The big news this week is that both Loic Remy and Mathieu Debuchy are back in training and are expected to start the game today against Swansea.
Mathieu Debuchy – back today
Moussa Sissoko is also back running, and he should be available for our game at the Emirates a week on Monday, which is our next game.
Davide Santon had done his hamstring in again, and it looks like he will be out for the season, and Ben Arfa will not make this game.
This is what Pardew has said about having the two Frenchmen back:
“It’s pleasing to have Remy in and around training again, and Debuchy as well,” “I think he is an important player in terms of his personality as well as his playing ability.”
“That’s a big boost in terms of their experience at this level. It’s nice to see them back. With the World Cup not far around the corner, it’s important they get the time in now.”
Alan Pardew will need to decide whether Newcastle keep the back three he used at Stoke last week, or go back to a more regular back four, with Debuchy now being available.
However, one thing he could do is to use Mathieu as a right wing back today – because we need more threat up front – and we need to score if we are going to win.
So this could be a possible starting line-up today in a 3-5-2 formation:
Krul
Taylor (S) Williamson Coloccini (c)
Debuchy Tiote Anita Gosling Gouffran
Cisse Remy
Subs: Elliot Yanga-Mbiwa Dummett Armstrong Marveaux Ameobi (Sh) de Jong
There was news this week that Pardew could start young Adam Armstrong today, and we suppose that could happen, and Shola Ameobi could be used up front in place of Cisse, and help take some weight off the returning Loic Remy.
What would be your team today?
Comments welcome.
Note: Craig Finnigan is a Newcastle fan and graduated from Newcastle College in 2011, and he has created a one-off key ring, and all the profits will go to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
You can view and buy the specially designed key ring here.
Thanks.
56 comments so far
geordie157
Apr 19, 2014 at 8:52 AM
Comment #1We’ll probably win today, as for the first time in over 20 years I have money on us losing!!
BandB
Apr 19, 2014 at 8:54 AM
Comment #2Another loss will be neither here nor there. A victory will see the pressure lift big time. The wheels have fallen off the Southampton bus a little and they have a tough run-in. Pardew knows this and probably calculates that another three points could see him smelling of roses by the end of season.
Marty-Toon
Apr 19, 2014 at 8:57 AM
Comment #3Armstrong and De Jong or Remy and De Jong if Remy is fit.
Think he could get off the Mark today .
Didn’t Tayls go off injured last time around?
Marty-Toon
Apr 19, 2014 at 8:59 AM
Comment #4Happy Easter everyone,hope MASH delivers a decent egg in the face of Pardew
Laurent Robert 32
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:01 AM
Comment #5BandB, that seems to happen with Pardew. Nick a win in the last minute and he trys to convey that all is now well. But it never is. It is a temporary points fix for him before the poor performances and results continue.
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:06 AM
Comment #6God I am glad I have other things to do 🙂 …what a drag!
Laurent Robert 32
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:16 AM
Comment #7If Remy plays, Pardew’s chances of getting a goal out of nothing have immediately risen to patch over the inneffective football this chancer beings.
A player, by the way, who not only isn’t ours but one who won’t be coming back next year.
Douglas
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:17 AM
Comment #8What would be best for us? Win or lose, and lose all our rwmaining games?
Our problem is not Pardew, its Ashley.
Laurent Robert 32
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:17 AM
Comment #9*ineffective
(Quick typing)
jarnytoon
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:18 AM
Comment #10I’d lead the line with Remy on the right of a front 3, Armstrong on the left cutting in & de Jong being the hold up target man. Mid 3 of Anita, Tiote & gosling & the back 4 reads itself – debuchy, Collo, iron mike & dummett. See a draw today but I narrow win would be laaaarvely! HWTL
Laurent Robert 32
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:18 AM
Comment #11Douglas, the problem is Pardew and Ashley.
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:20 AM
Comment #12I know I have to announced as the official blog Radiohead guy, but this is more how I feel:
“Is tomorrow just a day like all the rest.”
How could you know just what you did?
So full of faith yet so full of doubt I ask.
Time and time again you said don’t be afraid.
“If you believe you can do it.”
The only voice I want to hear is yours.
Again.
I shall ask you this once again.
And again.
He said:
” I am but one small instrument.”
Do you remember that?”
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:21 AM
Comment #13*to = been
Douglas
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:22 AM
Comment #14If Ashley goes, so does Pardew.
BandB
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:22 AM
Comment #15Laurent,
People say Pardew is delusional. But Pardewspeak always makes sense from his perspective.
Here, he is setting himself up to say “I told you so.”
We have every right to beat struggling Swansea and Cardiff at home. Fans are expecting us to get hammered by Arsenal and Liverpool. If he parks the bus, anything less than a cricket score will be seen as success. We could still finish eighth, allowing Pardew to claim, on the basis of two modest wins, the “strong finish to the season” Charnley suggested.
On the back of this, the club will claim to have overshot its targets slightly and claim we have just witnessed the green shoots of recovery. I imagine this narrative would by given credence by Ed, for example.
That is why stomping down on expectations is such a winner.
BandB
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:27 AM
Comment #16jesper,
I have a friend who loves Radiohead. He has a talent for making inscrutable remarks that can leave his friends and collegues wondering if they have just been dissed and feeling slightly paranoid. You remind me of him sometimes.
I do not have that talent.
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:27 AM
Comment #17Has anyone ever read the John Irving novel “A Prayer for Owen Meany”?
Laurent Robert 32
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:33 AM
Comment #18Douglas, I agree with that, and that is the ultimate aim. Ashley out.
Martinez with our side could at least be playing good football though, even on a right budget. We don’t therefore Pardew is also a problem.
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:35 AM
Comment #19BandB…well I might get GTs funny innuendo and off subject remarks, but not everything on here is clear ad the sky to me 😉
…I did grow up on Radiohead (good memories) but I am not sure if it was meant as a compliment? Here I go misunderstanding everything again…maybe!
Laurent Robert 32
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:35 AM
Comment #20BandB, he most definitely sets himself up for an easy get out during pre-match interviews. His attempts at manipulation are nothing short of full-on.
Thankfully, more people have woken up to his brainwashing and subliminally low standards.
Geremi's Prosthetic Leg Fund
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:39 AM
Comment #21I think we’ll win today, and quite comfortably. As BandB says, it will set up perfectly for Pardew to play the savior and attempt to twist it as though he’s done a great job. Then the cycle will continue and we’ll be get decent results until the next meltdown and so on and so forth.
I think a loss would leave Pardew’s position hanging by a thread. if the fans are lost for good then it will be be counter productive keeping him.
That being said his honesty in the last interview was surprisingly refreshing. If only he could just be honest and open about all aspects at all times, he’d command a far greater respect.
lesh
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:40 AM
Comment #22For Ibiza and all others who champion the cause of manliness…. Manly…
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/beach-bums-kate-has-a-baywatch-moment-as-royal-couple-hang-out-with-surfers-in-sydney-9269423.html
Kris
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:45 AM
Comment #23Hope Gouffran is dropped today. He has been our worst player in the past.
Toon Tang
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:47 AM
Comment #24We may just manage to score if remy somehow engineers himself a half chance or two. I’m going score draw (maybe wishful thinking)
Marty-Toon
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:52 AM
Comment #25@Geremi
Where do you get the confidence to think we will win and quite comfortably too?
Is it ’cause we’ve been so good?
Is it ’cause Swansea are so poor lately?
Marty-Toon
Apr 19, 2014 at 9:56 AM
Comment #26Kris
Up until the last two games Gouffran was one of our best players,giving a lot more than Ben Arfa and Marveau together.
He’s looked tired and uninterested the last two games
lesh
Apr 19, 2014 at 10:01 AM
Comment #27B&B…. Pardewspeak always makes sense from his perspective and thus it confirms that he is very much in a world of his own, deluded.
He’s aware of fan disenchantment with him but I wonder whether he’s tried to distinguish his thoughts about what fans think and why they think that way? Has it ever occurred to him that perhaps the fans do have a point? That maybe the fans are right and that he’s living in Pardew-world, a world poles apart from reality?
Fostino
Apr 19, 2014 at 10:09 AM
Comment #28Geordie 157
I like your post haha…if we do end up winning now..youll have to continue betting on us to lose. I never bet on us…a nightmare to predict.
Fostino
Apr 19, 2014 at 10:20 AM
Comment #29What worries me is the amount of deadwood that has suddenly appeared since cabaye left. We have looked hopeless creativity wise. Marveaux…obertan…sammy…must be truly worthless if they cant get a look in now.
basically our midfield lacks creativity
Our defence is dodgy to say the be least..we concede goals in 3 ans 4s. Our captain essentially wants to go home..iron mike lacks pace and weve an overload of left backs. Im afraid s taylor ship has sailed
Basically our defence has no shape
Strikers…what a mess. We’ll literally have a brand new set if strikers next yr…this says it all.
Krul would wanna sort out those inconsistencies too.
All in all it looks grim. Bad players itching for the summer. Lack of talent coming through. A manager feeling the heat. A stingy owner. Its been depressing following newcastle this year
BandB
Apr 19, 2014 at 10:23 AM
Comment #30Is he deluded? In the sense of being mislead? I would have thought this is an attempt to delude the fans.
Is he delusional? In the sense of having strong opinions about his talents that may be contradicted by stronger evidence to the contrary?
His chancer’s eye has spotted that the balance of probabilities suggest he has a chance to come out of this appearing to smell of roses.
I expect us to win today. I think winning would be par. And just par, whatever games are being played with our expectations.
The next Mike Williamson
Apr 19, 2014 at 10:30 AM
Comment #31Pardew has been forced into a corner where he has no option other than to attack. If he sets us up to defend and try to nick one, the fans will get on his back and things will go downhill.
He’s played attacking football once before, back when Cisse and Ben Arfa flourished. Then he was forced into playing 4-3-3 by the unbelievable form of the two mentioned players. As soon as he got the chance, he reverted back to his preferred 4-4-2 or 4-5-1.
But today we will attack, and probably win. I expect 4-3-3 and Armstrong to play a big part. Maybe even to start. And as soon as the pressure is off, he’ll go back to trying to nick a win with 11 hard working “honest” players in a 4-5-1. If as a footballer the best someone can say is that you put in “honest” performances, then you’re probably not a good footballer.
Pardew Out
Geremi's Prosthetic Leg Fund
Apr 19, 2014 at 10:35 AM
Comment #32Marty – That’s if Remy and Debuchy play I should add. Also because it’s always the way, it gets close to Pardew becoming untenable, then something happens for him to paper over the cracks. That something I believe will be a solid win.
Go toon gooooo
Apr 19, 2014 at 10:46 AM
Comment #33Where is Cabaye?Pardew Alan still cries for him.
Laurent Robert 32
Apr 19, 2014 at 10:52 AM
Comment #34Next Mike, Pardew was already bigging up Swansea saying they’re a good passing side and that it will be difficult and along the lines of we have to keep in the match and try and win it late on.
That is his usual containment rubbish then he plays hope-ball at the end. Unacceptable.
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Apr 19, 2014 at 10:58 AM
Comment #35…well I think my point about “A Prayer for Owen Meany” died a sudden death 😉 lol
Marty-Toon
Apr 19, 2014 at 11:00 AM
Comment #36Geremi
I get ya,if they are in the team we’ve got a better chance but I can’t see anything positive coming out of today
jesperfuglsang - captain of the lemon crew
Apr 19, 2014 at 11:01 AM
Comment #37Does anyone know if Mike NoNuts still attends games?
geordie157
Apr 19, 2014 at 11:04 AM
Comment #38I’d like to see something like
Krul
Debuchy, Wilo, Mbiwa, Haidara
Gosling, Tiote
Ben Arfa, Marveaux, Remy
Armstrong
mag
Apr 19, 2014 at 11:12 AM
Comment #39A rare win today 3-1
mag
Apr 19, 2014 at 11:17 AM
Comment #40Young Goslings a much better box to box player than Anita, who is well overrated, but pardew signed him and not Gosling, so Vurnon will get the nod.