Speaking on the official site, Carroll said:

“I had my chance, and I should have put it away. We had a few other chances as well, and we could have been ahead.

“But overall, I thought we did well. We knew it was going to be difficult, and it was, but for the first 35 minutes we did well.

“We kept the ball well and didn’t let them do what they wanted to do. Then the first goal went in and they took control.”

It was great effort but unfortunately the finish wasn’t there. We know players in the squad like Carroll will deliver when it comes to Sunday and beyond. This Man Utd game is far from being the defining point of the season. It was always going to be a massive battle at Old Trafford to get the first goal but utlimately Berbatov managed the first goal. Not many teams have the honour of  beating Man Utd at home.

However, it does expose our fragility which would concern Hughton and not to mention Ashley. Perhaps a couple of new names on the roster wouldn’t be amiss particularly when we have a bit of an injury issue in areas across the team. Let’s see what Hughton’s next move shall be.

“There isn’t anything. We are aware of the speculation and that he has been linked to us but he is very much a Marseille player. There hasn’t been any direct contact.”

I’m not sure why rumours weren’t stumped out earlier. This transfer story seems like its been around for months now.

Speaking at Sky News, Hughton added:

“We have said all along that we need to boost the squad but it is difficult,” he added.

“It’s not only us that have found it difficult, it’s finding the right players and the right values.

“We know how difficult this league will be and we need to be ready for it.”

Well, there you have it, Arfa is not coming to Newcastle.

However, conflicting messages from Marseille aren’t helping with club president Jean-Claude Dassier, saying talks are still ongoing. We hope that the deal will be signed off soon so we can get this promising player into the squad. However, on the downside, he does have a fiery temperament which has landed him in several disputes with the current manager at Marseille. But Hughton has to deal with two temperamental players already and fans will hope Hughton can bring out the best of this emerging talent whenever Arfa kick starts his Newcastle career.

Other news elsewhere suggest Nile Ranger maybe put on loan. Often used as a sub, the forward scored four times last season. He looks likely to head off to the other newly promoted club, Blackpool.

UPDATE: Afraid it ain’t happening

Yesterday, Sol Campbell joined our ranks and his signing was made even more important for us with this news of Taylor’s setback

Elsewhere, Tim Krul has pledged another  four years of service to Newcastle. Steve Harper continues to provide solid service between the sticks but Krul has been something special as well for making some superb quick reactionary saves for the team.

There’s quite an interesting article here
about Newcastle’s chances and this article summises that we are well positioned to finish in the top half this season. Personally, I think this season will be tough and with the unwelcomed dark cloud of injuries again hanging over the team, it could be tougher. Hughton is right to strengthen the side with what transfer kitty was given to him and if Newcastle finish in the top 10, I’d be delighted.

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The first thing that comes under attention is the transfer market. Chances are Hughton would be happy with the current team set up and no changes will be soon. There’s still a question mark hanging over Steven Taylor who is yet to sign a new contract and the incident with Carroll didn’t exactly help matters there. Hughton insists no problems are there but we shall see what happens in the coming months.

A few names have sprung up already who are rumoured to interest Hughton. From the relegated teams, Hull’s Jimmy Bullard was mentioned as early as last month. However, his injury record may concern some. Another new face quite possibly could be could be Ivan Klamsic, a striker currently with Nantes. Difficult to say as we already have a decent set of strikers – would we need anymore?

A few loan signings won’t be making another appearance in a black n white shirt. Fabrice Pancrate failed to secure a full term contract  Fritz Hall’s situation is different as he was handy back up to Steven Taylor. Whether he’s done enough has yet to be decided.

Personally, I don’t believe that a major overhaul will happen this Summer.  Perhaps the odd player here and there. Come January 2011, that maybe a completely different matter!

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All credit to the team and manager. The damage of getting relegated could have triggered a meltdown at the club. However, the opposite happened with Chris Hughton’s calm and cool approach. It was all business with him. He wasn’t caught up in the politics surrounding the club. Hughton had a job and he got on with it superbly. Of course, the players who had lost interest in 2008-2009 season had to go. Unfortunately, we had to sell Shay Given but Steven Harper and Tim Krul were easily the best replacements around. Tweaking and building the team led to the return of the passion and play which fans sorely missed in the preceding season.

Grudgingly, some credit goes toward the board and Ashley for taking the financial hit and providing funds to strengthen the team. Although, they are not completely off the hook, we hope Ashley will have learned something over the past three years in charge. Personally, I have a feeling he will still attempt to sell up at the right time. For now, all eyes turn toward preparation for the Premiership which holds a completely different set of rules as we all know. I’m not expecting much to happen in the next few years. Hughton has proved his talents in the Championship but he and the team will be tested even further next season without a doubt.

Steven Taylor could return from a knee injury (or broken jaw depending on how you look at it). However, latest is that he won’t feature. Fitness issues with Fitz Hall and Nile Ranger would mean that they’ll be out. Gutierrez has flown out to join his national squad in Argentina.

Quoted in the Chronicle, Chris Hughton said:

“What we’ve got to do is get ourselves up again.

“There are still targets to go for. We want to finish on a high, that goes without saying.

“We know the emotions of the past two weeks, particularly on Saturday, but it’s back to business again.

“We have a group of supporters going to watch the game, and of course it’s a game we want to get something from.

“Anything other than a defeat will get us 100 points, which would be a nice way to end the season.”

It’s been the best of seasons in a long while and fans have been going mental but largely keeping it into perspective. This season has been a chance to stand back a take a look at the team and club and ask questions. Some of questions have been answered when players left the club at the summer of 2009. The next was getting the right man for the managerial job, some thought Shearer was the man but faith was put in Chris Hughton. Admittedly, Chris had many detractors including myself but the man grounded out results with a team that some thought needed a massive overhaul. 12 months later and the team is solid with Andy Carroll, Ameobi, Alan Smith, Steven Taylor leading the way. Even the much derided Coloccini  managed to gain some kudos! What a season for Newcastle fans! We’ll enjoy it for now but we know that the Premier League will be a different beast altogether.

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The game against Plymouth was won by two goals in the first half from Carroll and Routledge – both outstanding players for us this season. Although Plymouth had some near-chances, they didn’t do enough to threaten the scoreline. Two second half efforts by Leon Best and Barton couldn’t expand our score any further but when the whistle went it was a big relief to get the points and fans flooded onto the pitch to celebrate with the players. A fine night for the team!

The official site has posted images of the celebrations here

It’s been a long and challenging season and it’s fantastic to see the team come up with the goods. Next season will be difficult but for now Hughton and lads deserve all the credit and appreciation from fans for making this the season where the football did the talking for once.

Hughton’s plan is to take every game one at a time and certainly talk of promotion is not encouraged amougst the players.  He told the Sunday Sun:-

“What you can’t afford to do is think beyond Monday’s game before you actually get there

At the moment all our focus is on that.

What we can do is create more daylight between us and Forest, though there’s no doubt if we win the game we make it more difficult for Forest and do ourselves a big favour as well.”

Team news, Steven Taylor is resting his broken jaw and we may finally get to see Ameobi back in action alongside Carroll. Lovenkrands and Smith could possibly feature.

The stats are currently working for us tonight with Nottingham Forest having dropped 21 points playing away this year so far! We are also trying to maintain our unbeaten home record whch is said to be the only unbeaten record remaining in the country.

Certainly a win is needed tonight, not only to give us distance between third place Nottingham but to keep pace with West Brom for top spot!

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Back pages were dominated by yesterday’s story of the Taylor/Carroll scuffle which happened at the training grounds earlier in the week. The club is in full secrecy over the incident with only rumours written regarding text messages and WAGs. Steven Taylor looks to miss the rest of the season now after he was discharged from hospital. Carroll will have to face the music of the Newcastle United board and Hughton who have launched an internal investigation. Carroll will almost certainly be fined and asked to apologise. So far the police have not been involved.

Last night, the public face was all united. The match also marked the return of Joey Barton, another troubled player but he was probably relieved that it wasn’t him in the headlines for once. Overall the team played exceptionally well with the defence once again notching another clean sheet.