Newcastle United v Manchester United match preview
Posted on April 19th, 2011 | 96 Comments |
Yes, it’s been 7 seasons since we’ve beaten Manchester United at the Cathedral on the Hill. The last time coming with a 4-3 victory, courtesy of an own goal, with the late, great Sir Bobby Robson steering our black and white ship. Of that game, both Steve Harper and Shola Ameobi remain – both of them being unused substitutes in the last fixture.
Wayne Rooney has been declared available for the game after serving his ban for swearing, and perhaps more worryingly, veteran Ryan Giggs will also be available for selection.
As a wise man once said: “F@£k”
Long time Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, will be looking for more than just a ‘response’ against the Magpies and will be looking to extend that 7 season statistic as Arsenal prepare to shorten the 6 point lead, and Chelsea still struggling to find form after a blistering start to their campaign to retain the Premier League title.
But where does that leave us?
Anything other than a loss will see us reclaim 9th position from Aston Villa on goal difference, while a loss by 17 goals would see us fall below West Brom in 11th. Nice to know, eh?
Kevin Nolan remains sidelined after picking up his 10th yellow card against Wolves two weeks ago and our injury list is growing ever longer. Our very own man in the mask, Shola Ameobi, is provisionally available, Leon Best is out for the season with both Ben Arfa hoping to return to full training along with Dan Gosling. Alan Smith will also be out after picking up another injury earlier in the season against a certain lot of unwashed knuckle draggers – and I’m not talking about Liverpool.
On the positive side, the rumour mill is churning with quiet whisperings of Ireland’s willingness to play in this fixture so perhaps he will make his debut after all and our Ivorian midfielder, Cheik Tioté, is set to take up his mantle once again in the centre of midfield and will no doubt be itching to get back into the action after his 2 game ban.
After a decent performance against Villa, Newcastle will also be looking to hit back and make Manchester United’s life as difficult as possible.
Alan Pardew said of the upcoming fixture:
“It is a fixture I genuinely believe Sir Alex will be very wary of. Maybe not so much because he fears us as a team, but because he fears the ground and the reaction it can inspire the team to. For example, the Arsenal game – we were 4-0 down and our first goal goes in and suddenly you felt the crowd erupt and impact on the game.
That is what he will fear perhaps more than the team, but I honestly believe he will genuinely fear this game.”
Edwin Van der Saar also had some rallying words for his team:
“It won’t be difficult to pick ourselves up. We know how important the league is. We are in first position, so we just have to make the best of it. “We were a little bit tired (on Saturday). The pace of our game was not quick enough. We have played a big number of games in the last three or four weeks and against Newcastle we must do better.”
Edwin, of course, announced his retirement this season and as a result this be the last time we see him grace the hallowed turf in a competitive fixture, so for all of those who are going, be sure to give him a warm send off – hopefully after we’ve snatched all 3 points from his grasp.
Everybody knows that this will be a hard game to play, but as we saw at the season opener, our team has the ability to push and make lives a little more difficult for the Manchester side.
Howay the lads!
NUFCBlog Author: Thump
Some say his bones are black and white but that is yet to be medically proven. Currently writes for a few different publications and likes to assert his imaginary authority on nobody in particular.
Beware: eats children.
Thump has written 36 articles on this blog.
1st??? He he sorry I’m being annoying