Manchester United - Injury central recently.Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester. Date: Thurs, 26th Sept. Kick off: 7:45pm Referee: Anthony Taylor (Manchester). UK TV: Sky Sports.
The Toon begin this season’s League Cup campaign with a remarkably tough opening fixture away to the Mancs at Old Trafford. Kick-off is at 7.45pm and the tie, which will be settled on the night via extra time and penalties if required will be televised live on Sky TV.
It is widely accepted that Captain Colocinni will return for this trip to Manchester after a three match spell on the sidelines, which will be a relief to our beleaguered back four who had played three games in six days without him. Along with Colo it appears that wor Cheick will make his first appearance since the opening day win against Spurs and Pardew has hinted his “strong spine” will be completed with a start for Shola.
Hughton bringing the Premiership back to Newcastle.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Sun, 23rd Sept. Kick off: 3:00pm Referee: Neil Swarbrick. UK TV: None.
Chris Hughton will make his first public appearance at St James’ Park since he managed a 1-1 draw for the Toon against Chelsea in November 2010.
We all know that shortly after that game, with the team standing in 11th place in the Premier League (after our one year sabbatical in the Championship) Messrs Ashley and Llambias showed Hughton the door to bring in a manager with much “greater experience” (i.e. their own man). Pardew, an unpopular choice as Hughton’s replacement, tried to make the most of his opportunity and said this week:
“Both of us could probably look each other in the eye and say we have done a decent job at Newcastle”. Maybe but…
Now is not the time to drag out the old “should he / shouldnt he” routine but lets hope that Chris, who led us back into the top flight at the first time of asking (accumulating 102 points along the way), as well as bringing Graham Carr to the club, is afforded the same reception as former manager Kevin Keegan experienced on his return with Manchester City all those years ago. (more…)
A disappointing stalemate. Whilst Maratimo displayed some good build up play and passes into the box from players such as Sami, as I predicted in my preview of the game, they couldn’t really have anyone who could supply a killer finish. Then again, neither did we! (more…)
Maritimo beating Georgian side Dila Gori on their way to the Group Stage.Venue: Estádio dos Barreiros, Funchal, Madeira. Date: Thurs, 4th October. Kick off: 6:00pm Referee: Robert Schorgenhofer. UK TV: ESPN.
Before I begin, I wrote a previous piece giving some general background on Maritimo in my series probing our Europa League Group Stage opponents.
In this preview, I will concentrate more on Maratimo’s style of play and their performances this season, along with some videos of the Madeirans in action this term. I will also try to cover the usual match preview stuff such as team news for both sides amongst other things.
Maritimo’s style of play, and season so far.(more…)
