Leon Best

[Stuttgart88]

Just saw it. Quality goal alright. He's got what it takes this fella, just needs to perform at his best more consistently.

[Irish_Praha]

Best starts today and puts Newcastle 1-0 against QPR.

From BBC's live updates:

I'm not saying he's world class or anything but the fact that Best is probably not going to be on the plane to Polkraine really shows that we have the most strength in depth in our strike force ever.
Doyle, Cox, Keane, Walters, Best, Long and Stokes all getting regular playing time at a decent level, some scoring regularly and Keane being the only one over 30.
I recon if Best was at his current age and level he would have gotten into any of the squads of the previous 4 tournaments we qualified for but now he is at best 5th choice striker.

[HgRx]

Fair play to Leon Best. Stepping up during Ba's absence.

[Stuttgart88]

I agree - not necessarily our best front two ever, but very definitely the best set of 7 forwards we've ever had.

Quite a weekend all round for the Irish in the EPL.

Without checking the papers for line-ups, it's apparent that Given, Dunne, Clark, Gibson, Duffy, Foley, Ward, Whelan, Walters, Wilson (did they all play for Stoke?), Long, Duff, Best and Hoolahan all had something to shout about.

McClean, O'Shea, Kelly, Cox played in losing sides. Robbie got a cameo. McCarthy will play on Monday presumably. Only Hunt & Doyle didn't figure much from what I saw on TV.

Connolly & Stokes scored again at the weekend. I haven't included Pilkington and Tierney, or bald shortarse nutcase, but about as positive a weekend that I can recall from an Irish angle for sometime.

We don't have any Irish at a top 6 side but we pretty much have a full squad at respectable teams in the EPL now. A good mix of established and promising too.

[Philly]

Here is the goal:

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/leon-best-v-qpr/

Pretty nice goal. I hope he can keep fit and find form between now and June.

[Olé Olé]

This finish and assist reminded me of an article I read on F365 during the week:

Newcastle: Maybe that should read 'Leon Best and Danny Guthrie' or 'whoever replaces Demba Ba and Chieck Tiote.' For Sunday will be the first league game when Newcastle will be without arguably their two most important players, what with them nicking off to Africa and all that.

Fair play to Best, quick feet and a tidy finish beneath the legs of the oncoming defender. A good run still might not find him on the plane to Poland due to the aforementioned options and the fact that Trap thinks he needs to work harder.

The age profile of these options is a huge positive. It's surprising to think that Best is still only 25, the same age as Shane Long. There aren't many striking options in the under 21's though, with mostly championship players (Mason, Sheppard, Scannell) being the best bets for senior call-ups in the future. But then again, Long and Best weren't regular goalscorers at 21 either.

[DannyInvincible]

Just saw it. Quality goal alright. He's got what it takes this fella, just needs to perform at his best more consistently.

Please don't start this here as well, Stutts. The puns in James McClean thread were bad enough!

[swinfordfc]

Only 4 league goals this season .... and he should be on the plane in june ......

[DannyInvincible]

Who's saying he should be on the plane in June?

[MeathDrog]

Only 4 league goals this season .... and he should be on the plane in june ......

How many has Doyle scored?

[tricky_colour]

Lovely goal.

[Irwin3]

10th EPL goal for Newcastle in 22 starts and 4 sub appearances over the last two seasons. Hopefully he can get his head down and play well more consistently. Prolific stats though, just need more of them.

[Charlie Darwin]

We don't have any Irish at a top 6 side

Actually Best's goal means that we do.

People are forgetting that every side that goes to a major championships has some injuries to contend with. Trap has confirmed we'll be taking 5 strikers so Best is still well in with a chance to get in the squad, either by merit or because of an injury.

[Murfinator]

Important time for him to score with Ba out, I feel like Best is drinking at the last chance saloon for Newcastle as they're excepted to sign a striker to partner Ba in the summer. With Ben Arfa usually replacing a striker in a 4-5-1 and Ameobi being a long standing favourite he's very, very close to being jostled out of the club. Needs to use this period to lay down a marker.

[paul_oshea]

I was one at the start of the season saying wait to see how he fares at the end of the season and then judge him, people were getting carried away with his start, a bit like andy carroll the year before. He did well and then we didnt really see him for 2-3 months until today. You can argue he was unlucky with the rich vein of form of ba, but originally best was being picked.

Today he played, well, more than anything he showed he has very good footwork and held up the ball and brought players into play often, and his goal was very well taken. He might have been shagged when he was taken off but he was doing far better than ameobi so there could be some truth in the preference to shola. He needs to consistenly do it though to be honest. On an aside i dont know why he was playing so far left, obviously thats what pardew wanted of him but to be it made no sense as he was doing a far better job than ameobi and i reckon had he been in his position could have scored a couple more goals. Interesting point made my wilkins after (one incident)he went down in the penatly area, he said that he is a great player but needs to get about and get up and basically work harder, which i felt he meant as a whole rather than the one incident(like arfa). Something Trap has also said about him.

I'm not getting carried away with either best or long this season to be honest, both have looked decent when ive seen them ,but i think like we have seen with doyle over the last year and half, this form can be very temporary.

[geysir]

Bad form from Kenny to dive the wrong way.

[the bear]

very tidy footballer, hopefully he excells with ba gone, shola is a donkey

[swinfordfc]

How many has Doyle scored?

Its a fair point but which one works so hard for the team. Doyle is try and tested, Best is not. Best needs to keep his head down and work for the team

[The Fly]

[Serb]

That is the freakiest thing I've ever seen.