EPL: The Magpies are building a new castle

They may be facing the trio of Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea over the course of the next three weeks, but for now, Newcastle United are surprisingly the surprise package three months into the English Premier League. I was reading a Joe Cole interview about how he has embraced the culture of France while playing for Lille. One major mistake he made while talking was order a de-caff Espresso. Who orders a de-caff Espresso? But he also reminded readers of a saying which makes football tick how it does today: “No one can perfect football.” [caption id=“attachment_110639” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Newcastle United’s Tiote challenges Tottenham Hotspur’s Vaart during their English Premier League soccer match in Newcastle. Reuters”]  [/caption] The North of England is a place known mainly for three things: Being the party capital for students, people speaking in an unbelievable accent called ‘Geordie’ and of course, Newcastle United. More the football team because of their rocky rides in English football of late, which has seen them desperately managed by the legendary Alan Shearer, sack Chris Hughton for virtually nothing and of course, proving Kenny Dalglish has never been to Bandra’s Linking Road by selling him the prodigal talent of Andy Carroll for £35 million. Manager Alan Pardew is out to challenge what Joe Cole said over a cup of coffee, and even though he has not even come close to winning it, this is probably the farthest as The Magpies will ever get. Adopting a methodical approach over the course of time since last season’s run-in, he has battled to keep goals from leaking in, a problem they have faced since being relegated two seasons ago. Times have changed and Newcastle won back promotion immediately, finishing 12th last season and now finding themselves in 4th position after a promising start. One of the reasons could be the new manager’s way of training his defensive henchmen. Steve Jones, first team coach was speaking to the BBC: “Me and [assistant manager] John Carver take the forwards, and the manager takes the defenders away and we’ve introduced certain principles into the tactics so that, for instance, it doesn’t matter if Ryan Taylor was to play right-back or left-back, he knows exactly what he has to do adjacent to the positions that the centre-halves are in. Basically, the manager runs through every scenario of where the players should be when the ball is in a certain position, whether it’s a wide area, a central area, a goal kick, or whatever.” And the efforts are finally reaping dividends. The Toon have conceded only 6 goals in their first 8 games, proving to be the stingiest defence in England alongside the two Manchester clubs. Given the difference of resources and an unsteady three years behind them, this achievement surely merits applause. With club captain Fabricio Coloccini, Ryan Taylor, Steven Taylor, Danny Simpson and the much hyped Davide Santon as the core of their defence, it looks like they could carry on building to this start. Even if they lose against the top 4 clubs in the next few weeks, it will still be possible for them to finish in the top-10, the target set by controversial owner Mike Ashley. A club is as healthy as its backroom staff and they have been spot on when it came to selling and bringing in talent to St James’ Park. Andy Carroll’s sale was the talking point last season and Newcastle have not looked as if they are missing a cog in their line-up. Jose Enrique ignored Newcastle being awarded the greenest city in the UK award and left for greener pastures in Liverpool, Joey Barton in spite of being a top class midfielder finds himself at Queens Park Rangers. Surprising was Kevin Nolan also being sold and Wayne Routledge shipped off to Swansea. But it is not who you sell that always determines the fate of a club (let us keep Arsenal out of this argument!) but who you bring back to replace them is of equal importance. Demba Ba has been an incredible signing so far, topping the charts with 5 goals already, Davide Santon is yet to shine, while Yohan Cabaye, Gabriel Obertan and Hatem Ben Arfa are all fair players. The best piece of business though, is that of securing the long term future of Cheick Tiote. Personally, I feel he is a massive player for Black & Whites. The Ivorian has extraordinary ability when it comes to linking defence to attack and his debut stats are enough to convince one of his caliber: 64/64 passes complete, 2 interceptions, 5/5 successful tackles and his only shot on target. With Newcastle announcing that they are to break even on profits and loss, the finance looks intact without even calculating the sale of Andy Carroll. Having spent a meager £12 million in the market, which was exactly the amount which came in player sales, Newcastle have never been better since a long time. Football can never be perfected, but with patience and a slow rebuilding process, Newcastle United are at least enjoying whatever football they know.