Another battle of the birds at SJP this afternoon.Venue: St James’ Park, NE1 Date: Sunday, 18th March 2012 Kick-Off: 4pm (Sky TV) Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffs).
Hello, good afternoon and welcpme to our “match banter” feature for this afternoon’s visit from the “Canaries” of Norwich City.
Here’s hoping for a better result than last time at their place, when we lost 4-2 in what was their highest total of goals in one game for the season so far. Grant Holt put two past us back then, with Wes Hoolahan and Steve Morison scoring the others for the Canaries in reply to our brace from Demba Ba. At least we will have home advantage this time though..
For a far more detailed look forward to the game, check out UTD111’s excellent match preview for all the team news, stats, what the managers have been saying in the run up to the game and all that sort of thing.
As usual, I will also be posting the team sheets for the game below when they become available. (more…)
The CanariesVenue: St James’ Park, NE1 Date: Sunday, 18th March 2012 Kick-Off: 4pm (Sky TV) Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)
Newcastle United welcome Norwich City to St James’ Park with manager Alan Pardew hoping that a win in this game could set us up for the big push towards qualification for the Europa League next season. Pardew has targeted “4 or 5 wins” from the remaining 10 fixtures, and sees this game as a great chance to get one of them.
This is also payback time as far as the Magpies are concerned, having lost at Carrow Road earlier in the season where we had to field a defence with no recognised central defenders against the “robust” Norwich forwards. Needless to say, we lost but Demba Ba still managed to score 2 goals that day, and it will hopefully be even better this time round as we should be able to field a stronger defence. We should also be able to provide a midfield and attack which will ask the Norwich defence a few questions.
Norwich have acquitted themselves very well in their first season since promotion to the Premier League. In their 14 away games this season they have won 4, drawn 4 and lost only 6. Away wins were at Bolton, QPR, West Bromwich Albion and Swansea, although it’s also worth noting that they have earned creditable draws at such places as Everton, Liverpool and Stoke City. In away games against top six clubs like us however (did you see what I did there!), they have not fared so well! (more…)
Ben Arfa's goal, the only real highlight for the Magpies.Venue: Ashburton Grove, London. Date: Mon 12th Mar 2012. Kick-Off: 8pm. Referee: Howard Webb.
Well, Arsenal came from behind once more to clinch victory for the fourth time in a row, which I have been informed is a Premiership record. Whilst the first half of the game wasn’t exactly dull, a minute or two of pure excitement (with two goals in the process) put the rest of it in the shade somewhat. The second half was generally an exciting affair, though not necessarily for the right reasons from a black and white perspective. Despite being pounded by the Gunners’ artilllery, they were not finishing their fairly numerous chances as they might, and with some sterling defensive work, the Magpies almost held on. Sadly it was not be though, with Geordie hearts broken right at the death. (more…)
Corgnet still on the radar?Newcastle United will look to strengthen the squad in the summer (according to press reports) but who are the ins and outs likely to be?
Much of the press is speculating that Newcastle will see a large influx of players in the summer, with some suggesting that as many as five new faces might be present in next season’s squad. The books will of course still have to balance, so what are the likely courses of action?
First, players will need to leave in order to free up the cash for fresh purchases and that will begin by getting Alan Smith – and his alleged extortionate wages – off the books. Lovenkrands’ contract is up in the summer too; I have no idea what sort of wages he’s on but I’m guessing his contract won’t be renewed.
I think two players who may make an exit are Cheick Tiote and Demba Ba. Tiote was signed for a fee of just £3.5m from FC Twente in August 2010 and I’d guess he’s now worth 2-3 times that amount with Chelsea apparently front-runners to sign him. Demba Ba was of course signed on a free and we’ve since heard Harry ‘Loudmouth’ Redknapp blabbing on about some sort of release clause in his contract and that might mean we don’t get too much for him, but his excellent scoring rate this season has certainly attracted attention. In fact, Demba Ba has just been voted ‘Best Signing Of The Season’ having accrued 56% of the vote from the League Managers’ Association (Phil Jones and Scott Parker were second with 13% each). (more…)
ClattermoleVenue: St James’ Park. Date: Sun 4th Mar 2012. Kick-Off: High Noon. Referee: Mike Dean. Crowd: 52,388
This was without a doubt a game of twos! Two totally different halves, two penalties, two red cards, two goals and two managers who should know better, being caught up in the rivalry and squaring up to each other both verbally and physically.
It was raining before the game, and it rained a bit during the game, but the wet weather could not dampen the electric atmosphere of the latest Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park, NE1. Already assured of a sellout crowd fired with the usual local pride and passion, United fans were further emboldened by the news released 24 hours earlier, that both Tim Krul and Fabricio Coloccini had signed contracts tying them to the club for the next 5 and 4 years respectively.
First Half
The referee Mike Dean blew his whistle to start the game and nothing happened, as the crowd noise was so intense that Sessegnon, who was waiting to get things under way, didn’t hear it. Eventually we got going however to a wall of boos for the Mackems. There were exactly 32 seconds on the clock when the mackem thug “Clattermole” ignored the ball completely and scythed down Tiote in what was clearly one of those “let him know you’re around” early tackles. He should have been given a straight red card but got away with a yellow, probably because it was so early in the game. Sadly though, this tackle signalled Sunderland’s clear intent to make this a very physical game, and this not only set the tone for the rest of the half, but meant that some of the football went out of the window as United were forced into a war rather than the possession game we have come to expect this season. (more…)
