Back to back wins for the first time in a long time
We finally managed it, back to back wins for the Toon. It doesn’t matter that the second one was against Luton Town from EFL League 2, they all count! Can we finally get past the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 10 years? Probably not, assuming Chelsea beat Norwich in their replay, we’ve drawn them in the next round, so bye-bye to our chances this season. There’s always next year.
January transfer window time too, which doesn’t appear to be promising for Newcastle fans, again. All of the pre-January hype of getting four players in before the 20th looks like it’s gone out of the window now, with Rafa admitting that he doesn’t even know what his budget is yet! With the takeover appearing to be dead in the water, for the time being at least, it looks like we are going to have to prepare for the worst. Joselu up front for the rest of the season, God help us.
FA Cup magic
The FA Cup always generates a few upsets, and this weekend was no different. Stoke City were dumped out by Coventry City, which ultimately cost Mark Hughes his job, after an un-inspiring but generally successful tenure at the Potteries. His head was on the block after Stoke somehow managed to lose against us earlier in the week, and this was the final straw.
The biggest shock came at the City Ground though, where Nottingham Forest beat Arsenal 4-2 to knock the holders out at the first hurdle. Arsene Wenger played a weakened side for a cup competition again, and this time It came back to haunt him, as Forest played brilliantly to cause a mighty upset. Wenger will be hoping that Arsenal manage to win the League Cup semi-final against Chelsea this week otherwise the usual, will he stay or won’t he, questions will come at the end of the season.
On for a record January transfer window
This year is set to break the record for most money spent by English clubs in the January transfer window, with Liverpool already spending £75 million on Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton. Yes, you heard that right, £75 million! That made him the most expensive defender in the history of football. With plenty of other deals in the pipeline, and Liverpool having plenty more to spend after receiving a whopping £145 for Coutinho, although a lot of it is in instalments, the record of £250 million spent by English clubs in January is set to be broken. Van Dijk is a good player don’t get me wrong, but is he really a lot better than Jamaal Lascelles? I’ll let you decide on that one, but you can guess what my opinion is.