Magpies v Canaries: Newcastle United v Norwich City Preview
Posted on March 17th, 2012 | 7 Comments |
Date: Sunday, 18th March 2012
Kick-Off: 4pm (Sky TV)
Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)
Newcastle United welcome Norwich City to St James’ Park with manager Alan Pardew hoping that a win in this game could set us up for the big push towards qualification for the Europa League next season. Pardew has targeted “4 or 5 wins” from the remaining 10 fixtures, and sees this game as a great chance to get one of them.
This is also payback time as far as the Magpies are concerned, having lost at Carrow Road earlier in the season where we had to field a defence with no recognised central defenders against the “robust” Norwich forwards. Needless to say, we lost but Demba Ba still managed to score 2 goals that day, and it will hopefully be even better this time round as we should be able to field a stronger defence. We should also be able to provide a midfield and attack which will ask the Norwich defence a few questions.
Norwich have acquitted themselves very well in their first season since promotion to the Premier League. In their 14 away games this season they have won 4, drawn 4 and lost only 6. Away wins were at Bolton, QPR, West Bromwich Albion and Swansea, although it’s also worth noting that they have earned creditable draws at such places as Everton, Liverpool and Stoke City. In away games against top six clubs like us however (did you see what I did there!), they have not fared so well!
Newcastle United have taken only 2 points from the last 12 and it really is make or break time. The big decision for Pardew has to be whether he reverts to our preferred 4-4-2 formation and plays both our double Demba senegalese strikers and Hatem Ben Arfa from the off and goes for it. Alternatively he may decide to be more cautious at first and go for 4-5-1 – a stronger midfield with Ba as lone (but lethal) striker, to attempt to establish better control with the aim of reducing any potential threat from Norwich.
Newcastle United Team News
Alan Pardew announced earlier in the week that he would be holding a “roll call” ahead of this game to see who was fit and available. At the time of writing, prime concerns are Cheick Tiote and Danny Simpson, who both emerged from the Arsenal game with muscle strains. Ryan Taylor is definitely not available as he joins longer term injured players Peter Lovenkrands (thigh), Leon Best and Sammy Ameobi (both knee), Steven Taylor (Achilles) and Sylvain Marveaux (groin).
The United manager though still has options and could field James Perch at right-back or switch Davide Santon while Shane Ferguson could also be part of a defensive reshuffle. He also has Danny Guthrie as a replacement should Cheick Tiote miss out.
Newcastle United (Probable Squad): Tim Krul, Rob Elliot, Steve Harper, Danny Simpson, Davide Santon, Shane Ferguson, James Perch, Fabricio Coloccini, Mike Williamson, Cheick Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Gabriel Obertan, Hatem Ben Arfa, Jonas Gutierrez, Mehdi Abeid, Dan Gosling, Demba Ba, Papiss Demba Cisse, Shola Ameobi.
Norwich City Team News
Norwich expect to have midfielder Jonny Howson available again after missing the last game with a flu bug.
Defenders Daniel Ayala (hamstring) and Marc Tierney (groin) and Striker James Vaughan (hamstring) are not expected to be available.
Norwich City (Probable Squad): John Ruddy, Elliott Ward, Zak Whitbread, Adam Drury, Kyle Naughton, Andrew Crofts, Anthony Pilkington, Andrew Surman, Elliot Bennett, David Fox, Wesley Hoolahan, Simeon Jackson, Grant Holt, Steve Morison, Aaron Wilbraham, Jed Steer, Bradley Johnson, Russell Martin, Jonny Howson, Ryan Bennett.
What The Managers Are Saying
Alan Pardew: “I think I will be picking the team from the dressing room tomorrow.
“It isn’t ideal, but Monday was a tough, tough game.
“The mood has been one of fatigue, not mentally, but physically. We chased a lot of the ball and it took a lot out of us. To work as hard as we did and come away with nothing makes you feel even more tired – trust me.
“We’ve had a little refocus…..about where we stand and what we have to do.
“We have to get four or five wins from our 10 games to get into Europe.
“Momentum is everything in this division, I think the most important thing for us now is to get a win.”
Paul Lambert: “I don’t think anybody expects us to go up there and get anything. They’re doing fantastically well – Alan [Pardew] has got them going really well – but the lads are really looking forward to it. And there’ll be a massive crowd – which tends to bring out the best in people. And we’ll do everything we can to win.”
“We’ll not go there and be frightened by it. It’s a really passionate, football place Newcastle and the crowd will come right behind their team, but we will do everything we can to try and turn that around”
Prediction
It’s a “must win” game for United and no doubt the lads will be fired up. I’m going to assume that Pardew will play both Dembas and Ben Arfa from the start and that we will see one of those pumped up attacking affairs – 4-1 I reckon. But I could be wrong of course!
C’mon lads. Win this. Will be a nice treat for my 2nd of recovery from ACL repair surgery. I’m trapped in bed anyways so hopefully I can find a good feed.