Arsene Wenger has always looked forward to bringing his top side to St. James’ Park.
Arsene Wenger – the great Arsenal manager
Maybe it’s because he likes the atmosphere at the ground, as we all know he waxed lyrical about the Newcastle fans and the City last August, just before the FIFA World Cup officials came to Newcastle to inspect the facilities for the 2018 World Cup.
Wenger will no longer play a full second eleven for the Carling Cup, as Newcastle did in the last round at Stamford Bridge, he tries to win another trophy for the Arsenal club, and he will probably play a side that has both experience and a blend of the younger players.
Wenger talked about the game today:
“We are not in the final yet, we have a long way to go,” “When you go to Newcastle you have to be realistic. That’s why I repeat we play with a good team and we do our best.””Newcastle are competitive. They have a good mixture between physical power, technical level and spirit.” “That is why they will be a dangerous side for everybody.”
“It is important that we go into the game and think we want to qualify, also we want to produce a great performance because the Chelsea game has shown that you don’t get away with an average performance against Newcastle.”
We have a feeling that Wenger may play quite a strong side tonight, so it will be interesting to see how many youngsters Chris Hughton is willing to play tonight.
The line-up when announced about 30 minutes before the game starts, will tell us just how much Chris thinks this game is important to the club, given we have a massive league game against Sunderland on Sunday – that we just have to win.
Arsene has used the Carling Cup in previous seasons to show just what a great set of youngsters Arsenal always seem to have, and Theo Walcott, Nicklas Bendtner, Carlos Vela, Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Koscielny are all in contention to start tonight, with emerging youngsters Craig Eastmond, Henri Lansbury and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas also in the frame.
Wenger seems determined to win a trophy this season and the Carling Cup is a great opportunity, which is why we think Wenger will field a strong side tonight, but whichever team he fields they must focus on the win tonight after five seasons without a trophy.
“I said to the players ‘we will go for everything we can, as simple as that’, and not really specify one more than the other one, that is why I believe we are on a good run and we want to keep that going,””It is important to keep it moving no matter what competition it is, that is what we want to do.”
“We are doing well in the Champions League and we have done well so far in the Carling Cup and we are back on track in the championship, so it is just all movement.”
Five seasons without a trophy – try 41 seasons without a major trophy.
That’s what Newcastle fans have gone through since we won the old Inter-City Fairs Cup back in 1969, when we hammered and completely outclassed Újpesti Dózsa 6-2 on aggregate, winning 3-0 at home and 3-2 away. 😀
And since we are talking about that game – here is the side that started both games – with the great Joe Harvey as manager:
Willie McFaul, David Craig, Frank Clark, Tommy Gibb, Ollie Burton, Bobby Moncur (c), Jim Scott, Bryan (Pop) Robson, Wyn Davies, Preben Arentoft, Jackie Sinclair
Comments welcome.
24 comments so far
nufcblog.com is dreadful
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:14 PM
Comment #1Does a seven year old write your articles? This site has to be the weakest by a country mile in terms of information provided. A complete disgrace!!
Ed Harrison
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:21 PM
Comment #2To the above reader- then why do you come here?- And get it right – I’m now 8 years old – birthday last week.
munch27
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:28 PM
Comment #3lol ed well said obviously one of them dicks from .org . on a brighter note last time my birthday fell on a cup game we beat norwich 4-1 in 2003 i was there and will be tonight as a very kind person gave me there Platinum club ticket for tonight . Keep up the great informative work ED.
CT
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:31 PM
Comment #4Post @ 1, grow up. Obvious you do not belong here. All followers on this blog, ignore his posts and like an obscene phonecaller he`ll get bored. ED take him off!
peterktoon
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:31 PM
Comment #5Happy birthday Ed 🙂
We all love this site
Ciaran Thomas
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:35 PM
Comment #6To the tit with the first comment,Why you need to read .org before you judge !
Org is biggest disgrace to a blog site,they dont even talk about football -.-
slazberger
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Comment #7keep up he good work Ed
slazberger
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Comment #8*the
Ryan_NUFC88
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Comment #9@nufcblog.com is dreadful
you are blatantly a Class A Bell that has nothing better to do, probably dirty Macken scum to be fair. So go climb back in your cave, eat your Tesco Value beans and prepare for your Sh1t example of a football team to be taught a lesson on Sunday.
Rant Over.
Team tonight:
Krul
Simpson
Williamson
Kadar
Ferguson
Guthrie
Vuckic
Smith
Routledge
Ranger
Lovenkrands
Good mix of experience and youth…
Ciaran Thomas
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:41 PM
Comment #10Well Said Ryan !
BeeGuy
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:41 PM
Comment #11Is Arsene covering his tracks? Lots of reminders to his fans about who beat Chelsea, and Newcastle’s talent, power and spirit. I’d imagine CH would be saying the same things five years from now if NUFC had not had a sniff of some silverware.
pearceet
Oct 27, 2010 at 12:57 PM
Comment #12BeeGuy
You assume that CH will still be here in 5 years……last time that happened was SBR I think!
caiha
Oct 27, 2010 at 1:03 PM
Comment #13Ed – please don’t listen to that macken. I’ve been using this site since it first started. Very good detail, and balanced opinion.
Your not only a supporter, but a supporter of supports. Thanks, keep up the goods work.
We can do it tonight!!!
Visten
Oct 27, 2010 at 1:17 PM
Comment #14To the first poster, eat my johnson sonny boy.
ronaldeano
Oct 27, 2010 at 1:35 PM
Comment #15To the first poster…
Do you get cheap thrills by writing tripe like that?
I get cheap thrills from your mam…
Btw, tell her to have a wash for me will ya, she stinks… Trust me, I know… Yuk!
ronaldeano
Oct 27, 2010 at 1:36 PM
Comment #16Ps, great site Ed :0)
Davies
Oct 27, 2010 at 1:41 PM
Comment #17Post 1 – Ball bag.
Tonight’s match will be a tough one no matter who Wenger puts out. He has a first and second team full of top quality players.
I still think Hoots should use the younger lads where he can, not only because we need to keep key players healthy for the league games, but because he needs to show these young lads that he respects them, trusts them and, most importantly, that he needs them. We have some fantastic talent in our younger ranks that could easily end up elsewhere if they don’t get the chances in cup games like this and I honestly think they can do a job for us.
I do get a bit sick of Arsenal knocking us out of cups; it’s happened way too many times, so if the younger lads help us progress against a team I kind of expect to beat us, I’ll be over the moon.
wadamja
Oct 27, 2010 at 1:43 PM
Comment #18very poor comment number one… please don’t come on hear in future…. great article ed, great blog
Thump
Oct 27, 2010 at 2:09 PM
Comment #19Well I certainly think Ed laid that one to rest haha
john_cena163
Oct 27, 2010 at 2:17 PM
Comment #20Nice 1 ed, kick dat scum out.
Nufc blog rulz
sweendog
Oct 27, 2010 at 3:02 PM
Comment #21Ed .. top blog .. keep up the good work..
jesus was a geordie
Oct 27, 2010 at 3:16 PM
Comment #22Ed, as the others have said and I’m sure you already know, everyone appreciates the massive effort (and painfully early mornings) you go to for this site…You’re a perfect example of what it is to be a Toon fan and why we’re amongst the best in the world!
With regards to tonight, I’m not holding out too much hope, but then again, I felt the same about Chelski!
HWTL!
xfer
Oct 27, 2010 at 4:44 PM
Comment #23@first poster: Get a grip. If you dont like a BLOG, don’t visit it. Period.
umermaliknz
Oct 27, 2010 at 5:17 PM
Comment #24@ post 1- It’s a bloody blog, not an official site. Your mummy hasn’t come up with it that you can go around moaning about it. Don’t like it ? then bugger off. Ed does a fantastic job. it’s a pleasure to read it even if there’s a few mistakes here and ther.. it’s only a blog as I said.