A bird fest – The Magpies take on The Swans.
Posted on November 28th, 2009 | 131 Comments |
The Swans are officially the in form team in the Championship winning 14 from the last 18 points and chasing their fourth successive victory.They’ve also chalked up an unequalled 10 clean sheets this season, half of which have been in goalless draws, so you have been warned. This defensive bias is clearly heavily influenced by Paulo Sousa the ex Portugal defensive midfield legend and good friend of Sir Bobby Robson. Sousa, who played for Sir Bobby at Sporting Lisbon and remained in regular contact with him until Sir Bobby’s death in July, was apppointed manager in the summer following the departure of Robert Martinez.
After a shaky start, the loss of some important players such as influential midfielder Ferrie Bodde out for the season with a cruciate knee injury, Sousa has managed to take the Swans to their current position of fourth in the league despite his team scoring the lowest number of goals.
With goals in such short supply, Swansea took steps to try to rectify the problem by concluding an emergency loan deal earlier this week for Sheffield United’s welsh international David Cotterill. His move is set to be made permanent in January. Captain, Garry Monk could miss the game having missed the last two matches due to a calf injury. Federico Bessone is likely to deputise if Monk is ruled out. The Swans will definitely be without Scottish striker Stephen Dobbie who has an ankle injury, while Mark Gower is also expected to miss out with a hamstring problem.
Recent positive influences include Spaniard Andrea Orlandi and Argentine Federico Bessone with Craig Beattie the leading league scorer for the Swans with 3 goals from the last five League games.
Chris Hughton promised to take the game to the Swans and commented ‘Swansea’s record speaks for itself, saying:
“They’re a tough team with a good shape and difficult to play against. We’re the home side and we have to force the issue. We can’t afford to take them lightly. They are where they are on merit. We’ve got to make sure we’re on our game.”
So fighting talk from Chris. Let’s hope he follows through with ‘forcing the issue’ and finds a way to break down their defence with a good attacking performance. Harewood will hopefully be left on the bench and Swansea could drop him off in Birmingham on their way back to South Wales as he serves no real purpose staying here.
It’s not known if Carroll will be fit to play on Saturday. He returned to training on Thursday after playing while unwell in Monday evening’s victory at Preston. Hughton will be waiting to see if Carroll, as well as Ryan Taylor (calf) and Danny Simpson (thigh) will be fit to play after all suffering illness or injury earlier in the week.
On-loan Defender Zurab Khizanishvili is available after completing a three-match ban but Shola Ameobi, who has not played since damaging his foot ironically while producing his best run of form earlier this season, may have to wait a little longer to appear despite having a week’s training under his belt. Hopefully he will get a run out in the reserves before he’s back in the first team.
So the Toon will be aiming to complete five wins in a row for the second time this season, and become the first club in the division to rack up a dozen victories with a win against Swansea. It’s likely to be a very difficult game and you would expect a goalless or low scoring draw. However With our current penchant for winning ugly, one goal may just be enough to pip it for the Toon.
Finally, Sousa paid tribute this week to his good friend Sir Bobby Robson
“He was one of the best managers I have ever known and one of the kindest people I have had the pleasure to meet. His image and memory will remain with me forever.
“I hope his soul can come close to me on Saturday and give me all the happiness, emotions and enthusiasm that he always had.
“I remember how he was on the sidelines, the way he motivated his players and I hope it can inspire me at Newcastle.”
Good words from a manager to watch out for in the future. Let’s hope the inspiration of Sir Bobby doesn’t help him too much at St James Park and the Toon rack up another home victory.
Howay the Lads
NUFCBlog Author: geordie deb
geordie deb has written 38 articles on this blog.
It will probably be 5-4 now you’ve written all that, Deb. :-)