West Browich Albion v Newcastle United match banter!
Posted on December 5th, 2010 | 380 Comments |
Of course, both teams are recent promotees from the Championship, and there have been similarities in their respective campaigns so far. Both have been led by extremely talented individuals who, while steeped in football, have been new boys when it comes to management. While both have aquitted themselves well overall compared with the norm for promoted teams, with respectable mid table positions going into the game, there have also been times when both have been frustratingly erratic. Our previous league encounters in the Championship (1-1 and 2-2) would tend to indicate a draw, however with the Premiership form of the two sides so far, you never know.
On team news, perennial naughty boy, Joey Barton will be back from his three match ban for a crafty dig at Blackburn’s Morgan Gamst Pedersen, though fellow naughty boys, Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson will continue to languish in purgatory for their own sins, with their places being filled (probably) by the more than able Sol Campbell and Steven Taylor, who both turned in creditable performances in Newcastle’s draw with the stuttering Pensioners of Chelsea last weekend. Meanwhile, captain. Kevin Nolan, will almost certainly remain on the sidelines with a crocked ankle. In other news though, there have been encouraging stories of a sooner than expected return of wonder boy, Hatem Ben Arfa, though that is still a longer term thing.
Meanwhile, in the usual pre match interviews with the respective managers, West Brom’s Roberto Di Matteo has expressed his disbelief at the recent questioning of Chris Hughton’s leadership, saying:
“I just find the speculation about Chris incredible.
“He has done such a brilliant job since last year, when he was temporary manager. Basically he has stabilised the club and got them promoted and got them in a good position.
“Yet he is being questioned. It is incredible and, as a fellow manager, I can’t believe it. But other people might have a different opinion.
“It is definitely strange looking from here. We don’t know the facts, but looking from outside it seems incredible.”
On Newcastle’s Andy Carroll, Di Matteo added:
“Carroll has continued his development and he is very good.
“We could see last season that he was a good player and, when Newcastle got promoted, you could see they had a good centre-forward in their team in Carroll.
“He is just confirming that this season.
“It is difficult to play against Andy Carroll because he is dangerous and he is good with his feet too. It’s not just in the air.
“He is almost unstoppable and we have seen it in the Barclays Premier League so I don’t think it is just one person’s job, it is for the whole back four and the team to stop him.”
In another interview, Newcastle manager, Chris Hughton looked back to previous encounters between the two sides, saying of our games in the Championship:
“In our quest last year, it was very much an important game – it was our first game in the Championship.
“And we had to make some type of impact.
“As we’ve made progress, this would be no different to any other game in the Championship.
“But now this game coming up against West Brom is just as big.
“This is a team on the same points as us, and in the same type of situation as us. Therefore the need to get something out of it has never been bigger.”
Howay the lads!
Teams
Newcastle United: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Sol Campbell, Jose Enrique, Wayne Routledge, Cheik Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez, Andrew Carroll, Shola Ameobi.
Subs: Tamas Kadar, Ole Soderberg, James Perch, Leon Best, Peter Lovenkrands, Nile Ranger, Alan Smith.
West Bromwich Albion: Scott Carson, Gonzalo Jara, Paul Scharner, Gabriel Tamas, Marek Cech, Somen Tchoyi, James Morrison, Graham Dorrans, Jerome Thomas, Chris Brunt, Peter Odemwingie.
Subs: Giles Barnes, Simon Cox, Ibanez Pablo, Marc-Antoine Fortune, Boaz Myhill, Steven Reid, Nicky Shorey.
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
workyticket has written 1095 articles on this blog.
No Barton, groin injury!