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THE NORTH-EAST SUMMIT 25-8-07
Stuart Young
Magpies take an early lead in the race for the North-East Summit.
It has been an eventful start to the new season on and off the pitch. The Magpies have set the early pace with four points out of a possible six and go into the Tyne-Tees derby undefeated so far this season.
Sunderland, after a winning start against Spurs, got nothing at the Wigan shops on Saturday and nothing at home to Liverpool this lunchtime.
Boro picked up their first three points at the weekend thanks to a tremendous save by Schwarzer in the last minute of the Fulham game. Who needs goal-line technology? We certainly don't! Andy D'Urso will be getting a Christmas card from me this year, that's for sure.
Magpies
Sam Allardyce will be a happy man after seeing his side get three points at Bolton last week and a point at home to Villa on Saturday, although I'm sure the 50,000 Newcastle faithful will have been disappointed after the home bore-draw.
With most of their fire-power now fit I was wondering how they failed to score at home against an average team. It is now six games without a home goal at St James' Park, February being the last time the St James' crowd saw a goal.
The answer lies in their creativity in the midfield. With Barton and Duff injured and Dyer being sold it could get very frustrating for the lads up top not to get the service they deserve. Owen was born to score goals so I'm not surprised he's being linked with his former club Liverpool again.
Viduka on the other hand won't mind the lack of goals just as long as he plays and get's the 70k a week which lured him away from the Riverside.
Things could start getting tough for Big Sam and his "big club" even at this early stage of the season. The cracks are already becoming evident after sending Dyer down south and hearing Owen and Solano want out.
I'm sure it's the media playing up these stories Sam, don't worry the Boro crowd will go easy on you come Sunday.
Sunderland
Apparently there is a fine line between loyalty and stupidity according to Roy Keane. This was after they crashed to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Wigan on Saturday.
Keane was quick to judge his players after the game and has said some of his players will be looking for new clubs this week. Don't you just love threatening behaviour. Why didn't he just put his hands up and say my team lost today because they were beaten by a better side like he did today after the defeat to Liverpool?
Roy and his players experienced the highs and lows of the Premier League in just seven days. After a great start on the opening day of the season and a dramatic come back midweek, Sunderland were feeling high as a kite until their day out in Wigan went horribly wrong.
Wigan are a strong and powerful side, you only have to look at their number nine to see why. Heskey was a constant threat on Saturday as Sunderland struggled to keep him at bay. McShane had a stinker for an hour and would have been pleased to leave the pitch after his injury.
Sunderland will find it hard to pick themselves up after two successive defeats and after being totally outclassed by a Liverpool side who never broke out of second gear. The Sunderland defence simply did not cope with Torres and Voronin.
Off the pitch we all know about Roy's rant about the WAGS and how disruptive they are towards transfers.
Big Sam might have the answer for you Roy. He doesn't go to the shops to get his players - he sits at home and get his players online. Hence why he's called Big Sam. You might want to try it out sometime Roy so you stop your moaning.
Although you don't get special offers online like the one Gareth got the other day at the shops, buy one Egyptian and get two on trial for free. Better luck next time Roy!
Boro
"Things can only get better". That's what I was singing on Wednesday night after the Wigan game and it seems to be true. It took a gritty performance on Saturday and we got through it. OK, we got a little luck on the way but when was the last time we had the ref on our side?
After the defeats to Blackburn and Wigan I was feeling quite anxious ahead of Saturday's game. I can think of worse games to play away from home but Fulham have been a bit of a hurdle away from home in recent years. Mido made his debut and looked very strong on the ball and good in the air. It took him fifty-five minutes to get his first goal for his new club.
He'll remember this one for the rest of his career as it was a class strike from twenty-five yards, smashed into the bottom right hand corner of the net. It was hit with such power that the helpless Warner in goal could only wave goodbye to the ball and his place on the next Fulham team sheet.
Cattermole repaid Gareth for his call up to the first team line-up with an eighty-eighth minute winner, his right-foot shot sealing the points for Boro. Southgate and his young troops can now go into the derby match against Newcastle in high spirits.
I heard a bad rumour yesterday that Arca is feeling home-sick and can't handle the travelling between Boro and his family back home. So Sunderland have tabled a bid of around £5 million to bring him back home. The swines!
I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks as we could have another Brazilian gem on the books in the shape of Alfonso Alves. The current Heerenveen star is keen on a move to the Riverside and he will be very welcome as he looks set to replace Yak who is off to Everton.
The Magpies are in the lead with Sunderland close behind but the Boro boys are closing in. We're up and climbing now.
See you at the top
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