Toon must be careful not to slip up! Newcastle v Middlesbrough match preview.
Posted on December 19th, 2009 | 22 Comments |
Boro come into Sunday’s game with a number of key players missing – Sean St Ledger’s loan has now ended and he’s returned to Preston North End. Jonathan Franks and skipper Gary O’Neill should return but Jeremie Aliadiere, Didier Digard, Adam Johnson and Seb Hines miss out, while Chris Riggott is rated as doubtful.
Middlesbrough started the season brightly but their form has dipped, and they have found themselves mid-table. Their form under Strachan is also questionale having picked up 4 points from a possible 21. But they have been stronger away from home and their last away fixture included 3 of those points under Strachan when they thumped QPR, 5-1 at Loftus Road.
So with that in mind, and the fact that it’s a derby game, we should be anything but complacent. Boro youngster Tony McMahon spoke to The Chronicle and revealed the Tyne-Tees battle at St James’ Park means everything to Middlesbrough. McMahon remembers only too well 3-1 loss suffered on Tyneside last season and the relegation that followed, and knows they must avoid defeat at all costs:
“My preparations started early this week. Every local lad would be the same. “We do not really like Newcastle – it is as simple as that. We have to put one over them.”
“What happened last season when we lost is still there in our minds, and so is relegation. Everything about that game is still there and we need to win.”
Talking about our start to the season, McMahon then said:
“This is what the league is about – you need to grind out results. They have not played well, but they have ground out results. We, too, need to be solid at the back and nick the odd goal. If we can keep clean sheets, we have a better chance.”
“We want to make a statement to the rest of the league. If we win tomorrow, we will be right back in the promotion hunt. However, if we lose we are going to be some way behind. We are not thinking about losing, we want to close that gap. I think a statement is needed, as the gap is too big for our liking. We need to close it and start winning games. That has to start tomorrow.”
In the Toon camp, Chris Hughton is confident we can continue to maintain our unbeaten home record, having won eight and drawn two at home so far. He said:
“It’s something we’re desperate to maintain,”
“There’s going to be another massive crowd here, which is incredible for this division. But more than that, for us, it’s about three points. We can talk about derby games whenever they come around, and the importance of derby games, and all of those things are fact.”
“But the fact is we’re at home, and whoever we’re playing against, the objective has to be to win the game and get three points. It will be another big occasion for our supporters, and we have got to make sure we guard against the things that possibly could go wrong.”
We’ll be without Andy Carroll following his yellow card at Barnsley, which was his fifth of the season. Hughton didn’t risk Danny Guthrie down at Barnsley but he will return, as will Danny Simpson who was dropped for tactical reasons at Oakwell. Zurab Khizanishvili’s loan period has now ended and he’s returned to Blackburn Rovers, while both Joey Barton and Haris Vuckic remain sidelined.
Other than that, we have a fairly full squad, who seem in good spirits following their Christmas Do ‘dance-off’ and with the way things have been going on the park this season, you can really only see a battering for the Smogs, can’t you? What was that I was saying earlier…
Ah bollox, let’s just hope it’s not snowed-off and I can make it through to the game on our rubbish Public Transport.
And assuming it is Howay The Lads!
NUFCBlog Author: bowburnmag
bowburnmag has written 234 articles on this blog.
I just hope we start in attack with 2 up top. I hate when we sit back and let them attack us Thats the last thing we want to do with them looking to put one over on us