It was another terrific result for Newcastle this afternoon at The Hawthorns, and the lads played so much better than in the 1-0 win against Norwich last weekend.
Papiss Cisee – after scoring first goal after just 5 minutes
And it’s hardly surprising that Alan Pardew has come out and praised his players after the game, as Newcastle ripped apart the West Brom defense in that first half, with three goals and some delightful fast counter-attacking football.
Newcastle are now level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea on 50 points, and that’s the first time Newcastle have reached that total since the 2005-2006 season, when we got 58 points to finish in 7th place and qualify for Europe.
Papiss Cisse notched a brace for Newcastle today, as the mercurial Frenchman, Hatem Ben Arfa, laid them on for him, and in between the French International helped himself to another great goal – his 5th of the season.
That was Newcastle’s 14th win of the season in 30 games – not too bad at all, and the lads are now a full 8 points clear of Liverpool, who we play next Sunday at St. James’ Park.
This is what Alan Pardew told Sky Sports after the game:
“I just thought we had a real good control of our passing today and our movement was terrific.”
“We tried to work down the sides of Youssouf Mulumbu because he protects the center of the pitch really well and that worked well for us.”
“But you need outstanding players to win games here and our best player stepped forward today – Hatem Ben Arfa was really, really difficult to play against, some of his runs were incredible.”
“And Demba Ba and Papiss are going to score goals and I kept saying to the staff, ‘we’re going to get three goals in a game shortly because we’ve got so many goalscorers’, and today it came.”
“We’ve just got a really good bunch who are trying so hard. To have the same points as Chelsea at this stage is phenomenal, really.”
“And you have to take your hats off to the players – they’ve worked really, really hard.”
Newcastle face Liverpool next Sunday in what will be a sold-out St. James’ Park, but we will be without our captain Fab Coloccini, who is out around three weeks with a hamstring strain he picked up in the first half.
And we still don’t know how bad Papiss Cisse is hurt, but we are hoping it’s just a bad case of cramp – fingers crossed – although he was carried off on a stretcher.
Update: Alan Pardew said after the game to nufcTV that Cisse got cramp and he should be fine for Liverpool next Sunday.
The lads were great today and that’s two great results on the bounce.
Now we have to make that three against Liverpool.
Comments welcome.
190 comments so far
nufc786
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:20 PM
Comment #1http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5zB9-8Civ8Q
on the liverfool subject this guy has done more than what carroll’s done. if he comes on or even starts against us he shud be taken seriously
Vask
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:20 PM
Comment #2I’d definitely say perch will be our best cover for colo, he’ll have been doing alot of CB work in training for this very eventuality. On recent form I’d back him to perform well at least on the ground any way.
nufc786
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:21 PM
Comment #3i think our shane is better though
rich_toonfan
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:22 PM
Comment #4@Vask
definitely….as soon as january ended without a CB he will have been working hard every training session on it.
I don’t think we should do this but what do you all think of tiote playing CB?
Barcelona do it a lot with mascherano when they have no CB cover….not sure myself but worth a go?
Dannyo
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:25 PM
Comment #5Yep, today was a perfect display of counter attacking football. Bring on the bindippers!
LGFUAD21
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:26 PM
Comment #6American Toon 13
Nice point made on last thread.
Im really glad we saw the opportunity in front of us today and took it. We are now 8 points from Liverpool and level with Chelsea. Chelsea have a tough run in and I’m not buying into all this talk about “they’re coming into some form” because I haven seen anything too impressive from them really.
It’ll be great to be able to keep it 8 or even extend it to 11 points ahead of Liverpool but not the end of the world if we dont. it just keeps pressure on us.
If we can win it though it will give us some nice momentum for our seasons end which im hoping we can capitalise on.
Swansea will be tough but Wigan and Bolton are two very winnable games for us.
Dannyo
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:29 PM
Comment #7Btw, Roy disgusted me today.
Straight after the 3-0 goal, the camera was on him.
He ripped off his black band and threw it on the ground, dunno if anyone else saw it, but i couldn’t belive my eyes.
That was a low from him.
Also, his post match interview was appauling, he was just pissed at anyone and everyone and didn’t really want the interview.
What a blockhead i acted like.
Tommyy
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:30 PM
Comment #8We were excellent first half today but looked very shaky at the back as soon as Colo departed.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I have a massive worry that Colo being out could very well ruin out chances of sixth. Perch and Willo at the back fill me with utter dread whenever they are attacked against. Saying that I thought Perch was excellent at full back today, but he just isn’t a CB unfortunately. As for Willo, great first half alongside Colo, looked good in the air, awful on the ground ( as per ) but in the second half he just fell apart, poor passing, clearing, heading.
I hate to be negative after such an excellent all round team performance today, I’m just worried about the next 3 games without our most consistent player, best defender and captain!
LGFUAD21
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:30 PM
Comment #9And Perch is undoubtedly our best cover for Colo. His game has come along a lot this season and he is gaining a good read on games. He does look shaky at times but I wouldnt put Santon in there as he is still clearly learning the English game.
Ive pondered about Tiote but I think that would be a penalty waiting to happen. plus we need him in mid to break down the attacks.
I would Perhaps consider Simmo for it but I think his head has been trouble lately, no thanks to our own fans really.
Simmo needs to put in a stormer of a performance soon just to give himself some confidence.
If Colo is out we need someone to command the team and keep it structured. I think Cabaye is perfect for this. He was our heart and soul today
rich_toonfan
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:30 PM
Comment #10@dannyo….
Thats disgraceful if thats what he did. I thought it was his notebook he through? have to see again on motd.
Toon Tang
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:30 PM
Comment #11ahhhhhh cant believe willo is gunna be our only defender against carrol and sourez and co. bring back bramble hahaha
RobertNufc25
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:32 PM
Comment #12Outstanding the day lads.
When we play the ball on the deck we look a very good team.
Hopefully we play the same style for the rest of the season.
Ben Arfa pure class today.
LGFUAD21
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:34 PM
Comment #13Tommyy
I see your point and it is also a big concern for me. Hope he can make it back for Swansea
And yes we did look a bit rough at the start of the second half. I think we structured it up again though after we conceded.
Also Long is a very hard striker to play against, his scoring ability is not great in the prem even last time he was in it. But his movement is very troublesome
At least we can take solace in the fact that Pards and his Coaching staff will be working on our makeshift defense all week
Dannyo
Not a happy man at all. At least it showed that he cares.
Tommyy
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:35 PM
Comment #14I also thought Simpson was faultless today, stuck to his man and made some top tackles. Still no good at going forward, but defensively he is very solid, which is what we need right now.
GeordieToon89
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:35 PM
Comment #15Dannyo – A seen him do that mate was disgusting
Dannyo
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:36 PM
Comment #16@Robert
Gutted mye 3-0 prediction didn’t hold… :/
RobertNufc25
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:38 PM
Comment #17I seen Hodgson do that today aswell,but I think he sort of caught on what he’d done & picked it up again straight away.
Think he just lost the plot for a minute to be honest.
nufc786
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:40 PM
Comment #18u know perch is around 10mill to me
why you ask?
well
decent dm not the best but decent worth 5mill
decent at lb not the best but decent worth 2.5mill
erm at cb very shaky saw him against norwich but better then willlo so who is estimate to be 2mill so thats why perchy is 10 mill to me
RobertNufc25
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:42 PM
Comment #19Willo & Perch will play cb next week for sure.
Willo up against Carroll,You couldnt throw Tiote in against Carroll with the height difference.
I would defo play Tiote Cb at Swansea if Colo isn’t fit.
RobertNufc25
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:44 PM
Comment #20And Perch is turning into a cult hero like Siberski. 😉
Probably our most Improved player this season,in my humble opinion.
toonking
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:44 PM
Comment #21fixtures at this time of year change totally due to battle for suvival title and europe
chelsea have
villa WIGAN fulham arsenal NEWCASTLE QPR liverpool BLACKBURN
we have LIVERPOOL swansea BOLTON STOKE chelsea wigan CITY everton
so chelsea might just have the extra advantage of 1 hard away fixture (arsenal) compared to our 2 (chelsea and wigan-relegation battle) in my opinion but they still have champions league and fa cup which could be the extra bit of luck
nufc786
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:45 PM
Comment #22RobertNufc25
how much is perch worth in your most humble opinion?
rich_toonfan
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:47 PM
Comment #23@toonking
Everton and swansea are both hard away fixtures too.
There is no reason we cannot win all of our remaining games, we have the quality to do it just need to play like today.
We obviously wont win them all but I think we shouldn’t be too worried going into these games.
nufc786
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:48 PM
Comment #24we are safe anyways but i want 60 points though
Dannyo
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:49 PM
Comment #25If we can get 4 wins from the final 8 i’ll be very pleased with that. If we can get more i’ll praise AP as our next SBR and/or KK.
It’s a great era to be a toon supporter.
Spuggy
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:49 PM
Comment #26Finally the magic formula with three up front and away from home too – a really positive formation by pards, he went for it and it worked.
Such a MASSIVE shame about Collo – but it was always possible – is missing out on a CB in the summer gonna come back to haunt us?
I hope not – but if we play like we did today and add Tiote to the mix then hopefully we can score more than them. HBA was incredible today and Cisse is a real goalscorer!
rich_toonfan
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:51 PM
Comment #27@dannyo….if we play to our maximum we can win our next 4…will be hard but achievable and will give us 6th minimum
JTOONJ
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:51 PM
Comment #28Hodgson has done it before, not with a band, but with his head i remember him banging it against a pole?
nufc786
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:53 PM
Comment #29u know perch is around 10mill to me
why you ask?
well
decent dm not the best but decent worth 5mill
decent at lb not the best but decent worth 2.5mill
erm at cb very shaky saw him against norwich but better then willlo so who is estimate to be 2mill so thats why perchy is 10 mill to me
you know if he plays against the big lug well next week then
perch will be be worth 45milll to me!!!!!!!!
LGFUAD21
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:53 PM
Comment #30nufc786
First post.
I watched the whole game and Sterling looks a great young talent but at the same time he wasnt half as good as that video makes out.
And Dalglish’s post match interview suggested that he really didnt want to play him and is unlikely to again any time soon, he said it was unfair to put him out of his depth. and i think if he feels that about yesterday then I wonder how he feels about playing him in front of a sold out st james’.
Another point, I wonder if Cisse’s success so far has been because players are spending too much time concentrating on Ba given his reputation. He pulled defenders away brilliantly today.
Either way defences will soon be scared of us. HBA, Ba AND Cisse. Which do you keep an eye on?
Would love to see HBA embarrass Enrique next week. Show him what he couldve played a vital part of.
Spuggy
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:54 PM
Comment #31TBH I’d have more trust in Perch than Willo at the moment.
He’s better than this – he is lacking in confidence for me but he’s what we have so support him to the end!
With a couple of quality defenders this team is gonna be incredible!
davybtoon
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:55 PM
Comment #32Perchino has brilliant last 2 games n has been solid all season
nufc786
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:55 PM
Comment #33LGFUAD21
true true
Spuggy
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:56 PM
Comment #34Wouldn’t it be ironic if perch saves us at the back and Ameobi wins us a game and takes us into Europe!
RobertNufc25
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:57 PM
Comment #35Dont no how much Perch would be worth…
Lets just say it would be a lot more than this time last year. lol
LGFUAD21
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:58 PM
Comment #36Everton will definitely be a tough one.
Swansea are a team ive been cautious of all season. But I do think they have slipped a bit recently.
I think we have to hope Tottenham tire them out like Arsenal clearly did to us.
Spuggy
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:58 PM
Comment #37Tell you what quality finishers are the difference between mid-table and top 6.
WBA could have had a few goals had they had someone who could finish – but that’s the quality we now have. Like to see Ba get another goal but he’s being used on the left and looked strong today as the provider.
irish_nufc_fans
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:58 PM
Comment #38lads just seeking clarification here…
our only way into europe is to get fifth place in the league or finish 6th and hope that the fa cup final is liverpool vs chelsea or tottenham ya??
GHOSD (The poster formerly known as Ruddy Marveaux-lous)
Mar 25, 2012 at 7:59 PM
Comment #39Spot on Irish lad 😀
RobertNufc25
Mar 25, 2012 at 8:00 PM
Comment #40To be fair to Perch,people always say give a foreign player time to get used to the premier league.
Last season was the first time Perch had played at this level.