Highlights of our disappointing 4-2 defeat at the hands of Delia Smith’s Canaries at Carrow Road. As usual, I will endeavour to update these when better, longer ones become available.
Alan Pardew went into this game matching his opponents with a two big lads upfront appraoch, forsaking Ben Arfa for the silky skills of Shola Ameobi. However despite their good work upfront, a patched up Magpies’ defence found themselves outmuscled in the air by the powerful Norwich frontmen, Steve Morison and Grant Holt, who scored three goals between them in this 4-2 victory for the home side.
Newcastle did settle into the game more quickly than Norwich in the first ten minutes, but there were no big chances either way. The first real shot coming from Cabaye in the ninth minute after a fairly poor lay off from Ba, but it was straight at the Norwich keeper. However there was a scary moment for the Magpies fairly early in the game when Davide Santon handled the ball in the area. The referee didn’t give a penalty, but after looking at it a few times, both Santon and Newcastle United were very lucky to get away with that one! (more…)
James Perch and Tamas Kadar: Stepping out from the shadows.As someone once said: “Defence is just another way to attack.“ You can just start to imagine (go on, imagine it) how important our stable defence has been for our attacking play this season.
Take the two central defenders out of the equation and what happens? Well, we may find out next weekend if Coloccini doesn’t make it as he hopes for our next game against Norwich. Alan Pardew and Newcastle United have managed to keep the same defence throughout the season, but could now be forced to make a big change with Steven Taylor out for the season and Coloccini possibly missing with a thigh strain. The aim of this piece is to shed light on the different defensive options for the team, and then argue which would be the strongest.
Natural Defenders Available:
Danny Simpson, Ryan Taylor, James Perch, Tamas Kadar, Shola Ameobi and Davide Santon.
Possible Defenders:
Alan Smith, Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye and Jonas Gutierrez. (more…)
Who will replace them?Newcastle United’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea pales into insignificance compared to the prospect of playing without Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor.
I’m not particularly worried about the 0-3 scoreline on Saturday. Things didn’t go our way with the sending off that didn’t happen, the loss of Coloccini early on then Taylor near the end of the game and the infernal woodwork that saved Chelsea on a number of occasions.
That’s not to say that Chelsea weren’t threatening – they were – but on another day I could have seen us get a draw from that game, or at least only lose to a scoreline that was more reflective of the game than 0-3. I think what I’m trying to say is that we certainly weren’t completely outclassed or anything like that.
Looking ahead, though, what is worrying is our extensive injury list, particularly in the defensive region. (more…)
Chelski: The last of our terrible trio of fixtures.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Saturday 3rd Dec, 2011. Kick-off: 12.45pm. Referee: Mike Dean.
Newcastle United will be looking to maintain their fine home form (undefeated in ten games) and increase the pressure on Chelsea’s beleaguered manager, André Villas-Boas in the 12.45 kick off at St James Park, Newcastle on Saturday.
NUFC report that the game is sold out so a capacity crowd will be able to watch an intriguing match up between the fourth and fifth placed teams both of whom have injured DM’s missing from their respective sides.
Cheick Tiote, who has been linked with a move to Chelsea in recent months, will definitely miss the game adding to concerns by some fans that he’s been left out deliberately in order to avoid further injury in the run up to January’s transfer window.
Worryingly, manager Alan Pardew said:
“I am not going to say he will be fit for next week. We must make sure he is right because he is a very important player to us.(more…)
De Jong just making absolutely sure he maims Ben ArfaVenue: City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester. Date: Sat 19th November, 2011. Kick-off: 3.00pm. Referee: Chris Foy (Linesmen: D Bryan & D.C.Richards).
Don’t forget that as usual, we will also be doing our usual “what the managers have been saying” review in the run up to the game, and also our regular “match banter” feature where you can make comments, share good streams for the game etc while the match is in progress. This should be going up around and hour before the kick off. Also as usual, we shall also be posting our report of the game some time after.
Well, it’s all gone quite swimmingly for Newcastle United so far, even against contenders such as Arsenal and Tottenham where we departed with honourable draws. However, the next three games (Man City, Man United and Chelsea) could well be reality check time, starting with this one away against table-topping, moneybags Manchester City.
