Swansea City v Newcastle United – Match banter!

Posted on February 13th, 2010 | 180 Comments |

Will Toon get their away form back on track?
Will Toon get their away form back on track?
Newcastle face Swansea City today looking to bounce straight back from a heavy defeat at Derby. Hughton might well ring the changes, depending on whether he saw that defeat as just a bad day at the office. Either way, whichever team he puts out will be tested by a Swansea team in decent form.

As with most fans for today’s game, yours truly will be making do with Sky coverage and you have to take your hats off to those travelling down for the game, considering the kick off time. As ever, the broadcaster and FA barely considering the inconvenience of travelling supporters in their re-scheduling, with fans leaving as early as 2am to ensure they’re in time for the game. Not everyone will have access to Sky either though, so if anyone can find radio links etc to the game for people who don’t have it, I’m sure that would be appreciated.

As ever, this can be the place to come together during the match and p*ss and moan, as we usually do.

There’s no probable teams news (Updated below) yet but Hughton has some selection ponderings following the Derby game. For information on both team’s leading up to the game, have a read of Deb’s most excellent preview article.

Hopefully we’ll get some confirmed team line-ups on here before the start. Most fans might expect Hughton to revert to his more favoured 4-5-1 away from home, to try and avoid a repeat of the Derby humiliation. Personally, I think with the right personnel, 4-4-2 could still work. Starting with a 4-5-1 against a defensive side, could mean a long 90 minutes for viewers. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Team news –

Hopefully some good news for the purists as it looks like Hughton may be sticking with the 4-4-2, although Best is dropped for Lovenkrands. Smudger is back in the middle of the park as it looks like Guthrie will move to the left and presumably Gutierrez is still suffering as he isn’t even on the bench. The alternative would be that the Dane moves to the left, Guthrie stays in the middle and Nolan plays in the whole as part of a a 4-4-1-1.

Big inclusion today is Coloccini, who we’ve definitely missed. Surprised to see Hall included instead of Willamson but it’s the big fella that makes way. Could be a crucial role for van Aanholt today to keep Dyer quiet, after a good display up at St James’.

Us – Harper, Simpson, Hall, Coloccini, van Aanholt, Guthrie, Smith, Nolan, Routledge, Carroll, Lovenkrands

Subs – Krul, Williamson, R Taylor, Kadar, Best, Pancrate, Ranger

Swansea – de Vries, Williams, Tate, Monk, Pratley, Orlandi, Dyer, Bessone, Cotterill, Kuqi, Allen

Subs – Cornell, Pintado, Mark Gower, Butler, Rangel, Trundle, Richards

Howay the lads!

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

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180 Responses

  6. Howay lads, i think were back to the 4-5-1, with Nolan playing further up and McLoven on the left…don’t think Hughton will go for 4-4-2…..i which case Guthrie is again on the left wing and that is no good.

  16. Good to see 4-4-2.

    Can’t believe some of the little hospital balls Nolan drops into his team mates. I’d be livid.

  18. toonsy says:
    February 13, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    “Jesus, that Swansea physion is rather butch!”

    Kate Rees. Poor lass, the things they sing to her are awful!

  20. Nolan has been dreadful again. So rigid and laboured.

    They’re a step above us in their passing. Fluid and sharp, we nearly always look cumbersome and awkward. I think it’s all about the wrong body shape and anticipation. Only Colo always looks comfortable receiving and passing the ball.

  23. bowburn – I think Guthrie has been the poorest so far, although he does have the excuse of playing out of position.

  25. wounded Animal ? more like Taxidermy. hopefully CH’s plan is to shut shop for the 1st 20 mins then kick on from there :lol:
    Swansea look like a real neat and tidy team

  26. bowburnmag says:
    February 13, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    “Can’t believe some of the little hospital balls Nolan drops into his team mates. I’d be livid.”

    Aye, you do have a point there, Bowburn.

  27. I was about to say what the lad commentating said, and that’s to say Hughton will be happy enough to soak it up and suckerpunch them because they’re not dangerous where they’re keeping the ball.

    However, I would undoubtedly be made to immediately eat my words.

  30. bowburnmag says:
    February 13, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    “However, I would undoubtedly be made to immediately eat my words.”

    You’ve criticised Nolan already, Bowburn, so he may score. Try slagging off a few others.

  31. HMMM,grinding a goal again???? as long as the final whistle says we win,i am happy with it.:lol:

  37. How many time does fat lad want to get caught in possession? Looks like he’s been on the hoy…

    And how many little shoves in the back do we want to give them?

  41. @Post 3: at first,the video link works,but somehow now,the video link is offline.

    Any Other good stable links???

  45. Dave – We knew Swansea wasn’t going to be an easy game, as you say though it aint easy to watch.

  49. Toonsy with the team we have there is no real excuse, It just doesn’t look as if our players are being g’ed up enough to come out and perform, they basically just play how they want to play. but if we sneak one before halftime I take it all back :)

  51. AngelOfDeath says:
    February 13, 2010 at 1:21 pm

    “@Post 3: at first,the video link works,but somehow now,the video link is offline.

    Any Other good stable links???”

    The link at post 5 seems to be ok, Angel.

  55. hitman
    Totally agree we need a new manager now – we’re only joint top with a game in hand, have had a 16 game unbeaten run – but hey! we did lose our last game and we’re being tested by the 5th top team away from home so that’s it, he’s out.
    (Irony / Sarcasm -delete as appropriate)

  56. What a load of cr*p again. Carroll does my head in, and Nolan needs shooting. Blood pressures rising. WWe seem to have no idea and several of tem have left any football brain they possess back in Newcastle

  57. Hitman I think CH is a super Blog but I honestly dont think he can get the best out of our players. I believe our players know they can get away with shit performances. I have said before I have served under many Leaders in my time some like CH decent honest hard working but to easy going. I was allways at my best when when I had a real strong leader that you were slightly shit scared of upsetting him. But when he praised you he could make you run through walls

  60. Is it just me that thinks we’re playing a 4-4-2 but just not very well? I think Lovenkrands is upfront but we’re just not playing to his strengths, so he’s dropping deeper.

  62. bowburnmag says:
    February 13, 2010 at 1:53 pm

    “Is it just me that thinks we’re playing a 4-4-2 but just not very well?”

    No, you aren’t. Swansea are very well drilled by Sousa and good in possession, but they’re a bit toothless upfront.

  67. and for the planks that are saying we dont need massive player investment in the summer (if we go up)need there heeds checked…there you go 1 down

  73. Seriously like, there’s a couple of them look like they’ve been out on the p*ss last night. A full yard off the pace.

  76. Smith , Nolan and Carroll are having a holiday….just wondering around the pitch like they are on a stroll…

  78. Tell ye what, I’ve said all season, I can just about put up with the poor football as long as we’re winning but it’s hard to watch and if we stop getting results it’ll go pear-shaped…

  79. We just need to win our game in hand,(Reading),watford,and Coventry city.

    I think this 3 is easy to win. :)

    I still got faith they can still win the title.

  80. The thing that really gets to me is that we know our players are capable of so much more but as with most games this season they dont really put a full shift in

  82. AOD – West Brom are in the FA Cup today. This is basically our game in hand!

    It’s another excuse the players can’t hide behind.

  89. Carroll is good in the air for such a big fella like…

    Fecking hell.

    Imagine if you’d left the town at 2am to go and watch that shower stroll around the pitch? Out of order.

  91. bowburn – This must be the performance the team owes the fans…. you know the one they were all banging on about.

  94. bowburnmag says:
    February 13, 2010 at 2:09 pm

    “Looks like we’ve never played together as a team.”

    Too many new players at the same time. Our injury crisis has kicked in.

  98. Whats the point in having these promising youngsters if they never get a chance?

    No wonder Lua Lua wants to fcuk off!

  104. AngelOfDeath says: The only question from me was,why don’t CH drop Nolan!!!!!!

    I think it might be to do with Nolan being to senior to drop along with a few others

  107. The poorest Newcastle team we’ve had in a long time. No idea, lacking in skill, awareness, tactics – shocking

  108. Who would play instead of Nolan though? Guthrie hasn’t earned the right to play ahead of him on todays effort.

    Butt?

    Come on.

  109. If Kevin Nolan isn’t embarrassed by his performance then someone needs to sit him down and watch a replay of it so far.

    How many times does he want to put the ball around his mates knee or neck? Unbelievable, like he can’t be ar*ed to take care and just knocking it on. And yet taking all the time in the world to do it so his mate has got a player breathing down his neck.

  121. Thank fcuk!

    I still stand by what we are all saying though!

    We are level without ever looking like we were going to be. I’d settle for a draw before the game, lets just see this out.

  126. Taking up BBM’s mantle of criticising players then they score. Still stand by it though theyve all been crap

  133. we deserved nowt the day,like i says last neet (worky shot me down)CH is fkin clueless its time we got a manager that will stick a foot up the players ar$es.

  134. geordie deb says:
    February 13, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    “Taking up BBM’s mantle of criticising players then they score. Still stand by it though theyve all been crap”

    I thought it might be Nolan scoring because Bowburn had a go at him earlier.

  136. Horrible performance by us today….horrible…we will probably go up but next season won’t be pretty with Hughton thats for sure.

  137. Wow,surprisingly,we are back to the top of the table.hahahas.

    so now is back to winning ways. Cause if we ever draw or lose,then WBA will be top.

    So we shall keep on winning till WBA lose. :LOL:

  138. I’d be gutter if I were a Swansea fan. Absolute shambles from us.
    Perhaps I should criticise players more. I just sent a text to a mate moaning how poor Carroll was and he went and scored.
    It makes you wonder how poor the rest of the squad must be, if that was our best team out there.
    How many times was Guthrie caught in possession? I lost count.
    Anyway, it’s like the commentators said, when you play poorly and still come out with something, it’s how championships are won. Or something like that.

    MOTM – Harper, because the rest were so poor. Perhaps Routledge or Colo deserve it.
    DOTM (Donkey of The Match) Got to be Guthrie, but there’s plenty of competition, including out goal scorer.

  139. we got rid of players that were over payed players ,i dont think so .i wouldnt pay these lot a tube of smarties between them

  141. We got away with a point. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t good, but it’s an improvement on Tuesday surely?

    This is far from our best team. We have Jonas, Enrique, Taylor all to come back.

  142. That feels like a win, in fact we could have stole it in the last 5 minutes. We just couildn’t keep hold of the ball, why is it in games like that the loose ball always seems to go to the other side. Mind you some of our players looked as if their mind was elsewhere, getting caught too often dawdling on the ball.
    6/10 for me and only cos we managed to keep them at bay and get a draw.

  143. Thanks for the link Worky. Thought Routledge looked good today. Hard to see too many positives though. Apparently NCL need passing practice! “Lions and Tigers and Donkeys! Oh My! There’s no place like home! We sure aint in Kansas any more!”
    I was actually ok with the starting line up when I saw it. I was strangely hopeful. Ah well. Guttierez was a miss but it was nice of him to style Carrol’s hair before the game! LOL

  144. We’re riding out a injury crisis at the moment and all the flux in the team with the new players and such is making it look uncoordinated against a very well trained side like Swansea.

  146. Jose is the player we are really missing, Jonas didn’t play did he? I certainly didn’t see him if he did. I reckon we will be up and running again once we have both of them on the left side.

  147. I think in all this we are forgetting Swansea played very very well today. I know they are a good footballing side but I don’t see them week in week out to say if they play like that all the time, although their league position leans towards that view.

  148. Apparently, I still got alot of confidence in NUFC being champion come May????

    Cause right now,i would say a transition period for new boys to gel in well with the current boys.

    And with not all players coming back yet,i don’t think can judge the whole team from recent blips.

    Till we get all gel in and all fit players,and if we still see below-par performance,then we shall really complain.

    HWTL.

  149. Big Willy – Taylor and Barton both to come back aswell. Perhaps Barton coming back will spur Nolan and Guthrie on to improves their performances. Both of them, and Smith really, were awful today.

  151. Also, If Swansea had someone who can finish at this level, like a Chopra, then I think they would be auto promotion candidates.

  152. Nolan terrible today he has done nowt for the last 10 games or so,take his goals away and he brings nothing to the team at the moment,thing that worry’s me is when players are having a bad game or are out of form CH wont make a change

  153. Too many games in the Championship. This usually happens at some stage. It happened to Wolves, it happened to WBA before that, it happened to the tramps before that. The last team it didn’t really happen to was Reading, who got 106 points.

  154. Hurry up Joey Barton please. Kevin Nolan, Alan Smith and Danny Guthrie can’t pass a ball they were all horrible today. Poor Swansea were ripped off. I find it hard to be a toon fan sometimes because that was another embarrassment on national tv.

  155. I don’t think you can ask Guthrie to play as a winger. He hasn’t got the speed and dribbling skill. If Jonas is avaiable,I’d like to have him in the middle and replace Nolan or Smith, who both look absolutely below-par in the recent games.

  157. Toonsy, yeah I hadn’t forgotten Stevie, but I think we are missing the left side attacking options of Jose more. If you can’t make teams like Swansea and Derby have to defend more then the midfield sometimes find the extra pressure overwhelming.
    Barton is probably going to need a few games from the bench to get back up to speed, but hopefully he will add something to our midfield when he is.

  158. “If Jonas is avaiable,I’d like to have him in the middle and replace Nolan or Smith, who both look absolutely below-par in the recent games.”

    Hmm, “him” refers to Guthrie.

  159. Performances like that do no favours for this club. What a shameful display. Only good players waere Colo and Routledge. We need Williamson back as Hall is out of position far too often. Van Aarnholt had his first bad game for us, and Simpson was his usual s**t self. However, what i cannot get over is how poor the midfield were today. These idiots were even worse than usual. Do these midfield players train? How have they developed no understanding despite the majority of them playing with each other for over 12months?! Aside from Routledge, they can all be ashamed of themselves. Especially Nolan, who is supposed to be a leader. This fat, lazy player has no technical ability and very little determination once he has lost possession. I have said it numerous times, he is non-existent in 95% games, but papers over the cracks with the odd goal. He needs selling as soon as the window opens. Smith has been awful since Christmas, and Guthrie’s wideplay and awareness is league 2 standard. Carroll, despite getting a goal, once again failed miserably in linking up with both the midfield and his partner (Loven, then Best). His first touch and passing is some of the poorest i have ever seen. He will develop into a poor mans Peter Crouch, but just slightly more one dimensional.

    I am sick to death of watching this set of player embarrass the club.

  160. Poor midfield , no service to the front and a competition throughout the game to see who could find the most ingenious way to lose possession – but a great point nonetheless – should help to restore some confidence, as well as keeping us 5 ahead of Forest, level games.
    We have now played most of the other top teams twice (WBA, Swansea, Cardiff, Leicester) – only Nottingham Forest who have to come to St James’s. We have also hit some major defensive injuries – Taylor, Enrique and briefly Colo and Simpson. Maybe Forest are due some injuries – don’t know?
    So now we will mostly be playing the lower teams – like Derby – dohhh!

  161. think people are asking to much of joey barton,the lads done nothing for the club since he got here apart from a bigger bank balance and yes,a 20k pay rise when we got religated,plus the negative publicity thanks to his actions so to ask him to come back and be the player he had the potential to be 3 years ago is asking a bit much

  162. if we do manage to go up,it will be a blood bath with this crop of shite,and i carnt see ashley splashing the cash on players..

  163. All this talk of players embarrasing the club is nonsense.

    We are 1st in the league, yes we have issues but remember a lot of people tipped us to fall straight through this league!

    To look for real embarrasment, people should cast their minds back no further than 8 months ago, when a team full of “stars” with the 4th highest wage bill in the country got us relegated.

  165. On another note, if Jonas has a knock and needs resting then fine, he should be as he is important for us and we couldn’t afford to lose him for a period of time.

    So why play Guthrie on the left? The lad can just about play on the right, so the left is a massive ask! Why not play Routledge on the left and Guthrie on the right?

  168. CH clueless! we all have are says but what is a centre midfield player in guthrei playing on the left hand side who is cutting inside all the time and losing the ball because he isnt quick enough to get away from a player! why didnt he play lovenkrands their or is he stupid and play the 3 slow dummies in the middle doesnt he now their fast players play down the wings so why didnt he play like for like and push them back nolan gutheri smith cant play in the same team and at leiester he played butt with them and still didnt change it with ten men what a complete clown.

  169. Toonsy
    I’m sorry i disagree. Some of these players are an embarrasement – some individually, but collectively to turn in a performance again like that is shocking. We seem devoid of ideas, awareness – how many times were certain players caught dawdling on the ball, loosing possession so cheaply it was pathetic. The lack of any intelligence in our play is breathtaking. I think our local pub team play better football than that lot.Poor SBR must be spinning in his grave. How we are top is anyone’s guess, but it will be a miracle if we manage to gain automatic promotion if we carry on playing like this. I’ve defended Chris H to the hilt, but step up to the plate here as we are being outplayed and certainly outclassed virtually every game.

  170. Toonsy > To look for real embarrasment, people should cast their minds back no further than 8 months ago, when a team full of “stars” with the 4th highest wage bill in the country got us relegated.

    I get your drift but I think the Club as a whole got us relegated. Even “stars” need a Leader and time to get to know him which was sadly missing for them.

  171. Deb – I’m not happy about it. I’d love nothing more than seeing us panning teams week in week out, or at least looking like we might do.

    I think all this our players are an embarrasment thing is slightly uncalled for. Swansea were excellent today, probably the best team performance we have face this season, and to ciritcise our own house is neglecting just how well Swansea played.

    We have new signings, injuries, players losing form etc, all part of a football season. We have 8 games left at home now. 20 points from them and 12 from our 8 remaining away games will do the job, however painful it may be to watch.

    I’m not Hughton’s greatest fan, but he is becoming subject to the age old Newcastle problem of barracking by the fans, who will be our next manager? How many people could see us getting promoted at the start of the season? Not many on here.

  172. Geordie Deb > I’ve defended Chris H to the hilt, but step up to the plate here as we are being outplayed and certainly outclassed virtually every game.

    Deb do I sense that the Honeymoon is coming to an end :lol:

  173. I think so Dave. I know there are various issues with injuries, new players etc, but not really sure what he has them doing in training as most of them can’t even pass to each other. It seems even the basics seem to be missing. When it starts to go pear shaped he doen’t give you confidence that he has a plan B. As long as he’s the manager I will support him and certainly wouldn’t barrack him or the team, thats what blogs are for to voice frustrations etc – but we need confidence that he knows what he is doing and at the moment, I’m not feeling that by a long way.

  174. we’ve been outplayed by a lot of teams this season but the fact is that we’re able to dig in and get a result, think nolan needs a rest and guthrie should be moved back into the middle – van anholt has done ok for us but he’s no enrique and the sooner he’s back the better

  175. Deb – I’ve never felt confident in Hughton, and that stems from last season. We have 2 home games coming up now, lets see how it pans out.

    Speaking of which, anyone going to the Cov game? Ironically they have found a bit of form now! I may see if I can persuade the wife to have a “day out”.

  176. Deb I know how you feel pet. I just think the reason the players put in a non performance like the last 2 is because they know they will get away with it ;) . At the sametime I still believe that we have the best team in this league

  177. We are losing Van Aanholt soon anyway so Jose needs to be back. Perhaps Tozer should be getting a run aren’t they a similar age?
    I can’t help feeling CH is playing VanAnn and Hall to save our permanent players for the season run-in although that sort of thinking would be a little dopey.
    It’s the draws more than the losses that is bugg&ring up our season though.

  178. Big Willy – Jose should be back by the time the loan finishes anyway. If not we have Kadar and Ryan Taylor who can cover.

  179. If I was Kadar, Tozer or any of the youngsters we have I’d be feeling a little p&ssed to see someone on loan and the same age getting straight into the first team, no wonder Lua Lua wants to leave.

  180. Big Willy I would say they would be pretty p*ssed off. Same as Ranger will get p*ssed of seeing Best allways getting a shout before him