Each week here at N.O we’ll be taking a good hard long look at our games and analysing certain issues that emerge from those games to generate talking points. Think of Andy Gray’s last word or whatever it is called. First up we’ll start with our excellent 1-0 win over Palermo in the UEFA Cup which threw up a plethora of talking points for this writer, such as…

James Milner & Nobby Solano

I’ve been very unsure about this lad since he came to Toon. He has always been a hard working player who gave his all but I thought he didn’t have much quality in his locker that could change games or allow him to have a major impact on the game and nor did I believe he was ever going to become that type of footballer either, not with us anyway.

But since he came back from Villa he’s been a different player and is slowly but surely producing the goods and developing an end product to his game, as evidenced with that stunning left-footed cross he dug out for Albert Luque. Given how appalling this club has treat him you can’t help but like the kid and will him on to succeed and I hope we stop messing him about and decide to keep him.

He’s impressed me no end these past few weeks and he’s playing so well it is now a case of he has to play, for me anyway. He gives us so much drive and energy and is growing in confidence he now needs to start games and get a run in the side - and at the expense of Nobby, sadly.

I’m a big fan of Solano, he’s a crafty footballer but time is catching up with him and he’s struggling after the hour mark these days. While his touch and vision remains, he can’t motor up that flank anymore and we often lack thrust in the final-third between the opposition centre-backs and full-back as a result. Against Charlton Nobby tucked in behind Carr and the Ireland man played the winger role with Nobby feeding him.

Now I’m all for our full-backs attacking but what happens when we lose the ball? We’ll have a winger trying to defend and when we ourselves are on the attack we will have a defender trying to attack. I prefer to see proper attacking players in the final third making runs in and behind the defence or whipping in crosses from the flank with the full-back acting as the support if need be.

Nobby used to do that but as he ages and tires, its often been the other way round which is why Carr has been putting in decent performances of late - he’s seeing more of the ball, getting forward more and featuring more prominently. Play like that against good sides, however, and we’ll come undone defensively down that flank.

Getting back to Milner - again he set the tone for the team against Palermo like he did against Portsmouth with his running, work rate, directness and skill and trickery. By doing that he posed questions to Palermo’s back-four and had them dropping off. This allowed us to push up and gave the whole team confidence to get at them, which we did.

Play Milner week in week out and his game will develop further and so will ours. Use Nobby in emergencies only or for the latter stages of tight games where his cunning vision and set play can influence the game.

Our right-flank against Palermo was non existent in an attacking sense, everything came down our left where Milner was playing. It is now time to play him on the right, from the start and in every game because what he lacks in vision and intelligence he makes up for it with drive, energy, direct running and trickery which causes teams problems.

Nobby’s had his day, time for Milner to step up and become a first-team regular.

Nigel Pearson

I was quite skeptical over the appointment of Pearson but I don’t know, I think he’s having an impact, and a positive one too. The shape, organisation and concentration levels of the back-four in particular certainly seem to indicate this which has improved dramatically these past few weeks since the Bolton debacle. How long this new found no nonsense solid defending lasts, remains to be seen.

Probably not very long knowing Newcastle United, but I’m going to give Pearson some credit for this one because prior to his appointment the very thought of going to Italy and playing, well, like an Italian side, just didn’t seem possible, but that was one of the best defensive performances (as a team) we’ve put in for a long long time.

Which tells me we CAN defend and that perhaps the defence itself isn’t so much the real problem at United but rather the attack and midfield is. There are still some balance and selection issues needing resolved in those areas, most certainly. Do we play Parker and Emre together or do we play Parker and Butt? Do we stick with Nobby or go with Milner? Where does N’Zogbia fit in? Where does Dyer fit in?

Up front, well no-one looks like the right man for us. But if we can somehow find a happy medium between the three compartments of the team, even given our lack of quality and depth, we could get a lot more out of the players than what we have been getting. Providing of course they are played in the right system and to the right tactics, eh Glenn…

Charles N’Zogbia

Zoggy isn’t a central midfielder and never will be. The French player’s biggest attributes are his pace, dribbling, directness and his attacking adventure. When he plays in the centre he still tries to run at players, to dribble through legs and to drive directly towards the opposition goal, all with adventure in his play.

That leaves big gaps in midfield and is easier to stop as opposed to out wide or across the forward line where he is tailor made to operate in.

And asking him to play a controlled and disciplined game is a waste of his core skills and game. The midfield game has changed drastically over the years and requires certain attributes and physical elements which Zoggy just doesn’t have nor ever will have.

The Academy Turnout

The much maligned Academy was well represented in Italy last night, and more than at first-team level too. From Roeder the former Academy Director to Lee Clark the former Academy graduate right through to Tim Krul, Steven Taylor, Peter Ramage, Charles N’Zogbia, Matty Pattison and Andy Carroll who all featured and Steve Harper, Paul Huntington, Olivier Bernard and James Troisi who all sat on the bench.

All of whom have at one time or another, in one way or another, came through the ranks at United. I don’t know about you but there is something extra special about seeing home grown or home produced talent wearing that shirt of ours or being so close to it as some managed to get.

Is the future bright for the Black n’ Whites?

They may not be world beaters all of them and for some they may never make it but we have the nucleus of a fine crop of young talent at the club and as a football club that is so important, especially at our club, famous for trophy signings and big money transfer fees.

Yet against a highly acclaimed and admittedly overhyped and understrength Italian side that sits joint top of Serie A, it was the Krul’s, the Taylor’s, the Ramage’s, N’Zogbia’s and the freebie Moore that made up the majority of the side that beat them so well, while our numerous expensive big name signings sat it out.

What this all means for the club is anyone’s guess. I’d like to think it’s a sign that at long last the Academy is starting to work for this club after years of development and lots of money thrown at it.

I’d also like to think, as the January transfer window looms, that the onlooking management at dugout and boardroom level will see that splashing lots of cash isn’t necessarily the best way to build a winning team. We’ll see.