Source: Northern_Echo
Foreign trio earn Tyneside respect
WHEN it comes to Newcastle United, it has been a season of surprises. Back in August, few would have predicted that the club would win ten of their opening 16 league matches.[LNB] Even fewer would have seen sportsdirect.com @ St James' Park coming. And even fewer still would have expected Jose Enrique, Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez to take to life in the Championship like ducks to water.[LNB] Newcastle's Three Amigos' were supposed to be the very antithesis of what is needed to succeed in English football's second tier. The Latin sensibility is not supposed to work on a wet Monday night at Preston.[LNB] Yet with that wet Monday night at Deepdale approaching, the Magpies' foreign contingent has played a major role in the club's revival, to the extent that Enrique, Coloccini and Gutierrez are now three of the first names on manager Chris Hughton's team sheet.[LNB] Like everything else on Tyneside, when it comes to their performances in the first half of the season, it has been a case of expecting the unexpected.[LNB] People talk about the English mentality, about being able to fight when your back is against the wall and showing strength in adversity,[LNB] said Magpies midfielder Danny Guthrie. But the foreign lads have also shown plenty of spirit and that's really good to see.[LNB] You sometimes hear stories about players who don't really fancy a battle when they come over to play in this country, but Jose, Jonas and Fabricio have really knuckled down.[LNB] It would have been easy for them to fob it off once we had been relegated, but they have stayed and got on with it.[LNB] People have preconceptions about what foreign players are going to be like and whether they have the stomach for it, but they have been brilliant and haven't been fazed by anything we've come across this season.[LNB] Enrique and Coloccini showed enough in their first season of English football to suggest they were anything but shrinking violets, and the latter's recent physical encounter with Sheffield United defender Chris Morgan confirmed his willingness to embrace the physical side of the English game.[LNB] Gutierrez's mindset was rather harder to gauge, and when the Argentinian leapt out of a series of physical challenges in a pre-season game at Huddersfield, his suitability for life in the Championship was questioned.[LNB] Since then, though, he has given as good as he has got, and his refusal to be knocked off his stride was rewarded with his first goal in Newcastle colours prior to the international break.[LNB] It has dispelled a few myths, said Guthrie. They could all have rolled over and played a bit part, but they came back in the summer, rolled up their sleeves with the rest of us and got on with it.[LNB] I don't know if they get targeted more than the English lads in general, although Jonas does because of the way he plays.[LNB] But he's tougher than he looks. He's got skinny little legs, but he can take a whack, get up and carry on going. He has shown that this season, and all three of them deserve a lot of credit for the way they have conducted themselves.[LNB] As a result, it now seems extremely unlikely that any of the trio will be leaving St James' Park in January.[LNB] Coloccini continues to be linked with a possible return to Spain, but with Hughton insistent that he will not be losing key performers when the transfer window reopens, the defender's future would appear to remain on Tyneside until the end of the season at least.[LNB] The retention of senior figures in January could be crucial, as sales could damage the spirit that has helped propel Newcastle to the top of the table thus far.[LNB] Much has been made of how closely-knit the Magpies have become, and breaking up the current core could have a devastating effect on morale.[LNB] We have a really good team spirit, and everyone has contributed to that, said Guthrie.[LNB] You've got your senior players like Nicky Butt, Alan Smith and Steve Harper who set an example, but everyone has bought into what we're trying to do.[LNB] One player who could leave in January, however, is Ben Tozer, with the full-back being linked with a return to his former club Swindon despite not having made a single league appearance for Newcastle.[LNB]
