Newcastle Should Never Assume Anything
One win so dominant it made the Championship look easy has been followed by a fortunate point in a game they could so easily have lost. Newcastle United would do well to remember promotion is never a forgone conclusion.
Despite the setback against QPR, however, I think we can all agree United are in far better health this season than we ever envisaged in the summer. Back then, Newcastle United looked capable of keeling over at any minute, a club dying on its feet after relegation..
There is still plenty of reasons to worry about the future under Mike Ashley and his blundering regime, but in terms of the here and now on the pitch, a three point lead at the top of the Championship and a five point cushion back to third is a good place to be after ten games.
In football speak, we would have taken that at the start of August so we should be pretty happy now we've got it. It hasn't been perfect by any means, but when is anything in football ever perfect?
Interestingly, although United faltered against QPR on Wednesday night and will have to prove they are not suffering from the sort of complacency and big club arrogance which has blighted Newcastle so many times before against Bristol City at the weekend, their stumble has been far less costly than their rivals'.
West Brom have lost back to back games in the league and Middlesbrough have taken just one point from their last three matches. The Baggies take on third-place Preston this weekend and that is a real test for new manager Roberto Di Matteo, as well as his team's promotion credentials.
After all, defeats can quickly turn lost ground into an insurmountable gap, even at this early stage of the campaign.
As for Boro, the mood on Teesside has turned ugly - I'll refrain from making a joke about it never exactly being pretty, oh hang on I just did - and Gareth Southgate's young squad are in trouble of slipping down the table at a rapid rate of knots.
Boro are a well run club, you can't fault chairman Steve Gibson for what he has done at the Riverside over the last 15 years or so and it is easy to like Southgate as well.
When they went down back in May, they did not seem to have anything like the same sort of trouble as Newcastle. Boro looked stable and while they had to sell some of their best players to balance the books it was done calmly and without anything like the hysteria which surrounded the Magpies.
However, appearances can be deceptive. The club is a powder keg waiting to explode. In fact, they are possibly only one or two more poor results away from combustion.
So where does this leave Newcastle? Well, they are in a strong position at the top of the table and appear to have - particularly following the loan signings of Danny Simpson, Zurab Khizanishvili and Marlon Harewood - the strongest squad on paper in the division.
However, as we know, that view sometimes isn't worth the paper it is written on. If Newcastle managed to get relegated last season with the players they had six months ago then they can definitely still make a mess of a promotion push.
Teams will start to work out how to play against them, home and away. QPR didn't do anything particularly exciting at St James's Park, but a team with pace is always going to trouble United on the counter-attack.
For all of the power in midfield, it is slow. Like a tank, when it is heading the right way it can be unstoppable, but is vulnerable whenever it has to try and turn quickly to move in the other direction.
It is not a coincidence the two teams who have really troubled Newcastle this season - QPR and Blackpool - have had nippy wingers, dynamic midfielders and pace up front. There are sure to be others like them in the Championship.
Newcastle have made a good start, but it is nothing more than that. I talked about them making the Championship look easy against Ipswich last weekend, but I'll only really believe that if they are still top of the league after another 30 games.
Let's not assume anything because they could make an ass out of you, me and the club!
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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.
Good piece Luke and a fair reflection on our season thus far. The players are going to have to get used to playing twice a week whether they like it or not! The Championship is a slog and I have been very impressed by the response thus far. I too have concerns around the lack of pace. I think January may be the time to sell Nicky Butt and replace him with fresher legs. Alan Smith did a tremendous job as captain and I was disappointed when Butt was handed this back. Nile Ranger looks like he could be a class act and I am very excited by the (I accept slow) emergence of Vuckic. Once Shola (We always loved him) Ameobi comes back in January I think we have the potential to start blitzing some teams. In an ideal world we'll start to pull away over christmas and have this division sewn up in April, allowing us to blood some of the young guns. Hopefully by then the fat man will be off and we can start planning our Premier League investment. My one remaing fear is that Ashley is still there in January and starts flogging more players!
I think it has been a very good start, all things considered. The squad is still very small though and a dose of injuries will highlight that further. Pitches get heavier in winter and muscle injuries occur more often.
I have been impressed by Nolan & Smith in midfield, Ranger up front and the back line, which looks solid (for a change!!) We still lack creativity and pace throughout the side and Jonas' crossing ability never seems to get any better! Ryan Taylor's had a good start and can deliver some great balls, but we missed his distribution last night.
All in all, I'm happy, but I always have that nagging doubt that we can shoot ourselves in the foot at any time. I don't expect Ashley to sell now. He'll be eyeing promotion and stealing the money they'll get from getting back in the Premier League before he departs. I just wish he would f*** off now!!!
While i agree with Fauntleroy that Smith and Nolan have been quite impressive, i don't think there should be a space for Nicky Butt in the side, only as a backup for one of those 2. We seem to have very similar midfielders, what i mean by that is that we have no creativity. At QPR no one got hold of the ball and ran forwards with it, we lacked width, especially in the first half, and it seemed like we were just lumping the ball up to Carroll towards the end. We're slowly starting to play championship football. We don't look as good as we did in the opening games, our forward running and purpose was rather poor on Wednesday. We definitaly missed Ryan Taylor for his set pieces and Jonas, when he did come on, didn't look that bothered. I like him and thats why his performances have been harder to take. He should be running rings around these players, and he doesn't even bother to cross anymore. Enrique was poor on Wednesday too.
The loan lads look good, they played well and look rather astute signings.
I'm concerned about the style of play we are adopting and the lack of creativity in midfield. If we can improve this then i can't see any reason, injuries aside, why we shouldn't be walking this league. With all due respect to the other teams, we should really be whipping them all.
Thats my opinion.
Anyway, 3 points clear and a goal for our new center forward!
HWTL