This time it was Yohan Cabaye who was the hero, stroking home, with a little help from Nemanja Vidic, a second half winner to seal our first win at Old Trafford since 1972.

The result put us firmly in the running for the top five places and once again showed just how good Cabaye is. We’re now 8/1 with Paddy Power for a top six finish.

Despite winning the French league in 2011, in a Lille team that also boasted the likes of Eden Hazard, Gervinho and our very own Mathieu Debuchy, the little maestro came to us that summer as somewhat of an unknown quantity.

Since then he has become one of the best playmakers in the country, and left many of the United fans wondering why their club hadn’t tried to sign him in their quest sort out their midfield problems.

With him in the side the Magpies often look brilliant, playing our traditional brand of attacking football and with the competitive nature of the season so far, we could end up being in with a shout of sneaking into the European places like we did two years ago.

However, a potential move away from St James’ could scupper that straightaway, especially with him recently hinting that he would consider a move back to his homeland with PSG, speculation that set the transfer betting on fire.

We all saw how distracted he was by the speculation linking him with Arsenal in August, effectively going on strike and you feel as if the same situation could arise on January, while the fact he hasn’t played in Europe this season will make him even more attractive to potential suitors.

We all know how important he is to our side and if Alan Pardew can keep him happy, he could well be the man who guides us back to a surprise European finish.

The post Keeping Cabaye key to Euro chances appeared first on Magpieszone.

Transfers are aways something we as football fans anticipate. First of all – it’s beyond fun trying to speculate who’s going where. Secondly, people love participating in sports bets regarding transfers, and they got plenty to choose from as there are various betting strategies from draw no bets to parlay and moneyline that they may use. You’ll notice that the sports bets really stand out during the transfer period!

Wilfred Zaha

The Manchester United ace has been strongly linked with a January loan move to Newcastle. The winger, who joined United in the summer, has not featured much for United and would surely be open to a move. Zaha would bring welcome competition amongst the wide men as well as providing the required quality to lead the Toon up the table during the second half of the season.

Alfred Finnbogason

Newcastle need goals and they need them fast. Papiss Cisse’s stock has fallen recently; he is yet to score in the Premier League and the fact that bookmakers like Titan Bet are pricing him at 150/1 to be the league’s top-scorer highlights his current decline.  The Toon drastically need a scorer and Finnbogason is a cheap and viable option. The Icelandic star scored 28 goals in 33 appearances for Heerenveen last year and has 13 goals in nine appearances to his name so far this season. Available for around £5m the striker could be the perfect tonic to Newcastle’s current goal drought. Not only is he cheap, he would also be willing to move to Tyneside, but Newcastle need to move quickly as West Ham are also said to be interested.

Micah Richards

Pardew has already hinted that he is looking at Richards as he bids to strengthen his defence. The right-back is struggling to get into the Man City side at the moment and with the 2014 World Cup approaching he knows he needs first team football if he is going to be on the plane for Rio. Football betting fans at least seem to think that a move to Newcastle would be the perfect opportunity to reignite his career. Pardew has also admitted that he is looking at signing British players in January and Richards is expected to be at the top of his wish list.

The post Newcastle January Prospects appeared first on Magpieszone.

Even when they were blazing a Premiership trail a couple of seasons ago, qualifying for Europe and playing an expansive and attractive brand of football along the way, there were still people muttering about how hard an act that would be to follow and how Europe would put an unholy strain on the squad.

Both of which turned out to be true, as it happened. But when you look at things in the round, the grass of Toon is actually always greener and not on the other side of Tyneside.

The owner might not be well liked. But at least he’s English. The man in charge of player recruitment might be universally derided, but things are even worse at Cardiff.

And however patchy the start to the season, it’s oh so much better than Sunderland’s. A glance at the odds tells you all you need to know about Newcastle’s chances of winning the Premiership this season.

Yep, Newcastle are 2000-1. And yep, some on Tyneside would argue that those odds aren’t long enough. But what would constitute a good season for Alan Pardew and his band of merry (mostly French) men?

Finishing above Sunderland should keep the most parochial fans happy. And that’s an eminently achievable scenario. Sunderland might have acted swiftly to move on from the Di Canio debacle, but replacing him with Gus Poyet is a risky strategy. The Uruguayan is not dissimilar to the Italian. He splits opinions, isn’t frightened to ruffle feathers and is more ‘my way or the highway’ than consensus-builder.

So with local bragging rights looking fairly secure, will a mid-table finish be good enough?

With the squad that Newcastle possess, the answer is probably no. Give Pardew a fully fit and firing first team and his side can beat pretty much anyone in the division. But they’re a mercurial bunch likely to beat Man City one week and then lose to Palace the next.

It will be Pardew’s task to instill some consistency and recreate the spirit of the 2011/12 campaign. Get anywhere close to it and a top ten finish is theirs to be had.

Europa League qualification? Unlikely

The Premiership looks like being a wild ride this season, with any one of six teams in with a chance of winning the title. Man City are the bookies’ favourites, but Chelsea have the experience, the backbone and the depth of squad to come out on top. Those three attributes are what the current Toon squad lack.

If there really are six teams in with a shout of winning the Premiership, then it stands to reason that two of them will miss out on the Champions League places and will therefore slug it out for the Europa League spot.

Based on the season so far, those teams will most likely be Spurs, Liverpool and maybe even the suddenly vulnerable Manchester United.

Now what about Newcastle? A top eight finish, however, is well within their grasp. Throw in at least one decent cup run and that’s a perfectly decent season in the eyes of most people.

Finish above Everton and it’ll be a successful one. Get rid of Joe Kinnear along the way and it’ll be a triumph.

And talking of recruitment, there will be another indicator of a successful Newcastle campaign this season involving keeping hold of certain players.

Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Sissoko, Gouffran, Remy – these are quality players. Fit, in-form and motivated, they could get into pretty much any team in the Premiership.

Holding onto them, and in Remy’s case making the loan deal a permanent one, would go a long way to moving Newcastle from mid-table this season to top six the next.

Yes, the squad needs to be strengthened, especially at the back. But there’s a quality core to it that should be cherished and supported and clung on to.

And then the grass truly will be greener on Tyneside.

The post The Green, Green Grass of Toon appeared first on Magpieszone.

After a strong finish in the 2011-2012 season that saw them 5th place in the Premiership and with a spot in the Europa League, this season saw the Magpies finish 5th from bottom in the Premiership table and without any silverware in the cabinet.

Lack of Strong New Additions

The club brought in two players who became regulars for the 1st team in  6.7M signing Vurnon Anita and 1M signing Gael Bigirimana but neither player had a tremendous effect on the club`s fortunes. The real weak point was still the defence and with only six clean sheets kept over the course of the season it`s clear that more money should have been spent on reinforcements.

This problem was compounded when Taylor, Simpson and other solid defenders were unavailable for some of the key games, including a big loss to Man United. Three defenders were indeed added to the squad, but their quality is still in question. Certainly they didn`t perform to the levels that were hoped for, but unfortunately that could be said for much of the Newcastle team.

Still, time will tell whether Mathieu Debuchy, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and Massadio Haidara will become staples of the Newcastle team. Of the three, Yangi-Mbiwa has looked the sharpest so far but it always takes time to settle into a new side.

The Crumbling Premiership Season

From 5th place to 16th place is a hell of a drop. While the season started well enough with a win at Spurs, it quickly took a nose-dive. Much of the blame has to lie with tactical decisions that seemed to play certain players out of their natural position on quite a frequent basis.

Moussa Sissoko and Yohan Cabaye often found themselves playing in each other`s natural position and at times Sissoko was forced to try playing as a winger   much to his obvious dismay. When the core team members from the previous (very successful) season are still intact, it can only be poor tactical decisions and perhaps some bad luck, that explains the drop in fortunes of Newcastle in the 2012-2013 season. Maulings from both Sunderland and then Liverpool towards the end of the season summed up their year in the Premiership.

Europa League & Cup Competition

In European action Newcastle eased through the qualifying round and managed to finish second in the group stages to Bordeaux, in a group that also contained Maritimo and Club Brugge.

This was followed by relatively easy wins against small Ukrainian side FC Metalist Kharkiv and Ruussian team FC Anzhi Makhachkala in the knockout stages. Ultimately the European adventure was cut short with a loss in the quarter-finals to eventual finalists Benfica.

In the domestic cups, Newcastle didn`t even have time to get excited, as they were beaten in their first FA Cup game by Brighton & Hove Albion in a huge upset and were ousted from the League Cup at the first opportunity by Man United.

Other Notable Happenings

The managerial future of the club was solidified when Alan Pardew was given a huge eight year contract extension. Of course, this being Premiership football, who knows if that means anything or not but it does show that for now at least the board are happy to stick with Pardew. Another season like this and they might be changing their tune however. The manager was also in the news for shoving a linesman in a Premiership game, which saw him receive a two match touchline ban.

Demba Ba left the club and agreed terms to move to Chelsea. After offers exceeding  7m were made it triggered a contract clause that allowed Ba to speak with other clubs. After a short period of confusion and disagreements the player eventually said goodbye to the club and headed to London to play for the Blues.

The Season Ahead

It`s clear just from looking at the statistics that Newcastle needs to seriously strengthen its squad. While a number of players were added to the side, it was a case of too little, too late. The key imports should have been made during the pre-season, allowing the new and improved Magpies time to hit their stride. Unfortunately a lack of stellar new players and a spate of injuries left the team exposed.

The rigors of European football also paid its price, stretching the side beyond its limits. Alan Pardew has to bring in some top talent and it would also help a great deal if he freshened up his tactics a little. Allow players to work from the positions where they are comfortable and promote fast, exciting football rather than endless set-pieces that go nowhere.

Fans of the club should stick by Alan Pardew and the team in the season ahead, even if it is a rough one. The constant changing of managers is not helpful to building teams that can have long-term success.

There is still a wealth of talent in the team and if there is one thing you can be sure of it`s that the Geordie fans will be loud and proud supporting the lads on the pitch like no-one else. Don`t forget to pick up the latest Newcastle United shirt so you don`t look out of date on the terraces.

Puma are once again supplying the official kit and you can even get the matching Puma football from sites like sportsballshop.co.uk. Let`s all hope that next season has a few more highs and a little less lows that the season gone. A little bit of silverware in that cabinet would calm a lot of restless fans nerves.

The post Newcastle United Season 2012-2013 Review appeared first on Magpieszone.

There is no question that the injuries which hit key players in Alan Pardew’s squad contributed significantly to the Magpies being stuck near the basement of the Premier League for much of the season, but it is also clear that better will be expected next time out.

So with speculation and bets already starting, are Newcastle one of the favourites with the bookies to go down next season?

Currently you will get odds of around 12 or 14/1 on the Magpies to slip out of the Premier League next season, which certainly doesn’t make them one of the odds-on relegation favourites – but also doesn’t make them a rank outsider for this either.

Based on the problems they endured this season Newcastle may be one of the teams that a punter looking to bet on a team to go down from outside of the favourites decides to have a flutter on – especially if they get off to a bad start and hit the panic button by sacking the manager, as they have so often in the past.

Of course betting on any team for relegation so far in advance of the season starting is very risky, and it might be sensible to wait until things get underway, while playing at an online casino in the meantime.

While this may have seemed an odd thing to say in the past, these days more and more football fans are choosing to play at online casino sites like CasinoOnline.co.nz, because of the great football themed slots games that many of them offer. With ultra high quality video and audio, the best of these games make you feel like you are out there on the pitch yourself, but not at the expense of the features that have always made slots so popular with casino fans – like cheap play, excellent game bonuses and high jackpots.

Furthermore mobile casino apps mean that you can now download these games to your phone, so if you can’t stop playing them once the season gets underway you can always play them at halftime during the match.

The post Betting on Newcastle appeared first on Magpieszone.