Newcastle came away with all 3 points on Wednesday evening at Blackburn, and a second successive win in the Premier League tomorrow against Aston Villa would see the lads flying high.
If Newcastle can win tomorrow against a decent Aston Villa side, then Newcastle would have 42 points from 24 games and the side would remain in at least 5th position in the league.
Newcastle still have their top two central midfielders missing in Yohan Cabaye and Cheick Tiote, who plays tonight for the Ivory Coast in the quarter finals of the African Cup of Nations against Equatorial Guinea in Malabo.
French International Yohan Cabaye will be serving the second game of his three match ban for violent conduct, he picked up after the game at Brighton, when Newcastle were knocked out of the FA Cup.
The good news is that Newcastle have their two Senegal strikers back and both Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse have been in training since Thursday, and both are set to figure in this game.
And Cisse will make his debut at some point, wearing the famous number 9 Newcastle jersey.
It’s over a year since Newcastle fans have seen the number 9 jersey, which was last worn by Andy Carroll against Liverpool in his last game for Newcastle in December of 2010.
That was Alan Pardew’s first game in charge and of course we slaughtered Liverpool 3-1, and Andy scored his last goal for Newcastle just before the end of the game, with that great left-foot shot.
Newcastle did really well on Wednesday night at Blackburn, but they sorely missed the presence of Cabaye in midfield in that first 45 minutes, and it wasn’t until James Perch came on in the second half for Ben Arfa, that Newcastle got to grips with Blackburn.
And we have t think that James will keep his place alongside Danny Guthrie in central midfield.
And Shola Ameobi was again not up to par at Ewood Park, and we expect him to give way to Demba Ba up front, but we do think that Leon Best will start the game alongside Demba Ba up front.
Hatem Ben Arfa was ineffective in the first half against Blackburn, and Alan Pardew could start Ryan Taylor out on the right wing, so this is the team we expect to start for Newcastle United tomorrow afternoon:
Krul
Simpson Coloccini Williamson Santon
Taylor (R) Perch Guthrie Gutierrez
Best Ba
Subs: Harper Ferguson Ben Arfa Gosling Obertan Cisse Ameobi (Sh)
Newcastle will need to play a lot better in the first half than they did on Wednesday night, if they are to win the game tomorrow.
And we have to hope that Coloccin, Krul and the lads at the back have another stalwart game, and another clean sheet would be just great.
With Demba Ba back in the side, Newcastle must stand a decent chance of coming away with all 3 points, but it will not be easy, and Newcastle will have to be on their mettle.
There’s a good chance that St. James’ Park will be completely full tomorrow afternoon, to both welcome Demba Ba back, and to see Papiss Ciisse, formerly of German club SC Freiburg, make his debut in the number 9 shirt.
And with Sunderland winning again today at Stoke by 1-0, they are now only 6 points behind Newcastle, which is another reason the lads need to pick up all 3 points tomorrow afternoon.
Sunderland were helped by the sending off of Rubert Huth just before half time, but the wintry conditions were terrible at Stoke this afternoon, but it’s worrying the Black Cats are winning so many games under Martin O’Neil.
Sunderland have won 7 of their first 10 league games under the former Aston Villa manager – that’s not good. 😀
And there was also a sending off at the Emirates, where Givet saw red after 43 minutes and Blackburn went down 7-1 to Arsenal.
At Loftus Road the home side lost to Wolves 2-1, and they also lost new boy Djibril Cissé after just 34 minutes to a red card, when they were leading 1-0, and QPR and Wolves are now level on 21 points each.
And one stat that got our attention from the Newcastle web-site today – apart from Manchester City, Newcastle have won more league games against Aston Villa than against any other club.
Tomorrow’s game is the the 153rd meeting between the two clubs, and the 146th in the league.
A win is what we want to see tomorrow, which will keep us in at least 5th place in the league, and anything less will have to go down as a disappointment.
Howay The Lads!!
188 comments so far
tarie4
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:24 PM
Comment #1Gold
Baro
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:26 PM
Comment #2is it snowing there in newcastle?
Can u see some grass?
im in the states’ just carious if match called off for tomoro or not……..
tarie4
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:26 PM
Comment #3Ruddy how do U knw hoilett’s attitude is pants??
boater
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:31 PM
Comment #4Reckon it will be postponed. Ice near the stadium or more than 3 inches of snow and it’s off. Fingers crossed not.
Baro
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:33 PM
Comment #5its amazing how 75% of the people on this board want junior hoilett at this club…..
I don’t rate him one bit….
he is just another speedy winger, we have obertan who is fast as hekk….
Just remember what charles n’zogbia did for wigan, he was just tremendous and at times unstoppable….
but look at him now, is barely half the player he was a wigan, i believe hoilett is the same….
North Atlantic Magpie
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:34 PM
Comment #6You cannot start both Raylor and Perch in midfield at home. That’s way too defensive. If Pardew does start them both I will be in shock.
North Atlantic Magpie
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:35 PM
Comment #7We’re safe now so now it’s all out attack at least until we get in front.
ToonDownSouth
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:36 PM
Comment #8boater
That would surprise me – I mean there’s undersoil heating, so we’ll have to see how it looks tomorrow.
Obviously I’m not up in Newcastle though. How bad is it? It’s fairly heavy here
corktoon88
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:39 PM
Comment #9Definitely won’t be called off. Not a chance especially since sky are televising it they’ll ensure it goes ahead .
Newcastle will win tomorrow 3-1 I reckon. This is team i reckon pards will put out tomorrow to beat Villa.
– Krul
-Simpson-Williamson- Colo- Santon
-Obertan- Guthrie- Raylor- Perch- Jonas
-Ameobi-
Hell be playing 4-5-1 i reckon for first half and’ll change it up early in second to go and win it. Got plenty of ifrepower on the bench to blow them awa. Wont start best or put him on right wing so i reckon hell put Shole up front on own for 60 minutes.
Couple of late goals will get us through,
if we lose this the mackems are only 6 points behind us so we gotta win!!!
Klatoon
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:43 PM
Comment #10If the conditions are anything close to what was at Stoke,then Pards might as well play hoofball,stick Ba and Best uptop,Raylor RW,Perch CM,Jonas LW.
HWTL
boater
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:46 PM
Comment #11Snowing lightly. Just caught some footage of today’s games which looked nuts. Hope it’s okay.. I’m not going but pretty pumped up for the game tomorrow. Pretty sure Sky has no influence if the club, local council/met decide to cancel.
Robby Bobson
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:49 PM
Comment #12We did look more comfortable with Perch in the middle of the pitch, but i think 50% of that was that we changed to 4-4-2 and we had Best holding up the ball up top.
I’d love to see Guthrie with Abeid/Vuckic in there, Perch for me is nothing but a destroyer and will not offer the passing needed of a DM in a prem game at home.
Robby Bobson
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:52 PM
Comment #13If this Birmingham game is being played, im sure we can MTFU.
Ben-Arfa11
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:53 PM
Comment #14I would just like to say i really do hope the match is not called off as im really looking forward to the match i can see demba ba scoring 2moro its clearly going happen if we defend like we did against qpr then i think we have the game won they got some really pacey players like bent and zogbia and the sjp pitch is perfect for them its just the kinda pitch that is so easy to get in behind a back four dont know why but chelsea showed how easily it could be done earlier in the season.
Also off topic about newcastle 2 things about 2 other clubs in the premiership.
Is anyone shocked at how sunderland keep winning??martin o neil clearly has a magical touch at winning games clearly a great manager i expect him to manage a country tho in the near future as clearly that would be the perfect job for him i cant see him progressing sunderland for the future because of his poor transfer descions
the fact that he goes for old players that have no resaleable value means he clearly is out of the times
the fact that his shopping window
was to get kevin davis from bolton and wayne bridge both over 30 and 1 of them is out of form and the other one is a mercenery shows that sunderlands future under o neil aint so bright in my view thats why a country job would be perfect for o neil because there is no buying players involved.if he took up lets say northern ireland job and got them to a world cup that wud be amazing and wouldnt rule it out however he never make a club stronger in the long term with his buying players stratagy.
also arsene wenger is always moaning cant take defeat very well but i think everyone would be pretty upset about the decline of such a wonderful manager.he had the world at his feeth only a half a dozen years ago.his team played attacking football and brought young players on the cheap and were talented.
however his biggest mistake ever was break up the invicibles he had a team unbeated for the season but yet got to cocky decided to break up all the expirence and try and build a young team all across the squad he thought he could really acheive doing this however he just made himself out to be an idiot he brought the likes of nasri and fabregas to build a team around them but they never sticked by arsenal and left them pretty early.
so pretty much arsene wenger bloods young players takes risks with his own job just to sell them on a few years later so pretty much arsene does all the hard work to find these players yet other clubs just snap them up a few years later.arsenal have no ambtion whatsoever
it shows that spurs are a bigger club that arsenal as spurs do the same thing buy young players difference is they actually keep them if arsenal actually kept there players they would of have 1 heck of a teamm
van persie is next expect him to move to barcelona!
tarie4
Feb 4, 2012 at 5:54 PM
Comment #15TRUE baro…but hoilett is younger…he is 21…charlie boy is a bit older…and in my opinion hoilett is a better player than oberton and they are about the same age…and he can play a number of positions…both wings and as a no 10..
The reason as U said 75% of this blog want him is because he has a better end product than Jonas and oberton.
supatoonkid
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:01 PM
Comment #16My XI (4-4-1-1):
Krul
Simpson, Williamson, Collocini, Santon
R. Taylor, Perch, Guthrie, Gutierrez
Ben Arfa
Ba
Subs: Elliot, Ferguson, Gosling, Obertan, Lovenkrands, Best, Cisse, Sh. Ameobi
Crow59Cdo
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:09 PM
Comment #17http://twitter.com/TheFunnyRacist
jesperfuglsang
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:11 PM
Comment #18It was a horrible game against BB and lets hope this will not be the lineup against Villa.
Arsenal just slaughtered BB 7-1 a game be barely won 2-0.
I might do a post about this later because this actually says alot about us and our phenomenal 4-4-2 😉
mattnufc
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:20 PM
Comment #19Would be good to see:
Simpson Williamson Coloccin Santon
R. Taylor Guthrie
Ben Arfa Ba Guiterrez
Cisse
imo.
ToonDownSouth
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:20 PM
Comment #20Arsenal were at home, and playing against 10 men. They’ve also got a much better team than us!
There’s no shame in accepting that Arsenal are better than us
Klatoon
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:24 PM
Comment #21Wtf? Ivory coast drop Tiote for their Qfinal tonight,oh what we’d do to have him tomorrow 🙁
jesperfuglsang
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:25 PM
Comment #22@TDS
It has nothing to do with that. we need to accep that and move on. We have even had trouble beating teams playing only 10 this season.
For me your attitude is one of the problems. If i have the time i’ll do a post about it.
Mancgeordie
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:27 PM
Comment #23My team tomorrow
krul
simo colo wilo santon
raylor guthrie
benarfa jonas
ba cisse
cos i reckon villa will sit n let have posession n try to hit us on the counter nen arfa n guthrie will need the pace n movement of the cisse n ba to find a pass n if it ain’t workin take arfa n cisse off move raylor right n bring ameobi on n try hoof ball n loads off crosses
shearer4pm
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:29 PM
Comment #24krul
simpson colo willo santon
raylor guthrie gosling jonas
ba best
ben arfa for best 60th
obatan for raylor 65th
cisse for ba 70th (to score the last goal in an 8-0 win 😉 )
ToonDownSouth
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:34 PM
Comment #25When have we had trouble beating teams with ten men? When has that ever happened???
Arsenal & Sunderland had 10 men against us for about 10 minutes.
Blackburn had 10 men, and we beat them comfortably.
ToonDownSouth
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:35 PM
Comment #26And I would say your attitude of constantly thinking you know more than the manager is the problem
Dearka
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:38 PM
Comment #27Krul
Simpson, Williamson, Collocini, Santon
Ben Arfa,Gosling, Guthrie, Gutierrez
Ba, Best
Subs: Elliot, Ferguson, Perch, Obertan, Lovenkrands, Cisse, Sh. Ameobi
Willo
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:42 PM
Comment #28Krul
Simmo Colo Willo Santoon
_____Raylor Guthrie_____
Obertan_________Jonas
_____BA____Best_____
I like Perch in the role he’s in now, the stopper at the end of the game. I think Gosling could come in but I doubt it. It could be that AP starts Raylor and Obertan and removes Oertan at the half for Perch and Raylor goes wide. Of course Cisse for Best at 65ish
super magpie
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:43 PM
Comment #29I think it will be a tough game tomorrow, they’ve got a decent away form, probably because they sit deep for the whole game and try to counter with fast players like bent,n’zogbia etc.
However, Iv head Collins,(best cb) and agbonlahor (fastest player) are both injured so they will be big misses for villa
Dannyo
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:46 PM
Comment #30Is the undersoil heating not at Benton? Or do we have it on the field from before?
super magpie
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:52 PM
Comment #31My team for tomorrow 4-4-2
Krul
Simpson Colo Willo Santon
Raylor Guthrie perch Joan’s
Ba best
When tiotes back. 4-3-3
Krul
Simpson~~~~~ Colo ~~~~~Willo ~~~~~Santon
Cabaye~~~~ Tiote ~~~~Jonas/Guthrie
Ba ~~~~cisse ~~~~Ben Arfa
jesperfuglsang
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:52 PM
Comment #32I cannot see how my attitude affects the way we play. Non what so ever. Pardew is just a man like everyone else nothing more nothing less.
You just seem to have excuses for everything and the ‘right’ defense. Al this we are not as good as them or we are not Barca are just empty words my friend.
Some of us aspire for more and think we are capable of more.
super magpie
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:53 PM
Comment #33Sorry Jonas* spell check on my iPad
Special K
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:53 PM
Comment #34@jesper
remember, Arsenal lost 4-3 to Rovers at Ewood, we won 2-0 and beat them 3-1 at home, who cares by how many? We got 6 points from Rovers, they got 3
True-Geordie123
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:54 PM
Comment #35I honestly hope this is our starting line up tomorrow
Krul
Simmo Williamson coloccini santon
Obertan perch Guthrie Gutierrez
Best Ba
ToonDownSouth
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:56 PM
Comment #36We took 4 points from Manchester United, who will take 4 or 6 points from about 17 other teams this year. So we’re better than everyone, right?
Absolutely smashing logic there. It’s not like every team is beating Blackburn 7-1!
I’m sorry, but aspire to more? You know, I can honestly say that no, I do not aspire to more than 5th in the league in our second season back.
toonarmy08
Feb 4, 2012 at 6:59 PM
Comment #37my team for tomorrow:
Krul
Simpson – Williamson – Collocini – Santoon
Raylor – Guthrie – Vuckic – Jonas
Ba – Cisse
Subs: HBA for Raylor (70 mins)
Perch for Gosling if things need sureing up last 10
Ameobi for Cisse if he’s not quite settled
jesperfuglsang
Feb 4, 2012 at 7:00 PM
Comment #38@Special K
I care about the preformens not just the results. But it has been imposible to through to some of late even though our preformens has been below pair.
We just see things differently. And the Arsenal vs. BB game just prove my point in one of the ongoing discussions.
jesperfuglsang
Feb 4, 2012 at 7:02 PM
Comment #39@TDS
you keep talking about point and not performens. If we had lost at BB would your tone be different?
super magpie
Feb 4, 2012 at 7:06 PM
Comment #40Toonarmy08
Vuckic wouldnt work well in CM, remember west brom?
He played well but left way too much space through the middle when WBA attacked. He’s more suited to a CAM role with 2CM behind in a 4231 formation, would like to see him get more game time just not in CM. he’s got a hell of a shot as well