French Magic for the Toon, Shambolic Spurs and Blaugrana Blues
Yohan Cabaye could very well be one of the signings of the season. Purchased from Lille, for a fee reported to be in the region of £5m, he has been the unsung hero of Newcastle United’s stellar season.
With Demba Ba stealing the early season plaudits, Papiss Cisse banging in goals for fun and Hatem Ben Arfa giving opposition defenders nightmares, Cabaye’s consistent performances at the heart of Newcastle’s midfield have gone virtually unnoticed.
Not anymore, though. Cabaye burst into the limelight against Stoke at the weekend, scoring two goals and creating another in a 3-0 Newcastle victory. Newcastle’s recent shift in formation to a 4-3-3 has given Cabaye more freedom to express himself. He’s playing ahead of the three midfielders and is forging a remarkable partnership with French compatriot Ben Arfa and Senegalese forward Papiss Cisse.
Yohan Cabaye scores the first goal for Newcastle United against Stoke City.
Newcastle are now fourth and three points behind Arsenal, with a game in hand. With Arsenal looking poor against Wigan and Chelsea, Tottenham undergoing a horrible dip in form and Chelsea facing an extremely busy couple of weeks, Newcastle may very well be in line for an unprecedented Champions League spot.
With Tottenham bottling it at the business end of the season (yet again!), and now seemingly the least favourite to qualify for the Champions League, Spurs fans must be wondering where it all went wrong.
I fear for Spurs. It could get even worse for them. With no champions league football on the horizon, marquee players such as Gareth Bale and Luka Modric might look to leave for greener pastures. Barcelona continue to be linked with Bale, and although I do not feel that this is the best move for him, it must be extremely tempting to be courted by the ‘best side on the planet’. Getting Emmanuel Adebayor to sign a permanent contract might also prove tricky, given his much publicised wage demands and Tottenham’s inability to meet them.
And to top it all off, Harry Redknapp looks set to take up the job of guiding the perennially underachieving English national team to (improbable) Euro glory. Redknapp has said that he doesn’t want to comment upon the England job before the end of the season. But without the promise of European football to keep him and his players at White Hart Lane, his exit seems imminent.
Harry Redknapp, captain of the proverbial sinking ship.
The previous week didn’t quite go to plan for Barcelona and Pep Guardiola. The loss to Real Madrid has all but ended their hopes of La Liga glory and a Chelsea transformed under Roberto Di Matteo is threatening to knock them out of the Champions League.
It’s not often that an anti-Barca supporter gets to bask in the feeling of Barcelona losing twice in a week. And let me tell you, it feels great.
El Classico! The one match in the footballing calender that always lives up to the hype.