One thing Chris Hughton will be telling the Newcastle side before tomorrow’s game with Fulham, is that it should be payback time.
That’s because in our final home game of our relegation season on 16th May, the Saturday after walloping Middlesbrough 3-1 at home on the previous Monday night, we were surprisingly beaten 1-0 by Fulham. Both those games had sell-out crowds in attendance at St. James’ Park.
And as it turns out, if we had only drawn that game, we would have survived relegation that season, and Hull City, who are now back in the Championship, would have been the club relegated.
And we lost our 4th home game of the season on Wednesday night, and we just have to improve our home form and start pickling up points, especially against bottom half of the table teams like Fulham tomorrow.
Our downfall on Wednesday was in defense, where we gave away two cheap goals, and we cannot afford to do that tomorrow against Fulham, who could well be coming to St. James’ Park to get a draw tomorrow.
Mark Hughes’ teams are usually hard to beat, and they therefore tend to get quite a number of draws, and that’s what they will call a success tomorrow, if they can come away with a point.
Not so with the Newcastle side, who will be going all out for all three points with Chris Hughton again playing an attacking 4-4-2 formation.
With Shola Ameobi likely to miss out he will play either Lovenkrands or Nile Ranger alongside big Andy Carroll, and we suspect Nile could get his very first Premier League start of his career tomorrow.
As we know Joey Barton is not available, and it looks like Ryan Taylor is injured, so it looks like it’s between Wayne Routledge and Danny Guthrie for the right wing spot, and we maybe Guthrie will get the nod tomorrow afternoon.
With the defense not looking too tight on Wednesday and both Sol Campbell and Steven Taylor now fully fut and waring on the sidelines, it could be that one of them will replace one of the two center-backs, and that’s especially true since this will be the 3rd game for Coloccini and Williamson in just 6 days.
If Chris doesn’t use his squad tomorrow – he never will and our guess is that Sol Campbell will get the start in front of Mike Williamson, who will get a rest.
That’s even though Mike had had a fine season so far, and is proving quickly he is a Premier League class player that Newcastle picked up for a measly £1M last January – what a buy!
So this is the side we expect Chris to field tomorrow afternoon:
Krul
Simpson Campbell Coloccini Enrique
Guthrie Nolan (c) Tiote Gutierrez
Carroll Ranger
Subs: Soderberg Taylor (S) Williamson Vuckic Lovenkrands Routledge Smith
The reason that Sol could get his first Premier League start for Newcastle tomorrow, is that his experience could be a big boon to the side, and will help to cut out any mistakes.
But since there are many different players Chris can bring in tomorrow, let us know what your team would be.
The keys to the game are that the defense has to be strong and no soft goals given away, and that Newcastle can somehow solve a defensive formation, which will be very similar to – if not identical to – what Sam Allardyce had Blackburn play on Wednesday night.
Fulham haven’t won away from home in the Premier League all season – oh no!
They have 3 defeats and 3 draws from their 6 games on the road, and we have to hope that will be 4 defeats by tomorrow afternoon at 5:00 pm.
But these are the games we have to start to play well in – because we’ll get a lot more points if we play well against the bottom half of the table teams and keep our poor form for the better teams – than the other way round – which is almost what we’ve done this season so far.
The lads must be ready to play from the very first whistle tomorrow afternoon, and if they cannot get motivated they should all just pretend they are playing Sunderland again – and that should do the trick.
Howay The Lads!!
Comments welcome.
22 comments so far
davcon22
Nov 12, 2010 at 6:57 PM
Comment #1“O HEAVENLY FATHER I PRAY FOR 3 POINTS TOMORROW!”
If we dont I’ll be gettin sh*t faced!!
Darling27
Nov 12, 2010 at 7:11 PM
Comment #2Team Vs Fulham
4-4-2
Krul
Enrique
Coloccini
Williamson
Simpson
Gutierrez
Tiote
Nolan
Routledge
Carroll
Ranger
Subs
Soderberg
Kadar
Campbell
S.Taylor
Smith
Guthrie
Lovenkrands
daffy
Nov 12, 2010 at 7:22 PM
Comment #3davcon – if ya dont , ill be getting shit faced!
Dulcinea
Nov 12, 2010 at 7:44 PM
Comment #4I thought Tiote was suspended? was that not his 5th booking the other night?
Thump
Nov 12, 2010 at 7:47 PM
Comment #5No Tioté is not suspended. He received a yellow card in the Carling Cup – he’s on his 4th league card now.
Sorry to bring it back to this lads, but did any of you watch Pederson’s interview with the BBC?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/blackburn_rovers/9178265.stm
Not sure what you lot think but that just confirms my belief that Sham sent him out to wind him up. I’d love to wipe that smug smile off his bloody face.
BeeGuy
Nov 12, 2010 at 8:27 PM
Comment #6Tough game for CH as a manager. He is being forced into two changes and likely needs to make a few more to give some of the squad a chance to refresh. We could see some disorganized play among lads not having worked together for any length of time. This unfamiliarity could lead to Fulham goals. So NUFC likely needs two scores of its own to get a draw. With Fulham having large lads in central defense, the midfielders need to step up and deliver some 20- yard pounders for goals, or for the Avater or Nolan to scramble the rebounds into the net.
al
Nov 12, 2010 at 9:16 PM
Comment #7wouldnt shock me if hughton reverted to the 4-5-1 tomorro.. he said he might shake things up n he might want to try be more secure with the extra man in our midfield knowing that carroll will be dangerous from any set piece or descent cross.
personally if he was i think haris vuckic moves the ball about nicely he’s also up for the odd battle in the air n it would give an opportunity to unlease him in his favoured role. wouldnt mind seeing this:
krul
simpson-sol-colo-jose
routledge-nolan-tiote-jonas
vuckic
carroll
Trent Toon
Nov 12, 2010 at 10:55 PM
Comment #8newcastle 2-0
jimiley
Nov 13, 2010 at 12:02 AM
Comment #9It may seem crazy to say so, but Hoots badly needs a win. Another defeat and the fat man will be sharpening the knife. Funny how the manager’s position can be so precarious in a few days.
Sav
Nov 13, 2010 at 1:55 AM
Comment #10If Williamson is dropped/rested the papers will be full of more nonsense about Spurs ‘snapping him up’.
I’d rather see Vuckic given a go and Ranger on the right than Routledge – there’s a reason he’s been to all them clubs, and its not for the scenery.
ytz
Nov 13, 2010 at 2:30 AM
Comment #11I am quite nervous about this encounter with Fulham. Without Barton and Ameobi, our 4-4-2 system will be messed up. I wonder if Ranger or Lovenkrands can really fill in for Ameobi, and I doubt Guthrie or Routledge will be as successful as Barton on the right.
shamadz72
Nov 13, 2010 at 3:27 AM
Comment #12Good.. There gonna be a live telecast on Astro 🙂
Brutooon
Nov 13, 2010 at 3:45 AM
Comment #13shamadz72 : channel 817
shamadz72
Nov 13, 2010 at 4:06 AM
Comment #14I think it will be good if CH can utilize Lovenkrands in the 1st starting eleven once in a while. That lads can contribute to a goal or two sometimes..
shearermania
Nov 13, 2010 at 6:42 AM
Comment #15i can see jonas and routledge having a field day against the likes of kelly and briggs on the flanks.
Loverboy to run the channels from big andys knock downs depending on how deep fulham will defend….their centre backs arent the fastest….battle will be i midfield as davies, gera and murphy are good players….
conclusion: get it wide, decent deliveries = Win
ganiyu
Nov 13, 2010 at 7:05 AM
Comment #16Agreed with comment 9.vuckic should start.its a 4-5-1.
toon_shy
Nov 13, 2010 at 8:32 AM
Comment #17don’t call me crazy but I had a dream last night and Lovenkrands netting a beautiful header. Lover to start please.
jasonbourne
Nov 13, 2010 at 8:47 AM
Comment #18I would have started this team to get more stability back in defense against Fulham. Smith can then be a box-to-box player, and he is capable of scoring.
Krul
Simpson Campbell Coloccini Enrique
Tiote Smith
Ranger Nolan (c) Gutierrez
Carroll
Subs: Soderberg Taylor (S) Williamson Guthrie Lovenkrands Routledge Vukivic
Disorder
Nov 13, 2010 at 9:54 AM
Comment #19Vuckic is injured, according to reports here in Slovenia. Apparently he got injured in training and will miss approximately 3 weeks. He will also miss Wednesday’s friendly match vs Georgia.
Geordiedoonsooth
Nov 13, 2010 at 10:03 AM
Comment #20Just read this load of b*ll*cks we certainly don’t want to sell Carroll & if we did it would be for a lot more than £10m.
http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2010/11/13/2211927/exclusive-tottenham-leading-the-race-for-unsettled-newcastle
JSYproject
Nov 13, 2010 at 10:04 AM
Comment #21jasonbourne.. smith could not be a box to box midfielder, and has not demonstrated he is capable of scoring for us, not even in the championship.
#
shamadz72 // Nov 13, 2010 at 3:27 AM
Good.. There gonna be a live telecast on Astro 🙂
#
13 Brutooon // Nov 13, 2010 at 3:45 AM
shamadz72 : channel 817
^^^what does this mean? a link?
JSYproject
Nov 13, 2010 at 10:14 AM
Comment #22GEORDIEDOONSOOTH… ‘Newcastle are reluctant to sell their only genuine goalscorer’
what a load of shit, nolan was the leagues top scorer the other day wasnt he?