The bubble has burst at Newcastle and after going 9 league games when we won seven and drew one for 22 points from a possible 27 points, we have quickly lost the last two to Arsenal and West Brom by 1-0.
And Newcastle really only have themselves to blame for the two defeats, falling asleep for Arsenal’s winning goal from a free kick after 65 minutes, and then Mathieu Debuchy getting himself sent off for a two footed tackle after 62 minutes at the Hawthorns, when it looked like Newcastle could have won that game.
And to make matters just a little bit worse, Coloccini and Cabaye picked up injuries on Wednesday, and are not available for the game today, and goalkeeper Tim Krul is also doubtful.
All we know from Alan Pardew on the team selection is that Ben Arfa will definitely start the game, and yesterday at his press conference, he talked about Newcastle needing to win a trophy soon – since it’s been 45 years since we last won anything and 59 years since we last won a domestic trophy.
So he’s right there.
It’s a good question as to what the team will be today – but here’s a shot at the starting line-up, and we’ll assume Tim Krul can make this game:
Krul
Yanga-Mbiwa Williamson Taylor (S) Santon
Sissoko Tiote (c) Anita
Ben Arfa Remy Gouffran
Subs: Elliot Haidara Dummett Gosling Ameobi (Sa) Ameobi (Sh) Cisse
What team would you start today?
Tiote will again captain the side today, and it could be that Papiss Cisse starts in place of Loic Remy, who probably needs a rest at some point soon, since he’s played in almost every game.
And it’s a great opportunity for both Steven Taylor and Yanga-Mabiwa to show what they can do in the Newcastle defense, in the absence of Colo and Debuchy.
Maybe we’ll even see Jonas Gutierrez as a sub – and we’re not exactly sure what he’s done to be left out of the side this season – but there are rumors if he plays a certain amount of games, the club has to offer him a new deal.
He’s played 194 times for the Magpies in total so far, and maybe that magic number is 200, but he’s played only twice this season, and last season he played 40 times. 🙁
And after Aston Villa manager’s Paul Lambert’s less than complimentary comments on the FA Cup yesterday, Alan Pardew had this to say about the competition, which is second best now to the Premier League – and by a long way:
“I do think the scheduling – five games in 15 days – isn’t right, and with the FA Cup on the back of it, it isn’t fair,”
“I don’t think it’s fair on Premier League managers, if I’m honest.” “But we have to suffer it, and I’m looking forward to the game. I’m hoping we can win.”
We’ve lost our last two games, but they were close, and one (negative) way to look at both games is we found a way to lose them both, with some sloppy and unprofessional play.
The manager talked about the two defeats yesterday:
“Really and truly, they’ve been two tight affairs, and we’ve lost them both.” “It’s actually quite galling. When you get two tight games like that, it’s hard to take for the group.”
“So we really need to win. I think it will be tight, and we want to win a tight game.”
There’s never much in a game between two Premier League sides, which we have today in the FA Cup, and the fact that Cardiff City have won only one of their last 10 games, and have a new manager in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, makes us just a little worried about this game.
57% think we can win this game but a high 30% think we’ll lose it.
In the previous three times Alan Pardew has managed Newcastle in the FA Cup, we’ve gone out in the 3rd round twice and the 4th round once, and both times to lower league teams, Brighton twice and Stevenage three years ago.
That is not a good record at all.
So the last thing we want to see today is a defeat or even a draw.
Newcastle should have good enough squad players in the side to be able to win this game, and start to turn around what is hopefully only a blip in our league results.
Otherwise we’ll have those doom and gloomers (or is is it gloom and doomers?) flooding back in – telling us all – we told you so.
Anything but that. 😀
Howay The Lads! – win this game!
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
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151 comments so far
Transfer Sage
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:23 AM
Comment #41macca
not being negative at all…if you look we are 8th in the league at the half way stage.
I think that is where we should be at least with our team. We have better players than southampton and swansea below us. So for me pardew is hitting the minimum target, which is fine with me, not a problem.
What is a slight problem is looking at what we might have been. Had we had the manager with the style of martinez/rodgers (both of which were realistic targets before they got their current jobs) then maybe we could have seen our technical/flair players doing even better than they currently are.
maccamyfriend
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:23 AM
Comment #42breno 95 your team is probably more realistic than mine with a stronger bench
Haway the lads
Patoon
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:24 AM
Comment #43t00ntime
Who would u play out of Gouffran and Ben Arfa, i think Gouffran works far harder and he scores more goals but Ben Arfa is a far bigger threat on his day and is great 2 watch if he would just pass the ball at times
maccamyfriend
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:33 AM
Comment #44ben arfa today, if he does well play him v city. Performance is everything in that game, before massive away games at West Ham and Norwich where Gouff will play if HBA doesn’t take chances
asenski
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:34 AM
Comment #45i would choose (as pardew cannot affor losing too early in fa cup after 2 deafeats in PL)
krul
mbiwa staylor willo haidara
anita tiote sissoko
arfa cisse gouff
let see how solskijaer set up a team to give a match
i am pretty sure we will face a tough game as pardew is very unsucessful in picking his teams in cups
Black and White with an army lol
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:35 AM
Comment #46maccamyfriend
for me it’s not negativity from results but how we play so many times iv’e seen us defending rather than attacking, we have a squad full of technical players, fast, strong, good on the ball but we play like Stoke we sit deep and hoof the ball up to the TM.
our squad is not built for this and nor will it ever, we should be hitting the heights like Man City & Chelsea with the players we got but instead we play defensively.
davetoon
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:38 AM
Comment #47@macca – any news on Ferguson? Always thought he could make it as a Prem League player
Black and White with an army lol
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:41 AM
Comment #48games against Man U, Chelsea, Man city league cup, Arsenal, this is what we should be playing like but against’s Stoke, WBA, Hull, a very tired Swansea, first half against Everton we sit deep and let them come at us and for what! keeping a draw result hanging on to 1-0 leads! it’s pathetic,
Pardew out.
maccamyfriend
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:42 AM
Comment #49versus teams that are better than us, or away from home in EPL, defensive is fine. We’re 7th best scorers in the league! we’ve been spoilt by Keegan and Robson, who were great but our achilles heel was always defence.
Ferguson is not getting much game time at Blues sadly, but as they pick up 2nd half of season under Clarkie I hope he’ll play more..
Transfer Sage
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:42 AM
Comment #50black and white
i don’t think we play hoofball at all this year…yes the odd long ball but stats show we play one of the fewest in the league now.
the problem is getting the attacking movement and creativity.
it’s getting there, we are improving but it’s a slow improvement…hopefully we keep it going though.
santonthenewmaldini
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:43 AM
Comment #51Well if Cabaye is injured then Arfa has to come in as the creative midfielder no 10 role behind the striker no point playing him on the wing because then our play will only go on the right hand side and be predictable
Give him a free role Pards!!!
I would go for this team :
Elliot
Santon RB
Mbiwa
Williamson
Haidara
Anita
Tiote
Arfa no 10
Sammy LW
Sissoko RW
Cisse CF
But we know Pardew and he will go for safety first so dont be surprised to see 442 with Shola up front such a shame that we did not have a more adventurous manager
valle
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:47 AM
Comment #52One of AP’s biggest problems is that he dosnt use his squad. He use the same 11 players week after week. If he changed it around a bit, I have no doubt that we would do even better. I hope he change things around for this match and let some of the burned out players get a rest.
Black and White with an army lol
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:47 AM
Comment #53Transfer Sage
we can only hope mate, iv’e also notice our ball playing on the ground has improved but it was us fans who called for concern for it not Pardew, even sometimes iv’e seen us sitting far too deep and then just lumping it up field to hold onto a result, this is just wrong all together
Black and White with an army lol
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:53 AM
Comment #54Cardiff lye 17th in the PL, Ole Gunner stated he will be giving the non starters a chance, and he would most probably play a 4-4-2.
if we don’t win by at least 2-4 goals ( depending who dipstick AP puts out ) i can see us having a bad new year
Transfer Sage
Jan 4, 2014 at 11:55 AM
Comment #55black and white
for me the overall play is improving in stages
-we used to be a long ball team with carroll, barton, nolan, etc
– we then got in the likes of cayabe who played a mix of long and short stuf
– now added more quality in playing it out with debuchy, colo, mbiwa and now even willo passing it out from the back
– then this year we cut down the long balls and lot and went to passing it around the back more
– recently we have passed well up field too but still not enough cutting edge
What we need to do, in my opinion, is play a little higher up, squeeze the play as a team so all areas more compact and not as many big gaps, this should allow us to interchange passes in the final third and allow us to get more men in and around the box to be a serious goal threat.
I would love a manager who can do that right away, but in fairness to pardew he is slowly getting there. It’s not easy to change overnight if you are learning yourself as a manager, its more than saying play higher….there are all other effect to look at too, what problems will higher play cause and how to stop it, etc etc
Black and White with an army lol
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:02 PM
Comment #56Transfer Sage
true mate this is what we should be doing but for the likes of me i can’t see Pardew adapting to this style, he’s had 3 seasons coming onto 4 with us and still he is slowly starting to adopt to his old ways but we can only hope he doesn’t.
maccamyfriend
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:07 PM
Comment #57yes sage, agree on tactics.
We don’t play twice a week most weeks, so a starting XI plus 3-4 decent subs is fine.
11th man at the mo is SHOLA, ANITA OR HBA. Anita and HBA should clearly be ahead of the big lad, I imagine Anita away or v top 6 and HBA home is the way to go. We have great defensive cover, big disappointments this year have been Guti, Ober and Marv..
toonarmydownsouth
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:07 PM
Comment #58Davetoon
He’s barely playing for Birmingham, he was a big player for them last season but can’t get a sniff this season
Players like Tavernier and Ferguson surely can’t still be getting classed as youngsters at 23 can they? If they were going to make it at this level then surely they would already be an important part if the match day squad?
davetoon
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:08 PM
Comment #59Players have looked a bit tired over the last few games but whether thats the French players getting used to a full season in Prem league or small squad, not sure.
Newcastle have used 21 players so far this season which is equal second lowest although the highest is only 26. Ironically Citeh who have the biggest squad have only used 22.
Article: http://talksport.com/football/shooting-down-myth-arsenals-small-squad-premier-league-rotation-analysed-13120470339
Transfer Sage
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:08 PM
Comment #60black and white
I think he is getting better and for 2 years now he has asked for a big/strong CB (presumably to upgrade willo/taylor) and the same type of forward (i guess to upgrade shola).
So to me that’s like asking for a vidic and a lukaku type….players who are not only strong but also capable of playing technical games but also good for set pieces, crosses into the box, hold up play too.
So hopefully he is given one of these at least in january to allow him to show us what he wants.
I personally would like to see us move for benteke, gone off the boil at villa (expected to carry them for another year, lot of pressure at his age) and others interest has died down. We have an extra 30 mil with new TV deal so send 15/20 getting him as he’d be perfect for us and we’d be perfect for him…start every week and give him a good chance to be in the world cup team with lukaku.
Transfer Sage
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:10 PM
Comment #61macca
but out of those 3 shola suits the way the team play more, getting the ball forward and letting him bring others into play.
I accept he isn’t good enough, but if thats the style the manager will use he is the only one for it.
Black and White with an army lol
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:11 PM
Comment #62http://www.newcastleunited-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/transfer_window_open__cabaye_doesnt_play_820605/index.shtml?
looks interested!
Black and White with an army lol
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:12 PM
Comment #63http://www.footballfancast.com/premiership/newcastle-united/newcastle-eyeing-shock-move-to-re-sign-chelsea-ace?
if only!
davetoon
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:13 PM
Comment #64@tads. agree that you would hope that those players could have made it by now at least as regular subs but that seems to be a common thread with the team
wolfshead@toon
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:21 PM
Comment #65at this time of year with all the fixtures injuries are no surprise esp as we have a small group of first team players to pick from thats why a transfer window exists but that means f all to assley im wearing my neg hat and expecting a slide down the table and dumped out the cup
Transfer Sage
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:23 PM
Comment #66Black and white
The first article is all speculation on cabaye so I don’t worry at all, doesn’t concern me. If he goes he goes and we get top money, we all know he’d like to play for PSG and his agent would deal with any contracts so him being in France wouldn’t matter….not like they’d need to convince him to sign.
The part of Ben arfa and the court case I wasn’t aware of, bit of a shock. But surely if he was needed he could have played in Swansea on the night and then the club could have put a car on to take him back that evening , so doubt the court appearance mattered.
toonarmydownsouth
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:24 PM
Comment #67Sky sports 1 pundits having a right old Barney over the FA cup !
Some good points being made and saying the it’s the ideal comp for teams like NUFC to win who are in a group of 6-7 teams who won’t hassle the top 6 won’t need to worry about the bottom and just go for it
Oh and Fat Matt LeTisser really doesn’t like us!
Transfer Sage
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:24 PM
Comment #68Wolfs
I don’t think we’ll slide down the table. Might not climb up it but we will probably stay 8th I feel.
kilcline
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:32 PM
Comment #69Apparently we are in talks with Standard Liege for Michy Batshuayi. Never heard of him!
wolfshead@toon
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:32 PM
Comment #70sage
hope so id take 8th now mate
sparky55
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:33 PM
Comment #71In my opinion the Arsenal game could have gone either way… we went to sleep for a free kick and it went their way.
Against WBA we should have changed the squad like all the other top six teams did because they were all knackered. We looked very knackered and it showed even more once Debuchy got sent off.
It was still a bad call by Pards to put out the same team as always and it back fired. We now go into a very winnable FA cup game against Cardiff and Pards yet again puts the league first and puts out the reserves so no doubt we’ll struggle
He does my bast@rd fruit in…we’ve been playing well again, he doesn’t rotate the squad, we run out of steam and then rest most of the first team squad for something we’ve always got a chance in with a bit of luck and a fair wind as proved by Wigan last year…but no…not Pards…he’s not going to be too upset if we fall at the first fence for the third year on the bounce because he’s nora got delusions of grandeur again thinking we can finish in the top six.
More chance of winning the FA cup if you ask me but not by putting out the reserves.
dogg
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:34 PM
Comment #72afternoon peeps, any links for todays game, i’m struggling to find one. HWLL
Toonfan8
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:36 PM
Comment #73my team for today should be
……………….Elliot…………………..
Dummet,Saylor,Mbiwa,Haidara
………Anita…………Jonas………..
HBA……..Marveaux……Obertan
……………….Cisse…………………….
not a bad team on a paper, so why not to give them a chance to show what they can do against PL team
sparky55
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:41 PM
Comment #74@73…so your not bothered if we get knocked out of the cup in the first round yet again either
Transfer Sage
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:42 PM
Comment #75sparky
I think is go for this side
Elliot
Santon, willo, mbiwa, haidara
Tiote, Anita, Ben arfa
Sissoko, cisse, remy
No point risking krul if not 100% Elliot is as good a second keeper as you get. Get this back four 90mins together as it’s probably the one for the next 3 games.
Tiote just had a suspension so had his rest, Anita rested enough and give Benny a run in the middle as attacking mid.
Remy doesn’t look tired and sissoko is a good option in the right again. The cisse in the middle, hopefully Benny in the middle can creat for him, along with Anita.
The players have a 8 days off after this so plenty of time to recover.
Transfer Sage
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:44 PM
Comment #76toonfan8
because football is more about quality on paper
marv and jonas haven’t played all year (except 1 or 2 for jonas) so why bring them in?
the others are ok but barely played and certainly not played as a team, will be no cohesion and nothing will link well.
Toonfan8
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:44 PM
Comment #77sparky55
no because they are fresh and for me everyone of them would be starter for Cardiff…even Obertan
wolfshead@toon
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:44 PM
Comment #78@71
lol at ‘He does my bast@rd fruit in’ thats a new one on me 🙂
Bearsize
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:46 PM
Comment #79I would play ben arfa up top with remy. Not a number 10 or inside wing just center forward. You have to keep it easy for hatam thats why he does well on the wing. Can go to byline or cut inside. When he has tried n0 10 he looks a bit lost to me. He seems to have to much going on in his head coz he can go anywhere. Stick him up top and tell him to score goals, period!!
maccamyfriend
Jan 4, 2014 at 12:47 PM
Comment #80so that’s why big target man is top priority now. We knew Guti Ober and Marv weren’t great before this season but Cisse’s demise is saddest, thought he could improve again a la Tiote..