Time to smash The Potters?Newcastle host Stoke this afternoon in the rather oddly timed 4:10pm kick-off.
A feeling of intrigue has been sweeping over me since the midweek win over Chelsea. Will we push on and get the win or will we suffer a similar fate to what happened against Blackpool?
Time will tell on that but I am rather excited about todays game, more so than usual in fact. Much of that is down to me wanting to watch a bit more of Hatem Ben Arfa. Those nasty Stoke players had better stay away from my boy or else they will have me to answer to!
As ever, this is the place to come together and piss and moan as we usually do. Hopefully there will be no moaning today though as the team set about trying to put the Blackpool result to bed. (more…)
Newcastle welcome Stoke City.Newcastle face tough opposition tomorrow when Stoke City roll in to town.
Tony Pulis has moulded his side into a solid Premier League team these days and most people know full well that to get points off of them then you have to be up for the fight and be prepared to give no less than 100%.
Luckily for Newcastle we have a team who will do that nowadays. The last time we played Stoke I never felt confident about our own ability to get results against the more physical teams in the league. A draw both at home and away in our relegation season kind of confirmed that.
This time round is different though, and Newcastle now have the ability to mix it up with the best of them after our ‘character building’ season in The Championship last year.
Chris Hughton is expected to make wholesale changes to the team that beat Chelsea in midweek and tomorrows team will more than likely look very similar to the one that started the match at Everton last weekend. (more…)
Home comforts in the fourth round.After the highs of beating Chelsea away in the last round of the Carling Cup I think it’s fair to say that the fourth-round draw has brought most of us back down to earth with a bump.
The win against Chelsea was a fantastic result and well deserved given the effort that our lads put in on the night. A nice reward would have been a home tie against one of the so called weaker teams still left in the competition. Northampton at home would have done nicely.
What did we end up with? Bloody Arsenal. At least the game is at home though and will have to be sorted on the night in front of our own fans.
Deflated is the word I would have used after watching us get pulled out of the hat, but after pondering it I guess that we would have to play one of the big boys again at some point in the competition if we actually want to win it.
As ever, Newcastle will have to do things the hard way and will have to beat those famous Arsenal youngsters that play in the Carling Cup games if they want to progress in the competition. (more…)
Ben Arfa - The boy has done good. It seems to me as though the press have a bit of a bee in their collective bonnet regarding Hatem Ben Arfa.
It would appear that they are suddenly overly concerned about his past behaviour and how it could impact on Newcastle should he showcase it at St James’ Park. How sweet eh?
I mean if I was a cynical person I would perhaps suggest that the ickle little press are a bit annoyed that things are going rather swimmingly on Tyneside at the moment.
I would also hazard a guess that the same press are suitably irked about Newcastle having what looks to be a quality player in the shape of Hatem Ben Arfa in our squad. No doubt that wasn’t in their plans. He should have gone to a better club than us in their eyes no doubt!
There is only one reason that the press have decided to air these stories again, and that is to get a reaction. I understand that what I am writing can be classed as a reaction, but really my purpose is to highlight just how pathetic the press are again. In fairness, that is a point that is easily made! (more…)
Abdoulaye Faye returns to his former club.This past week has been pretty much fantastic from a footballing perspective.
Two good away wins at Everton and Chelsea have added to what was already a decent start to the season.
Newcastle now have the chance to complete the week (ok eight days, but you get the point) with a 100% win record in what I would say is a very winnable fixture at home to Stoke on Sunday. The problem for me is that the memory of the Blackpool game is lingering in my mind. The only way to get rid of that memory is by going into a winnable home game and actually winning. If we can manage that then it really has been a superb week.
I guess the mantra I am adopting is for us to not get carried away. Stoke present their own challenge but they are one of those clubs in bracket where we should be looking for three points from a home game against them. I mean that with no disrespect of course, I just think that we should be looking to take three points off of any team outside the top four, five or six at St James’ Park. (more…)
