A holiday in the sun for Pardew's happy campers.Venue: Estádio dos Barreiros, Funchal, Madeira. Date: Thurs, 4th October. Kick off: 6:00pm Referee: Robert Schorgenhofer. UK TV: ESPN.
Hello, good evening and welcome to our “match banter” feature for this evening’s Europa League clash versus S.C Maritimo on the paradise island of Madeira, home of Christiano Ronaldo, cake, and many a fine fortified wine.
Even away, the Magpies should normally go into this match as strong favourites, however with injuries and manager Alan Pardew prioritising the Premiership at home, he has travelled with a somewhat depleted squad to Funchal, which should add a bit of a “squeaky bum” factor to this game. However, I will spare you from too much of the usual pre match waffle here, as I have alredy done more than enough of that for this game, not only with my fairly extensive match preview from this morning, but also in another story in my series probing our Europa League Group Stage opponents from a few weeks ago. As I noted in the preview though, the squad Pardew has taken out there is: (more…)
Here's hoping we aren't Toffee hammered.Venue: Goodison Park, Meerseyside. Date: Monday, 17th September. Kick off: 8:00pm Referee: Mike Jones. UK TV: Sky Sports 1.
Hello, good evening and welcome to our “match banter” feature for this evening’s game against Everton.
With some fans disappointed with the club’s failure to reinforce the squad, with Alan Pardew bravely hitting back at them for not displaying sufficient “gratitude” to Mike Ashley for not “cashing in” some of the players we already have, this could be the start of a fairly decisive period for the Silver Supremo. If we get hammered in this game and produce a another mediocre performance against Maritimo in the Europa League later in the week, he could find himself in something of a downward spiral. On the other hand, convincing victories in both matches would see his latest patronising lecture to fans on behalf of his handlers totally forgiven. We shall see but fingers crossed for the latter! (more…)
The Magpies welcome the Villans this afternoon.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Sunday 2nd September,2012. Kick-Off: 4:00pm. Referee: Lee Probert. UK TV: None.
Hello good afternoon and welcome to our “match banter” feature for this afternoon’s game against Aston Villa.
It’s very early days yet, but the Villans have had a poor start in their first two Premiership games. Losing both, they currently lie right at that bottom of the Premiership, though they will be hoping to bounce back this afternoon at St James’ Park. Lets hope it doesn’t happen!
Anyway, I’m in something of a rush to get this finished in time so I won’t dwell on things. However, if you are looking for some more in depth background to this afternoon’s game, my collegue Jimbob has already prepared his excellent match preview which, as usual, should have everything you need to know in the run up to this game. (more…)
Second fiddle, but still in it to win it says Silver Supremo.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Thusday 30th August, 2012. Kick-Off: 8:00pm. Referee: Stephen Studer . UK TV: ITV 4.
Hello, good evening and welcome to our latest “match banter” feature for this evening’s Europa League game against FC Atromitos of Athens.
With a shortage of success in the transfer window so far, Alan Pardew has now been playing down the importance of this competition, even though it is over five years since we last tasted European football with Glenn Roeder’s legendary Intertoto winning “Dream Team” back in the 2006–07 season. Speaking in the pre match press conference for the game, the Silver Supremo said that he will be prioritising the Premiership and the FA Cup, seeing the League Cup and the Europa League as a chance for younger players and squad players to “show their wares,” though he did add that the priority would be raised should the club reach the latter stages of the competition.
Speaking on the fringe players, Pardew commented:(more…)
Here's hoping it goes like last time!Venue: Stamford Bridge, London. Date: Saturday 25th August, 2012. Kick-Off: 5:30pm. Referee: Phil Dowd. UK TV: ESPN / HD.
Hello, good afternoon and welcome to our “match banter” feature for this evening’s game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
A repeat of our last fixture here would be just what the doctor ordered, though of course, it took two very remarkable goals to pull that one off. As Chelsea manager, Roberto di Matteo pointed out though, Newcastle United do actually have a very good record at Stamford Bridge. Despite the home advantage, Chelsea haven’t actually beaten us there since 2007, which is a fairly remarkable record against such strong opposition on their own turf. Having written that though, we have only won one in eighteen Premiership encounters at Stamford Bridge, and the fact remains that this should be one of our most difficult encounters. As is usual with the Pensioners, they have made some remarkable additions to their squad since last time, not least the remarkable Eden Hazard. Still, we have the remarkable Benny in a similar role, and he was somewhat cheaper, not to mention the hero of our last gane at Stamford Bridge, though he is still warming up this season. Let’s hope he can recapture some of last season’s remarkable form at the Bridge this evening. (more…)
