£22m Spurs star & Bayern Munich ace spotted at St James’ Park in boost for Newcastle United
St James’ Park hosted its second of two Saudi Arabia friendly matches on Tuesday night as Roberto Mancini’s side took on South Korea.
The matches come almost two years after Newcastle United were taken over by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
Two notable players were named in the South Korea starting line-up on Tuesday evening with Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung Min and Bayern Munich summer signing Kim Min Jae both in action
Newcastle will profit financially and commercially from the matches, despite some criticism and controversy around the scheduling of the friendlies.
Eddie Howe, the head coach of the Magpies, had this to say about the exhibition games last month: “All I’d say on that is I think Newcastle is an incredible venue to play not just football, but we’ve got hand bands, rugby, lots of different people, sports at the stadium and it is a truly iconic place to play.”
Howe said “Yeah, possibly” when asked if the games would help United in terms of Financial Fair Play. The specifics of how the game has progressed to this point are unknown to me.
Therefore, if it was a financial decision, it’s possible it had a role.
Howe said, “To be honest, I haven’t really given it too much thought because of how hectic my calendar has been. However, I won’t discuss any potential problems over the decision to play the matches at St James’ Park.
As I already stated, I learned about it from the media just like you people did, and I swiftly moved on.
Last winter, Saudi Arabia stunned the football world by defeating eventual World Cup champions Argentina in the tournament’s opening match in Qatar. Saudi Arabia placed last in the group after losses to Mexico and Poland in the other two group stage game
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Gareth Southgate has come under fire from Jamie O’Hara for starting Tottenham player James Maddison against Ukraine out of position before removing him midway through the second half.
Given the strong start the 26-year-old has had to the season, Maddison’s inclusion in the starting eleven for the Euro Qualifiers at the Wrocaw Stadium in Poland on Saturday came as no surprise.
Jordon Henderson, Declan Rice, and Jude Bellingham were positioned behind Maddison by Southgate, who also regularly sent Harry Kane into the centre of the field to take up the ball.
The England manager, according to O’Hara, “takes Maddison off, who’s been flying for Tottenham, and plays him on the left wing, when, when he signed for Tottenham, he’s been playing as a number 10,” according to a talkSPORT interview.
He is number ten. All I could see of Maddison coming inside and Bellingham and Maddison making parallel runs for the ball made me feel bad for him.
Against Ukraine, Maddison most definitely did not play on the left wing. In the event that there was room on the flank, he was given a free role and permitted to drift wide.Bellingham, Kane, and Madison frequently took up positions that were similar to one another, so it appeared that the formation was ineffective.
