Newcastle v Blackburn – Match preview.

Posted on November 9th, 2010 | 86 Comments |

Allardyce - Party pooper?
Allardyce - Party pooper?
Newcastle host Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday night where they will be looking to improve on a run of form that has seen them win the last three games.

Wins away at West Ham and Arsenal sandwiched a 5-1 smashing of local rivals Sunderland to ensure that Newcastle go into this match sitting in a lofty fifth position in the Premier League table.

Of course, this match will also witness the return Sam Allardyce to St James’ Park, and he will be wanting to play the pantomime villain role and steer Blackburn to a fifth consecutive victory at the home of his old employers. I’m not sure, but I’m hearing unconfirmed reports that the Blackburn travelling contingent will be using three coaches to travel up from Lancashire. One for the away support, one for the players, and another, larger, coach for Big Sam’s ego.

Anyway, moving onto team news. James Perch is a fitness doubt after he picked up an ankle injury during training. He will join long-term absentees Hatem Ben Arfa, Dan Gosling and Steve Harper on the injury list. Leon Best is back in training after being out for three months with an ankle injury, but this match will come too soon for him to have any chance of making the sqaud.

As for team selection, well the team kind of picks itself at the moment and I expect Chris Hughton will name an unchanged side for the fourth game in a row. That team will be;

Newcastle – Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Joey Barton, Checik Tiote, Kevin Nolan, Jonas Gutierrez, Shola Ameobi, Andy Carroll.

Blackburn are facing a bit of an injury crisis as they head to Tyneside. El-Hadji Diouf will have his groin injury assessed before the match whilst Keith Andrews, Vince Grella and Benjani are all ruled out.

Blackburn beat Wigan 2-1 in their last match after going through the month of October without winning a game. They played Wigan with a team of;

Blackburn – Paul Robinson, Michel Salgado, Christoher Samba, Ryan Nelsen, Gael Givet, Phil Jones, Mame Diouf, Brett Emerton, Morten Gamst Pedersen, El-Hadji Diouf, Benjani.

Despite Newcastle holding a poor recent record against Blackburn at St James’ Park, it’s the home side who are on top overall. Out of 135 meeting meetings between the two sides, Newcastle have won 55 compared to Blackburn’s 51.

If Newcastle are to extend their unbeaten run they will need to ensure that they are clinical in front of goal. So it’s a good job we have the most clinical player in the lague on our book in the shape of Kevin Nolan. Nolan has scored seven goals from his eleven attempts at goal this season.

Overall I think this is going to be a tough game and will be yet another test of character for our team. Blackburn will be hard to break down, in fact they have not gone in at half-time losing in any match this season, which is a stat that can only be matched by Manchester United.

Newcastle will need to be patient, and it’s games like these that have been our achilles heel so far this season.

My prediction: Newcastle 1-1 Blackburn.

Howay the lads!

Date – Wednesday, 10th November, 2010.

Kick-off – 07:45pm.

Venue – St James’ Park, Newcastle.

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

86 Responses

  1. Big Fat Sam’s got a fooking massive heed,
    a fooking massive heed,
    a fooking massive heed!!! :lol:

  2. arggg

    It’s one of those games isn’t it, where you just know there is a possibility that we simply won’t turn up!

    Therefore, tomorrow is a massive test of attitude I reckon.

    Wouldn’t it just be the case that Allardyce pisses in our pies?!?!?!

    Early goal/s, and we could be on for a good win, if not, could be a long, cold night where either team could nick it. I predict a close one.

  3. The thing that worries me is that

    1) Its a wednesday night at SJP

    2) Its not on telly

    3) Its against a guy who will be desperate not to lose.

    All those factors point towards a no-show to me.

  4. Also I didn’t mention…

    4) Blackburn will have answers to our set pieces and some ideas of their own.

    5) Their league position does not refect what a seasoned, tricky premier league side they have become.

    6) We are due a dip after the last 3 games.

  6. Early Blackburn lead torments all until the final minutes of the match, when someone finally heads one in for a draw.

    Or we blow them out like gunga din. Could go either way.

    –Cybertoon

  7. I am excited at the possibility of standing in 4th position after tomorrow. A NUFC win and Citeh loss sees the Toon sitting in 4th. a lot to play for tomorrow. I sincerely hope the team shows up to play.
    Also excited because Fox Soccer Channel is showing it here in the US, so I’ll be able to actually see the game, not just follow the play-by-play from Sky Sports’s ScoreCentre.

  8. fully expect 3 points – of course i’ll be there supporting joey barton & the rest of the lads coz i’m a proper fan.

    -cropper

  9. Welcome QMAG

    Be aware of the likes of Roy Cropper, batty, Stuart79 and toonsy because they can be c***s sometimes ;)

  11. This will be a good test of Hughton, it wasn’t hard to get the players up for Sunderland and Arsenal, but will be interesting to see if tomorow is another Wigan no-show. Im fully behind Hughton before people start.

  12. I wanna get hold of a couple of tickets for spurs in the away end on the 28th. Probably not possible through the official website so anyone got any ideas? Is it doable? Any help much appreciated, cheers lads

  15. we wont lose thats for sure, my worry is not b/burn players its TOONSY forcast :),enjoyed the read like,lets see what BATTY says hes got money on!

  16. Im not so sure Ice, it has sucker punch written all over it.

    What would you guys pefer Sunderland lose and Spurs go above us, or its a draw and we stay 5th?

  17. Sunderland lose. League position is irrelavent at the minute. It’s nice and fuzzy being fifth and that, but it matters not….

  18. NorCal ToonFan says:

    Also excited because Fox Soccer Channel is showing it here in the US, so I’ll be able to actually see the game, not just follow the play-by-play from Sky Sports’s ScoreCentre.

    ——————–

    Careful though NorCal, it’s being shown on delay. I have to try and show a little discipline by not following on-line at work.

    It will no doubt be a difficult match, and I can’t see us generating a ton of chances. I agree with the article that we need to bury what we do get.

    1-0 to the Toon. This is the type of match we need to win if we have ambitions above mid-table…

  19. TOONSY@14,is it me but since a couple of (people) have been banned the number of guys/dolls comeing on the blog have increased and other blogs have gone doon,any stats? or is just your roamancing ways :)

  21. Like all games in the premier league this be tricky , Fat Sam has them well drilled like stoke , if we turn up and play like we did at sunderland we should get the 3 points , but if we r slow out of the traps blackburn could impose their game plan and come away with something

  23. DJD aye m8 its me hopeing we have left our old ways behind,but then again we are the toon owt can happen i know

  25. My advice to those going to the match is to support the lads on the pitch instead of giving abuse to FSA or MA. The games we won at home had the fans right behind the team, against the mackems for obvious reasons and against villa because we wanted revenge for their antics when we were relegated, get behind the lads and we’ll be alright.

  26. RICHIETOON not ye m8 i would have no-one to pick on :),how did your trip go pal,got sq heed yet,is your trip to spain in future off and being sniffing roond germany like?

  27. Ice – It’s my magnetic personality mate ;)

    See Chuck was having his little nibble at this place. Good! I like to know it doesn’t bother him at all enough to go on about it like :roll: :lol:

  28. Well i think an early goal tomorrow will be important , if we get a goal in the first 15-20 minutes then we will go on to win . One thing you know about fat Sham’s teams is they will be trying to keep it tight but i think our midfield is more than capable of over running theirs and we have the height at the back these days to deal with long ball route one stuff . It wont be pretty thats for sure but a win is a win , i think a goal each for Carroll & Shola 2-0 the Toon

  29. Ice…aye it was canny,only drove on the wrong side once :-) still planning on Spain,think after Xmas we’ll just take the chance and go for it.

  30. I’ll never forget that day I watched newcastle against fulham.joey scored the winner but that was the day I realised wat our club has become..thee most frustratin clueless boring football that was n to see that from a newcastle side really hurt.what’s more frightin was big head sam instructed them to play like that..he makes souness look like red nose..well thank god da toon is back n with pride

  31. TOONSY its that avatar that might be doing it ;)read that person starting bother on there,i dont post there but is enough to stop me even reading it now

  32. MDS at 18…I am recording it to watch when I get home from work. Discipline will indeed be the word of the day.

  33. toonsy says:
    November 9, 2010 at 7:33 pm
    Ice – It’s my magnetic personality mate

    Aye its invisible and repels everyone. ;)

  34. RICHIETOON you go for it m8 you will make it thats for sure,you will get bye if only for your wit ;)took the “ton” off think you will have lost it now,hope there was nee camaras on the rang side,its all finished in uk m8,other places are starting to twig too,malta has just put new law in place,you must pay mim 120000 for flat/house unless your malta citizan,we should try it

  35. Stoke vs Birmingham…

    100% Perspiration
    0% Inspiration

    Has anybody got any pins for my eyes?

  36. Can yourll do me a favour please I’m going to watch the game on telly as I’m from south africa..can yourll sing at the ground”I hate sam,the big headed man.who can’t get a stand”haha..n will somone reply .feels like I’m wasting my time

  37. xXx ime reading your posts mate keep ganning,some snobs on here but i wont grass richietoon up like :)

  42. didn’t shola pick up a knock at the end of the game sunday? Might not be fit to go after only 2 days.
    Think fat sam’ll have blackburn sit back n try to nick something off a set peice. Thats the kind of play that we struggle against aswell.

  45. I’ve no concerns about NUFC attitude, this is not a team to take a night off. IF NUFC keep the ball on the ground and in the field of play, most of Blackburn’s strengths will have been compromised. This should be a good game for Jonas with his unpredictable runs, those can throw off a very mechanical Blackburn defense. This would be a great game for HBA were he not injured. Those Blackburn players look like bowling pins all perfectly aligned, just waiting to be deceived by wild runs at the box.

  48. i think if we score early we’ll score often. If not… Well lets just score early…

  49. watchin spuds and scum and really think modric would’ve been class for us. He can fuk off for pickin london.
    What happened to bentley?? He went from class to just ass in 1 year like

  50. nah – think we’ll win tomorrow, blackburn have been very poor and will defend deep and hope to score with a long ball over the top to whoever plays up front for em – its the only way bsa knows
    If tiote picks up a yellow tomorrow he’l miss the fulham game at sjp and we should have enough to beat them at home rather pick a yellow up at fulham and miss the bolton away game

  52. Let’s be honest, they’ll be coming for a 0-0 and it will be up to us to break them down.

    I see a anti-climax.

  53. nice to see mowbray doing a decent job at the boro, they could climb out the bottom 3 for first time this season – he did a decent job at west brom but then it all went pear shaped when he went up to celtic
    dont class boro as a derby rivals to be honest – they’re closer to leeds than toon

  54. See my calls for Simpson to get England Recognition yesterday haven’t gone unneeded!
    He is three times the player Glenn Johnson is!! Simpson can defend as well as bomb forward!

  55. Gonna be watching the game after work too. Discipline discipline discipline. I hope Carroll scores a bag full.

  57. Steady on re Simpson. Two good games and an England call up?

    He looks to have improved from last year but steady on Stelios!

  58. wheres the stories of simpson for england – the way some people are talking we’ll have barton, carroll, ameobi, nolan and now simpson called up !

  59. Why do people say ‘Boro are closer to Leeds than us’.

    Get a map out, it’s about 40 miles from Newcastle to Boro. Its about 60 miles from Boro to Leeds and Hull is a lot further still.

  61. As much as the pessimism is creeping in for the sod’s law factors tomorrow night, I have to say with our current team’s attitude, if they let our home record look any worse I think they know they’ll become a bit deflated. Fans will not look in so much awe at mackem and Arsenal results but more like luck if we can’t repeat it at home against Big fat heed’s collection of tramps, pensioners and freebies. Deflate sam’s heed instead, please lads?

  62. Peter-

    Agreed. I’m not positive, mind, but I think Sam Allardyce might be a hydrocephalic.

  63. I think the odds are currently at 17/11 that his heed actually explodes tomorrow. Hmm, feel sorry for the groundskeeper… gonna be a big mess like.

  64. aye ice. But u’d think by now he’d get back to work. Maybe he should go back to blackburn where he could be the star again or maybe link up with hughes at fulham. Couldn’t care less really except for what he might be able to do for england.

  66. Toonsy.

    Aye m8. :)

    I used to almost let meself believe it and then I started driving round the North for me job and it was like a geography lesson. Ive even drove that road across the North Pennines from carlise to Weardale. Ever been on that road? The fog was so thick at one point a had to almost put me hand out the car and feel my way along. ;)

  67. O’Hurley – you’re saying Allardyce has water on the brain? Then the solution must be a tap on the head! Ba boom!
    (English joke – explanation – tap = faucet)

  68. Mag6699

    Love it mate! (and I know what a tap is… we use “taps” to “tap” our kegs, mate :lol:)

  72. DJG – :lol:

    Sometimes I go out and do deliveries on a night-time. Last winter was some of the worst driving around. I got stuck in snow near Hereford and near Huddersfield, but then that will teach me for trying to take lorries down minor a-roads in shite weather because it “might be fun” :lol:

  74. J.G. see what your saying mate,move to a smaller club once you gan owr that hill its a hard climb back up,in london plenty cash does he want too, gazza here we come!

  75. Aye they reckon this winter will be the same. New years day was nice though, loads of fresh white snow went for a festive pint with the family.

  76. DJG – If it is the same this year then I’ll expect to make the same mistakes again. It might be fun :lol:

  77. Aye. Its nice when your a kid but not some much when there’s work to do. Im sure I nearly had an actual heart attack pushing mw mams car up the street. Had to go in the hoose and sit down for 10mins and had this burning taste in my mouth. :lol: serves me right for being so unfit.

  78. Suppose Spurs and Mackems drawing is a good result for us, as long as we win tomorrow.

    We’ll probably be competing for Euro places with Spurs…

  79. Oh how i would simply love it for us to beat Fat Sam’s Slackburn team. But somehow after following the toon all these years there’s that little voice inside me heed telling me we’ll tank it and come back down to earth.

    But scr#w what me heed says…me heart says Barton will score 2 goals and another one from Andy. 3-0 to the toon and massive points for my yahoo fantasy team. Couldn’t get better than that.

    Winning the next 2 games would be awesome but at the same time I wouldn’t mind staying out of the euro spots come end of the season. I wouldn’t want Ashley thinking we’re too good and not investing in further signings end of the season. Not asking for much just a couple of good additions to strengthen the team and add depth.

  81. Don’t worry, lads. Big Sam will have spent so much time teaching his players how to ‘nullify’ the opposition that they probably won’t know what to do when they’ve got the ball ;)

    ‘..The big problem was that Big Sam was more worried about stopping the opposition than out-playing them. Significantly, shortly before his dismissal a first teamer revealed that in the premable to one game – coincidentally against Blackburn – Allardyce spent 30 minutes discussing how to thwart Rovers before a Newcastle player finally piped up with: “But what do you want us to do when we’ve got the ball?”..’

    Yeah, I know it’s an old article, but I thought it might be worth reading again, because this was one of those rare occasions when Louise Taylor got it exactly right
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/jan/15/sam-allardyce-newcastle-united-blackburn

  82. Taken from http://www.wildblackburnrover.blogspot.com

    “The bare facts remain though that Allardyce’s tenure at the Sports Direct Wonderdome or whatever it is called nowadays was too short for him to be truly judged. The notoriously fickle and self important barcodes mob can kick, scream and throw cliches round all they want but his track record at similar sized clubs to Newcastle such as Bolton and Blackburn speaks for itself.”

    It’s quite funny the shite that other fans come out with innit?

  83. The thing is, I’m sure I can remember Big Sams display of pride when he took the reigns here. I’m pretty sure as well that he used the words “massive club” to describe us too. Silly sods.

  84. from the highlights against arsenal, it looked like you were adopting the long ball tactic against arsenal.

    hoofing it up to carol to get the goal.

    But thats ok – because you actually won a game.

    fickle…you lot? not half!

  85. 48% possession against Arsenal, How do you do that by hoofing the ball all the while ??

    I mean a ten minute highlight reel shows the full picture doesnt it…

    Fcuk off you sad little inbred.