Guthrie gets green light for central role as Nolan misses out?

Posted on February 27th, 2010 | 62 Comments |

'Big' miss?
'Big' miss?
If reports in the The Dail Mail are accurate then top goalscorer, Kevin Nolan has joined Newcastle’s list of crocks and misses out on the trip to Watford. With Wayne Routledge a disappointing absence from the first team squad against Preston after a good start to his Toon career, Danny Guthrie almost inevitably moved across to the right. Smith took over his role and Newcastle fans were left frustrated by a narrowing of the play, after we’d played with such freedom on the wings in previous home games.

Tightening things up and narrowing the play away from home is something that Hughton has done throughout the season mostly to effective, if ultimately a little uninspiring, ends. Certainly after the Derby hammering, you imagine he will be more cautious than ever, as proved at Swansea where we played a 4-4-2 but mostly tucked in as a 4-4-1-1.

When deploying the 4-4-1-1 this season, the ‘floating’ role has primarily been carried out by Nolan, who without contributing a great deal in some games, has undeniably scored crucial goals. And after a barren spell by his own standards, Nolan will have been on a high after the Preston game, with an improved display and getting back on the scoresheet. So if he misses out today, not only will it be a blow in terms of the cohesion he seems to bring as a leader within the squad but also potentially reduces our ability to nick a goal.

What it probably will mean though, is that Danny Guthrie will be deployed in a more central role, where unarguably he is far more effective, with impressive displays in recent games when played there. You would then expect Hughton to choose from Fabrice Pancrate or Ryan Taylor to fill the void left by Guthrie on the right, and he will need to choose between provider and finisher, as in previous games the former set up the latter with almost carbon copy goals against Coventry and Preston, having both come on as subs late on.

I guess we’ll find out soon enough officially if Nolan does miss out. According to the report, Nolan hurt his ankle in training and will undergo a scan to discover what damage there is.

NUFCBlog Author: bowburnmag bowburnmag has written 234 articles on this blog.

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Posted on by bowburnmag in category: Bowburn Mag and Danny Guthrie and Fabrice Pancrate and Injuries and fitness and Kevin Nolan and NUFC gossip and speculation and Ryan Taylor and Thoughts and reflections and Wayne Routledge , with tags: , ,
Comment on this post

62 Responses

  1. Is butt available? Hva e bad feelin we could start with butt and smith in the middle and keep guthrie out right

  3. 2-1 win for me if we keep Butt where he is lol, with Guthrie and Smith in CM + Pancrate on the right

  5. I’d play:

    Harper
    Van Aanholt Williamson Colo Simpson
    Jonas Smith(c) Guthrie R.Taylor
    Carroll Best

    This game is surely Best’s last chance to prove himself! I don’t think we will be beaten it’s either going to be 1-1 or a 2-1 to Newcastle!

  7. i think best is pants and we should move him on in summer. i would rather play 1 upfront and one in the hole behind…. thats presuming we have another fit midfielder!

  8. Johno, apparently Butt has learnt how to pass a ball so that scenario may not be that bad, although the reference might be to a bodily function rather than football.
    We should remember the law of threefold return when we wish for other teams to get injuries (as many have on the blog)as it can have bad karmic effect on the wishers. i.e. injuries to three of our better players.

  10. Toon4life, are you confusing your left with your right? I’d start with the same team but switch the left side players to the right and vice versa with the right.
    I reckon we should beat Watford by 2 clear goals regardless of the formation.

  12. Craig I just think we are two goals better than them and we are due an away win. We aren’t top of the league for nowt. Also I believe they are missing some key players that they will miss more than ourselves. As well as the fact that I am an optimistic old Bugg*r. :)

  13. Big Willy – It won’t be easy and I hope for a win but, as I said in the match preview, I’m in agreement with Craig and a 1-1 score.

    I hope we can get a TV link for this one aswell!

  14. my feelings is 1-0 to the toon williamson from corner,same old storey ex player returning to ex club,could be wishful thinking like,seems to happen to us

  15. icedog… that would be just fine… although the ‘old player going to his old club’ thing normally only works against us but never in our favor. again… any kind of win here and a win next weekend could see us with one boot back in the prem if other scores go our way!! i stand by my scrappy 1-1 er though for this one!!

  16. So Bridge didn’t shake Terry’s hand then!

    Yes JT was wrong but I do think that Bridge should ‘man up’ a little bit.

  19. Craig, scuttlebutt is that Terry was one of many. Although there is bound to be that sort of rumour. How many other players hands didn’t he shake, that could be a clue.

  23. Agreed – not ar5ed about Terrys infidelity, he’s just someone I detest along with Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard

  24. and Harry Redknapp………….. actually if I go down this path I’ll end up reeling off 90% of players / managers :-)

  26. Good to see the toon game on p2p – couldn’t get ticket but at least I’ll be able to watch it

  28. CRAIG C;i think you are about right forcast 1-1,I was just hopeing it might go our way for a change,they say god loves a tryer

  33. Nice to see Lee Clarks Huddersfield beating Leeds, hopefully they’ll get promotion this season – poss a future manager for toon

  36. great finish by Bellamy that like, been playing outstanding this season, f*ck you Graeme Souness, people like that shlong have been the ruin of our club, not Ashley

  39. Team from official website

    Steve Harper, Danny Simpson, Fabricio Coloccini, Mike Williamson, Patrick van Aanholt, Danny Guthrie, Alan Smith (c), Kevin Nolan, Jonas Gutierrez, Leon Best, Andy Carroll
    Subs: Tim Krul, Tamas Kadar, Fitz Hall, Ryan Taylor, Nile Ranger, Fabrice Pancrate, Ryan Donaldson

  42. TOONSY;with you on that one.see it must have been another great report from D.MAIL re nolan,who buys that shit paper anyway?

  44. guys game is live also on bet365.com ……… but i am not sure if u can watch from uk from greece it’s ok btw.cheers toon win hwtl

  46. yes i see that but most of them are saying THE MAIL are reporting re,still say the mail is only good for fish&chips wrap

  48. See that we have Kadar, Ranger and Donaldson on the bench so it does look that CH is slowly trying to bring them in. I’d be surprised if Ranger doesn’t get a decent spell on the field, don’t expect to see Donaldson get on though.

  49. Big Willy – I’d say that the kids are there out of neccesity to be honest.

    Chelsea 2-4 Man City

  55. Big Willy hope your right about Ranger getting a decent run-out today.
    Toonsy nice to see you asking after me ;)

  56. Match Banter thread on it’s way for such things FSOTC.

    ‘pologies for delay lads, but I’m out on the road and signal on my dongle is knacked, as it were…

    Be good if there are video links but typically my signal probably isn’t strong enough… :(

  57. @Toonsy: Nope,i don’t think is FA CUP that cause the leeds falling apart,is beckford. He has not been scoring,After he wanted a move away from leeds.

  60. Toonsy, you’re probably right, although Kadar and Ranger have been knocking on the door for some time and have played a few times. Krul is just waiting for Steve to get (heaven forbid) an injury. Any alternatives to Iraqi TV?