Mind you, when saying that it’s worth bearing in mind that Kuqi wasn’t brought in as a replacement for Andy Carroll. He wasn’t brought in to lead the line or start a game either to be fair. Instead he was brought in as cover, to make up the numbers, bulk up the squad, whichever way you choose to look at it. On that front he has done a job.
However, there have been many reports from players and staff regarding just how well liked Kuqi is at the training ground. He is a rare breed these days in the sense that he feels fortunate to be in the position that he is in. Kuqi himself knew that he wasn’t going to be starting any games barring a major injury crisis to our remaining strikeforce, but he is happy to take a back seat and play his part behind the scenes.
Pardew has been talking to the Sunday Sun today about the role and influence of Shefki Kuqi at the club and the attitude of the player ahead of him being released from the club in the summer.
“I don’t need to recommend him to anyone else. His attitude speaks for itself. He’s a player who is fortunate to be here and you know what, he accepts that. His mum would say ‘You’re lucky to be here’ and he’d say ‘Yeah, you’re right’. But he’s got the character to make the most of it.”
“It would be great – absolutely brilliant – if he got a goal. It might be another scenario – we’re defending a lead and he’s marking a centre half and he heads it away. Anything like that, I’ll be the first one to jump on him.”
Pardew then went on to explain just why he brought him to the club in the first place:
“When I brought him to the football club we were short of strikers, we didn’t have many options,” Pardew recalled. “In some ways people assumed it was a player that I had just picked and brought in to make the numbers.”
“But it was much more than that, it was his character as a person that I brought to the club. It wasn’t so much his playing ability. And he has been absolutely brilliant around this training ground – ask any player about his attitude, his application, the way he has approached it.”
“He certainly deserves to get something between now and the end of the season. I will hopefully – although I’m not a sentimentalist – give him a little part of a game where he gets a chance to score. And if he scores I think we’ll all go mad.”
One thing that sticks in my mind about Kuqi, both from seeing pictures of him and seeing him close up, is that the lad always has a smile on his face. He probably knows that he is fortunate to be at Newcastle United, but he knows his place and revels in it. If he manages to grab a goal between now and the end of the season, Alan Pardew and Co won’t be the only ones to go mental as I’ll be joining them. I do have a soft spot for Kuqi for some reason.
It’s inevitable that he will be gone in the summer although I doubt we’ll miss his footballing ability. One thing I will miss though, is his attitude. It’s top class and very refreshing to see these days. He is a lad who wants to play football, and he is one of a rare breed who feel fortunate to do so.
Best of luck Shefki!
I would love to see him get a decent run in a game and get a goal because lets face it he couldn’t be any worse than Strolla and Lovens the way they have been playing 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
Spencer why do you have the Tango man as your avatar 😕
Big Dave(Quote)
dave- it’s his dad 🙂
Jobey07(Quote)
cos hes a bell and they got relegated 😆
Anyway back to the drinking, I can drink more than you 😉
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
Spencer I bet you can drink more than me 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Dave – I never thought of that. Today’s game has surely strengthened his case for a start 😆
toonsy(Quote)
Jobey is he Tango’s love child 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
Only messing dave, I dont drink 😉 😛 😆
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
Toonsy I think his grit would give him the advantage
Big Dave(Quote)
Spencer you shouldn’t the devils brew is bad for ye 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
7@ Louie spence and phil browns love child 😆 😆
hence the name 😛
Jobey07(Quote)
Got a good couple of threads lined up for the morro. Stay tuned and all that 😛
toonsy(Quote)
**** OFF WITH THE LOUIE SPENCE THING!
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
After today’s peformance from Shola and Loven why not give Kuqi a start on Saturday?
AndrewNUFC(Quote)
Andrew – Exactly. Glad I put this up now. Never thought of it before 😆
toonsy(Quote)
anyhow, best not let my dad no you called him a mackem jobey, he’ll be round your house with a baseball bat 😆
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
I just wanna see him do his trademark dive 😛 😆
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
😆 Spencer does he have nails in the baseball bat 😕
Toonsy if what Pards says about him he deserves a chance because they way the other 2 have been playing they dont deserve it. Why not give Kuqi and Ranger a run out fuk you never know
Big Dave(Quote)
big dave- Most probably in this situation 😆
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
Thing is Dave, you know it’ll be shops next week, and he will probably pull something out the bag to shut us up a bit 😆
He bloody well needs to anyway!
toonsy(Quote)
Deserves a chance to start on saturday as strolla and lovenkrands did nothing to fill me with confidence. I also think ranger should start with him, he could get a chance to prove himself too
The Goose(Quote)
Toonsy he needs to do something as for Lovens I have been a vocal supporter of his but he just dosn’t do himsel any favours for the games he has been getting
Goose good call and good avatar 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Has anyone been watching the snooker ❓ the young lad Trump is a cracker 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
Big Dave
Aye he’s some player, wonder what his dad’s first name is 😆
AndrewNUFC(Quote)
AndrewNUFC the same as yours I think 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
Thanks Dave needed to change it, just feel that if he Ranger gets his chance he may become a formidable force. Loven has been good since coming in for Best but our squad seems very stretched at the moment
The Goose(Quote)
reet lads thats me outta here catch you’s tomorrow 😉
Goose I honestly think Ranger will be a different player once he gets his 1st goal
Big Dave(Quote)
later big dave..
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
later BD 🙂
Jobey07(Quote)
start ranger and kuqi next game!! they will be loads betta than shola and loven!! honestly that performance 2day was horrible horrible horrible!!! we didnt even show heart !! gutierez was the only player that tried his best the rest were a joke!!! bye bye 6-7 players in the summer yous dont desreve to play 4 the toon like!!!
Army69(Quote)
Totally agree with you Dave, if he gets one his confidence will shoot right up
The Goose(Quote)
would love to see someone absolutly kill wilshere…
you listening cheick 😆
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
replace simpson , willo , shola and loven in the summer and i will b more than happy!!! they are simply not premiership players!!
Army69(Quote)
Football factory is on 4, first time ive seen it before.
AndrewNUFC(Quote)
Its a quality film Andrew, reminds me of myself 😉 😆
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
I think some people might have been overreacting after todays game…especially re-our strikers. I know they had poor games but how many times did they really have an incisive move or opportunity created for them? In fact the person who should have scored today was Barton. Some times I wonder if Big Al and our history of attacking football alongside a score happy season in the championship has skewered some views. Today, ManU couldn’t score a single goal against Arsenal, Arsenal a team that we put 5 past this season…
It depends on the games really…Imo we need to start playing 4-5-1 with Nolan off Bambi and ranger replacing him at maybe 60min mark or something, today Ameobi was still decent in the air and one a few headers, just loven couldn’t pick them up and Nolan was too far behind. Plus we couldn’t make the most of his strengths considering Barton had possibly his worst game of the season. Some people need to chill out on the slagfest and recognise we’re not a team of world beaters but neither is ameobi “not prem quality” or any of that ****.
NewkieBrown(Quote)
NewkieBrown
Nah I still think Ameobi and Lovenkrands are **** like. But what we have to remember is that Liverpool are a form side and they have convincingly beaten the two Manchester clubs at Anfield recently, aswell as Brum 5-0 last time out. The Manchester clubs are a world away from us aswell. A good result against Birmingham and I in the summer, we keep saying it again and again but I do genuinthink we can forget about it for now. Who knows what will happenely believe that this summer will be the biggest test of Ashley to date. I think it will be either improve or go down, one or the other, not stay the same.
DJG(Quote)
Don’t know what happened there like, should read..
we keep saying it again and again but I do genuinely believe that this summer will be the biggest test of Ashley to date. I think it will be either improve or go down, one or the other, not stay the same.
DJG(Quote)
DJG-Lovenkrands is ****, undoubtedly and needs to go in the summer. Still, I think Bambi would be worth keeping around-hang onto him and Best, loan out ranger, get rid of loven and Shefki and bring two/three in. When Ameobi is hungry to play and actually fit he can do a job for us, and if he’s on the fringe it will allow us to make use of him in cup matches or when we get stretched. And Best simply because he’s deserved the chance.
As you say, in form liverpool, spanked Mancity much easier than they beat us, but I still believe there weren’t many scoring opportunities created, and therefore our strikers did little to squander. Although they did play sh1te, doesn’t make them, or mainly ameobi/ranger, completely useless.
NewkieBrown(Quote)
Sitting here and being bored I decided to formulate a player strategy for next season. Well, why not, every other fecker does it.
The problem as I see it is not that we have **** players, it’s that they aren’t good enough to perform regularly. Simpson, Williamson, Shola in particular can all turn in good performances, but not regularly (and Lovenkrands rarely). I’d say that at best they are back up material. The rest of the team aren’t too bad, in the main.
So, we need first team replacements, and I mean *first team* replacements, none of this buying squad players bullsh!t, we already have plenty of them. We need to recruit players that will make it difficult for blogs like this to name the best side.
Trying to be realistic, moneywise, I think we need 3 first team players to play ahead of the aforementioned trio, and we need to replace Carroll. 4 biggish buys.
Lovenkrands is past his use by date and should be moved on, along with Xisco and Campbell, replaced by players from the development squad
I think that should see us through next season, and in the following summer we can again upgrade for the season after, and challenge for a Euro place, or even a cup!
Easy. This football manager business is a piece of cake. 😆
Brisvegas(Quote)
Breaking News:Osama bin Laden Is OFFICALLY DEAD. 😯
AngelOfDeath(Quote)
Please excuse my patriotism- but may go bless America, our allies, and all troops who served abroad over the last 10 years- this is an historic day
MDS(Quote)
Question is, what is the reaction going to be? Are they (Al-Qaeda) going to lash out or will they be weakened through the loss of their leader?
toonsy(Quote)
MDS, Very historic, will be interesting to see what this reveals about how he was able to live where he was untouched for so long.
On to the thread, Pardew needs to stop spinning the cheery matey stories in the press, our forwards are **** and no amount of rubbish spouted can change that so stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
West Ham went down fighting at Man City yesterday but had decent forwards to call on, Obhina, Cole, Ba, Boa Morte, all put a shift in and were a threat, ours are swatted away like flies, time to give Ranger a run or even Airey as im sick of our current front 2, pathetic.
bobby(Quote)
I tend to lean towards what Newkie said earlier up. I mean Lovenkrands was anonymous, as was Ameobi really, but they didn’t have much to work off. If they missed a string of chances then fair enough, but they didn’t. They aren’t the type of strikers that will create chances for themselves so they need that doing for them. Yesterday that wasn’t done for them.
Not saying that they are great, just saying that a bit of rational thought is needed. We had just three attempts on goal yesterday.
toonsy(Quote)
i 2nd that MDS well done the yanks 😉 aboot time ya got summit right 😆
batty(Quote)
I agree with batty 😉 😆
richietoon(Quote)
rich 😉
batty(Quote)
I think AP should start Ranger and Kuqi against Birmingham, after yesterday’s performance. Let Shola and Lovo know that even though we have hardly any quality up top, their places aren’t safe!
Also it’d be a surprise for Brum, as they’ll expect to see Ameobi and Lovenkrands.
ArranW(Quote)