Our thanks to Mr_Dolf as he shares his NUFC weekend friendlies experience before heading home to talk to the wife... NUFC
‘After these Newcastle United friendlies, I’d better go and talk to the wife…’Alright, I have to confess, I was initially against the idea of a double header for the final pre-season Newcastle United friendlies.
definitely had to contend with the stronger side, although most of the defence likely to face Forest kept a clean sheet against Atalanta, and both matches delivered – wins, encouragement and a full 90 minutes in the legs of just about everyone likely to feature in the coming weeks. Had a few racks of pool at Spot White on Stowell street and grabbed our dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe on Friday and Topolino’s Italian on Saturday, all in between plenty of bars . I was at great pains to point out to the kids that this can all be done in a state of complete relaxation, knowing that you’re never more than a few minutes walk from the ground.
This was also prudent as, to be quite honest, I struggle to stay focused on friendlies. It’s nice to win but not really that important, and it can become difficult to really invest in hoping everyone has a good runout and stays injury free. There was a smattering of Bilbao fans in the away end but I seem to recall it’s not a straightforward trip and maybe one that wasn’t an easy sell for a pre-season friendly. Nonetheless, the positive relationship between the clubs was again reinforced with the visitors presenting fans with a Newcastle / Basque flag dedicated to “wor friends” while wor flags displayed the message “Ongi Etorri Lehoiak” on a huge banner in the East Stand, the words meaning “Welcome Lions” in Basque.
There’s also the fact that, as I mentioned before, pre-season Newcastle United friendlies are just that bit off the pace of a competitive match. We all seized up in anxiety when Bruno and Joelinton and Trippier went down with what looked like proper injuries, only to get up and shake them off. A clean bill of health and a draw would have been far preferable to winning at a cost, but fortunately we seem to have achieved both, twice over.
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