Kadar playing for more than pride at Carrow Road

Tamas Kadar has been handed the number 40 shirt ahead of the trip to Carrow Road at the weekend and appears to be being drafted in from the St James' Park cold in the midst of what is a defensive crisis for NUFC.

The young Magyar has fallen way down the pecking order under Alan Pardew and there appeared to be no future for the once highly-rated Kadar.

However with Steven Taylor out for the season, Mike Williamson still a couple of weeks away from a return and Fabricio Coloccini out for an as yet unknown amount of time it could be now that the Hungarian gets his chance to prove the doubters wrong.

At just 21, Kadar still has the whole of his career in front of him however until recently it would have been fair to say that his career lay away from St James' Park. Without a squad number until recently and with an expiring contract it had appeared that the game would be up come the summer and Kadar would be forced to play his trade elsewhere.

However he now has a chance to show his true worth and demonstrate that he can contribute to the cause at Newcastle United. I mean being honest, if now isn't the time to play Kadar then he may aswell ply his trade elsewhere as he is never going to get a look in once everyone is fit again. Especially when you consider that we might sign a defender in January.

It's up to Tamas now. It's only he who can prove his own point, which is something he seems intent on doing after being drafted back into the first-team squad.

“Hopefully, I can get my chance to play for Newcastle again. I want to step up and play for the first team," Kadar told the Chronicle.

“To get to the first team, it'll be hard work – I know that – but I know myself. I feel I can do the job for the team. All I can do is train hard. If I train with the first team, I have to show the manager what I can do. That is my aim.”

He continued: “It has always been a dream to play for Newcastle, and it still is. I have to wait for a chance, and if it comes, I have to take it. I'm training as hard as I can. I'm fit now, and I just have to work hard every day.”

Whether Kadar gets his chance on Saturday is dependent on a number of things. The first one obviously is how he performs in training this week. It's well documented that Alan Pardew coaches the defensive side of things so he will be able to see what Kadar is made of at close quarters now he has a point to prove.

The second one depends partly on the first one. Do we play a player out of position and hope he does a job? Or do we play am inexperienced youngster in his correct position and hope he does a job? Being honest it's not the ideal situation, but here we are and I guess we have to roll with it as no end of bitching and moaning about transfer policy is going to get us out of it in the short term.

In summary, Kadar has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Fail to impress and he'll stay as he is languishing in the depths of the reserve team. Impress however and there could still be life in the not so old dog yet.

Now it's up to Tamas to decide which way he wants to go.