Toffee trip.Venue: Goodison Park, Meerseyside. Date: Monday, 17th September. Kick off: 8:00pm Referee: Mike Jones. UK TV: Sky Sports 1.
With the international break finally over, we can get back to the nitty gritty of the Premier League when Everton take on Newcastle United at Goodison Park on Monday night.
Both sides have aspirations of finishing in the top 6 yet they both went into the international break on the back of poor performances so no doubt they’ll be looking to bounce back with a win. Its just possible, even at this early stage in the season. We could be in for a classic.
After a good start, Everton came back to reality with a disappointing 0-2 reverse against the Baggies at The Hawthorns having won their two opening games against Man USA and the Villa. Whereas the Toon’s previous showings have been somewhat underwhelming after their initial opening day win against Spuds. Subsequently we lost comprehensively at Chelsea, only 0-2 in terms of result but 3/10 in terms of performance which was followed by a lacklustre 1-1 draw at home to Aston Villa. With a less than full capacity at SJP, Toon lost the first half with a typically uninspiring performance but somehow clawed their way back into the game with yet another outstanding individual strike from Hatem Ben Arfa. (more…)
Team: F.C. des Girondins de Bordeaux. League: French Ligue 1. Position last season: 5th. Stadium: Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux. Last major trophy: Ligue 1, Coupe de la Ligue, Trophée des champions – 2009. Fixture dates: Thurs, 4th Oct (H), Thurs, 6th Dec (A).
A silver haired Supremo in his early fifties, his team came fifth in the League last season. However, after a major clearout of players from his team and a need for replacements, he found himself ultimately frustrated in the hunt for new players in the last transfer window, with his club at an important stage in it’s development.
Who else could I be referring to other than Francis Gillot, the 52 year old Silver Supremo of our forthcoming Europa League Group Stage opponents, Girondins de Bordeaux? Whilst they may not be quite what they were in their last heyday under Laurent Blanc (2007-10) yet, they should still provide by far the stiffest test in our battle to get through the first Europa League group stage.
Maratimo at their place.Team: C.S. Maritimo. League: Portuguese Primeira Liga. Position last season: 5th. Stadium: Estádio dos Barreiros, Funchal, Madeira. Last major trophy: Campeonato de Portugal, 1926. Fixture dates: Thurs, 4th Oct (A), Thurs, 22nd Nov (H)
Though Maritimo play in Portugal’s Primeira Liga, Maritimo (Maritime) are situated on the island of Madeira, some 600 miles from the Portuguese coast and slightly closer to Africa than to Portugal.
Madeira was colonised by the Portuguese in the early 15th Century and is now an autonomous district of Portugal. Despite being a very small island, with a population which is roughly similar to that of Newcastle upon Tyne without Gateshead, Gosforth and the rest, the island of Madeira has no less than eleven teams competing in the Portuguese leagues, the major ones being Maritimo and their main Madeiran rivals Nacional in Portugal’s Primeira Liga. Both Maritimo and Nacional are from Madeira’s capital city, Funchal. It was Nacional who helped to groom the young Funchalian who subsequently went on to become Madeira’s most famous football export by far, Christiano Ronaldo, who won a title with Naconal’s youth team before he moved on to one of the big three of Portuguese football, Sporting Club of Lisbon, at the tender age of twelve. (more…)
Villa sign a younger replacement for Shay Given?Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Sunday 2nd September,2012. Kick-Off: 4:00pm. Referee: Lee Probert. UK TV: None.
Sunday brings Premier League football back to St James’ Park as Aston Villa provide the opponents for a 4pm kick-off. There will be no UK TV broadcast of the fixture so it will be time to scour the internet for links if you’re not attending the match.
Newcastle will look to bounce back from last weeks defeat at Chelsea. While Villa have lost both their Premier League fixtures to date, a 0-1 loss to West Ham, and a 3-1 defeat to Everton last week at Villa Park. Historically Villa have struggled at St James Park, with only one win in the last twelve years. So the omens do look good if you believe records mean something.
Newcastle United Vs Aston Villa History
The way in which the Villans goaded the Magpies back in 2009 when Newcastle were relegated still strikes a nerve with many Toon followers. On Newcastle’s return to the Premier League in 2010 / 2011, Villa provided our first opponents at home, so a chance for some kind of retribution presented itself. Joey Barton, a Kevin Nolan double and an Andy Carroll hat trick helped to inflict a 6-0 mauling for the Magpies. Last season, Papiss Cissé introduced himself in style, controlling Jonas‘ left wing cross and lashing a volley past ex-Magpie Shay Given to secure a 2-1 victory. The last time we lost to Villa at St James’ Park was during the 2004 / 2005 season, where we witnessed Lee Bowyer and KieronDyer fall out very publically and get themselves sent off for fighting after Bowyer felt that Dyer was refusing to pass the ball to him in the 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…)
