Carroll-less Newcastle head to Craven Cottage.

CRaven Cottage - Home to Fulham FC.
Newcastle head to Fulham this evening to partake of their first football match since the departure of Andy Carroll.

Not that it would have mattered of course as Carroll is currently out injured, but it will be interesting to see what the reaction of the players will be to the loss of a popular colleague, friend, and in some cases, former lodger.

Will the lads who remain dig deep and retain that fighting spirit that has become almost synonomous with this team? Or will they let the departure of Carroll get the down and give them a reason to take thier collective eye off the ball? I’m putting money on the former.

It’s fair to say that it was a pretty disastrous transfer window for Newcastle as they came out of January with a smaller, and weaker, squad than the one that was with us at the turn of the year. Injuries and suspension aren’t helping to solve the problem either.

Steven Taylor will miss the game through a hamstring injury, as will new boy Stephen Ireland. Ryan Taylor is back in training but is nowhere near returning to first team action whilst Alan Smith, Hatem Ben Arfa and Dan Gosling will all be out for some time to come. Cheik Tiote serves the last game of his three match ban this evening.

With what we have left in terms of players, I would say that it’s likely we will end up playing with a team that looks a bit like this:

Newcastle: Steve Harper, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Joey Barton. Danny Guthrie, Kevin Nolan, Jonas Gutierrez, Shola Ameobi, Leon Best.

Fulham have picked up as of late and will head into this game on the back of an impressive FA Cup win over Tottenham. Craven Cottage is never an easy place to go to, and I don’t expect that to change this evening.

As far as team news goes, Dickson Etuhu is doubtful as he battles with a hamstring problem whilst Mark Schwarzer will be rested after his exploits in the Asian Cup. Those two will join Matt Briggs, Bobby Zamora and Philippe Senderos on the sidelines.

Last time out, Fulham played with a team of:

Fulham: David Stockdale, Carlos Salcido, John Pantsil, Brade Hangeland, Aaron Hughes, Steve Sidwell, Danny Murphy, Damien Duff, Clint Dempsey, Andy Johnson, Moussa Dembele.

Fulham have the edge with regard to the head-to-head record. The Cottagers have been victorius on 25 occasions compared the Newcastle’s 24 and there have been 13 between the two sides.

Mark Hughes is unbeaten as a Premier League manager in his last six games against Newcastle which includes his time spent in charge at three clubs – Blackburn, Manchester City, and obviously now Fulham.

Take the top four away and you will see that Newcastle are the top scorers in the league. The sale of Andy Carroll won’t help that of course, but as I said earlier, we wouldn’t have had him available tonight anyway, and we haven’t had him available for the last four games.

Tonight the lads get the chance to concentrate on playing football. They can forget what has gone on in the last couple of days. All of the mud slinging and finger pointing can put put in the background and the team can go about the business of trying to win the game

Howay the lads!

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

80 thoughts on “Carroll-less Newcastle head to Craven Cottage.

  1. “Not that it would have mattered of course as Carroll is currently out injured”

    Why mention it then we have done pretty **** fine without him in the last four matches and were very unlucky not to take 12 points from them.

    We’ll more than likely struggle in the next few matches to take more than the odd point, Which will start the “experts” saying we are missing Judas.

    But we’ll get ten points, We are well on course to stay up, The only requirement of the season and some lanky money grabbing **** aint changing that…

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  2. leon best step foward.
    Would love to see best take a chance now. icant make it to the game tonight, but i’ll be watching on tv.
    remember give aaran hughes the obvation he deserves and that other judas duff a piece of your mind.
    lets go for it lads.. hwtl!!!!!!!

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  3. Best has done better recently but if he does nowt against Fulham then i reckon hell be dropped for saturday.

    Tiotes back and i reckon Pardew will be preparing for Irelands comeback but going 4-4-1-1…

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  4. The only criticism of Best I have is that he is sometimes a yard too slow in reading the game. A lot of the other stuff is spot on really.

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  5. cc- yep i agree, i can see ireland/nolan playing off a lone striker and it will probs be shola.
    toonsy- yeah. i think leon is a confidence player and if shown faith he will be alright

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  6. The Asia Chinese gonna celebrate the annual chinese New year including me,where i will be receiving annual red packets(cash included) by relatives tomorrow.

    So hopefully,a win against the cottagers,will bring up the festival mood even higher for me. 😆 :mrgreen:

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  7. Mark – You are starting to come across a bit wingey. It’ll get done. Chill out 😛

    Juts because you had to change your Carroll No 9 duvet and pillow set 😉

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  8. I don’t think the conditions could be better for us to get a win tonight, that means we’ll loose I guess.

    Wouldn’t say Best has impressed me, but he’s done better than what I thought he would. More to come I guess so suppose he can only get better.

    Think for years we’ve been spoiled with having a big name up front, maybe for the foreseeable future we’re not going to have a main man up front, everyone will have to share thr responsibility chip in with the goals.

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  9. Raffo

    Pardew said: “We’re hoping that Stephen is two weeks away from playing.

    “We have constructed a deal with Villa that makes sure he is fit to play – in doing so we hope he is back to his best.

    “He’s a guy who was one of the big commodities in the Premier League with Man City and Villa.

    “He’s somebody who needs to be rebuilt.”

    A journo on twitter said that if he doesn’t get himself fit, it’s part of the deal that we can send him back. And no it’s not with option to buy.

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  10. Cheers ILM – that is what I feared. I am glad he is in but I would hope we at least get first refusal as theres no use us getting him back to his best for Villa to reap the benefits next season

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  11. Fingers crossed I have the mobile site sorted. I need people to check though. If you get any problems let me know. Also, if the full site is giving you issues let me know 🙂

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  12. what are you talking about toonsy- i only have a i heart toonsy duvuet set 😉 luckily it was only 3rd shirt that had carroll on, its skipped… i have barton on home shirt 🙂
    and i know it’ll get sorted but its offending my eyes

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  13. United look to the Reserves for bench cover – Michael Richardson and Paul Dummett joining up with the first team after being omitted from Tuesday night’s reserve team squad.

    🙄 🙄

    Good to see Paul getting bench seat. He is a good prospect.

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  14. Totally agree with the Best comments. I’ve been impressed with him although he does seem to be a yard slow in reading the game. Hope he bags one tonight although as I always say I don’t care if we win by an own goal, I’ll take the win over anything else.

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  15. Newcastle Fans Demand Input On How Club Is Run

    – survey reveals over 75% want a stake in the football club and fans represented on the board

    New research into what Newcastle United fans think of their football club shows that a staggering 96% of supporters feel the current owners do not listen to their concerns and 78% believe they should be allowed to take a stake in the football club.

    🙄 😆 :mrgreen:

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  16. toonsy, i’ll make them and give them out at brum.
    ill make some free toosny hug vouchers as well!

    yeah nolan’s comments wierd, not too chuffed that he’s given an interview there and defo not happy he has said hes delighted that carroll has joined a great club. just shut it nobby.

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  17. Toonsy – agree with your assessment of Best. He’s looked way out of place and a bit slow on the uptake at times, so needs to work on his ability to read a situation and be in the right place. Not sure if it’ll be him or Ranger that steps into the void, though. At the end of the day, a big-man, quick-man combo will always be preferable.

    Of course, Lover could rediscover his form, so who knows? Exciting, really.

    My bet is that Nolan will be our top scorer for the rest of the season, though. Shola’s ability to confuse defences plus Cap Kev’s ability to bang in the loose ball should be pretty tidy.

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  18. Howdy mates,

    This is my first post as I’ve been gettin’ over the flu. News of Carroll made me wanna charter a private jet, fly to Liverpool just to bash the greedy little sh!te’s kneecaps in with a baseball bat. The one thing I AM hoping for (and I’m gonna get some guff from some of ya for this) is that Steven Taylor breaks his leg. Yeah, I’m that vindictive. Must be the Irish coming out in me. Or maybe the German. Who the heck knows lol..

    ANYWAY, wishin’ for the best against the cottagers today. Let’s take ’em to the cleaners and bag ourselves a handy 3 points. Leon Best, please stand up and be counted, lad.

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  19. @toonsy: THIS IS. LOL.

    The survey of more than 4,700 fans by Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust also reveals the majority do not believe the club is currently capable of establishing itself in the Top 5 of the Premier League, despite the organisation’s success in controlling costs such as by offloading high wage earners.

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  20. I think our strikers problems are as follows

    Shola – We know. Hit and miss. Injured or fit etc, but he can be a handful

    Best – Looks more likely to score, but needs a confidence boost and gametime,

    Lovenkrands – As above really, but the drawback is he doesn’t offer enough when he is trying to get that confidence. Vicious circle.

    Ranger – A striker in name only. Needs to score to show he can finish, but all the other parts of his game show real promise.

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  21. Whoa,does any one surprised that we from having 6 strikers to currently a mere 4. 😛

    And btw, to take note of that two youngsters who are possibly on bench tonight.

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  22. Rumours are that we’re in for Sandiago Munez for 35mil. Watch this space. He’ll turn us around next season, just you guys watch. I hope this isn’t wasted on everyone 😀

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  23. – and the survey revealed over 103% thought having a stake in the club meant that they were getting a sirloin at half time.

    Didn’t know NUST were still around

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  24. 😆 Glad some people got it!
    MarkToon-Think they might have actually mate, such a dodgy film, but the best bit by far is when he’s in the gym doing leg weights and Big Al comes up and starts doing x5 the weight-absolute legend! It finishes with us playing against liverpool with real game footage too..so lets hope we can repeat that at sh1tty old anfield!

    -OHurley, 😀 Also -re the whole STaylor breaking Carrolls leg, i think thats well out of order. That would cost us a defender, and he’s an average tackler at best. What we need to do is get Smithy so pumped full of pain numbing drugs he can come on in the last 10min of the game and contribute to the full extent of his game-a Career ending injury on Carroll. If that happened, I would literally class Smith as a newcastle legend, I am that bitter :mrgreen:

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  25. Newkie Brown-

    HAHAHAHAHA completely agree mate!! That would be mint! Of course- breakin’ legs didn’t even earn De Jong or Cattermole much more than a slap on the wrist. LoL, if Smithy ended Carroll’s career, I would honestly, unabashedly laugh (and then probably fee bad about it a week later or so).

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  26. Newkie why Ffs would we want munez? That’s far too much money for an unproven epl player. Plus he’d probably fk off to real after a year!! :mrgreen:

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  27. I don’t know regarding Nolan like, what’s he done wrong? Just bigging up his mate who has been offered a massive pay rise at another job, he’s just excited for him.

    I don’t see too much wrong with it.

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  28. I Love Mike-

    I gotta agree with ya on that one. It hurts for us Toon fans, but Nolan’s just excited for his mate. Also it’s important to note that Nolan IS a Liverpool fan…

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  29. Toonsy from an IPhone user point of view, the mobile site now looks and interacts 5 stars!
    Job well done! 😎

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  30. Yeah, Munez would just be another player we could pick up before selling him onto a “big club” 🙁
    Proven PL striker in the Bellamy mould? Gavin Harris :D?

    Yeah, I think Nolan is a pretty good bloke, wouldn’t have wanted Carroll to leave, maybe he thought he’d be able to curb his wild side and keep him on but theres only so much he can do as a captain and a friend. At the end of the day he probably feels sorry for andy-I know we don’t, I certainly don’t, but he probably feels he has to support someone he likely came to know as a good friend, as theres plenty of hatred flowing out from the Tyne, and a lot of people in Liverpool are being critical of him already. Plus if he’d come out badmouthing Carroll it would make us look more unproffesional, give the papers more stuff to tarnish us with etc. He can hardly say liverpool is a **** club either. Pretty much agree with how he and Pards have talked about Carroll, it hurts us but at the end of the day, what can we do?

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  31. I wasnt too impressed with Nolan either if truth be told. Granted he’s just bigging up his mate to fans but he’s our captain regardless.
    If you’re a pro player and Manu.com ask you for an interview after they beat Sunderland 5-0, is it considered professional to sit and have a laugh with them on record because you support Newcastle?..they had no reason to talk to Nolan, like they’re rubbing it in. Will he be off next like? Maybe old dogleash had a chat with him when he was down there about the summer.

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  32. TonyGreenSupreme – thanks for that. It was bugging me who it was.

    Ugly bastid, whatever way. Looks like someone’***** a bowling ball with a face-shaped rock.

    Ahem. Sorry, Mr Ireland: welcome to Toon! 😳

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  33. Just a thought ,do you think Carroll woke up Tuesday morning ,and thought what the f@*k have I done?Like I do every Sunday morning.I know he’s on a load more money, but in the cold light of day what can he get with £80grand a week that he can’t get with 30 grand a week?probably a lot more trouble.

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  34. Mick G: That’s exactly what I think. And if he has any sense he’ll sue his agent for giving ***** advice and screwing up everything that does actually matter for an extra pile of cash, which doesn’t.

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  35. That’s why AP, Owlheed and Ashley should have kept their cool and just ignored carroll yesterday. If they don’t allow for a 22-year-old with questionable IQ to make stupid decisions with an agent on the take in his ear and several million quid on the table (but only if you ACT NOW!) then they don’t deserve to be running an ice cream van let alone a football club.
    They didnt’t have to do anything. They could have just sat there for 4 hours and we would have been fine by now. Fucknuggets.

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  36. @MDS:United look to the Reserves for bench cover – Michael Richardson and Paul Dummett joining up with the first team after being omitted from Tuesday night’s reserve team squad.

    🙄 🙄

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  37. Whumpie-

    GREAT use of the “fucknuggets”. God, I love that euphemism. LMFAO!

    I have to take Ashley’s side in this one. If we’d have waited until the summer (where we ALL secretly knew that AC would be sold anyway) we almost CERTAINLY wouldn’t have got 35mil for him. Liverpool had the cash burning a hole in the pocket after selling Torres, and Ashley knew that he could sucker ’em in for a PILE of cash. And he did. I don’t blame him at all for selling for a monumentally ridiculous transfer fee, but I just wish it wasn’t at the 11th hour. Either way, I think we’ll survive, and presuming that we do, we can invest in MANY different positions and really strenghthen our squad’s depth. Good move as far as I’m concerned, I just wish it wasn’t leaving us short-stacked for the rest of the season.

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  38. Whumpie-

    GREAT use of the “f*cknuggets”. God, I love that euphemism. LMFAO!

    I have to take Ashley’s side in this one. If we’d have waited until the summer (where we ALL secretly knew that AC would be sold anyway) we almost CERTAINLY wouldn’t have got 35mil for him. Liverpool had the cash burning a hole in the pocket after selling Torres, and Ashley knew that he could sucker ‘em in for a PILE of cash. And he did. I don’t blame him at all for selling for a monumentally ridiculous transfer fee, but I just wish it wasn’t at the 11th hour. Either way, I think we’ll survive, and presuming that we do, we can invest in MANY different positions and really strenghthen our squad’s depth. Good move as far as I’m concerned, I just wish it wasn’t leaving us short-stacked for the rest of the season.

    (I think my last one got moderated. Toonsy, why ya let Whumpie use “f*cknuggets” but not anyone else like? :lol:)

    Current score: 0

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  39. ….aaaaand, AC is a f*cking greedy gypo ****** and I hope he’s the biggest flop in the history of football so I can CACKLE at his misfortune and more importantly, Liversh!te’s misfortune. W@nkers.

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  40. Young Michael Richardson is on the bench tonight. That’s the only news I know. I also feel the team is as follows:
    Harper, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Enrique, Barton, Nolan, Guthrie, Jonas, Best, Ameobi.

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  41. Cant wait for tonights game , finish work at 800 ill be home at 807 , mrs making pasta and i have some personalised bottles of heinken in the fridge waitn for me!!!!! Just need 3 points to round off the evenin 😉

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