Derby day looms: Sunderland v Newcastle match preview
Posted on August 18th, 2011 | 52 Comments |
12.00 pm on Saturday sees the 145th Tyne – Wear derby take place, as Newcastle United visit the dark place to take on Steve Bruce’s Sunderland.
Due to police advice, the game will take place at noon and there is no scheduled live broadcast of the match. If you’re not braving the journey to the Stadium of Light, you will likely be able to find a broadcast here. Just keep checking that site before kick-off and you should be able to find a link. Like last season, Howard Webb is the man in the middle.
Newcastle approach this game on the back of a 0-0 home draw against Arsenal, in which the only notable incidents were a stamp by Alex Song, Joey Barton getting angry and a slap to the face.
The slap to the face I’m referring to was Gervinho’s literal slap on Joey Barton and not Alan Pardew’s first-half tactics in which our 4 man midfield was totally overrun by Arsenal’s midfield 5. Now lets take a look at the two squads.
Newcastle: Harper, Krul; Coloccini, Saylor, Williamson, Simpson, Perch; Smith, Tiote, Cabaye, Abeid, Vuckic, Barton, Guthrie, Marveaux, Ferguson, Gutierrez, Raylor, Obertan, Gosling; ShAmeobi, SAmeobi, Ranger, Best, Ba, Lovenkrands.
Sunderland: Mignolet, Bardsley, Brown, Richarson, Ferdinand, Cattermole, Larsson, Colback, Elmohamady, Sessegnon, Gyan, Westwood, Bramble, Laing, Gardner, Vaughan, Wickham, Ji.
Missing are Hatem Ben Arfa who’s injured and Danny Guthrie who’s not match fit. Kazenga Lua Lua, Michael Richardson, James Tavernier, Phil Airey and Xisco are unavailable due to being away on loan. Shane Ferguson and Sylvain Marveaux got through our reserves recent 5-0 win against Gateshead reserves, but neither are likely to start on Saturday. Fraser Forster’s departure for Celtic means Steve Harper looks likely to be on the bench, with Tim Krul retaining his place in goal. Easily our stand-out players last weekend, Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini look likely to partner each other in defence. Ryan Taylor looks set to remain in the left-back position, as the club have failed to progress negotiations (probably bids) for any suitable replacements. This is despite Pardew’s insistence after the Arsenal game, a new left-back and possibly a striker would be among our ranks for the trip to the Stadium of Plight. I expect Cabaye and Tiote to resume their partnership in the centre of midfield, with Barton operating the right-flank and Jonas the left. Expect Ba to partner Shola Ameobi up top.
In essence, expect a bland 4-4-2 formation with no surprises. Personally I would prefer something along the lines of this below.
As you can see I’ve opted for the same formation I would liked to have seen against Arsenal. I’ve included Obertan in the ‘hole’ position, though you could easily swap with Barton. I think Obertan can operate slightly better than Barton though behind the striker. Against Arsenal we lacked a link between midfield and attack with Ba and Ameobi lumbering up top together. In my Arsenal match preview I opted to include Jonas as the link between midfield and attack. It really all depends on how Pardew sees this game going. Does he want to win or just go for a point?
Expect Sunderland to employ a 4-5-1 / 4-4-1-1, meaning Newcastle will need to match their aggressive midfield by either pushing Barton, Cabaye and Tiote together. Seb Larsson might be pushed to left-midfield and Sessegnon may be deployed on the right to target Ryan Taylor. Remember though, Steve Bruce isn’t a tactical genius and he may leave Larsson on the right. If indeed he does leave Larson on the right, don’t worry too much about Ryan Taylor as Larsson’s only real threat is his set-piece delivery, though I am aware of the excellent goal he scored against Liverpool last week.
Our set piece plays must improve, as against Arsenal we didn’t clear the first man frequent enough. This is obviously incredibly frustrating to watch and I believe this game may be a nervy affair for both sets of players, I can see a set-piece deciding it, one way or another. As you can see I’ve also opted for Ba up top instead of ‘Mackam slayer’ Shola Ameobi. Well, like I’ve said, expect to see both Ba and Ameobi up top on Saturday.
Remember, the onus will be on Sunderland to attack us. They are at home of course and will want to banish the humiliation of the 5-1 defeat at St James’ Park last season. The more ‘pacy’ players we decide to start with the better. We want to invite them on to us, and utilise the pace of players such as Obertan and Jonas. This match will start at 100mph and our lads must be awake from the off.
Sunderland’s stand out player last weekend was Wes Brown. I’ve read many comments laughing at his arrival at Sunderland, but he is a very good and experienced defender. Something the Mackem’s lacked in both our previous meetings last season. Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini were outstanding last weekend also, so both sets of central defenders may be key to who has prospered come Saturday afternoon.
Key man Newcastle:
Joey Barton
They’re going to target him and try to wind him up. If he can keep his cool, this is exactly the type of game he can excel in, much like last season.
Key man Sunderland:
Lee Cattermole
Same as Barton, our players will try to wind him up the same. Kevin Nolan did an excellent job of this during our victory at St James’ Park, where he had to be substituted by Bruce over fear of collecting a red card.
So, the second match of the 2011 / 2012 season sees the Magpie’s face the Mackam’s. Expect another hostile affair as usual, but my gut feeling is this one will not be a high scoring encounter. A goal either way will likely settle this one. Bragging rights will be in full effect until we meet again on Saturday 3rd March at St James’ Park. Maybe we will have a new striker and left-back by then?
Lets hope the lads get stuck in and bring home the three points.
It’s on!
Howay The Lads.
NUFCBlog Author: Jimbob
Backpacker extraordinaire and current resident of sunny Sheffield. Loves Marmite, hates peanut butter. Sleeps twice a day, wrestles Polar Bears because he can and regards himself as cool as a cucumber in a bowl of hot sauce.
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