Newcastle United continued to defy expectations, winning at Stoke’s intimidating Britannia Stadium to leapfrog Chelsea into third in the Barclays Premier League.
Since that move from Hoffenheim to the Potteries collapsed, Ba has scored 14 goals — eight for Newcastle after this hat-trick — and only Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie have scored more in the Premier League in 2011.
The first here was a deft diving header, the second a simple side-foot finish from Leon Best’s mis-hit shot and the third came from the penalty spot.
For the moment, at least, the Newcastle manager has every right to enjoy a return to third spot and the knowledge that his faith in a free-transfer striker has left his team just a point behind champions Manchester United.
This is already Newcastle’s longest unbeaten run in the top flight for 61 years and, say it quietly, if Newcastle beat Everton at St James’ Park this Saturday lunchtime they could go second.
After that, and the international break, Newcastle have successive visits to the two Manchester clubs before hosting Chelsea on the first Saturday of December. If they are still third at that point, Newcastle can and should be taken very seriously indeed.
‘The first two goals were poor for us, although the first one was offside, but we should have dealt with two basic balls better. It was always going to be uphill after that.’
Pulis once described Ba as a ticking time-bomb because of his knee. ‘I would have taken him on a free,’ said the Stoke boss last night. ‘But he was coming to us for £9million (in January). The medical people decided it was too big a risk.’
And for that, Pardew and Newcastle are truly grateful.
source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk, www.goal.com
No comments:
Post a Comment