Two Fingers From JFK

The thing with Newcastle is, if Joe Kinnear - or whoever takes the job on a permanent basis if and when Mike Ashley sells up - has all his players available, the first choice XI is pretty strong. I'd say top ten, but possibly, with a fair wind behind them, even top eight.

On paper a team of Given; Beye, Taylor, Coloccini, Enrique; Gutierrez, Barton, Butt, Duff; Owen, Viduka is far better than the club's league position suggests. Significantly, there is also some decent competition for places with players like Guthrie, N'Zogbia, Ameobi and Martins not in that starting line up.

The problem - and it is a major one when you consider how tough a Premier League campaign can be when you get into the hectic winter period - is that they will rarely, if ever, be able to name that first choice XI. The only one missing at the moment is Viduka, who is still hobbling around with an ankle injury, but by the time he is fit again what are the odds of the other ten maintaining their fitness?! And what happens if one of the defenders gets injured?

But when you think of the injuries Newcastle have had to contend with over the last few years they are due some good luck on that front. After all, Everton have operated with a small squad for several years now, but they have avoided any long term lay-offs and have, with a good manager in David Moyes, done consistently well.

Despite a poor start to the season - they have won one league game at home so far - Everton have moved up to seventh place in the table with two wins and a draw in their last three games. They are, however, just three points above Newcastle following the win over Villa which is remarkable when you think of the turmoil there has been on Tyneside.

I've never known a league table be so congested as it is this season. With almost a third of the campaign gone, four points separate Everton in seventh and West Bromwich Albion who are second from bottom.

The gap between seventh and fourth, however, is five points, while Chelsea and Liverpool already have six more than that at the top. Never before has the league within a league been so clear cut, so early in a season. Does that make it exciting or too predictable? I'm not sure.

No matter, after weeks of torture as the club lurched from one disaster to the next, Newcastle fans deserve some happier times and we must not ignore how well Kinnear has done.

People wanted him to fail and they were willing him to do so when he arrived as interim boss, but he has stuck two fingers up to the lot of them so far. You see Joe, sometimes you don't have to swear at people, your actions can get the message across so much better!

There has even been talk of JFK getting the job on a permanent basis, but as much as I've been impressed with the work he has done, let's just hang fire on that one a little bit and wait to see what happens with the takeover first.

In five games under Kinnear Newcastle have won two, drawn two and lost one. If in 15 games time, Newcastle have won another six, drawn six and lost only three then there really will be a case for Joe.

The problem with caretaker managers at Newcastle is they are automatically compared to Glenn Roeder, fantastic in temporary charge, completely and utterly out of his depth when given the job permanently. Let's just bide our time, thank Joe wholeheartedly for what he has done so far and see if he can strengthen his hold on the job over the coming weeks and months.

Finally, I must apologise for not commenting earlier on Newcastle's fine victory over Villa, but my fingers were aching after a the web chat on Tuesday.

There doesn't seem to be much chat as it happens, just a marathon typing session, but it's good fun to do so I'm willing to go through the pain barrier. I'm actually starting to feel a little like Paula Radcliffe, except I'm not a woman and I can't run very far. On second thoughts, perhaps I should just leave it there.

However, if any of you have any questions, or thoughts you'd like to give, I'll be online again on Monday November 10th at 12:30pm armed with two fingers and some performance enhancing drugs (ie coffee).

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Apologies to anyone trying to comment on these blog entries.

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Thanks.