Yohan Cabaye played the full game for France as they drew 0-0 with Belgium in Paris tonight.
Yohan Cabaye in action for France against Belgium Tuesday night
And the news is that the French International came through the game unscathed, and should now be fit to play for Newcastle at Manchester City on Saturday.
And with Cheick Tiote fully recovered from his knee injury, and back in full training, both first choice central midfielders could be lining up to start at the Etihad Stadium, with the in-form Danny Guthrie also available.
It now seems that the groin strain that forced Cabaye out of the game in the first half against Everton, was only minor, and he was back playing again within 10 days, after passing a fitness test yesterday.
Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul was once again an unused substitute as Holland were beaten 3-0 by Germany in Hamburg.
The Senegal game against the Ivory Coast was cancelled, so that means Demba Ba is still fit and will no doubt be ready to go, probably alongside Irishman Leon Best, up front on Saturday.
Shane Ferguson got 79 minutes as the Northern Ireland U21 side were beaten 2-0 by Serbia in Coleraine, in the European Under-21 Championship qualifier.
And Davide Santon was once again an unused substitute for the Italian U21 side, who beat Hungary 2-0 to win their 5th successive game in the group, and Newcastle center-back Tamas Kadar played the full game for Hungary.
So it seems all of Newcastle players except Mike Williamson, Sylvain Marveaux and Gabriel Obertan will be fit for the game on Saturday, and Alan Pardew should be able to pick his best eleven to start that game.
Comments welcome.
16 comments so far
GeordieToon89
Nov 15, 2011 at 11:46 PM
Comment #1Love the france top like, cant believe they played him for 90mins the tw*t bags
fgb224lbs
Nov 16, 2011 at 12:32 AM
Comment #2well we look to have a pretty strong side for Saturday. 2-1 to th toon. cabaye and Steven Taylor to score. i’d get over 100-1 on that lol
kizza
Nov 16, 2011 at 12:37 AM
Comment #3Im tempted to get a france shirt with cabaye on it. i am newish to posting on the blog. followed the blog for about 4-5 years now.
i only used to post when i had news of transfers. i was the first to break the news about us signing collo a few years back (2weeks before it happened) ah ed… nic
kizza
Nov 16, 2011 at 12:41 AM
Comment #4Pressed submit too early… ed. nice to see u put that our best starting 11 doesnt have obatan in. he has been alright. He has contributed to those points on the board as much as the rest recently
matheus1
Nov 16, 2011 at 12:47 AM
Comment #5best11: krul, santon, colo, s. taylor, r. taylor; jonas, cabaye, tiote, marveux; ben arfa; ba.
toonbrother
Nov 16, 2011 at 12:56 AM
Comment #6Blanc is such an a*ss hole. Why play him for 90minutes coming off an injury? Without Obertan Newcastle will not be complete away from home; the outlet he provides on the right is integral to the way we play. I hope Pardew doesn’t make the mistake of trying to play cheik, cabaye and guthrie at the same time. I dont think that will work
Colo2
Nov 16, 2011 at 1:32 AM
Comment #7Good news that Cabaye made it through 90mins. The Daily Fail is reporting that Tiote is struggling to be fit and that Obertan and Marveaux are out for 7 weeks. So who do we play on the right? Ben Arfa, Sammy or Gosling I don’t think Guthrie can do a job out wide.
NUFC_DOWNUNDER
Nov 16, 2011 at 2:42 AM
Comment #8given Obertan and Marv are injured, Silva and Toure are calling all the shots for City and guthrie’s in the form of his career, perhaps a 4-3-3 formation would do well this game.. I was thinking:
simo–saylor–collo–raylor
tiots
guthrie—-cabaye
hba———gut
ba
bit more defensive. Although less opportunity to pump it into the striker given Best is on the bench
thoughts?
ardenTOON
Nov 16, 2011 at 5:55 AM
Comment #9@downunder
thats more 451 than 433 mate 🙂
Brutooon
Nov 16, 2011 at 6:09 AM
Comment #10Right wing position
1) Hatem Ben Arfa ( played there couple of time and lots of experience)
2) Sammy Ameobi ( inexperience but i think rather keep him at the bench and as an impact sub)
3) Gosling – he need couple of subs appearance first before he is ready to start
4) Guthrie – never will be a right winger. He is best at the middle
Satan
Nov 16, 2011 at 7:01 AM
Comment #11Gutierrez on the right with Ben Arfa on the left for me in a 4-5-1….this will be the hardest game of the season, Man City will finish champions I reckon….we need to choke the midfield and stop Silva getting on the ball….hopefully we can grab a point
NUFC_DOWNUNDER
Nov 16, 2011 at 7:03 AM
Comment #12my point exactly!!
Ben3arfa
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:02 AM
Comment #13we should play a 5 man midfield IMO , ben arfa and guttirez on the wings ..
cabaye, guthrie and tiote in the middle , Ba up front
HWTL
GeordieToon89
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:30 AM
Comment #14http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/7309585/Tiote-targets-City-return
Tiotes fit
Toon_Sheep
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:43 AM
Comment #15Agree with post No.6 we need obertan to release the pressure, his pace is a massive bonus when shifting from defence to attack away from home where we are undoubtebly not going to be seeing as much of the ball as citeh! im hoping Kolarov gets the nod over clichy, no where near as good defensivly, which we can exploit and as long as who ever is playing on the right gives simmo help like jonas does with raylor we should be able to stop his forward runs! stick 2 on silva and let yaya try to do too much on his own!
tawaaz
Nov 16, 2011 at 1:36 PM
Comment #16i hope we’l b able 2 suprise city…i think ths is HBA’s game 2 shine….we nid 2 start & earn his $$$ on e pitch not on past achievements