Jose’s fitness boost.

toonsy

Jose fit to feature against Wolves.
Newcastle have been handed a fitness boost with the news that Jose Enrique’s hamstring injury is not too serious and that he should be available for the crunch game against Wolves at the start of April.

Jose limped out of the game against Stoke in the 23rd minute which eventually brought about one of the highlights of the game when Shane Ferguson was brought on to replace him. Ferguson impressed in the absence of the Spaniard but let’s be honest, the lad isn’t anywhere near first choice yet and if Jose is fit then Jose will play.

I was surprised to see Enrique in the starting line up anyway to be fair as I thought he was set to miss out. Indeed we were told before the match how unlikely it was that Jose was going to feature, but when the team was announced it appeared that Jose had proved his fitness. In fact it was Jose’s confidence that convinced Pardew to play the lad.

“We genuinely felt he was fine late on Friday, but it was still a late call,” said Pardew. “I told the Press what I did on Thursday, because I honestly thought he wouldn’t be playing. I really didn’t think he would, but he was so confident, I went with him.”

Rightly or wrongly, Jose played, but it sounds like it was his persuasion that did the trick on Pardew. It backfired of a sort though when he limped out of action, but the good news is that the hamstring is only tight and hasn’t been strained. Pardew continued:

“We don’t think that it’s going to be a serious one, genuinely not. It’s hard to read with Jose when it comes to injuries. The good thing is he hasn’t pulled anything, it’s just a tightening. We took him off as precaution.”

So it’s fingers crossed that Jose’s hamstring can hold out, and with Joey Barton and Jonas Gutierrez stepping back into the action and gaining a bit more fitness it can only be a good thing ahead what is fair to say is a relegation six-pointer.

Newcastle simply must not lose that game, but that will only be made easier with the return to fitness of three of our regular starters. Leon Best could also make a return and Stephen Ireland is even being talked about for an appearance.

With regard to injuries, it’s GOOD news for a change!

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

View all posts by toonsy →

You may like these posts

235 thoughts on “Jose’s fitness boost.”

  2. Harper
    Simpson Williamson Coloccini Enrique
    Barton Nolan Guthrie Jonas
    Ameobi Best

    Subs; Krul, Campbell, S.Taylor, Ferguson, Ireland, Lovenkrands, Ranger.

    Team and bench getting stronger!

      (Quote)

  3. After watching Ameobi at Stoke I’d be tempted to throw Ranger in. I know he can’t see because of his mask, but it’s almost like he actually has no eyes, like he has had them removed or summit 😕

      (Quote)

  5. I would play jonas RM fergie LM and Barton and Nolan in the middle. 442.
    Anyone up front but lovenkrands.

      (Quote)

  7. Moreno, that midfield has a good balance!

    With Nolan on 9 yellows I think it’s inevitable that he will get a 10th soon so for Blackpool our midfield pair will probably be Ireland and Tiote. Our future centre midfield ❓

      (Quote)

  11. If Irelands fit i would go for

    Jonas Nolan Ireland Barton

    If he isnt I’d have the same as Moreno.

      (Quote)

  12. Would like to see Fergie at left wing too. Maybe right wing, with the skills he seems to have and with no Gypsy to aim for. When was the last time we scored from some wing play? At Birmingham? That was a long time ago.
    So yeah, same midfield as Moreno, but with the wings switching once in a while. It’d be so nice to see some creative play for a change. We’re going to look such a different side when HBA is fit and flying.

    Also, Loverkrands out of the first team, please. Get Airey in. Or Vuckic. Or Kuqi. Dammit, anyone but loverpants.

      (Quote)

  13. Vuckic, I thought it was thought that this was going to be his break through year. Would love to see him get some playing time. Great to see Ferguson coming through.

      (Quote)

  15. Sorry guys but the prospect of Nolan and Ireland in the middle of the park frightens me. If we get caught up the wrong end of the park we’re fooked. The both play too attacking and not saying Ireland is lazy but he has been out for months, not going to be box to box instantly

      (Quote)

  18. Moreno, yeah that’s why if Nolan gets booked am looking forward to Ireland and Tiote in the middle and 2 Johno.

      (Quote)

  19. Best way to negate their winger is to keep him back in his own half, can’t do that if Joey has to keep drifting inside to cover Nolan/Ireland when they push up.

      (Quote)

  21. Moreno I agree but Nolan could sit, plus we are only playing Wolves – if it was a better footballing side I would be worried. We need to attack them.

    Shola needs to be dropped for Nile even if he is fit, with the mask he just does not look confident .Loven should never play again, so what if he scored against Birmingham what else has he done? Well done for scoring goals last season Peter, thats all I can say about him.

      (Quote)

  22. Nolan could sit where? The only advantage to him playing is him poaching goals!
    He ain’t no defensive midfielder.

      (Quote)

  25. Good to hear Jose is going to be ok and it sounds like I was right that Jose passed himself fit. So I wonder what that means to all the fans that were blaming Pards for playing Jose before he was ready and that he would be out for ages now 😆 😆

    Moreno I think the only place for Nolan is just behind a striker otherwise its like playing with 10 men we have better options for MF

      (Quote)

  27. I agree about Nolan Dave.

    Don’t agree that players decide if they are fit rather than the manager though. Symapthise with Pardew if Jose ‘talked him into it’ but when things don’t work out…he is the manager, it’s what he gets paid for and he should rightly take the flak.

      (Quote)

  28. DAVE got both those e-mails cheers 😉 hope you got the s.a.s.one.

    you had faith on sat 😥

      (Quote)

  29. Ice sat was reverse psychology I didn’t really expect anything as Stoke havn’t been beat at home much 🙁
    Yeah thought that was a cracking one

    Moreno what I mean is that there is things like minor strains and niggles that cant really be detected so its the player that decides how it feels 😉

      (Quote)

  32. Moreno, glad you noticed that Nolan has to be towards the front. He looks horribly lost back in the DM areas. And once he is back it takes him too long to get up front where he does his best work. AP needs to learn to keep his best players in their best positions. Forget Simpson as a wing, he is just now getting the hang of defense. Better to have no right wing at all than to put someone out there who will effectively reduce the squad to 10 men. And to make my point, Barton has been an extra mid fielder, leaving right wing open, and NUFC have not done all that bad with the strategy.

      (Quote)

  35. I’d really like to see what Jonas could do for us on the right, his tracking back could help simpson out and lets face it he needs more support than Jose. A right wing pairing of Simmo/Ferguson would be way too lightweight imo.

    Up front it should be Shola/Best…Shola at least touched the ball a couple of times unlike Lovenkrands, simply put he’s more dangerous, and threatening a team like Stoke in the air is a tough ask as we found out earlier in the season-I think he’ll have more impact against Wolves’ defence. If bestie is injured though, maybe give Loven the first half and ranger the second? Or maybe get Ireland involved and pushed up if he’s fit.

      (Quote)

  36. NK said before mate,it might help doon that right as jarvis is on fire at the mo,simpson wont handle him on his own imo

      (Quote)

  37. NewkieBrown I would love to see Jonas get a go on the right and maybe Fergie on the left if Jose is fit with Ireland and Joey in CM 😉

      (Quote)

  42. don’t think they should’ve apologised to be honest. they did nothing but go out and socialise. if they’ve got that much money to burn, why shouldn’t they go out, especially if they aren’t in the squad for the following day. massive magnifying glass over it because we got lashed.

      (Quote)

  43. I’m not even bothering covering the apology as it’s not needed.

    “Sorry we went out on our day off”

    FFS, does it get any more pathetic?

      (Quote)

  45. I dont see why they had to say sorry! They went out for a night out, aye they have really broke the club rules there, even if they did have a few beers good on them.

      (Quote)

  54. OM ANI PADME HUNG!!! Does anybody know when we will play Man U?.I can no longer find the match among the fixtures.

      (Quote)

  64. ANDREW lets be fair theres more than henry that are knuts in wolves team theres a few that kick anything above grass level like imo

      (Quote)

  67. Aye Big Dave, no doubt Barton would get sent off for nothing. Just hope Barton gets a nice tough tackle in on him.

      (Quote)

  68. Lets hope Jarvis gets injured for england because I wouldn’t like him running at Simpson and he always seems to whip the crosses in.

      (Quote)

  69. Ice it wouldn’t be the 1st time a player has done that and I would bet it wont be the last time mate, Though I do think he is a different person from a yr ago

      (Quote)

  72. I don’t think even tryed to show him anywhere, I think he just got totally done for pace from where I was sitting, Lennon was like a rocket!

      (Quote)

  73. Dave – I’m still around mate. Gotta have eyes everywhere these days 😉

    Nah, I’m getting ready for work 🙁

      (Quote)

  74. Aye but then I remember the same situation happened a few minutes later and he showed him down the line and nothing came of it.

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *