Visit our other sites:   

Search the site

  

Grab my RSS feed | (What's this?)

About this Blog

Luke Edwards is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.

As well as football, Luke also regularly takes a wry look at the biggest sports stories from across the North-East and beyond. From cricket to rugby and basketball to boxing, some are criticised and some are praised.

Sometimes provocative, sometimes laugh-aloud funny, but always interesting Luke Who's Talking also gives you the chance to interact with Luke and have your say on all the major sporting issues.

Recent comments

Recent Posts

Sponsored links

Archives

Links

Sponsored links


Don't Trouble Yourself

Posted by Luke on September 27, 2006 12:47 PM | 

So Celestine Babayaro has pulled out of the squad for Newcastle United’s Uefa Cup game against Levadia Tallinn because he has suffered a slight groin strain - somehow you suspect ‘slight’ is the operative word.

If there are players who would put their hand in the fire for the team - Scott Parker and James Milner spring to mind - there are those who simply wouldn’t put their hand anywhere near the fireplace, whether there was a fire in it or not and I’m afraid I’m starting to believe Celestine is one of them.

Had Wayne Bridge arrived during the transfer window, Babayaro would be playing for the reserves and he could have as many groin/thigh/calf/bottom lip strains as he liked. But he didn’t, so the club signed a half-fit Olivier Bernard instead because, to be blunt, they were desperate.

For me, Babayaro is sulking. Sulking because he has been fined two weeks wages for slapping Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt, sulking because Glenn Roeder is looking for a new left back and sulking because he feels he is unfairly singled out for criticism by the manager.

Sorry Celestine, but let me put things straight for you because it seems you are living in some sort of imaginary world where you are one of the best and most dedicated professionals in the game.

Roeder is looking for a new left back because he wants someone to provide you with some competition in the hope that it might bring the best out of you. Fair enough, if you played 40 games a season to the best of your ability, this might be harsh, but you don’t, you play 20 and go through the motions.

If Roeder has singled you out for criticism, so what. Has he done so in public like he has to Titus Bramble? For all of Bramble’s recent troubles, you don’t see him pulling out of squads with a “slight� groin strains do you and his confidence has been wrecked by Roeder’s decision to go public with his no-holds barred criticism.

And if you’re whining because you were fined two weeks wages for getting yourself suspended for a girly slap on Kuyt, grow up. If you had been sent off, as you should have been, you would have been automatically have received this punishment, so the fine is fair and just.

At least if you had punched Craig Bellamy you would have had the support of the fans!

TrackBack

TrackBack<$MTEntryTrackbackLink$>>

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference <$MTEntryTitle$>:

">

» <$MTPingTitle$> from <$MTPingBlogName$>
<$MTPingExcerpt$> [Read More]

Tracked on <$MTPingDate$>

Comments (1)

Paul wrote...

Ironic that we aledgedly turned down Sol Campbell because of injury worries. He would have been the experienced pro we needed at the centre of defence. Johnathan Woodgate maybe even better (but again, the manager aledgedly had concerns about his injury record - and he hasn't played that many games the latest year to be fair).
What about zog at left back though? He's played there earlier in his career (hasn't he)?
As to Sunday's game, if Scotty and Duff recover, I would consider playing Martins up front on his own with Butt in front of the back four (to cover the gaps that rooney and ronaldinho will try to create). I would then give Duff, Miller and Parker licence to support Martins while counter attacking. We could use Amoebi as a super sub in the second half (if required).

Posted by: Paul  | September 28, 2006 1:44 PM

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)