One repeat I do want to watch
MY request to Newcastle’s players this afternoon is simple: play it again lads!
I thought United’s victory at Swansea was a brilliant effort, a total reward for organisation.
For me it was compelling viewing typified by a fabulous performance from the back four. How often have we been able to say that?
Jamaal Lascelles played the way he looks – a thoroughbred. He’s a terrific athlete and here he lived up to it. He was a leader of men.
Ciaran Clark at his shoulder was equally a colossus and the two fullbacks played it to perfection.
Jesus Gamez was targeted by Swansea early on. They overloaded his side but he came through it and by the end they had given up trying to force an error from him.
In this column last week I stated that Rafa missing from the touchline could spur on his players because they are a decent bunch and would not want to let him down. It worked out exactly that way.
You can’t get that response more than once, of course, so I’m delighted that Rafa is back on the touchline today to try to manufacture another such effort against Stoke City.
It’s a special match for Joselu who was thrown out by them. He’ll want to show what he is really about and I wish him well. The lad has done great so far and seems to be thriving on feeling wanted.
Perhaps his team-mates will help him as mine did on my first return to St James’ Park.
Alan Ball went down the Arsenal dressing-room yelling at players that this was my first return to SJP since my transfer and that they should all help me. I scored and we won 2-0.
I had nothing to prove to Newcastle or the fans who loved me as I loved them but Joselu has something to prove. He was not wanted at Stoke.
While he has done well so has Mikel Merino. When I first saw him as a sub against Spurs I was worried that we had a player who only lends the ball not gives it. In other words, passes it and expects it returned straight off.
But he was playing at home for the first time and it was 10 men against 11, which meant he played safety first. Since Merino has shown us all his real game I’ve been impressed, especially as he is so young. The Spaniard has done so well that Jonjo Shelvey couldn’t get on to the field at Swansea after serving his threematch ban.
May I make one more point about the game at the Liberty Stadium. It perfectly illustrated why I don’t like zonal marking. Lascelles was left free on his run to leap like a salmon and head the winner.
Zonal marking confuses players, especially forwards dropping back to defend. Footballers are simple folk and if you give them one man to mark then they are much happier.
I’m desperately hoping for much of the same from Newcastle this afternoon. If we get it then it will be a home victory. COLOGNE have apologised for the crowd disturbances which overshadowed Thursday night’s Europa League match at Arsenal.
The Bundesliga club, though, also hit back at their limited ticket allocation and criticised “organisers” for being “not adequately prepared,” while insisting the police presence was “too small”.
Cologne also claimed Arsenal tickets had been passed on “for horrendous prices.”
The Group H opener, which Arsenal won 3-1, was delayed by an hour as many away supporters without tickets looked to gain entry to the Emirates Stadium.
It is estimated around 20,000 Cologne fans made the journey to London, despite only 3,000 tickets being on sale. Thousands of away supporters could be seen sat in the home stands.
Following the disturbances both inside and outside the ground, governing body UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against both clubs.
Cologne face charges involving crowd disturbances, setting off fireworks, throwing of objects and acts of damage by their fans, while Arsenal are under investigation for having “stairways blocked” in the away section.
Arsenal insist the safety of fans was the main concern at the time and promised a “full review.”
Cologne’s statement read: “FC Koln is proud tens of thousands of ‘Colognians’ wanted to experience the first European match in 25 years and travelled to London.
“The overwhelming majority of our fans have represented the club, the city of Cologne, and German football happily and positively. The London locals and the police shared these feelings on social media leading up to the match.
“Due to the enormous demand for tickets, it would have been sensible, not least for security reasons, to allow more than the allocated 5% of stadium capacity to the guest fans.
“It was apparent thousands of people from Cologne would seek to avoid the restrictions and get tickets in every way possible.
“Despite the tremendous experience of both the London security forces and Arsenal as a permanent partaker in European football, the organisers were unfortunately not adequately prepared for the task. In our view, the security concept and communication seemed inadequate and the police force too small.”
However, the Bundesliga side said there could be “no excuse or justification” for the actions of “so-called disturbers” with stewards and police being attacked.
The statement added: “We ask our English hosts to accept our apology for this.”