With twenty minutes left on the clock, the Frenchman embarked upon a slaloming run that mesmerised and bamboozled at least six defenders (I, the rest of the stadium and viewers of ITV's highlights show lost count) before smacking a shot past Bunn. "Technically the greatest goal I've ever seen" was the Silver Fox's assessment. Perhaps he'll be revising his opinion that HBA "can't play out wide", particularly in light of the player's apparent disgruntlement with recent bench-warming duties and Obertan Kenobi's frustrating inconsistency in that position.

A strike of such quality naturally roused spirits and raised the noise level from a poor crowd of just over 30,000, and we pressed eagerly for the winner that would mean we wouldn't have to visit Ewood Park twice in a fortnight. Our prime threat came from an unexpected source, Williamson, who clipped the bar with a header and saw another pushed away by Blackburn's busy Bunn.

And just when it looked as though a second Wednesday evening excursion to Lancashire was inevitable, Spidermag motored determinedly down the left, played a neat one-two with O'Best and dinked a shot over Bunn - a second moment of inspiration from a wide player. The Argentinian had hardly had time to remove his mask when the full-time whistle blew.

The win meant we were in the hat for the Fourth Round draw - and second out, handed an away tie at either Brighton or Wrexham, Kazenga LuaLua's Championship side having been held to a draw at home by the Welsh non-leaguers. It could have been worse, certainly (Man Utd's reward for beating Man City on their own patch being a trip to Liverpool, for instance), but progress is far from a foregone conclusion.

Other reports: BBC, Observer

Keanly contested

The weekend's FA Cup Third Round draw saw us pitted against familiar foes, Blackburn Rovers, whom we've already met (and lost to) in the League Cup this season. Unlike that tie, however, this time we've been given home advantage, for the first time in the FA Cup Third Round since 2006. Whether Steve Kean will still be in charge of Venky's (chicken) basket-case club remains to be seen, with the side struggling in the relegation zone, though at least ex-Smog striker Yakubu seems to be doing his best to keep the manager in a job.

Gael force knocks the wind out of our sails

Blackburn 4 - 3 Newcastle Utd (aet)

Well, we all knew the unbeaten run had to be ended by someone - but did it really have to be Blackburn, the Premier League's basement club (and not without good reason)? An extraordinary match culminated in our first defeat of the season, which saw us exit the League Cup just as things start to get interesting (though, in truth, the presence of Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool in the quarter-final draw suggests our name probably wasn't destined to be on the trophy for the first time this year anyway).

Alan Pardew's team selection was a pre-match talking point, the Silver Fox opting to retain several first-teamers. Mr T and Saylor both missed out with knee-knack and nose-knack respectively, while Obertan Kenobi, Leon O'Best and Raylor were rested. In came French pair HBA and Sylvain Marveaux, Danny Guthrie, James Perch (could Sideshow Bob make him look decent?) and Davide Santon, the latter for his full debut. The bench was a strikingly defender-free zone, featuring Mehdi Abeid, Dan Gosling, Little Big Lad, Peter Lovenkrands and the Lone Ranger (back in the fold) alongside Obertan Kenobi.

For his part, under-fire Rovers manager Steve Kean picked an equally attack-minded side featuring Yakubu and David Goodwillie up front with Morten Gamst Pedersen and Toon target Junior Hoilett on the wings and forward-thinking midfielder Ruben Rochina in the middle. The Spaniard it was who gave the home side an early lead, lashing into the top corner unmarked after full-back Martin Olsson's unchallenged run and pull-back. We might have been wearing orange, but the defence was stood around like lemons.

We almost hit back immediately, Demba Ba belting a shot off the post, and the Senegalese striker later came agonisingly close to touching in Danny Guthrie's low cross-shot at the far post. In sharp contrast to the league game at St James' in which he bagged a hat-trick, nothing was quite going for him.

The balance of play, though, was with Blackburn, who were regularly keeping Tim Krul's gloves warm (if not genuinely extending him). Pedersen, as is his wont, seemed to have raised his game just for our visit.

That pattern continued after the break, until what looked like being the critical passage of play shortly after the hour mark. No sooner had it been confirmed that Ba's luck really was out, Christopher Samba having dragged him to the deck in the penalty area without punishment, than Rovers broke down the other end of the pitch and Krul clipped Rochina just as he'd touched the ball on. The Dutchman was yellow-carded (Rochina having been just about headed away from goal) and then beaten from the spot by ex-Smog Yakubu.

The Silver Fox's go-for-broke introduction of Little Big Lad for Danny Simpson initially promised to reap reward, Obertan Kenobi and Lovenkrands also joining the action soon after. But, as the game drifted into injury time, we still hadn't mustered a single effort on target. That all changed in the 92nd minute, though, Guthrie given time and space to arrow a daisy-cutter inside Mark Bunn's right-hand post from distance.

Merely a consolation goal? With our current doggedness and team spirit, not a bit of it. Our second effort on target came three minutes later, Dreamboat following up Saturday's first goal for the club with an even better dead-ball strike into the top corner that had the Darwen End discoing like mad. A phenomenal comeback by any standards.

And yet half-way through the first period of extra time we found ourselves behind again, Pedersen's long-range free-kick taking a wicked deflection and flying past Krul. But still we refused to be beaten. Obertan Kenobi did what he's done too rarely of late, beating his full-back to drill in a low cross which caused panic in the six-yard area. Referee Robert Madley spotted Rovers substitute Grant Hanley's manhandling of Lovenkrands and the Dane tucked away the resultant penalty.

Lest we heap too much praise on our ex-Man Utd winger, though, he was shockingly culpable for the goal which finally killed us off. A shoot-out was a matter of seconds away when that man Pedersen's free-kick was nodded back across goal by Samba for Gael Givet - supposed to have been tracked by our substitute - to glance the ball over the line. The pulsating contest was brought to a close shortly afterwards, with us finishing on the wrong end of a 4-3 scoreline having been on the right end of one in the previous round.

Alan Pardew insisted we deserved to win the game, and in the circumstances defeat was certainly cruel - but, to be blunt, you can't defend like that or take 92 minutes to muster a shot on target and expect to triumph. A strong team struggled to cope with Blackburn's supposedly modest threat and the lack of defensive cover on the bench is worrying. We missed Saylor's commitment in the centre of defence and, even more crucially, Mr T's minesweeping act in front of the back four. With much sterner tests to come, starting at Stoke on Monday, is our season about to come spectacularly off the rails?

Other reports: BBC, Guardian

The only way is up neither up nor down

Could talk of the all-important 40-point mark, "relegation six-pointers" and "squeaky bum time" become a thing of the past? It might if certain unnamed foreign owners of Premier League clubs have their way.

Without the possibility of promotion or the threat of relegation, the game would be immeasurably poorer - no excitement, no sense of uncertainty, no point. But, as ludicrous as the idea of doing away with them might sound, that's already the situation in Scotland, where there's no straightforward route from the regional leagues up into the national leagues and vice versa. A friend of mine supports Forres Mechanics, who were founder members of the Highland Football League in 1893 and have been stuck there ever since, managing to win the title just once in all that time. How the fans are able to sum up any interest or enthusiasm is completely beyond me.

Even those for whom we have precious little time have been voicing their opposition to the potential proposal. Taggart lambasted it as "suicide" and 'Appy 'Arry labelled it "scandalous". Grudging credit where it's due, but even Deluded Dave has branded it as "the most stupid suggestion I've ever heard in my life" - a more significant stance than those of Taggart and 'Appy 'Arry simply because the Premier League becoming a closed shop would be to Wigan's benefit. (The Latics owner actually threatened to withdraw his club from the league if the idea became reality - as things stand, Saturday's visitors to St James' Park could be waving the Premier League farewell regardless...)

Of course, it's tempting to speculate who might be behind the suggestion. Not hard to imagine that Blackburn owners Venkys might be guilty of fowl play, given that it would keep their dead men walking in the division. I wouldn't put it past Liverpool either, American owner John Henry being used to the franchise system in the US and managing director Ian Ayre having voiced a much-publicised disregard for what's fair in pursuit of narrow self-interest.*

Thankfully, even if there was some momentum behind the proposal, the FA would apparently retain the right to veto it. So they might yet prove their worth after all...

(* Incidentally, here's True Faith's eloquent commentary on Ayre's remarks.)

Update

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has dismissed the suggestion as "ridiculous", claiming that no owners have actually declared their support for it - and indeed Blackburn and Liverpool are among those who've come out to announce they're satisfied with the current system. A storm in a teacup, then, it seems, and one that leaves League Managers' Association chief Richard Bevan (who made the initial comments) looking a little bit foolish.

Still, it's interesting that Man City and the Mackems refused to comment on the issue, and Arsenal actually announced they "did not have a stance". Surely you're either for the status quo or you want change?

Demba raises the Ba

Newcastle Utd 3 - 1 Blackburn Rovers

Perhaps this is a bit rash, but maybe - just maybe - we don't need the big-money big-name striker we were craving after all. Amidst all of the hoopla surrounding our deadline day failings, the fact that we'd already signed a new striker earlier in the summer was largely ignored. And on Saturday a post-Ramadan, fully-fit and sharp Demba Ba belatedly announced his arrival at St James' Park in style, his hat-trick enough to bring to an end our embarrassing sequence of home defeats to Blackburn and leave them looking for a new lucky hotel. Meanwhile, at Anfield, his £35m predecessor Rocky was once again firing blanks...

Encouraging performances in midweek from Hatem Ben Arfa, Peter Lovenkrands and Sylvain Marveaux gave Alan Pardew selection dilemmas of the pleasant sort, but in the end he opted to stick with the same XI that had deserved victory at Villa Park - the decision to prefer Ba to Ben Arfa or Lovenkrands in particular proving justified.

Steve Kean seemed to have identified Yohan Cabaye as our dangerman, understandably so given his performance at Villa, but Ba was one of several players in black and white to benefit from this narrow focus. Right from the off, the Senegal international looked much less like the lethargic below-par Big Lad of early season and much more the powerful all-action striker who seemed to take up West Ham's cause on his own last year. He shot over from the edge of the area early on but had found the net twice before the first half-hour was out. First, he controlled a cross from striker partner Leon O'Best, swivelled and lashed a shot past Rovers 'keeper Paul Robinson and then, three minutes later, nodded home unmarked when Steven Taylor's header back across the six-yard box caused panic.

Plain sailing - or so we thought for all of seven minutes, when tricky winger Junior Hoilett fired high into Tim Krul's goal from just inside the area. On this showing, and on the strength of his early-season displays, we're right to have identified the Canadian as a potential target. The setback didn't faze us, though, and Obertan Kenobe came close to restoring the two-goal advantage as the interval approached.

The early part of the second half proved crucial, with Rovers' Martin Olsson's lucky effort bouncing off the top of the crossbar as Krul floundered before Ba completed his treble at the other end, his header drifting in despite the attentions of defenders and 'keeper. Remarkably, it was the fourth hat-trick at home by a Newcastle player since we returned to the Premier League in August 2010.

Olsson's afternoon then got worse, the Swede dismissed for a second bookable offence after fouling O'Best, and we set about piling on the misery for the visitors. That we were unable to do so - despite decent efforts from O'Best, Ben Arfa (on for Ba, to rapturous applause for both), Cabaye and Obertan - was a little unfortunate, but nevertheless it was great to see our hitherto solid but unspectacular side showing so much attacking verve and purpose.

Saturday lunchtime's League Cup draw had seen us paired with the Lancastrians, and on the evidence of what followed we should certainly fancy our chances, even though the game's at Ewood Park. In terms of the Premier League, though, we're sitting pretty in fourth, two points clear of Rocky and Jose Enrique's Liverpool. Bigger challenges and "bombs" are yet to come, no doubt, but for the time being at least we should just enjoy it.

Other reports: BBC, Guardian

Clean sheets all round

Blackburn Rovers 0 - 0 Newcastle Utd

An ultimately frustrating afternoon in the North West saw Newcastle return from Ewood Park with one point added to the total, but left with a nagging sense that it could have been more.

Opting to stick with the same starting XI who had in turn capitulated horribly, then come back magnificently, against Arsenal last week, Newcastle looked reasonably well matched against a Blackburn side who haven't plunged down the table, as one might have anticipated, having ditched Fat Sam earlier in the season. Instead it was the home side who perhaps squandered the first decent chance, when Roque Santa Cruz powered an effort against the post.

However, with Jose Enrique enjoying a fine game, Newcastle's left back started to prompt our attacks, and his magnificent long ball fell for Lovenkrands whose first-time lob left Paul Robinson stranded, only to bounce back off the crossbar and away from Leon Best who had followed in the Dane's shot.

Going forward, our most likely source of supply looked to be our left back, who was making significant inroads down our left, often producing a better end product than Spidermag.

Unfortunately, we couldn't quite manage to find that little bit of quality, or the little slice of luck, needed to beat the Blackburn defence, with Sideshow Bob's powerful shot straight at the keeper our best effort of the second half.

Late on, Pardew threw on Nile Ranger and new boy Shefki Kuqi, but neither was really afforded sufficient time, or opportunity, to make an impact and the game ended goalless.

The draw keeps us in the top half, but with only a handful of points separating us from the drop zone, we could do to pick up a win away to Birmingham to start to put significant distance between us and the drop zone.

Other reports: BBC, Observer