Newcastle United v Coventry City match preview.
Posted on February 17th, 2010 | 74 Comments |
With West Brom’s draw Tuesday evening taking them back to the top of the table on goal difference, and Forest’s win closing the gap between us and them to 2 points but with our two games in hand, we need to make our next two home games count by taking all six points.
Coventry won’t be a pushover. They’ve moved up to the top half of the table after finding a little run of form. Coventry City midfielder, Gary Deegan, has described the Sky Blue’s Championship match at Newcastle United tonight as a great opportunity. Speaking to the Coventry Telegraph, Deegan who scored the only goal against QPR on Saturday said:
“We have got two wins in the last two so let’s go up there and make it three. Why not?
“I think people will start taking notice of us now that we are showing we are not just a bottom half team.
“We have beaten Forest and QPR so we want to go up to Newcastle and beat them too.”
Newcastle are defending the Championship’s only unbeaten home record, and let’s hope that is one record that remains intact. We need to continue with our home form, and find the necessary treatment for the malaise that descends on the team as soon as we travel south over the Tyne Bridge.
Tonight we should have Jonas back in contention to add some much needed pace down the left hand side. With our midfield having the speed of a bunch of OAP’s with zimmer frames especially the past few games, it will be interesting to see if Chris Hughton bites the bullet and drops the very pedestrian Kevin Nolan who’s form has certainly dropped. Caught in possession I dont know how many times on Saturday, his lack of movement, awareness etc were plain for all to see. Smith is another one who seems to have run out of steam and contributed little recently. Looks like Smudge has been tucking into whatever Kevin Nolan hasn’t scoffed post training as he seems to be going for the ‘who ate all the pies’ award also, as he definately seemed to be carrying excess weight on Saturday. However Chris Hughton came out in defence of the out of sorts Nolan in the press yesterday and revealed that he has no plans to drop him. Whether this is just a bluff for the press, I have no idea, but we can’t afford passengers who constantly give the ball away and contribute little else, so I’m hoping he is dropped for this one and Guthrie is moved into his more favoured position in the centre of midfield. Out on the wing he is useless and constantly drifts back into the centre of midfield, narrowing play.
Hughton claims Nolan will soon be back to his best, telliing yesterday’s Daily Express:
“Have I thought about resting Kevin? The answer is no, he’s a valuable player.”
“It wasn’t one of his better games at Swansea, but the statistics show he did as much running as he normally does and his physical contribution was no different.
“As with every player there are ups and downs in form. Kevin is very capable of turning his next game into one of his better ones. “Apart from his actual contribution to the team, he has scored a lot of goals.”
“We do have competition for places and he’s treated the same as everybody.” Hmmmhhh….
Now Colo is back to add a bit of stability to the defence, Hughton has a few more options to choose from. The question is whether he will plump for Hall or Williamson to partner Fabio. I think he may go for Williamson but who knows. Danny Simpson who has clearly been carrying a bit of an injury and off the pace should be dropped if he is not fit, but there hasn’t been any news the past few days to suggest that is the case.
Leon Best, previous top scorer for the Sky Blues with 10 goals this season, who joined us from Coventry on the last day of the transfer window, will be desperate to play tonight against his old team and will hopefully be given his debut. As you know it was Best who laid on the cross for Carroll to score the late goal against the Swans last Saturday.
Strolla will miss the next 2 weeks due to a hamstring problem and will join the much missed Jose Enrique, Steven Taylor, Nicky Butt and Joey Barton who continue to keep the treatment table warm.
Coventry could hand a debut to Jon Stead the Ipswich striker who is on loan until the end of the season. Freddie Sears another loan signing who made his debut when he came on as substitute in last Saturday’s win against QPR will also be hoping for a full run out. Sky Blues boss Chris Coleman has doubts over James McPake (back) and David Bell (shin) and it is unlikely that either will be risked tonight. Aron Gunnarsson, who missed out on Saturday with a leg injury, should return to the squad after returning to training on Monday.
Possible Newcastle team:
Harper: Simpson, Coloccini, Williamson, van Aanhort, Routledge, Guthrie, Smith, Gutierrez, Best, Carroll.
Subs: Krul, Lovenkrands, Hall, Kadar, Nolan, Ryan Taylor, Ranger.
Lets hope the players do their talking on the pitch, rather than the platitudes they keep serving up daily in the papers. Time to deliver guys, I’m going for a 2-1 win to us.
Howay the Lads!
Going for Dull draw,lots of huffing and puffing,staunch defending,poor passing.