Newcastle vs Wolves preview: Two teams on back of 5 goal stuffings
Posted on February 23rd, 2012 | 33 Comments |
Date: Sat 25th Feb 2011.
Kick-Off: 15:00.
Referee: Peter Walton.
Having had a couple of weeks off to banish the ghosts of the 5-0 thumping by Spurs, Newcastle United hope to get back to winning ways when they host Wolves this weekend.
This is the second time I’ve done a match preview when it has been the opposition’s first league game after sacking their manager. Last time is was after Neil Warnock was ‘let go’ from QPR and this time it’s after Mick McMuppet’s dismissal from Wolves.
Wolves haven’t had much luck appointing a new boss yet and have allegedly had two attempts to get Alan Curbishley turned down. Apparently Wolves also asked for permission to talk to Reading manager Brian McDermott but it seems he’s signed a new contract with the Championship club instead (and they’re looking fairly good for a play-off spot themselves). Additionally there’s news today that ex-Rangers manager Walter Smith has told Wolves he’s not interested in the job either. Earlier in the week they said they’d have a manager in place in time for the Newcastle game but that’s looking a bit doubtful now.
It will of course be a home debut for Papiss Cissé (if he plays, and I think he will) and we’ll be back closer to full strength with the return of Tiote and Cabaye. I’d say the odds favour a home win for us. I have this down as 2-0 to us.
Theoretically we could go 4th on Saturday in the unlikely event of Chelsea slipping up at home to Bolton, but a win would certainly take us to 5th until Sunday when Arsenal face a tricky home game against Spurs. Liverpool don’t play Premier League football this weekend as they have Carling Cup duties against Cardiff scheduled for Sunday.
History
Wolves have not beaten us in the Premier League since its inception, although we’ve only played them 5 times. Back in October we beat them 2-1 at Molinuex with goals from Ba and Gutierrez. Last season we won 4-1 at home (Nolan, Ameobi, Lovenkrands & Gutierrez) and drew 1-1 away (Carrol). We have to go back to the 2003/2004 season to find our only other Premier League games against Wolves where we drew 1-1 both at home (Bowyer) and away (Shearer).
Wolves did beat us in the 2002-2003 season in the FA Cup though, when goals from Shearer and Jenas couldn’t save us from a 3-2 defeat at Molinuex.
| Played | Newcastle Wins | Wolves Wins | Draws | |
| All Premier League | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| PL At St James’ Park | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Let’s hope our unbeaten league record against Wolves remains intact after this weekend’s fixture.
Recent Stats
Our last six looks fairly good with 4 wins and two losses, although in both those losses we conceded 5 goals (5-0 to Spurs last week and 5-2 to Fulham on 21st January), which is a bit of a worry.
The last six for Wolves looks terrible though and they’re coming into this after conceding 5 goals themselves, at home to West Brom.
| Last 6 League Games | Pts | ||||||
| Newcastle | W | W | L | W | W | L | 12/18 |
| Wolves | L | D | L | L | W | L | 4/18 |
Wolves have only won 2 league games on the road, one of which was the game before last when they took all 3 points at QPR; the other was a 2-1 win at Blackburn back in August.
On the other hand we’ve only lost 2 league games at home this season, both in December last year when we lost 2-3 to West Brom and 0-3 to Chelsea.
Team News
NEWCASTLE
Silvain Marveaux still has 4-5 weeks to go with his Gilmore’s groin, Leon Best is out for another 3 or 4 weeks with a knee ligament injury and Steven Taylor is many months away from fitness with his ruptured Achilles. Of the more junior members of the quad, Sammy Ameobi is going to need another 10-12 weeks to repair his knee injury and Nile Ranger has a couple of weeks to go on a foot injury.
Ryan Taylor is said to have recovered from an ankle injury and is expected to be in contention for Saturday’s game.
Yohan Cabaye is back after serving a 3 match ban for violent conduct following an incident involving Brighton’s Adam El-Abd during the FA Cup tie at the Amex Stadium on January 28 and of course Cheick Tiote is back after his Africa Cup of Nations duties, all of which has pleased Alan Pardew:
“I think it’s important that we put in a performance that justifies where we are in the division,” said Pardew.
“It does help that I’ve got some iconic players back. I have to pick my best team, and that’s what I’m going to do for Wolves.
“I look back on the stats that I’ve had all year, I look at the pedigree of the player, the experience of the player and then pick a team that I think is going to win the game.
“To have Cabaye back and Cheick back, they’re massive players for us. You can’t deny that. No-one’s an automatic choice here but they certainly get a favourable choice in terms of what they’ve done already.
“These players have earned the right to have a slight advantage over other players. Having said that, everyone in this squad has contributed and if they were both injured I’d have no problem picking a team that I thought could beat Wolves. But as it is, they are available and I’ll pick my best team.”
Newcastle (from): Krul, Elliot, Harper, Simpson, R Taylor, Santon, Ferguson, Perch, Coloccini, Williamson, Kadar, Cabaye, Tiote, Guthrie, Obertan, Ben Arfa, Gutierrez, Gosling, Abeid, Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi, Ba, Cisse.
I reckon we’ll probably line up with Ba and Cisse up front; Tiote, Cabaye, Jonas and Obertan in the midfield; and Santon, Colo, Williamson and Simpson across the back (and Krul in goal of course).
WOLVES
Wolves are definitely without defenders Ronald Zubar (knee) and Jody Craddock (hamstring) but ex-Toon’s Sebastien Bassong and winger Michael Kightly could return from hamstring and back injuries depending upon how things go between now and Saturday.
Karl Henry returns to the Wolves squad after a suspension he picked up against Villa.
Wolves (from): Hennessey, Foley, Bassong, Berra, Kightly, Johnson, Ward, Jarvis, O’Hara, Edwards, Milijas, Doyle, Fletcher, Henry, Ebanks-Blake, De Vries, Stearman, Jonsson, Hunt, Hammill.
Pre-Match Soundbites
Ryan Taylor: “Both teams have come off the back of heavy defeats in our last games, so it will be two teams who are wanting to prove a point. But they have got to come here and have a go because they are in a dog fight. If you look at the table now you can say we are safe and are just looking to kick on to Europe now.”
Terry Conner, Wolves’ Caretaker Manager: “We have to show professionalism in times of hardship and the players know they have got to knuckle down. It has to be business as usual and back to work with the the players, getting them to smile and enjoy their training again. If they do that they will be better for it come the weekend. We have to prepare properly and give it our best shot.”
Howay The Lads!
NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen
I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10).
Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.
Wolves are a bunch of tossers at home but away from Molineux they’re no slouches. 10 of their 21 points have come away from home and their last two away games garnered them 4 points from QPR and Spuds and they’re unbeaten in their last four away.
So if Pardwho the Clueless thinks this is a home banker then he’ll end up a w@nker even though Wolves have no permanent manager.
They’ve used 4-1-4-1, 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1 and 4-2-3-1 against the Spuds (when they managed a point while we got battered) so as far as Saturday goes its anybody’s guess what formation they’ll go with but I’ll guarantee they’ll try to stifle any wing play, which in turn prevents the supply to Ba and Cisse.
Pardwho needs to start thinking creatively about beating lower placed sides rather than rely on plain old 4-4-2 to get him past the post.
Can he do it ? Can he phuck :(