sherm

cheers irish, i must admit i was pleasently surprised at how well the team had clicked. had to be chelsea though didn't it dont know about the transfer splurge, depends on the money i suppose

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Going into 2006 looked good from my point of view. We were top of the premiership, and we were really gelling as a team. Scott Parker looked like the player Chelsea had bought from Charlton, his confidence was high and he was playing really well in the holding role in front of the back four. We had a home game against Birmingham to start the year off, so it was vital to show we were title contenders, and not pretenders to the throne. Steve Bruce's team were well organised but didn't have much going forward, so I wasn't concerned about that, but I knew they would be hard to break down. In the end, that proved to be wrong, as Birmingham were terrible at the back, all three of our goals coming from defensive errors. The first was on 25 minutes, Birmingham keeper Maik Taylor losing possession to Owen and he slotted the ball home from 30 yards into the empty net. 12 minutes later, Birmingham were reduced to 10 men when Matthew Upson brought down Luque when he was clean through on goal. There could be no question, and Upson had walked before the card was shown by Graham Poll. We doubled our advantage on 54 minutes, substitute Shola Ameobi getting between two defenders and slamming the ball home. Taylor was at fault for the 3rd 23 minutes later, when he kicked the ball straight to Parker from the goal-kick. Parker slotted it through for Owen to round the keeper and score our third and his second, sealing the 3 points. I was amazed at how bad Birmingham had defended though, and said as much after the match.

sherm

West Brom were up next at the Hawthorns. They had become the only team to avoid the drop after being bottom at Christmas last season, after their miraculous turnaround, but they were embroiled in another relegation battle this season. They were sitting one place outside the drop zone, and were looking to pick up points where they could. They started really well against us, but not creating many chances. We were sprung into life by the a Diomansy Kamara shot that clattered into the woodwork, and we started to attack and dominate the game after that. We couldn't find the breakthrough until the 73rd minute, when Peter Ramage got on the end of a long ball into the box from Emre and headed the ball into the far corner of the net. We couldn't find the killer blow however, and paid for it dearly when Jonathan Greening equalised two minutes from time with what was probably a contender for goal of the season, a 30 yard shot that curled in off the post. I shook Bryan's hand at the end and he gave me a few words of encouragement. "Play like that for the rest of the season and you will win the league". It meant a lot, especially from a manager as well renowned and experienced as Robson, and I relayed his words back to the dressing room.

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An F.A Cup tie loomed against our neighbours Middlesbrough, and this was the competition I wanted to do well in. We were in the semis of the League Cup, but the FA Cup is the major cup competition. The BBC obviously thought a good game was on the cards as they had the game screened live on telly as the early kick-off. Both teams cancelled each other out early on, as neither seemed to want to give each other an inch, but it was a magical goal that broke the deadlock. Anthony Vanden Borre played the ball to Petit, who was just inside our half. He had Owen and Shearer ahead of him, but they had a marker each, so he decided to go it alone. He beat Morrison, Downing and Cooper and was 30 yards out, before he skipped past Southgate and fired the ball into the top corner. The look of delight on his face was a picture, and he came running over to me and the team on the bench and punted his fist. I had just witnessed a truly remarkable goal that had brought an otherwise dull game to life. After that Petit seemed to appear everywhere, cutting out Middlesbrough's moves and creating ours. It was his ball that slid Albert Luque in and he slotted home to double our advantage and send us in 2-0 up at half-time. Middlesbrough cam back in the second half, and created a few chances of their own, although they couldn't find the goal till stoppage time, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink putting the rebound in off Yakubu's shot. We had won the game an put ourselves in the hat for round 4 through a man of the match performance from Petit.

sherm

We had a week off before the Semi-Final against Chelsea, and I told the players to take a couple of days rest. I had also spotted another good player who I wanted to come and join us, although he was playing for a club considered bigger and better than us, so I might have difficulty getting him to come here. I had spotted him at Volcy's house, when we were having a lad's night in. Barcelona were playing Villarreal, and I had seen the young, long haired left winger playing for Barca. He was superb, creating 2 goals and scoring one himself in Barca's 4-1 victory, and I decided to keep him watched by my scouts.

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I was hoping that we could get a score draw out of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, so that we could take them back to our place at an advantage, having got the away goals in the bag. I had promised to stick with the youngster's who had taken us this far in the competition, adn I was interested to note two things before the match. Chelsea had their strongest possible eleven out, bar Petr Cech, and the 4th official was Uriah Rennie. I went up to him just before kick off, and apologised for my actions earlier in the season. He accepted and told me to forget about it. We started quite sluggish in the match, and Chelsea tries to take advantage, but thanks to a Herculean effort from our goalkeeper Craig Gordon, we managed to restrict them, and we went in at half-time all square. I knew we had to score first, but my plan was scuppered just 46 seconds into the second half when Didier Drogba turned Titus Bramble and fired home, and I quickly encouraged the boys to up the pace. We did just that, and we managed to equalise through a scramble in the penalty area and Kris Boyd fired home from 12 yards. Again, we failed to hold a lead and Chelsea were back in front just two minutes later, Frank Lampard seeing his shot parried and Arjen Robben putting the rebound in. I brought Shola Ameobi on for Kris Boyd at this stage, and he immediately levelled things up, dis-possessing Robert Huth and sliding the ball under Cudicini. I told the boys to keep it calm in defence, and not do anything stupid, and Roland Benschneider promptly gave the ball straight to Drogba, who put his team ahead for the third time in the game. I decided to push for the equaliser, and we pressured and pushed, and with just a minute left, Joe Cole broke and squared for Hernan Crespo to score Chelsea's fourth, and leave us with work to do to qualify for the final.

sherm

Manchester City were next up, and they were the form team in the league. Stuart Pearce had instilled a toughness and resilience in his players, and it showed as they had propelled themselves up to 6th with a 9 game unbeaten run, after a tough start. I was determined to stop their run, as we needed the points to stay top. We took an early lead through Michael Owen, who always seems to score against City. They came back at us, and equalised after 26 minutes, their top scorer Darius Vassell turning on a six-pence inside the box and sliding the ball under Shay Given. We regained the lead just 7 minutes later, Shola Ameobi playing a 1-2 with Emre and slotting the ball home, to send us in at half-time 2-1 to the good. City didn't really get a chance in the second half, as I had replaced Petit with David Edgar and he wanted the chance to shine. He was spraying passes all across the park, and it was Edgar who sealed the points, scoring our third after popping up at the back post to nod home Owen's cross. I considered that a good away win, and another valuable 3 points.

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After our terrific game with Wigan earlier in the season I wanted a nice quiet game where we picked up 3 more points, but unfortunately this was not what we got. The game was another incident filled one, and the first incident came in our favour after 6 minutes, Emerson Thome bringing Owen down in the box, and Luque duly slotted the penalty home. Thome was detrmined to put himself about, but after getting his yellow card early he may have been told to calm down. He didn't and was dismissed for a second yellow card after 28 minutes, for going straight through Owen. It resulted in Michael needing 5 stiches in his leg, and being replaced with Ameobi. Ten-man Wigan managed to pull themselves together, and even equalised just before half-time through Graham Kavanagh. In the second half our man advantage showed, as Wigan's defenders were tiring, which allowed Shola to score our second and seal the points. Manchester United were surprisingly beaten by Sunderland, while Chelsea put 4 past West Ham to move within 2 points of us, although they had a game in hand.

sherm

The second leg of the League Cup semi-final was at our place, and we really needed the fans to be behind us if we were going to make it to the final. I gave the boys a real get up and go team-talk before the match, saying that we had the ability to beat these, and we had to be top class at the back. Chelsea were intent on not letting us score, but we kept pushing them back and moving the ball from side to side. I knew we desperately needed to score before half-time, and just as I was preparing what I was going to say if we went in at 0-0, Alan Shearer popped up to put us ahead, and send the crowd wild. I just told the lads to keep it up, and I made one enforced change, replacing Babayaro with Fortune, after he picked up a slight strain. We played exactly the same way in the second half, and Parker, Vanden Borre and Edgar all had shots saved or blocked, and Fortune hit the post from 20 yards. We were pushing for the goal that would send us through, but we were left exposed at the back, and Chelsea took advantage of this. They broke, having a 4 on 2 advantage with just Ramage and Bramble back, and Frank Lampard played it through for Gudjohnsen to seal the game, and send Chelsea through to the Final. We had deserved so much better, after dominating the game, and I was disappointed for the lads, and the fans.

sherm

Another cup game was next up, and this was an F.A Cup 4th round tie at the New Den against Millwall. I was dreading this game as soon as it was picked for television coverage, and I didn't want to be eliminated in a banana-skin. As it was, I didn't have to worry, as the lads bossed the game from start to finish, although the score line doesn't reflect that. We had 23 chances compared to Millwall's 3, and they scored two of them. We strolled into a 3-0 lead by half time, with 2 goals from Ameobi and one from Kris Boyd, and I decided to keep the same tactics, just replacing Solano with Dyer. Millwall gave us a slight scare late on, with 2 quick goals in the 78th and 84th minutes, but we were never in danger and went into the hat for the 5th round, where we were drawn against another Championship team, Ipswich.

January 2006 results

Newcastle 3-0 Birmingham City

West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Newcastle

Middlesbrough 1-2 Newcastle (F.A Cup 3rd Round)

Chelsea 4-2 Newcastle (League Cup Semi-Final, 1st Leg)

Manchester City 1-3 Newcastle

Newcastle 2-1 Wigan Athletic

Newcastle 1-1 Chelsea (League Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg)

Millwall 2-3 Newcastle (F.A Cup 4th Round)

sherm

We seemed to hold the voodoo sign over Liverpool, having played them twice and not been beaten while having not conceded a goal against them either. We had picked up a couple of injuries at the start of February, with Michael Owen, Scott Parker and Albert Luque all being ruled out, so we travelled to Liverpool without a full squad for the first time in a while. We had played a lot of games in January, 8 to be precise and I was hoping that there would be no hangover from that. There didn't appear to be in the first half, as we started well and had 3 or 4 really good chances, before Ameobi finally put us in front after 42 minutes. I was worried that we might regret not having put another 1 or even 2 of those chances away, and I was soon proved right. Liverpool looked a lot more assured in the second half, Gerrard equalising on the hour. They could have gone on and won it to, as could we, but in the end both teams took a point that either of us would have taken at the start, had we been offered. This extended our second unbeaten run to 8 games, and we looked good to keep pushing for the title.

The next game, against Tottenham at St. James, was without a doubt the worst performance since I took over. We were s**te. We were second to every ball, we were slow in the tackle, didn't create anything going forward and were sloppy at the back, and we were lucky to only come away with a 1-0 defeat, thanks to a 67th minute Jermain Defoe goal. The best player for us was Shay Given, who made some good saves and kept us in it, but we never looked like getting anything out of the game. This game saw Chelsea overtake us, as we dropped to second, a point behind and also having played a game more. We had to play them again so could that be the Premiership decider? Who knows. we will have to wait and see.

boneslondon

KUTGW mate :thup:

sherm

Basement boys Fulham were our next opponents, as we visited Craven Cottage. I was hoping the boys could get back on track with a win, and stay in touch with Chelsea. I told them this much, and they responded, going 2-0 up in the first half an hour, with golas from the returning Owen and Emre. They felt the game was won already, and took their foot off the gas, allowing Boa Morte to sneak a goal before half-time, and giving Fulham a glimmer of hope. We defended well for 40 minutes, not giving Fulham anything, until Babayaro's cross field ball fell short, and Steed Malbranque took advantage to score Fulham's second, and the equaliser. I was not happy, it seemed as if the boys felt we couldn't challenge for the title and were playing with no confidence.

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The F.A Cup game was a home tie against Ipswich, and should have provided no problems for us if we were at our best. Yet again, we were sluggish and sloppy, and we played like a Championship side, and not a team second in the Premiership. Ipswich were the better team, and probably deserved the win, but I wasn't going to complain at staying in the draw for the quarter finals. We created 3 chances all game, but we at least managed to make the goalkeeper make a save on each occasion. Ipswich had the best chance, Darren Currie missed an absolute sitter, blazing over from 6 yards out, and we escaped with a 0-0 draw. It's been a bad month so far, and we had to beat West Ham, we just had to.

sherm

cheers bones

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The crowd really got behind us for the West Ham game, despite our bad month and recent poor performances, and I hoped the boys took it the right way and responded to them. We started a lot better than we had in the previous game, and had 5 good clear-cut chances in the first half, but were unable to take any of them. I told the boys to keep up the good work, and keep playing well, and we would be fine. It looked like being one of those days again, when Marlon Harewood put West Ham undeservedly in the lead after 5 minutes of the second half. The boys rallied however, and managed to equalise quickly afterwards, with Owen rounding Roy Carroll to level it up. We pushed and pushed after that, creating chance after chance after chance, and in the end we left it late, but Celestine Babayaro whipped the ball in and Titus Bramble popped up at the far post to win the game, and send St. James into raptures. I could have sworn the ground was shaking. That was a win we desperately needed, and gave us some confidence.

February 2006 results

Liverpool 1-1 Newcastle

Newcastle 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur

Fulham 2-2 Newcastle

Newcastle 0-0 Ipswich Town (F.A Cup 5th Round)

Newcastle 2-1 West Ham United