If United miss out on Charlie Austin due to trying to barter with a price that others are willing to pay, then it could be an own goal of epic proportions.
However, we saw last season that Newcastle’s small squad undoubtedly meant that at times players were played when ideally they shouldn’t have been and this led to longer absences through injury than would otherwise have been the case.
Let’s hope that we don’t have a repeat of last season where players such as Ben Arfa ended up with long-term injuries thanks to being played when not 100%, due to Newcastle’s small squad.
We’ll just never know as to whether some of our injury problems this season would have not been so severe if decent replacements had been available, allowing players carrying knocks to go on the bench or be rested.
No coincidence that his better displays have come when he has been able to play higher up the pitch and the two cracking finishes in those two away matches are the vital end product.
If we can get the Coloccini/Steven Taylor partnership back in the groove then that would be a vital piece of this season’s jigsaw, considering how brilliantly they marshalled the defence in the opening months last season.
