Time to break the Anfield hoodoo!Venue: Anfield, Liverpool. Date: Sunday, 4th November. Kick off: 4:00pm Referee: Anthony Taylor (Manchester). UK TV: Sky Sports.
Hello, good afternoon and welcome to our “match banter” feature for this afternoon’s away game against the Scousers.
As you may know already, Anfield has been an awful hunting ground for the Magpies in recent times, and you’d have to go back to the the days of the permed one’s “Entertainers” to find our last victory on the red side of Merseyside, and even that was in the League Cup! That was a 0-1 fourth round victory on Wednesday 29th November, 1995. Some of you will also remember that this was also the year which saw the first of two classic 3-4 Premiership encounters at Anfield (with the next one happening the season after). The first one, in April 1996, is of course regarded by many as one of the finest Premiership games ever, and was only settled with a goal by Stan Collymore in the second minute of stoppage time. For our last Premiership victory, you have to go all the way back to 16 April 1994, when we chalked up a 0-2 victory with Andy Cole and Rob Lee doing the honours on that occaision. Andy Cole scored a total of 41 goals in 46 games that season, which wasn’t a bad effort. (more…)
Magpies v Throstles - Who will get the juicy 3 point worm?Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Sunday, 28th Oct. Kick off: 3:00pm Referee: Chris Foy. UK TV: None.
Hello, good afternoon and welcome to our “match banter” feature for this afternoon’s Magpies game against West Bromwich Albion at St James’ Park.
In the Premier League betting stakes, Newcastle United are the favourites this afternoon, with home advantage and Newcastle’s fifth place finish last season seemingly trumping the fact that West Brom are three places higher in the current Premiership table as we go onto this game. However it should be a very tough match between the Magpies and the Throstles, a match which could go either way.
For all the information you’ll ever need in the run up to this game however, please check out my collegue Andy’s excellent match preview, with all the team news, form guides, opinion and such. To that, I will add what Alan Pardew and West Brom manager Steve Clarke, who as you may know was a former Newcastle United assistant, as well as a caretaker very briefly (for one game) after the departure of Ruud Gullit in 1999, holding the fort until Bobby Robson took over for his five year stint as manager. (more…)
Our first meeting with the Belgians of Brugge.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Thursday, 25th Oct. Kick off: 8:05pm Referee: Martin Hansson. UK TV: ESPN.
Hello, good evening and welcome to our “match banter” feature for this evening’s Europa League game at St James’ Park with Belgian table toppers, Club Brugge.
For some in depth information on the visitors, as well as all the usual team news and words from Alan Pardew about the kind of team he’ll be putting out and so on, you can consult our extensive match preview. As well as that, I will also be posting the teamsheets for the game when they become available. Though thanks to Alan Pardew, we can say that Cheick Tiote, Sammy Ameobi and Shane Ferguson will definitely be playing a role, with the Silver Supremo also saying that he will be fielding a “younger” team this evening. Here’s what he said:
“The team will be younger. I’m looking forward to seeing it. It’ll have a lot of energy, and we hope that’ll cause problems. It will be very similar to the one selected to play Bordeaux. That’s the best clue I can give you.”
It's that time of the season again.Venue: Stadium of Blight, Blunderland. Date: Sunday, 22nd Oct. Kick off: 1:30pm Referee: Martin Atkinson. UK TV: Sky Sports 1.
Well, it’s that time of the season again, a time when Shola Ameobi emerges from the shadows to nudge aside Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo and become the most potent goalscoring force in world football. Will he do it again? Will he even start? Will the Mackems once again be tramping back to their Wearside hovels in abject despair? Of course, this is what usually happens as Sunderland have won only one of their last 15 games against Newcastle (W1, D6, L8). Indeed, they have won only one of their last 14 Premier League games against any Premiership team (W1, D9, L4) as Mackem manager, Martin O’Neill, desperately tries to get his side into top gear. Let us hope it isn’t in this game, as like the team from the land that time forgot, we have had a few problems of our own turning draws into victories. (more…)
A high quality live stream of this evening’s second leg Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse’s Senegal, and Cheick Tiote’s Ivory Coast.
In case you don’t know, the outcome of this game could have important consequences for Newcastle United. If underdogs Senegal manage to overcome a two goal deficit (the first leg was 4-2 to the Ivorians), then the club could find that their only proper strikers during the ACON tournament proper, which will be held in South Africa from the 19th January to the 10 February, will be the Shola Ameobi and Academy hitman, Adam Campbell, though Shola’s brother Sammy can also play upfront at a push and Hatem Ben Arfa can act as a “second” striker. It’s not a great situation though. On the other hand, if favourites, Ivory Coast win, then we will be without key midfield enforcer, Cheick Tiote. Whoever goes, they will not be available for our games against Reading (19th Jan), Aston Villa (29th Jan), Chelsea (2nd Feb) and Tottenham (9th Feb).
Who do you think Newcastle United will miss more?
Looking forward to this evening’s game, Alan Pardew had this to say:(more…)
