The New Deal for Newcastle United

This photo sums up what has been going on in the EPL as of late.  Last weekend saw the entire top 4 draw without a single goal.  Now similar shinanigans are happening this weekend and in the Champions league as well.

Maybe its the cold weather, maybe its thoes lazy strikers, but I tend to think there has just been a lot of great defending.

A prime example, and a player that I want to highlight as one of my favorites to watch since the season began.  This is none other than Newcastle United's Fabrizio Coloccini.  I watched this guys defending against Manchester United at the begining of the season and truly beleived he was going to be a crucial part success for Newcastle.  He's big, fast and lanky and is an absolute brick wall for any kind of cross comming inside the box.  Using a skilled defensive line, Newcastle have been able to draw 2 points from their away encounters at both Standford Bridge and Old Trafford.  

Many people beleive the Premier League is about the big-four clashes, but in many cases this certainly isn't true.  Being able to grind out these kind of results away are what is keeping Newcastle above the relegation zone and preventing the big four from actually gaining ground on each other.  Its a dangerous way of playing, and by no means is it entertaining for the fans, but I beleive that what makes a team or a manager is their ability to know when to sit on the back heal and weather the storm.

So I have advice for the folks at St. Jame's park.  Defend for your lives boys.  Thats right, bard up the doors, shackle it up and get ready for a long seige.

Everyone knows the piles of problems going on at Newcastle.  From the managerial problems, boardroom problems and the fact that Joey Barton (everyones favorite scumbag) is now injured.  The only good they can really do is to just go Greek style and put all men back and hope for the best.

So in light of this, I have compiled a buying list of what the ideal Newcastle side should be come the January transfer window:

There are a number of reasons why this works for Newcastle:

a) You aren't scoring any goals now, so what's the bloody difference?

b)  If you turn Richard Dunne around, or get him to run backwards maybe he will score goals on the apposing goal instead of his own goal.

c) Defenders are CHEAP.