Skint Eagles take on wounded Magpies at St James’s Park.
Posted on January 27th, 2010 | 53 Comments |
You’ve got to feel sorry for Palace, as yet another long establised football club faces very difficult and uncertain times. Only 2 points off the play offs earlier today, they now face a 10 point deduction and suddenly the season could turn into a relegation battle. I’m sure Neil Warnock must despair as Palace have lost just twice in their previous 15 games in all competitions and are currently on a very good run of form.
The squad, depleted through injury, has left Warnock turning to several young players who have risen to the challenge admirably. Only last weekend they managed to force a replay in the FA Cup when they drew 2-2 to Premier League Wolves.
Unfortunately it’s very likely that administration will force Palace to sell some of their good young players such as the winger and highly rated Victor Moses and top scorer ex Toon player Darren Ambrose, who has 14 goals this season. Before news of administration was announced Warnock said
“We went to Wolves to win and are going to Newcastle to win. we will put out a team that fights every inch of the way and that means you always have a chance of doing well. St James Park is a fantastic arena and a tough place to go but we will be going there to do all we can to get the 3 points.”
Palace defenders Claude Davis and Clint Hill are both doubtful, while Sean Scannell (hamstring), Paddy McCarthy (shoulder) and Darryl Flahavan (jaw) are still unavailable.
So what about the Toon?
Newcastle still have the only unbeaten home record in the Championship and are currently 15 points ahead of ninth placed Palace. Although last night’s emphatic win by Forest means they now share top spot with us on points although we do have games in hand. With Danny Simpson out with an ankle injury which is likely to keep him out of action until the Cardiff game, Ryan Taylor serving a one match ban following his red card on Saturday, and Steven Taylor out for however long, things are looking pretty desperate to fill the right back position. We have Shola’s sore shoulder, and Nicky Butt classed as 50/50 due to tightness in one of his leg muscles. Peter Lovenkrands sould be available again for selection following his recent compassionate leave.
The great news is of course yesterday’s signing, Wayne Routledge, the pacy little right winger signed from QPR. At last we will hopefully have someone who can put in a decent cross for some of our big lads upfront to take advantage of. Let’s hope he makes his full debut in this game at St James Park. A comparison with Moses might be interesting too.
Speaking to Sky Sports yesterday evening, Wayne Routledge spoke about his short notice move to St James’ Park…
“It is a hectic time. You get a call and you have to make quick decisions.”
On his reasons for joining, he added:
“Newcastle is Newcastle and everyone knows what it is about.
“It is a massive club with a massive tradition and the fan base is unbelievable, so as soon as I got the call the decision was made for me.”
“There are true legends that have played here and they have a way they like to play. Hopefully I can follow in the footsteps of these players.”
“Sometimes you come here and you are in awe of the way the fans support their players.
“But I am on the right side now, in the black and white shirt, and I can’t wait to get going.”
So the signing of Routledge is just what we need. With the deal for Portsmouth centre-back Mike Williamson still to be concluded it’s not quite clear how the back four will look tonight.
I’m going for a 1-0 win for us.
Howay the Lads.
I’m just curious to see how well he plays tomorrow.
Let’s hope he does a good job and knocks a few in against his former team.