Butch Wilkins: My Word!Venue: St James’ Park, Toon. Date: Sun 15th Jan 2011. Kick-Off: 1:30 pm. Referee: Chris Foy.
United came to this game on the back of 2 excellent straight wins against Man Utd 3-0 (got that one in early today!) and Blackburn 2-1 in the FA Cup. In contrast, Queens Park Rangers had taken only one point from their last 6 games.
Everything pointed to a fairly routine, comfortable home win. However this was the first league game without Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote, and the other potentially influencing factor was the appointment of Mark Hughes, who took charge of QPR for his first game following the sacking of Neil Warnock.
The match referee, Chris Foy, was the man who had sent off Man City’s Captain Kompany the previous week for that 2-footed challenge about which there has been much subsequent debate.
United Manager Alan Pardew was asked by Sky TV before the game about Ba and how he would deal with losing such a prolific goalscorer. He replied that it was about the team, not individuals and that Best and Ameobi would be a handful.
The day got off to an annoying start for those watching on Sky as they insisted on calling St James’ Park the “Sports Direct Arena” for some inexplicable reason. You’d think they would have asked somebody what the proper name was if they didn’t know? (more…)
Blackpudding Rovers fans: Up for t'cup on Satda!Newcastle United will begin life without striker Demba Ba and midfielder Cheick Tiote in the FA Cup third round clash with Blackburn Rovers. Both are off to represent their countries (Senegal and The Ivory Coast) in the African Cup Of Nations.
But would either of them have been selected anyway even if they had been available?
The third round of the FA Cup used to be something which was seen as a major event in the English football calendar. Not only did it throw up the exciting possibility of a big club being drawn against a minnow, but for the bigger clubs it represented the first step in what could just possibly be a money-spinning path to the FA Cup Final – a fantastic day out in the full glare of the media, with all of the pomp, ceremony, posh new suits and possible glory that it throws up.
Sadly, times are changing and the romance of the FA Cup is changing with it – perhaps even sliding the same way that the League Cup has gone. Money is king in the modern game and some clubs are taking a different approach to the competition. As a result, we have seen teams shying away from fielding their best line-ups for fear of the extra injury risk to key players. For Premier League clubs, the difference in TV pay-outs attached to end of season league positions means that the risks are assessed more keenly.
Teams fighting relegation are in a particularly challenging situation, and often take the view that league matches have to be the priority. Which brings us nicely to Blackburn Rovers.
The Silver Supremo and Dreamboat - My men of the match (apart from the Toon Army that is).Firstly, let me just start by saying Newcastle thoroughly deserved their win and it was a win by United more than a loss by Manchester.
They were never allowed to settle on the ball, from the off. Newcastle also took the game to them, showed no fear whatsoever, gave no respect and pressed on with their own game regardless of what Man U brought to the party.
It wasn’t as if they had a depleted team, or even squad. When you looked at the team sheets, you would be forgiven for feeling pretty apprehensive, if not a little queasy. That didn’t seem to bother the Lads one iota though as they showed their intension to play a quick passing game, pushing forward as often as possible. The recent overuse of the long ball game was quelled, but it was used to good effect to catch the visitors on the break. (more…)
Cabaye and Ba get a goal a piece.A goal from Demba Ba, a free kick from Yohan Cabaye and – to add to Man Utd’s misery – an own goal by Phil Jones sees Newcastle United take all three points at St James’ Park.
The match started at a lively pace and it was pretty much box-to-box stuff for the first half.
The first decent chance fell to us on about 4 minutes when Simpson put in an excellent cross along the ground to Demba Ba, who was right in front of goal. Unfortunately it was slightly behind him and he couldn’t gather it for a shot.
Just over a minute later, Cabaye tested Anders Lindegaard after Ba nodded the ball down to him just outside the box. Unfortunately it was straight at the keeper and turned out to be an easy save.
Man Utd came close after 14 minutes though when a Berbatov header took a deflection and bounced off the post.
After 19 minutes an accidental handball by Cabaye led to a Man United free kick in a dangerous area. Fortunately Rooney’s free kick deflected off Tiote for a corner, which itself came to nothing.
What's the odds of him staying at the Toon?Reflections on Saturday’s game and a look ahead at what might and might not be happening in the January transfer window as far as Newcastle United is concerned.
How did we not win that game on Saturday? Swansea have one of the best defences in the league but luck was certainly on their side too, particularly in the first half where we were totally dominant throughout. I suppose it’s a case of what goes around comes around – I’ll be the first to admit we rode our luck a lot in the first half a dozen games this season.
The return of Colo was welcome and I thought he was fantastic on Saturday. Likewise I was impressed with Santon and Jonas. As to Obertan, Alan Pardew has been springing to his defence after he noticed the crowd getting on his case a bit. Pardew said:
“That’s a bit harsh. Because he is so quick you always want him bursting down the outside. I thought he played well first half. He created three or four situations for us. He is a player who has only played 14 Premier League games, he is learning, his discipline was much better defensively but when you get a 0-0, there can be frustration from the crowd.
“Overall, I though the crowd was very positive and I thank them for that. Yes, we want to win. We want the possibility of the top six. Don’t make me think I am happy with the draw.” (more…)
