Toon give fans an early Xmas present
Finally, a win! The last weekend before Christmas delivered Newcastle’s first win in nine games, in a massive relegation six-pointer against West Ham. I, probably like most other Toon fans, feared the worst when we went behind after five minutes, but we turned it around and earned ourselves a vital and much-needed win.
No football for us on Boxing Day, which was a shame, but we are on the TV against Man City on the 27th. Get yourselves ready for a horror show, not sure how many goals we are going to concede in that one but it won’t be pretty. You never know, Santa might have been extra kind and delivered us a win against City too.
Kane smashes Shearer’s record
What a year for Harry Kane. 39 league goals in a calendar year, breaking Geordie legend and goal scorer extraordinaire Alan Shearer’s record of 36 back in 1995 when he was playing for Blackburn. Kane also did it in six fewer games, which shows how amazing his 2017 has been. He has scored more goals for club and country this year than anyone else in Europe, conquering the great Messi and Ronaldo.
Kane has also played 11 games less than Messi this year but managed two more goals. Keeping this incredible form over 2018 will be a massive challenge, but that is what Messi and Ronaldo are famous for and if Kane manages it, he could be the one to break their control of the World Player of the Year award next year.
Burnley are the real deal
While Burnley have had an excellent season so far, many expected them to come up short in the end and fall out of the European places. Boxing Day showed how Burnley are determined to prove them all wrong. They raced into a 2-0 lead against Manchester United at Old Trafford, stunning the home crowd, before Jesse Lingard game on to save the day and rescue a point. Cue Jose Mourinho complaining about not having enough money to spend compared to Man City, Burnley only having 1.5 shots and bad luck again.
While he has a point about Man City’s spending power, what do you expect Burnley to do away at Old Trafford? They managed to score two goals, so they weren’t completely parking the bus, which of course is a Mourinho speciality. He is doing a great job with that squad though and after another couple of transfer windows should be able to challenge City next year, as long as they don’t go ahead and spend even more. No disrespect intended, but you just need to take a look at their squad to see it isn’t good enough to win the league, yet.