Sunderland v Newcastle United match preview.
Posted on January 15th, 2011 | 73 Comments |
Pardew has been speaking quite alot on the upcoming game, as he seems to about most things.
Firstly, looking back to the time of his appointment at the club, he said:
“As soon as I’d signed up here I looked to see when we’d be playing Sunderland.”
Speaking on the aforementioned victory in the last fixture against the Mackems he went on:
“Whatever I do between now and May, that 5-1 win is almost certainly going to be this season’s stand-out result.”
He then added somewhat bizarrely:
“I’m not going to be able to change that, so I have to accept it. But that doesn’t mean to say we can’t go to Sunderland and win. That would be some coup for myself.”
Why would he want to change that? Surely a 5-1 victory against the old enemy is good for the club?
He continued with his impressions of that game, adding:
“I wasn’t really concentrating, to be honest.
“But I saw it again yesterday and noted how crucial Andy Carroll was to a first-class, disciplined display.”
Unfortunately, Pardew will be without Carroll this time, as he failed a fitness test. On this he said:
“Andy won’t play, it’s a huge disappointment.
“Not only are we missing Andy but a very influential midfielder. Cheik has been one of the stars of the season.”
Tiote of course will be missing the next three games through suspension, after picking up a straight red card in the F.A. Cup defeat against Stevenage. But more on the team news later.
Getting back to Pardew, he moved on to the subject of local derbies in general, saying:
“Whenever you go into a derby there’s always an enormous electricity.
“You have a special Cup final-type experience.
“But if you have a gameplan, all 11 players have to know their roles and your discipline has to be in good order, you can get on the front foot.
“If you go on the back foot at any stage you’re in trouble.
“You’ll get dominated, especially if you’re the away team. So it will be a case of stepping on to Sunderland and meeting the challenge head on.”
He then concluded by saying:
“Sunderland start as favourites.
“Pulling off a win would be a massive achievement for us.”
Meanwhile, his opposite number, Steve Bruce, has been saying that his Sunderland side will go out on the attack. Indeed, the “Black Cats” of Sunderland have been in fairly good form since their humiliation at St James’s Park, and are currrently sixth in the table, and eligible for a Europa League place as things stand, with Newcastle three places below them in ninth. But I digress.
Getting back to Steve Bruce, he said of the upcoming fixture:
“I have my team sorted out in my head.
“I have my game plan ready and a big part of it will be for the players to go out there, express themselves and go hunting for goals.
“We are at home, in front of our own fans and we need to take the game to them from the start.
“I look at my squad and I have young players who are full of energy – the youngest squad in the division.
“We need to harness that strength and energy in a way we did not last time we faced Newcastle.
“I am also in a situation where injuries leave us with only one way to play – given the players we can call on – and that is to be attack-minded.
“We have exceptional defensive midfielders – Lee Cattermole and David Meyler – and both would probably have played tomorrow had they been fully fit.
“That is not the case with Meyler and it is unlikely to be the case with Cattermole.
“When I look around my squad and my options, I find almost every player available to us is someone who loves to go forward.
“So we will look to play to the strengths of the players we have and we will go for it – I don’t think our fans would want or expect anything else.”
Team news so far.
As hinted at above, Alan Pardew has a few injuries with some key players to contend with, plus a suspension with the aforementioned Cheik Tiote. Centre back, Steven Taylor, is said to be out with his hamstring, but Shola Ameobi, Jose Enrique and Jonas Gutierrez are said to be available despite some doubts over their fitness. Shola was said to be out with an ankle injury, but that was only the Daily Mail. Dan Gosling, who has yet to play for the team since his transfer from Everton in July of last year, will be available for selection after coming through a recent practice game against Hibs.
Meanwhile, Newcastle aren’t the only side to be facing a somewhat depleted line up. On the Sunderland side, David Meyler, Michael Turner, Jordan Cook, John Mensah and Frazier Campbell are out of action, while Danny Welbeck, Nedum Onuoha and Lee Cattermole are doubtful.
Howay the lads!
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
workyticket has written 1091 articles on this blog.
Really getting excited/ nervous about this game now…
Can’t believe this is not on live, hope there is a good stream for it!!
I really dont have a clue how this one will pan out.. I think it will be tight and hope we get a win. Then again we may see a great performance and tank them again :)
Its crazy to see us out of the blue play amazing and spank a team then next week look average.
If we could get some consistant performances I think we could really pull away from the bottom teams and maybe even start looking up the table at where we might finish..