Is Moussa Sissoko Newcastle United’s Yaya Touré? Just how good might Ryan Taylor have been had he not suffered such wretched luck with injuries? Are QPR doomed to relegation? Can Newcastle qualify for Europe?
On Saturday’s evidence, the respective answers are: yes, extremely good, probably and possibly. Sissoko is the sort of midfielder whose name belongs in sentences also featuring the word “colossus” and he capped another “complete” performance with a fine winning goal which consigned Harry Redknapp and QPR to life at the bottom of the Premier League.
Yet for the first 30 minutes even Sissoko – who on this form looks capable of keeping Touré out of Manchester City’s starting XI – was eclipsed by Taylor. Making his first Premier League start for two-and-a-half years after undergoing two cruciate ligament repairs, Taylor excelled alongside the Frenchman and the quietly impressive Jack Colback in Alan Pardew’s midfield three.
Dangerous at set-piece delivery, efficient at breaking up play and twice almost scoring, Taylor was, as Pardew put it, “pulling the strings”. Then, unchallenged, he crumpled to the turf. Shortly afterwards Taylor – who has previously recovered from two broken legs – limped off in tears. Accompanied by Richard Steadman, his surgeon who had flown in from Colorado to watch him play, he headed straight to hospital.
Things looked extremely bleak but, happily, scans painted a rather more optimistic picture. The early indications are that the setback is not as serious as initially feared and Taylor could be sidelined for around five weeks.
Two months ago few Tynesiders suspected Pardew would be looking forward to Christmas as Newcastle’s manager but six straight wins – five in the League – and four successive clean sheets have transformed his horizon. Where once all the talk was of an imminent sacking and potential relegation, the team’s rise to fifth has rekindled European aspirations.
Sensibly, Pardew dodged post-match questions about Champions League challenges but, having surmounted a mini injury crisis to beat QPR with a young, relatively inexperienced starting XI, a minimum eighth-placed finish now seems a realistic target.
Colback agrees. “This is a big club with big expectations and we should be up there challenging within the top eight,” said a player who has relished deconstructing theories that sacking Pardew represented Newcastle’s sole hope of salvation. “Even when we were losing, everyone in the dressing room knew we could do something like this. The confidence was still there among players and staff.”
He identified a 4-0 September thrashing at Southampton as a watershed. “There was a change in attitude after that. We underestimated Southampton and got punished. It taught us a lesson. We looked at each other and said: ‘We’re in a battle here.’ Everyone had to realise that.”
Redknapp has little option but to seek inspiration from Pardew’s example. After a game in which even Joey Barton could not quite mark his return to Newcastle by securing a solid if somewhat one-paced and unimaginative QPR a point, the visiting manager insisted the race against relegation remained wide open.
“Seven or eight teams are going to be down there at the end of the season,” said Redknapp. “But, as Newcastle have found, you just need a little run and it can all turn for you.”
Man of the match Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle United)
