Taylor for England!

toonsy

Back on the England scene
Back on the England scene
Steven Taylor has finally been called up to represent the England senior team following the withdrawal of Gary Cahill from Roy Hodgson’s squad.

I’d just like to congratulate Steven on this and must say that it’s been overdue going by his performances in recent weeks. I’m sure he won’t be reading this but still…

Personally I can’t think of many other English defenders in better form right now and I feel he should have been called up originally rather than as a result of other players pulling out of the squad. If players such as Rio Ferdinand and Gary Cahill hadn’t pulled out then it’s unlikely Taylor would have got the call which is harsh on a lad who has performed well since his return from injury.

However Taylor now has the chance to impress the right people within the England camp. He’s been given the chance and now it’s up to him to show that he is capable of performing at a level which will make him a consideration for future squads.

Taylor has been involved with the senior England side before having been called up against Germany in 2007. He didn’t feature in that game and has since drifted away from the international scene after long involvement with England at youth and U21 levels. If he plays any part in the forthcoming games against San Marino or Montenegro it will be his first full England cap although you could argue that injuries have perhaps prevented from already featuring for his country.

As a United fan I’m made up for him. I’m not too fussed about the England national team generally after events in recent years, but having one of your own players in there makes a difference and I, for one, will be watching to see if Taylor gets a chance to impress at international level.

Best of luck Steven!

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.

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231 thoughts on “Taylor for England!”

  1. B&B – I’m not using injuries as an excuse, it’s a valid reason IMO. One of the seasons I believe we performed so well last season, certainly the first half of it was down to continuity.
    Personally, I’ve never hid my belief that our ‘second string’ players aren’t good enough and they have done a good job of proving my point this season. We may have the numbers on paper but define quality?.
    How many quality players do QPR have on paper, and how many have not performed this season?. I know you don’t rate Pardew too highly but I’d be interested in your opinion of Harry Redknapp?.
    We also may have the numbers, but we are missing players in key areas 5 defenders out injured and I’m not sure of Simmos injury status at the moment, Cabayes out with no obvious replacement (Anita likely to fill in at FB) and although we have numbers on paper, we are short up front, particularly with Gouffran not available for Europa.
    It’s easy to say that our squad is the best in the bottom half of the table but that’s only on paper, coz if it was THAT much better we wouldn’t be in the position we find ourselves.
    I fully expect you to now go on and blame Pardews tactics or the way Pardew has got the team playing or it’s Pardews fault one way or another, and whilst I’m prepared to accept that he’s not totally faultless, it has to be said that too many of the players we have in our squad this season have either underperformed or aren’t good enough to begin with. That’s why I don’t believe that this group of players can win the Europa league, but can avoid relegation.

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  2. Kim-I’m not sure I’d say they were weaker than us, they certainly have more options in some areas, but I would say I would take our players in several positions, keeper, full back, cm. I think they have some very solid options and depth at CB, but honestly I think Staylor Mbiwa could trump any 2 they have-eventually anyway, assuming they learn and adapt to each others game once Mbiwa can speak english. Colo looks long gone but if he stayed we’d have real quality in that position too..

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  3. Sharpy @ 151 > I fully expect you to now go on and blame Pardews tactics or the way Pardew has got the team playing or it’s Pardews fault one way or another,

    You have got it in one mate, sure there can be no other reason 😆 😆 😆

    Newkie @ 152 are you starting to come round to Saylor now ❓

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  4. No matter who is in charge at the toon, Pardew or Laudrup or whoever B&B thinks, we need to get those 6 points on the board pdq and get this relegation patter put to bed once and for all.

    Next season can and will be exciting, let’s be honest our league form has been really poor, with the only highlights so far this season being the win against Chelsea at home, and our Europa League, run, and that was boringly gash in the early rounds.

    This season cannot end quick enough for me.

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  5. Big D Staylor may not be everyones cup of tea, but he’s one of the two best centre halves we have available at the moment, thank goodness we have him, cos without him we’d be back looking at Willo.

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  7. Sharpy your wasting your time mate, as MM can testify 😆 😆
    MM your right without Saylor we would be donald ducked mate, and yeah I can’t wait for the season to be over

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  8. Sharpy17, B&B will have you tied up in knots matey. 😆 😆

    Big D, this year has been really poor imo, cannot wait for the season to end. If next season runs the same way as this then I’ll be more vocal of my criticism of Pardew. Next season he cannot have any excuses at all, it sounds as if the management are gonna splash some money on a couple of quality players too by all accounts.

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  9. MM if next season is the same as this then Pards will be at fault and IMO won’t be the man to take us forward and I will be calling for his head and i’ll be loud and clear about it 😉

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  10. Big D, I would say that on average we have played some of the poorest football in the league this season. When I think back to the way Southampton absolutely battered us down there place, Man Utd battered us at home, Arsenal battering us away, the whole Demba Ba situation, the injuries, Collo’s bombshell, the battering at Brighton, and going out of the cups so cheaply, and how it took us about 15 – 20 games to get us out of our complete lethargy.
    We have ridden on the back of the January transfer window now for a few weeks, I hope the feelgood factor remains, and we can profit from it, because that defeat at the weekend against a poor Wigan side really set the alarm bells ringing for me. I hope thet we don’t take our eye of the ball with the distraction of the Europa League.

    The ideal situation would be for us to have escaped the threat of relegation with 4 – 5 games to go, and Sunderland to get relegated o the last day of the season.. 😈 😈 😈

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  11. Best news I’ve heard for a long time that it looks as if young Haidara has escaped serious injury. Excellent news, we all wish the lad a quick and full recovery.

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  13. Well RVW as a back up option in the summer seems out of the question, he’s off to Norwich. Do know why when he could go to most top 10 PL sides.

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  14. Dave/MM – I have entered into the Pardew debate with B&B before and it won’t happen again if I see it heading that way, but we’ll have craic about things, we don’t have to agree, and I doubt either will convert the other to their way of thinking, but that’s why I like this blog.

    MM – that’s great news about Haidara mate, I have to be honest, thought that was the last we’d ever see of him on a footy pitch. Get him in against City 😛

    Andy – what’s the craic there like mate, I saw on SSN that Norwich were interested but nowt more than that. Have you seen somewhere that they have struck a deal for RVW like?

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  15. Sharpy
    Saw it on newsnow. Some random website that claimed he was Norwich’s in the summer.

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  16. Andy – lets not forget how accurate Newsnow were when reporting our interest in PEA.
    I’d be equally surprised if RVW ends up at Norwich next season like. Still reckon he’ll be with us or Spuds if he comes to the EPL.
    Reckon Norwich will go back for Hooper TBH.

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  18. Munich/Dave – sorry I completely missed your posts regarding Pardew next season. I completely agree with you both and ill be equally as vocal. I think if the board add maybe 5-6 players 3 purples and a couple of development/squad players that would be him sorted, bearing in mind we expect Colo and Simmo to leave in the summer.
    Christ if B&B reads this though he’ll have kittens 😛

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  20. Andy – either way, I reckon it’s bollocks mate.

    I was just looking at the Championship table and Wolves look as good as gone don’t they and Bburn and Bpool are right down there as well, the latter have better squads than that and we could do a bit of poaching in the summer I reckon.
    Wayne Hennessy and Jamie O’Hara would be canny squad players, Grant Hanley and Jordan Rhodes from Bburn and Matt Phillips and Tom Ince from Bpool.

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  21. Rhodes for say £5m would be a good investment as he’s young, British and has an eye for goal.

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  22. Dave-I take my hat off to Saylor, he has done brilliantly the last two months or so. He’s shown none of the elbows or silly challenges that had become a staple of his game, he’s still a clown but fortunately that hasn’t cost us yet and hopefully it won’t. Now if he can keep himself fit for the entirety of next season, we’ll see whether he can finally fulfill his promise 😉

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  23. Not been checking the news much recently, but Norwich talking to wolfie? Surely worth a punt, can’t be costing them that much if sporting are this quick to sell?

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  25. @166

    newsnow doesn’t ‘report’ anything

    it aggregates and links to sites that contain stories/articles on a particular topic. Each site linked to should be judged on its own merits/credibility

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  26. Well Giggs has had his day, and Bale is reaching his prime.

    There must be another young Welsh left wing coming through the ranks somewhere that will turn down playing for England 😆

    I’d go out and buy him.

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  27. See ed is now reporting Norwich has an £8m deal confirmed for RVW. If its that low a price then well done to Norwich but annoyed we didn’t hijack it. Must be after PEA as our no1 target.

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  28. Newkie – unless the rumours are true and we already have a deal for PEA in place, I think we should go for RVW.
    We desperately need at least 1 quality CF in the summer and I think RVW could be got for around £8m with little effort and is a top draw player.
    PEA is also quality but if we can beat off the competition (unlikely) then he’ll cost around £15m and I think his agent will be looking for a move to a bigger club before the ink dries on his contract.

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  29. Andy – I see us loosing out on both TBH, I hope I’m wrong mate but if we have nothing already in place for PEA I see him going to a club that can offer him CL football next season.
    I fear we may been caught short again with our very blinkered approach to transfers. I know that nothing has been confirmed yet of course, and who knows about PEA, but its happened to us in the past so I’m a little nervy to be honest.

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  30. Just read the report in the Mail as its saying that Norwich have agreed a fee of £8.5m for RVW, so it seems to me that all we have to do is match of better the offer and we’d be back in that one, so it’s far from a done deal that one.

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  33. I see Clarkie has signed Rob Lees young in Olly Lee 21yrs to Bham. Keep tabs on him like coz if he’s out like his fatha I want him at the toon.
    Rob Lee is still my favourite toon player of my time supporting the black n white.

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  36. Moreno – re your first post, set of morons!. We have some of the best travelling fans in the world, well behaved and sing their hearts out in every game. Some things seem funny at the time but this is stupidity.

    Your 2nd post, for me the blokes a legend. Not just a brilliant footballer but a top fella as well. Met him at a talk in once then a couple of times on the drink in Town, he was good craic

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  37. Ice – if your out there mate, why didn’t you tell me to get a dog at a warmer time of the year!!
    Christ it’s pissin freezing out there!!!!

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  38. David Crossan ‏@davidmcrossan
    L’Equipe reports #nufc chief scout #carr at Fra U20s v Den last night. #kondogbia #digne #zouma #umtiti
    but #nufc not only club there…

    David Crossan ‏@davidmcrossan
    Also present were Arsenal, Man City, Juve, Leverkusen, Sunderland + more
    * those players mentioned most likely to be watched by all scouts

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  39. Sharpy@178-I’d take either!

    As for Clarkie, let’s hope that Lee’s kid is one of his better transfers, he seems to be struggling even if it is early days in his management career..

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  40. Moreno-Couldn’t help but notice but you said Rob Lee played for England 2004-2008! A decade out, shocking journalism on this site! 😆

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  41. SHARPY 😆 😆 😆 aye i can think off warmer things to do 😉 i wear gortex and one of those russian hats by god it helps in open fields 😉

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  43. Simply fantastic news for Hadeira! I’m really happy for the lad. A **** mircle there.

    As for the Santon talk, the lad simply answered a loaded question from an Italian journo. Still, I wouldn’t blame him if he went to Milan. The club he supported in his home country which just happens to be one of the biggest clubs in the world- who could blame hm really? It wouldn’t really bother me if I’m honest. He has the makings of a great FB but we’d undoubtedly get good value for him and we have young Hadeira looking the part a ready to step in

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  45. Great news about Haidara, so glad to have him back so soon-he is a lucky boy though and hopefully the wigan prat will think twice before he makes such a reckless challenge again. I have my doubts though, no punishment can set the standard, hopefully he won’t ruin anyone’s career with that. Good luck to tayls, the injury gods have smiled on us so far today..

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  47. So Haidara’s back in a couple of weeks. We’ll now be labelled as squealers when there’s nowt wrong!
    Very pleased for the lad. It looked just about the worst ‘tackle’ I’ve ever seen !

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  48. All this talk of PEA and RVW whoever they are I think is nonesense. Bet your life Carr comes up with a diamond we’ve never thought of, bit like Michu.

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  49. M – I really hope he was there for Zouma coz he’s class at only 18yrs, but I reckon he’s another destined for a bigger (CL) club. Can’t say I really know much of the others mentions to be fair.

    Newkie – Aye, I’d be happy with either but I reckon we’ve got a better chance of landing RVW. Sod it, get both 😛

    Ice – sorry mate, just thawed out!!, not sure about a Russian hat – I don’t think a Russian dancing bear would have kept me lugs warm this morning like!.
    That’s hellish news about Haidara that like, can’t believe how lucky he’s been there and it’ll be great to have him available for the remainder of the season.

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  51. mORENO@184 .That’s poor form from that bunch of fans ,total idiots and that was befor that tackle so can’t even say they was pissed at that ,not that it would excuse it like.

    Amazed Norwich are looking likely to get RVW 😯

    Great news about Haidara ,he’s a very lucky chap could of been so much worse . 😎

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  52. M – I’m not sure mate, but we can be sure that if Carr is running his eye over them they’ll be decent. I can just picture Carr in the stands making his notes with all the scouts stood behind him trying to steal a glimpse of what his writing 😆

    Georgio – I hope it’s not nonsense mate, both of those are class and we need a proven goal scorer, but I’d like us to get another forward as well with us loosing Ba, Ranger and Xisco this season. I know we got Gouffran but I’d like a purple CF and a younger one to develop alongside Campbell as I don’t see Shola featuring heavily next season either.
    Personally, I’d like to see us get Jordan Ayew from Marseille, he’s a 21yr old CF who is as comfortable as one of the attacking midfield 3 as he is the playing the 1 up top.

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  53. 😆 😆 😆 What’s happened on here!!!??? 😆 😆 😆

    Dave, Munich, and Sharpy’s posts could all have been written by me! 😆 The three musketeers with B&B as d’artagnan. All for one and one for all.

    I really don’t know how much longer I could put up with Pards if we continue in this vein. However, ironically, I would not be surprised if I were to give him longer than any one of you. There’ll be one game too many, however, when I’ve seen enough and say he should be sacked: I can’t take any more. To be fair to him, he should still be given a good crack at next season at least.

    Sharpy – you say, “I think if the board add maybe 5-6 players 3 purples and a couple of development/squad players that would be him sorted, bearing in mind we expect Colo and Simmo to leave in the summer.” Just to be clear, when you say “that would be him sorted”, sorted to achieve what? Top half? Top four? Cup success? What has he got to do?

    At the moment, he still has a good enough squad to move away from the danger zone without too much trouble, but I think he’s going to make us suffer. Benfica will put paid to the cup so he won’t be able to use that as an excuse.

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  54. Sharpy

    Jordan Ayew looks a good shout, but if we’re looking to bring in a younger CF as well as a purple I think we need to bring in someone who isn’t already 21 (because I don’t think we’ll have enough room in the 25 man squad to name 2 additional strikers).

    My pick would be Yassine Benzia – still only 18 but already on the radar of a lot of top clubs. I hope that includes us as well 😉
    http://hereisthecity.com/2012/11/25/nh-yassine-benzia-the-next-french-superstar/

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  55. Sharpy – you reckon “Haidara is a better defensive LB [than Santon] and ain’t shabby going forward either.” I’ve been disappointed in him both defensively and offensively. I’m not sure he’s at a higher level than James Tavernier. He didn’t do well against Anzhi and was poor for Wigan’s first goal.

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  56. Blackley & Brownlie@203, settle down young man. If anyone’s gonna be d’artagnan it’s gonna be me. I’ll also have the other lads in the team too, but I’m not sure if you would fit in there with your Les Kellet gold lame thong 🙂

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  59. jez you fairly miss the footie at the week end I suppose I will have to hope that Saylor gets a game tonight then I might watch it

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  64. Talksport said he was stretchered off and couldn’t bare to look at his leg 😕 🙁 . Come on Scotland do it Stevie and Alex ‘braveheart’ Salmond 😆 .

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  66. Does anyone know if the idiots that invaded the Wigan cosmos game where reprimanded? Terrible to hear that, always thought of our travelling fans as being one of the best behaved 🙁 .

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  67. Kim
    Didn’t hear what they said just heard that he was covering his face so he couldn’t see his leg, must have been pretty grim.

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  71. Dave 0.7 Now mate and more coming I reckon ,It’s a nonsense playing teams like San Marino ,they should go through some sort of pre qualifier I feel very sorry for them and as I type it’s 0.8 Defoe just scored 😉 San Marino must be desperate for it to end poor sods. Sounds like it’s bad over there mate , hope you get power back soon.

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  74. Andymag;
    Did you hear the England fans singing ‘are you Scotland in disguise’ to the San Marino team? 😀
    How did the real Scotland team do against Wales?
    Oh – just seen the result 😯

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  75. I see that the abject performance and defeat at Wigan has Munich Mag rattling his relegation worry beads.
    Home wins against Fulham and Sunderland will see us safe and we could pick up 2 or 3 points from our games with W.Brom , Liverfool , W.ham and QPR.
    Then again, if we fail to take 6 points from the Fulham and S/land games I’ll be asking MM where I can buy the beads.

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