Get Your Phil: Mike And Other Magic

Guest column by Phil Lavanco

Welcome back to another edition of “Get Your Phil,” where I was able to slip another column past the fine gentlemen of I Wish I Was a Geordie who are still on tryptophan overload. I appreciate your patience, dear reader, as I continue to experiment and find my voice in this column. It’s been a fantastic and stress-relieving rise up the table for Newcastle United; here are my quick reactions to the past couple of weeks:

Newcastle learn their lesson from Norwich victory

My prevailing emotion in our Gallic goliaths’ 2-1 victory against Norwich was frustration. That Norwich team was terrible, and we let them back into the match. We really should’ve hammered them for four or five goals. During the second half, I felt the players strolled around the field and thought our mere presence would see out the victory.

So I was curious to see how the team would respond after Newcastle jumped out to the 1-0 lead against West Brom (who scored that goal, Matt? I forget). I thought we controlled the majority of the match, kept their best player relatively quiet, and displayed the mental strength reminiscent of the fifth-place season. It seems Newcastle might be getting over the complacency hurdle.

About that West Brom match...

Moose’s strike was a “thunderbastard”…but he’s still a minus-2 on the season

Moussa Sissoko has been resurgent in his role on the right side of Alan Pardew’s 4-4-2. The right wing allows the Frenchman to use his skill set of power, strength and dribbling to terrorize left backs across the league. (How’s your shoulder doing, Ridgewell?) However, our No. 7 still has a lack of awareness that’s directly resulted in three goals by the opponents. It’s a disturbing habit he must kick if we wants to keep his place in the side. This sort of lackadaisical responsibility is usually reserved for Hatem Ben Arfa. As you can see in these clips against Aston Villa and Hull, Sissoko lost his man, and it led to a goal.

The introduction of a target man has been essential to our success, but we can’t rely this much on Shola

Four thousand eight hundred and two days after making his Newcastle United debut, Shola Ameobi came back into the starting XI and Newcastle won the first of four matches in the month of Movember. In the 4-4-2, the players appear more comfortable in their roles and more confident in their responsibilities on the field. The linchpin of this, of course, has been Shola, and the presence of that target forward. The thing is — and we all know this — we can’t keep relying on Shola to play at such a high level. With the two matches this week, do we honestly think the 32-year-old can play this many minutes this well? Newcastle need to open up the checkbook in January and buy another target forward.

Newcastle journos taking one for the team

Since NUFC’s act of cowardice banning Newcastle's local journalists, the team has not lost a Premier League match. So, Mr. Ryder and Mr. Douglas, we all support you in your fight against this ban ... but do you mind hanging in there a bit longer for the team’s sake?

I’d like to call this meeting to settle the Mike Williamson nickname debate

Now that Mike Williamson has entered everyone’s hearts, we as a fan base need to figure out a nickname. I’ve seen “Big Mike” Williamson, which is just as unoriginal as “Iron Mike.” I would like to submit “Magic Mike.” First off, there has to be a bit of pixie dust involved with this incredible streak Williamson is on. And secondly, you cannot tell me Williamson doesn’t have a little Channing Tatum in him. Look at those big blue eyes! (Editor’s note: Channing Tatum’s eyes are green. But you get the idea.)

Newcastle stat that may only interest me (shamelessly plagiarized from Peter King)

This was posted by Jake over at the Toon Army NYC Facebook board, which I’ve updated to include the West Brom result:

“Only Lyon have more goals from French players (19) than Newcastle (18) this season.”

Newcastle have scored 19 league goals this season. Who was the one non-Frenchman to score?

Newcastle Tweet of the Week (or two)

Obviously, this is from the first half of the Norwich match, but it was the hardest giggle I had on twitter during the match. Gold star, Jeff.

I think Tiote should take some more shots

— Jeff (@NUFCBayern) November 23, 2013

Sign-off

If you are a Newcastle United Supporter in North America give me a follow @Lavanglish. I want the Tweet of the Week (or two) to have a North American flair. Until next time, long may the streak continue.

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