It looked like we were going to meet Bournemouth on Saturday when they were in top form.
The Cherries had won four games (two wins were against Arsenal and Chelsea) and drawn two in their six games before they were at Huddersfield on February 11th.
That was 14 points out of a possible 18, but then they were surprisingly beaten 4-1 by the Terriers.
Bournemouth are currently in 10th place in the league table, and if we beat them we go above them on goal difference, and we would then have 31 points from our 28 games.
Rafa Benitez meets Eddie Howe – St. James’ Park, 4th November last year
That has to be the goal on Saturday, and if we can play anywhere near the form we showed against Manchester United, then a win is definitely possible.
Here’s our league position at the moment:
[table “68” not found /]Comments welcome.
53 comments so far
firebug666
Feb 21, 2018 at 9:31 AM
Comment #1Yes, we can make it two wins in a row, whether we will or not remains to be seen. Having said that I have gone for a win, confidence should be high after the manure game, and if our big players show up for this one then I think it’s 3 points in the bag.
RobLeenio
Feb 21, 2018 at 9:31 AM
Comment #2I think we’ll draw with Bournemouth, they’re a well organised team, hard to break down, don’t concede too many. A draw won’t be a disastrous result, however – with an average of a point per game we’ll stay in the Prem. I’m going 1-1 with Diame to get ours.
Ron Knee
Feb 21, 2018 at 9:37 AM
Comment #3I see Slimani cost Leicester £28 million so he should be 5 or 6 times better than Joselu!
Ron Knee
Feb 21, 2018 at 9:38 AM
Comment #4@3 was for firebug!
manxpie
Feb 21, 2018 at 9:57 AM
Comment #5I hope ritchie has a blinder if anyone will be up for it it should be him it’ll be close but goin for 2-1 win slimani debut goal beautifully set up by ritchie and a Shelvey screamer
Jib
Feb 21, 2018 at 9:59 AM
Comment #6The last few tickets for NUFC’s trip to Bournemouth
go on sale to season ticket holders with 60+ loyalty
points at 10am.
Lindisfarne
Feb 21, 2018 at 10:15 AM
Comment #7Playing away should help us keep the momentum going from our one win. A positive result will then help the patience of the crowd in our next home game. I fully expect us to silence the home crowd at Bournemouth, cause them some nervousness and hope we can get a well organised win.
Lee Charnley Bunga Party
Feb 21, 2018 at 10:47 AM
Comment #8The first time we played them we should have been out of sight before half time including having a disallowed goal! They have a bit more confidence and have been playing 343 which Chelsea couldn’t cope with so it might be difficult!
I think if we went for crowding the midfield like we did against Stoke with Perez up front I think we would win comfortably with having Slimani on the bench to get run out if he isn’t 100% yet
Lee Charnley Bunga Party
Feb 21, 2018 at 11:05 AM
Comment #9Big game for Shelvey though Bournemouth won’t let him strut his stuff like Man Utd did so let’s see if he can do it he did well against Palace in the first half but struggled in the second
albanian magpie
Feb 21, 2018 at 11:32 AM
Comment #10We were better than them laast time we played, and that goal that was disallowed from gayle for offside were cruicial. We would have been 31 points with that victory. I think we will beat them comfortobly with 4-1, goal from kennedy, gayle, ritchie and slimani. We should start with dubravka- yedlin-lejune-jamie-dummet. Midfield- kennedy- diame-merino- ritchie. Gayle with perez in front. Keep slimani shelvey and atsu as super subs.
albanian magpie
Feb 21, 2018 at 11:34 AM
Comment #11And omg what a player mohammed diame is becoming:)))
Essex Geordie Bill
Feb 21, 2018 at 11:35 AM
Comment #12Jib
I wasn’t aware of who Mr Feis was so I googled him, a true hero.
Aaron Feis
Aaron Feis, assistant American football coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, is being hailed as a hero for shielding students from bullets. He was fatally injured after diving in front of a pupil.
The MS Douglas Eagles, the school football team, confirmed Mr Feis’ death on Twitter. “He died a hero,” they wrote.
“I coached with him. My two boys played for him,” Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said. “The kids in this community loved him, adored him.”
Essex Geordie Bill
Feb 21, 2018 at 11:37 AM
Comment #13Providing we aren’t up against 12+ men as often has seemed to be the case this season, then I’m expecting a comfortable win for us.
G
Feb 21, 2018 at 11:45 AM
Comment #14As long as the lads are up for the game, and motivated the way they were against Man U, then win or lose I won’t be too disappointed. I have a feeling this one will be a win though.
ShirebrookToon
Feb 21, 2018 at 11:45 AM
Comment #15Jib/bill
How lucky my til kick off??
ShirebrookToon
Feb 21, 2018 at 11:45 AM
Comment #16Long til
Fcuking phone
Jib
Feb 21, 2018 at 11:53 AM
Comment #1785 hours 6 minutes
until KO
Jib
Feb 21, 2018 at 11:54 AM
Comment #1875 hours
ha ha ha cannot even get that right
😳
ShirebrookToon
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:01 PM
Comment #19😆
Essex Geordie Bill
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:07 PM
Comment #20Another apparent eternity then!! 🙂
Essex Geordie Bill
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:13 PM
Comment #21I think I had Ritchie down as top scorer in the Martoon predictions, so he needs to pull his finger out, hat trick for him this weekend!
Essex Geordie Bill
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:16 PM
Comment #22I calculate 74 Hours 44 Minutes to KO.
Optimistic Panda
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:19 PM
Comment #23Is that the match to kick off or the blog to kick off?
Essex Geordie Bill
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:23 PM
Comment #24Ron
Converting your comment into goals, then Slimani should score 20 to 24 in the same amount of games.
So with a very rough calculation he should score around 12 goals if he plays all of the remaining games.
Essex Geordie Bill
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:25 PM
Comment #25OP
I think the blog is in a permanent state of “kick Off” 🙂
RobLeenio
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:25 PM
Comment #26OP, judging by the nuggets who post on match days, both…
😉
Essex Geordie Bill
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:28 PM
Comment #27With Bournemouths crowd capacity I wouldn’t have thought there’ll be many tickets available for away fans.
Essex Geordie Bill
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:30 PM
Comment #28Rob
I assume you are referring to the gold standard fans? 🙂
Optimistic Panda
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:31 PM
Comment #29A bit from Paul Ferris book on Owen.
https://www.themag.co.uk/2018/02/disgraceful-michael-owen-timeline-newcastle-united/
Little scrote makes me sick
Optimistic Panda
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:31 PM
Comment #30Essex
Could be chicken nuggets
Jib
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:32 PM
Comment #31Mackems vs Smoggies derby this
Sarradeh (as they pronounce it)
RobLeenio
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:39 PM
Comment #32EGB, I’m referring to everyone you rarely see other than on match days, excluding Dennis Twice
attack, Toon, attack, attack
RobLeenio
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:42 PM
Comment #33Actually, that’s probably wrong, I’m sure there are some posters who don’t deliberately go out of their way to disparage Rafa and the lads and only post on a match day, I just can’t think of any
martoon
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:43 PM
Comment #34EGB @19 – You did indeed with 14 goals – he just needs another 13 now 😀
Actually on the subject of predictions do people think I should allow people to change there top goal scorer to Slimani before Saturday or just leave things as they are?
Oldgit1
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:52 PM
Comment #35@ Martoon sorry but being a recent spennymoor supporter, the team are in 7 th place due to postponed matches, currently 4 matches behind other teams due to waterlogged pitch and snow.
I was asked two seasons ago to go to a match after finding going to NUFC being too expensive, and being played at awkward times to suit Sky.
Now I go and see a match at 3.00pm on a Saturday as God intended. As the team play in black n white made the transition easier.
I always think of NUFC as my club, the team that my father supported.
When there is no match on at spennymoor I will go and see teams like bishop Auckland, Shilden etc there are some good football played in the lower leagues and a lot of enthusiasm is shown by players.
martoon
Feb 21, 2018 at 12:58 PM
Comment #36Oldgit1 – I’m sure you are right – just shows you shouldn’t believe everything you read on Twitter! However with their games in hand there is still the potential for them to be promoted and of course the makems to be relegated.
Oldgit1
Feb 21, 2018 at 1:07 PM
Comment #37@ Martoon hope you are right. Can see Sunderland going the same way as Hartlepool. Sad but should be a warning to Ashley..
ShirebrookToon
Feb 21, 2018 at 1:09 PM
Comment #38Are ST ticket renewals out yet?
Or is it just for those on the 10 year deal??
martoon
Feb 21, 2018 at 1:27 PM
Comment #39ShirebrookToon @36 – I got mine the Tuesday after we had beaten Man U (talk about timing) but I am on the 10 year deal. I was pleasantly surprised the price remained the same so it is still the same level as when they reduced it by 10% when we were in the Championship. It’s probably about the only decent thing Ashley has done at the club – affordable ticketing.
Essex Geordie Bill
Feb 21, 2018 at 1:36 PM
Comment #40Oldgit
I think the standard of football in the lower leagues is much higher now in general alhough I’m not sure if the pitches are.
A local team to me Canvey Island FC were in a great position to get promotion to the football league but the owner didn’t think the gates they were getting were good enough so he took a voluntary demotion to a more local league.
My point is that if tiny clubs can get into the higher echelons of the league pyramid then the potential for seeing teams on a slide such as Sunderland playing against teams like Canvey aren’t so daft as they might appear.