Finishing touches!Just as the fans collectively ordered, we bounced back with a fairly emphatic 4-1 defeat of Coventry City. The Sky Blues barely turned up, and save for the obvious lead they took, Newcastle looked untroubled throughout. Solid performances from everyone in black and white but an inspired display from Routledge and Gutierrez was enough to undo them.
With a slightly uninspired first thirty minutes passing by without incident, Coventry created a chance out of nowhere and Clinton Morrison managed to get the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-0 and send the away fans ecstatic. Not prepared to let the Sky Blues build on a goal against the run of play, we fashioned a half chance which fell to Routledge, who hit superbly across the ball and volleyed into the bottom corner to level things.
It wasn’t long after the halftime break that Newcastle took the lead with a great little move started by Guthrie, who threaded the ball into the box for Nolan, and as the skipper cut the ball back with his left foot, Carroll couldn’t miss with his header. And 17 minutes later, a dubious penalty was awarded for a foul on Routledge, which resulted in a dismissal for a second yellow for the perpetrator. Lovekrands despatched the penalty with some authority. (more…)
Scored but shoulda been wearing a balaclava...The scoreline doesn’t even begin to tell the story, on a day when Newcastle United were outplayed and outfought by a Swansea City side, more determined and far more capable than their Magpie counterparts. And how we manged to nick a point at the death will remain a mystery to those who sat and watched the full 90 minutes.
With a number of injuries to contend with and still bedding in new recruits, Hughton nonetheless fielded a strong side against the Swans, with three changes from the Derby game. Colo came in for Williamson to partner Fitz Hall. Gutierrez didn’t even make the bench, allegedly due to an illness, with Smudger back in the middle of the park and Guthrie moving to the left. Leon Best was dropped for Lovenkrands and Hughton seemed to go for a 4-4-2 from where I was sitting, though Sky kept insisting it was a 4-5-1. (more…)
Derby's Shaun Barker completes the 'Ram-Raid'.I might have known.
After spending the day having a lot banter with the Forest fans who were on jury duty with me telling them all we had to do was produce something like the performance we did against Cardiff a few days earlier and I would be a very happy bunny thank you very much. But that was the killer punch. We didn’t produce the performance and looked for large parts of the match like a team of strangers, which is not surprising when half the team didn’t know each other just over one week ago.It also seems we don’t like travelling to the East Midlands, with results this season against Forest, Leicester and now Derby all being testament to that.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I thought I would be late for this one so foot down, get parked 5 mins from the ground and race in. No time for anything to eat or drink and just got to my seat as the teams were being announced. Joy of joys, the same team as Friday evening. Hughton going 4-4-2 away from home, Nolan captain and Smudge on the bench. (more…)
This may or may not be the Derby goalscorers...Andy Carroll was already there after being formally charged for assault on Monday but his Newcastle team mates joined him in coming back down to earth with a bump, as our apparent bogey team Derby County turned us over convincingly. After the Friday night demolition of Cardiff, hopes were high of more of the same but Geordie expectations couldn’t have been more spectacularly wrong, with Derby running out 3-0 winners in front of a bumper and boisterous crowd.
Like many, I was restricted to radio commentary and Deb, who was unfortunate enough to be there, will provide us with the gory details all in good time, though some of us may not have the stomach for it. Hughton named an unchanged side, much to the delight of supporters who thought he might revert to a more defensive formation and there was undeniable confidence that we could do some real damage but it all went horribly wrong. (more…)
On top of his game. A bit of argy-bargy was about all Cardiff City fans had to take away with them tonight, after they were badly let down by their team. Newcastle 5 Cardiff 1, reads like a thrashing and a thrashing it was.
Right from the outset, we looked the far superior team, in fact we stamped our authority so early, that yours truly missed the first goal and had to make do with the other four to savour. And after three goals in the first fifteen minutes, there was never any way back into this for the Bluebirds.
Chris Hughton made a whole host of changes, which ultimately provided us with more fluency and critically, more pace. Danny Simpson returned at right back with Ryan Taylor dropping to the bench. In came Fitz Hall making a full debut at the back, alongside Williamson. Coloccini was rested, after complaining of problems with a hamstring injury which has threatened since before Christmas. Nolan and Guthrie started in the middle of the park, with neither Smith or Butt anywhere in sight. Gutierrez returned on the left and Leon Best also made his debut, paired upfront with Andy Carroll. (more…)
