Tonight, Injuries and Resolve!

The Newcastle boss, Alan Pardew, expects Sir Alex Ferguson to recall Rio Ferdinand to the centre of the defence tonight to shore it up as well as giving it a touch of much-needed experience.

Ahead of the fixture, Rio has spoken to the press and it seems that the squad may have Sunday`s clash with Manchester City on their minds.

The reason I mention this is because in his comments was the following, relating to that now infamous 6-1 hiding they inflicted on us back on 23rd October 2011,

"I`ll be honest - and it pains me to say it - but it was probably one of the best things that happened to us."

"We were playing a very open kind of football. It made us sit back and think we`ve got to tighten up all over the pitch. If we do that, we have the players to exploit any other team when we go forward."

I know it was a lesson learned Rio, but do we have to keep recalling it, especially so close to a game with our neighbours this Sunday.

Continuing though, Rio spoke about the injury situation that has plagued us this season and how, through adversity, we`ve coped surprisingly well, further adding,

"We`ve got a crazy amount of injuries and illnesses, yet we`re still managing to get the results and long may that continue."

"The most important thing is how the squad is playing now. The manager has said at the beginning of the season it`s not about 11 men."

"Since we went out of the Champions League we`ve shown a great resolve in our squad."

A resolve that needs to be rediscovered after Blackburn, kind of, knocked the stuffing out of us last Saturday with that freak win!

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