Newcastle's African stars are starting to ignite the Toon's woeful campaign

The Africans certainly showed the fact that Newcastle counldnt do well without them. I mean, look at the team when they departed or their nation's cup which to most Newcastle supporters would brand "Extremely untimely and uncalled".

Beye gone, Carr in. Pandemonium ensues. The end, goals flooded the banks of the goal post. Unfortunately, it was our post that has been constantly hit with a tsunami what left keepers paralyzed and unable to swim towards the floating ball.

Beye proved he can run, cross and pass defenders as well as being one. His main weakness would be over relying on the midfield to defend his position whenever he went up, the right flank was totally exposed! He ran back but the waters have already claim goals, too late. the fact that we are playing again is due to Butt and Barton who is defending the flanks for the two fullbacks. Beye could improve his vision and reading off plays.

Faye, physically tough, wealth of experience and definitely, not a Titus who got stuck within a bramble. But truthfully, Titus and Faye have much in common, both physically built and able to head away crosses but what Faye has that Titus dont, a bit of concentration and a lot of passion. Titus doesnt do any work; simply taking the blame which is rightfully thrown towards him. Faye's main weakness is that he sometimes showed a little "Bramble in a Titus bush"

Geremi, one that crosses and throws. Certainly the gold medals were rightfully given to him. He can throw far, far away but unfortunately, god bestowed upon him the foot of Achilles and the control of a ten-year old. Seriously, Geremi really let himself down with the way he does crosses; his balls go straight towards the wall or just far wide or even too far for even himself to hold onto. The main problem doesnt lie on his crosses, its his persistent scanning that lets his down the most. Since when have we seen a spontaneous Geremi who crosses and passes instantly, Never. If he reads the game at that rate, we have better chance of letting Harper run up to him and sock him in the head and shout, "Stop dreaming and just play!" than him making a 'wonderful' pass.

And finally, Martins. Oba goal as they called it is true to their every word. Can he score a goal? What a laugh, he could shatter your teeth to pieces if you try to block it and if you dont, thats 1 nil. Martins can truely live up to Shearer's name at one point of scoring goals but certainly not the control part. Like every gifted sprinter, Oba can run like a cheetah but still posses the ability to control like a common drunkard. His touches are mostly awe-full. Like Zog, both have pace and an eye of goal but unfortunately shared the same weakness, control. But lets not lower down the optimism, Martins is only 23 and certainly can improve. Now what we need to do is give him a new contract to secure his services for a looooonnnnngggg time.

At the end, the Africans showed why they are important to us, and duefully we respect it. Hopefully they stay with their form for life because I wouldnt have a heart to offload either of them.

I have always thought that Martins would settle down and show his true worth, with searing pace and the ability to change direction in the blink of an eye he will always cause problems. Beye, I liked him the minute I first saw him, cool and calculating and never afraid to get forward, but not neglect his defence duties, makes him a class act. But the biggest change for me is the attitude of those on the subs bench, when the camera switches to them, you can see they are behind their team mates on the pitch, and are willing them on, not like under Allerdyce, when they sat mute, wishing they were somewhere else and with faces like smacked backsides they inspired no one.

Isn't it amazing what a few good results do for the nerves of us bloggers in the tranquility of our writing? Your piece is lovely Lee, and so are the letters from Paul and Charles. I'm feeling so relieved and relaxed since the weekend's rout, I feel like I've just watched Little house on the prairie, with the happiest of very happy endings. Unless wor lass has spiked my pecan and maple crunch with something less legal. All of a sudden, Butt looks like what he was at Man.U., Joey Barton at Man. City, Viduka 3 stones lighter, Owen fit and Oba like he's getting a game at last. All this without Milner and Zog, who I hope changes his mind, and Duff and Emre who I hope improve under KK. Now at this rate of progress from the battered and bruised team already here, coupled with Kev's 3 or 4 new stars, not forgetting our excellent young lads breaking through, we could be looking at a top 4 finish next season. Don't dare laugh at that, Keegan's magic hasn't died. He inherited a team filled with internationals albeit devoid of confidence from the ' Bigger than us Sham ' who really didn't know what he was doing, and it's taken him this long to get inside their heads and heal them of their insecurities. If I'm right, he'll keep them believing in themselves and progressively mold the squad into something like the entertainers of old. What a great opportunity for NUFC to ' finally ' become the BIG club we all know it is, with Mike Ashley's wonderful party at Spurs in his buddies backyard refreshing the initial zeal he had when he arrived. Despite his daft gambling losses on the market, his pleasure in the club's recent form and potential might just steady any nerves that may have accrued in him from his southern ' mates ' who allegedly were telling him to sell-up. A fearless, young owner, unafraid to gamble like he is, is beyond the wildest dreams of every old-time supporter I know. We never had this much confident expectation in any of our previous owners. I reckon he and Kevin could do a Chelski without anywhere near as much expenditure. Please don't let my bubble burst lads. Hey, where is that obnoxious cockney spiv git who was revelling and stirring 3 weeks ago?

"There's nothing flashy about Faye (apart from his bling) but despite his mistake against Birmingham the player has worked hard not to repeat it.

Perhaps his biggest problem was a lack of a run in the team but after forming a partnership with Steven Taylor in recent games, stability and understanding shone through at Spurs."

It always struck me but didn't seem to be reported on at the time, that Sam never ever played the same defence two games running. If anyone made any mistake (and hey we're talking about Newcastle here!) they were dropped for the next game. Not surprising that understanding and confidence were non existent. Faye and Taylor have had a run together and hey presto. Rocket science - I don't think so, but beyond the likes of Allardyce.

I actually believe that all our defenders are good including Rozy and Cacapa but are victims of BSA's confidence eroding stategy.

Yes, along with the rest of the squad, the african guys have certainly done their bit in the last 3 games and I suspect they are enjoying life more under kk than big sam.
I can't help feeling however that we do get a bit paranoid (along with the press) about defensive errors. Would any other club be questioning the ability of a defender (Faye)because of one mistake he made 3 games ago. At spurs on sunday woodgate (thought by many toon supporters to be the best centre half in the country) made several mistakes, but I don't hear anybody going on about it.
I agree we need to get some contracts sorted and zog in particular needs to decide whether he wants to stay or go - if he believes he will be first choice somewhere else and start every game he is being naive but if he wants to go so be it

Totally agree with a point made above by someone that Alladyce hung himself through constantly changing the team (even when we were winning). I was at the Spurs game at SJP and remember thinking at the end 'that's your best team'. Next game we went to Reading who were shipping goals for fun and played without any wingers and sticking Barton in even though he had'nt even played 90 mins for the reserves and openly admitting he would be happy with a 0-0 draw. That for me somes it up. Big Sam never understood the Newcastle job and was totally at a loss when trying to adapt his tactics for a team where the supporters expect to attack. With Sam you almost got the impression he seemed gutted to have to leave out any of his defenders (Enrique aside, slightly ironic as he was the only recognised left back at the club). Obviously Kevin sees it the other way; if in doubt chuck on another forward. Well thats what everyone will say as Keegans just a passionate guy with an opptomistic approach to the game. What these eejuts who write for nationals may have missed is that dispite his 'tactical nievity' KK's managed to find formation that gets his best offensive players on the pitch and a real all action midfield engine room behind them providing balence and protection for the back four with the full backs given licence to get forwad and provide width. Whats more hes stuck with it even in an away game against one of the best passing teams in the league. I don't think there is many managers with the bottle to do that. And this for me is the key to Newcastle's success over the next few years. SJP with 52,000 100% behind the team is probly the most intimidating place in the league. And if you put out a team home or away to try and have a real go with a genuine goal threat you will get 52,000 every home game 100% behind the team and behind the manager, even if it dosn't always go according to plan. That for me has been the problem since Bobby was sacked. This is why it makes me sick when you hear the likes of 'Big' Sam and Souness wingeing on about Newcastle being an impossible job because of the fans who have effectivly paid for the millions sat in their bank accounts. The fans have got to be able to trust the management to provide a team that plays in the right spirit and Kevins well on the way to regaining that trust.

Bit late but anyway for Snapper, Bernard was last seen training with Darlington's reserves! Deary deary me