Damaged Goods

I don’t exactly how you would describe Newcastle United’s transfer policy but it definitely has a certain risk factor associated with it.

There is the predominance of French players, a nationality that regular brought problems to United’s door in the past.

Maybe more so when you consider the risk factor associated with players who have to come back from serious injuries.

At the moment we have a situation where the club are trying to manage the return to full fitness of both Hatem Ben Arfa and Dan Gosling. It’s a tricky one because getting the right balance between bringing them back as quickly as possible has to be tempered by the risk of them breaking down again.

Ben Arfa in particular is clearly itching to be in the thick of it and didn’t look too impressed when Sammy was brought on ahead of him during the Everton match.

What Alan Pardew does for the City match could be very interesting considering what happened there last season.  We watch with interest.