Newcastle United Vs Tottenham Hotspur Match Preview
Posted on August 17th, 2012 | 65 Comments |
Date: Saturday, October 18th, 2012.
Kick-off: 5:30pm.
Referee: Martin Atkinson.
TV: ESPN / HD.
After the euphoria of a 5th placed finish, a disappointing yet much improved England showing in the Euro’s, and an Olympics that actually was really rather good, the Premier League and Newcastle United are finally back for another season.
Pre-season has been pretty unspectacular, but slightly more steady than last years showing. There wasn’t any crowd trouble to kick things off, or a José Enrique and Joey Barton ‘Twitter’ blast at the club’s hierarchy. On the actual footballing side, a massacre of Hartlepool United (5-1) was Newcastle’s best result and performance. This was sadly followed by our worst though, a 4-1 reverse at Cardiff City.
Four new arrivals in the shape of Romain Amalfitano, Gael Bigirimana, Curtis Good and as of yesterday, Vurnon Anita, have been introduced into a squad that will be competing in four competitions this coming season. We have had to say our farewells too, most notably to Danny Guthrie and Leon Best. Peter Lovenkrands has also gone, a player who was very well liked and will always be remembered with fondness from most including myself. Sadly we lost Alan Smith too…
But I digress, on to Saturday and our opponents…
Andre-Villas-Boas or ‘AVB’ if you’re in a hurry, brings his Tottenham Hotspur’s up to St James Park for our first test of the 2012 / 2013 season. Spurs have had an interesting summer of sorts. After finishing 4th but missing out on the Champions League due to Chelsea’s triumph, they dispensed with Harry Redknapp, and replaced him with the ex-Chelsea supremo, Villas-Boas.
On the playing aspect, Spurs have lost the excellent but unfortunately unfit Ledley King, and as I type this it looks as if David Guetta lookalike, Luka Modric, has packed his bags and headed to Spain. Once alleged Toon target, Jan Vertonghen, has joined from Ajax, along with Gylfi Sigurdsson from Hoffenheim. First team members (of sorts) consisting of Vedran Corluka, Steven Pienaar and Niko Kranjcar have bode their goodbyes to North London, and sought new challenges and actual playing time somewhere else. Emmanuel Adebayor is still very much on the radar of Tottenham, but a deal has been difficult to strike due to wage demands apparently.
Mags Vs Spurs – History
Mid October of last season witnessed a very entertaining duel between the two sides at St James’ Park. A Rafeal Van Der Vaart penalty opened the scoring for Spurs, with Newcastle equalizing thanks to Demba Ba early in the second half. Jermain Defoe emerged from the bench to fire Tottenham back into the lead. But United had a ‘super-sub of their own in the form of Shola Ameobi, who unleashed an unstoppable rocket with his left foot into the far corner of Brad Friedel’s net. The score ended 2-2.
Since the season of 2000 – 2001, the Magpies have tasted only two defeats in the Premier League at home versus Tottenham, with Newcastle picking up eight victories and two draws. The 1996 – 1997 season still echoes in the mind, when two goals a piece from Alan Shearer, Rob Lee and Les Ferdinand added to Philippe Albert‘s lone strike, resulted in a 7-1 triumph for the Toon. Newcastle have scored more goals against Tottenham than any other Premier League team (58). In 36 meetings since 1992 / 1993, there have been 111 goals shared between the sides.
Squads
Newcastle United: To follow
Tottenham Hotspur: To follow
At the time of writing, it’s looking unlikelyCheick Tioté, Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye will be available. Their seems to be a slight chance Cabaye may contribute some minutes during the match, but it’s very doubtful he will start. Scott Parker is definitely ruled out for Tottenham, and there is a slight injury worry regarding Gareth Bale (isn’t there always).
Pardew’s likely line-up:
I expect a cautious approach from both teams, with Newcastle having a tricky tie in Greece the following Thursday, then an away fixture against Chelsea on the Saturday. Pardew will not want to risk losing this game, and I think Villas-Boas will have the exact same mentality. Obviously no manager wants to lose any game, but I would expect both parties would be more than happy to share the points.
Villas-Boas will likely play a 4-2-3-1, with Defoe leading the line. Defoe is always a threat, but if Bale shakes off his back injury, then expect many of Tottenham’s threats going through him in some capacity. Aaron Lennon, on his day, can also be a match winner. I am slightly concerned with a slight lack of creative spark from the Magpies, with both Cabaye and Ben Arfa likely to miss out. Obertan and Jonas will likely be tasked with swinging balls into the box, which can be a struggle with those two at times, but with Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse in the middle, anything is possible. Vurnon Anita will more than likely start the match in the centre of midfield. Whether he play the majority of his games there remains to be seen. Ideally Pardew will utilize the 4-3-3 / 4-3-2-1 we saw at the back end of last season, and the arrival of Anita will allow Cabaye more freedom to roam forward. But as I’ve written, through injuries, I doubt we will see this on Saturday.
Waffle
Tricky one to call, mainly due to potential injuries. If we had a full squad to pick from, I would be supremely confident of picking up the three points. As it stands I expect a slightly cagey affair, maybe a few mistakes from both sides, and potentially a set piece deciding this one if there is to be a victor. I will however go for a score draw in this instance, and deep down, I think I’d be happy to start the season with a point.
First games can cause ripple effects throughout the season. Starting with defeat would be bad preparation for our Europa League tie, and I’m less than optimistic about facing Chelsea so soon after. I still don’t believe we have enough to compete in four competitions with the numbers we have, and I am still adamant we need a centre back and a striker. There is still time to remedy that, with the transfer window open for the next few weeks. Of course we can turn up in Europe and the other cup competitions, but I’d like to see us give it a really good go. I’m sure the players and Pardew want to as well. I just hope the ones above can recognize the excellent opportunity the team has of doing something really special this year. One or two shrewd investments in the coming weeks could define what we achieve. And, lets hope we can also keep hold of our stars before August comes to an end. I don’t see any reason why we can’t.
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.
Jimbob has written 40 articles on this blog.
the midfield wont be that, not a chance!!!!!