Stoke v Newcastle – Premier League match preview.

Battle at the Britannia!
Newcastle head to Stoke on Saturday afternoon for what is likely to be a battle at The Britannia between the two sides.

Stoke have earned a reputation of being a physical side who rely mainly on set piece goals and winning the second balls and knock-downs. It isn’t pretty, but it’s certainly effective and means that they currently sit in a league position that is not too different to our own with only the two points separating the two sides.

The home to the “loudest fans in the Premier League” will also be the temporary home to 3,000 or so of the travelling Toon Army which will include, from what I know of anyway, myself, Marktoon, Jay Jay, Dan4toon, Davidtoon4life, AndrewNUFC, Shrews mag and probably a fair few more from the blog who I may have missed.

Stoke will be without John Carew for the match tomorrow as he nurses a back injury whilst former Magpie Abdoulaye Faye is rated as doubtful as he is suffering from a hamstring injury. Mamady Sidebe is definitely out, as he has been for sometime, although The Potters will be able to recall Asmir Begovic after he missed their FA Cup game with West Ham last week due to illness.

Coincidentally, to take a look at the last team that Stoke managed to put out in the Premier League you have to go back a couple of weeks to their last match, which was also against West Ham. They lost that game 3-0 and they lined up with a team sheet consisting of;

Stoke: Asmir Begovic, Mark Wilson, Robert Huth, Ryan Shawcross, Danny Pugh, Jermaine Pennant, Rory Delap, Dean Whitehead, Glen Whelan, Jonathan Walters, John Carew.

Newcastle are carrying an awful lot of injuries at the minute, although to be fair it’s mainly injuries to three players that are causing us the real issue. Jose Enrique, although not officially confirmed yet, looks set to miss out whilst Joey Barton will undergo a late fitness test to see if he can feature. Jonas Gutierrez is also officially doubtful although he has thanked the medical staff for his quick recovery via his Twitter account. Make of that what you will…

The likes of Stephen Ireland, Hatem Ben Arfa, Dan Gosling and Alan Smith are all still injured of course, so any further casualties tend to hit us pretty hard. It was against Everton the the two latest injuries (Jose and Jonas) occurred. We lost that match 2-1 and lined up with a team of;

Newcastle: Steve Harper, Steven Taylor, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Danny Simpson, Cheik Tiote, Kevin Nolan, Jonas Gutierrez, Leon Best, Peter Lovenkrands.

Obviously there will have to be some changes to that line up due to our injuries, so I’d put Lovenkrands on the left and play Nile Ranger or Shola Ameobi up front with Leon Best for a start. If Joey Barton is fit then it will be a right side made up of him and Simpson, and as for left-back it’s a toss up between either Jonas Gutierrez (in the unlikely event of him being fit), Shane Ferguson or James Perch.

Stoke are looking to do the double over us, which is something that they have failed to achieve since the 1970/1971 season. With an unbeaten home record in 2011 that statistic could become a reality come 5pm Saturday afternoon.

Expect an aerial bombardment from Stoke as not only do they throw the ball into the box from any position possible, they have also played 44% of passes into the final third of the pitch, which is the highest figure in the top flight this season. HOOF!

Kevin Nolan and Cheik Tiote are both one yellow card away from two game suspensions as they are both on nine bookings for the season. Another yellow tomorrow would see the pair miss the visit of Wolves and the trip to Aston Villa.

Newcastle have drawn five of the last eight games, but they have have only tasted defeat twice in 2011.

All in all I’m personally not holding out much hope for tomorrow. To me success would be a point and a decent performance as well me avoiding any kind of trouble. It finds me, honest!

I gave up predicting a while back, mainly because I’m **** at it, but I honestly can’t see anything else other than defeat. If we had a few more first choice players available then maybe my expectations would be a bit higher, but all I expect from the dump that is Stoke is a few beers and a train ride home with nothing to show for it.

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.

149 thoughts on “Stoke v Newcastle – Premier League match preview.

  1. Icedog
    Posted March 18, 2011 at 9:25 PM

    “getting picky now like”

    Isn’t it fucking just!

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  2. ‘It could be indeed, but I credit the vast majority of Newcastle fans to know just when the team that they support are going to play.’ 😉

    I find sites that have a date, location and kick-off time on their ‘match preview’ look more professional. 🙂

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  3. Moreno…get your sheckels on these babies mate…

    FC Nurnberg v Werder Bremen Home
    Hannover 96 v Hoffenheim Home
    SC Freiburg v Bayern Munich Away

    😆

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  4. Ice….I’ve noticed your a bit more aggresive since ya put young Satan’s pic up 😉

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  5. ‘I’ll only get accused of copying or some such by others’

    Copying off who? Everybody else is just copying it off the ticket. Tell them to get fecked

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  6. Aye Moreno…Werder are cack this year, and Nürnberg are chasing a euro spot…plus they are good at home…..get your spondoolicks on that mate, but as usual if it goes tits up it’s not my fault 😆 😆

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  7. MM, will look at that as a treble.
    I was happy with your tips last week like! didn’t go with the Hoffenhein one though….still sceptical this week, are they not riding back up the curve?

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  8. MM, I always take full responsibility mate, I will not blame you personally, only to the wife.

    “You know that meal we were going out for darlin? well Munich Mag gave me some ***** tips and well…..got your card on you by any chance?”

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  9. aye Hoffenheim are picking up, but Hannover are also chasing a top 6 spot… Hoffenheim also lost a bunch of good players in mid season, but I still fancy Hannover to see them off at home…

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  10. Ah knaa. feckin hell I said please and everything I could have been rude. 😮 What response would that have got. 🙂

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  11. Leave DJG alone, it’s not his fault he doesn’t know what time the match kicks off on Sunday… 😳

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  12. DJG if you had of said > Yo toonsy you have no kick off time on that so get it fuking sorted lad.
    He would have responded with > No sweat im on it now DJG cheers mate 😆

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  13. MM

    I knaa wots happening on sunday mate. Judas is gonna break his duck against the dorty mackems. 😛

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  14. am oot travelling , so I won’t be blogging my usual ***** this weekend….let’s hope for a point and no cards or injuries tomorra…

    Anyone gannin to the match, sing your hearts out for the lads…

    Moreno…get your spondoolicks on Nürnberg and Hannover mate…

    Bon weekend boys and girls

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  15. Big Dave
    Posted March 18, 2011 at 9:49 PM
    DJG if you had of said > Yo toonsy you have no kick off time on that so get it fuking sorted lad.
    He would have responded with > No sweat im on it now DJG cheers mate

    You think so? I divven’t 😉

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  16. icedog…current Bayern Leverkusen manager Jupp Heynkes is lined up for the job mate. There is NO WAY Kaiser Franz would let Mark Hughes anywhere near his beloved FC Bayern..

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  17. Richietoon…waddaya make of Villareal ? They destroyed Bayer Leverkusen yesterday, and they are one of Spains weaker teams !! Who ya gonna follow when you get to sunny Spain ?

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  18. ooopps… sorry…said good night once already !! Have a splendid weekend boys, whatever you get up to…and Howay the Lads !! !

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  19. @Toonsy
    Hoo radgey!
    Troy is gannin doon to the Britannia as weel man!
    Am peddling doon on me BMX like!
    Proper off me heed on whizz so it will only tek is half an hour a reckon like!
    See ye’s laters doylems!
    Toon Toon!

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  20. Munich, they’re a decent team on their day. Ya mean follow other than the toon?…..nae idea, probably Hercules as they play in Alicante but look like they’ll get relegated this season. As long as I have something to watch live, I’m not too fussed about the level……though La Liga would have been nice 😥

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  21. richie, Valencia is about 1 hr and 20 mins up the road.
    the Mestalla stadium is amazing. The city of valencia itself is absolutely breathtaking and is 100% worth a visit. Follow Les Ches mate! Valencia!

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  22. Moreno….only been to the station at Valencia with the Bullring right outside. My problem is at first I’m gonna have no spare cash until we’re earning so it’ll have to be a local Alicante team or nowt 🙁

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  23. aye RICHIE its alright there went and saw them stuff l/pool a few years back,had to scan me-sel in,got in wrong end,minolas bar is good,sort of mascot of spain bet your lass has heard of him

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  24. Dave…..only one person to blame tho, it’s a shame for the lads who still use it like and there’s some decent articles on at times but I don’t comment at all now.

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  25. “Unless our recent form picks up, we ARE going down. 42 points might not be enough. 45 is probably OK, but if we give more points away to other relagation candidates we are going to be stuffed.”

    The power of positive thought… 🙄

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  26. Alicante themselves are a decent side, I always followed Real. Absolutely loved Zidane. all the Spanish I knew supported Barca so I chose real just to wind them all up.

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  27. Richie you spot on mate there is only person to blame and its not me 😆
    Good evening Mr Batty I hear you have been at the bookies again 😉

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  28. Aye I follow Real and have been a few times as wor Lass is from Madrid and follows them, she despises Barca and so do I(owt for an easier life) 😀
    Apparently theres a few Brits follow Torrevieja(?) and go to the away games too.

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  29. Torrevieja is legoland mate. If you want little England, that’s where you go. Mixture of british and russian plastic mafia, it was the cheapest place to buy during the costa blanca boom. personally can’t stand the place!

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  30. Dave…ya seemed to have accidently put “not” in your comment there, just thought I’d point out your error like 😉

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  31. Aye, had a day there last year, was some sort of fiesta there wi a load of horses near the harbour.
    Have you been to Mojacar before?

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  32. can’t say I have, heard of it though.

    If you ever get to see a bull run, they are absolutely crazy. It’s so far removed from anything you could get away with over here its just mental. I have been running from bulls in the past with fireworks on their horns, whilst the spanish throw cans (and anything else they can get their hands on) at the bulls. They just close off the street and put big frames with bars either side which you can slip in and out of, then let the big ******* loose. The bulls ***** all over the place as they are terrified and they charge at anyone not behind the bars. I have seen people get horizontally skewered against the bars and everyone just cheers.

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  33. Moreno….aye went to a small one at Alcalali, absolutely mental.
    Wor lass is on about going to some weekend yoga convention in mojacar and I can stay wi her cheap so might do a spot of fishing and drinking. While she’s keeping fit, I’ll keep fat 😉 😀

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  34. If you are going that far down, stop in at La Manga Club on the way. Tell them Miguel Moreno sent you 😉

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  35. Somehow that doesn’t sound like the sort of establishment wor lass would approve of! 😆

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  36. I’m up at 6 in the morning so I better get some sleep, not expecting a win at all, lets hope I’m proven wrong!

    Haway the lads.

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  37. Andrew…..that’s when the Toon usually win, when we don’t expect owt…here’s hoping anyway.
    Enjoy all those who are going down and safe trip.
    Whey I’m off up the dancers, neet lads.

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  38. reet lads, away to bed. catch ya all tomorrow for the match. all the lads travelling to the match, have a good un!

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