With the greatest of respect to Wigan, this should be a game that the boys of NUFC win comfortably, at least according to the form book, and Shamrock who penned this stat-tatsic match preview for you all to peruse.
Personally I’m not so sure. My powers of prediction are famously awful so I tend to steer clear of them, but for some reason I have a feeling that we could trip up in this fixture although there is little doubt that we are the favourites for the game, especially if you look at the bookies odds – Skybet have us at 4/7 for the win while Wigan are priced at 5-1.
Unfortunately with the match being a 3pm kick-off it means that there is no UK TV coverage, although it shouldn’t matter too much as there are plenty of overseas broadcasters who have the match scheduled for airing. That should in turn mean that streams are fairly easy to come by. As ever though, if you come across a decent one the feel free to share it with your fellow Toon fans.
I’m actually at work today, as you read this in fact I’ll be somewhere between London and Bristol, so unfortunately I have to miss the match. However in my absence I’ve managed to collar Big Dave into supplying the team news which will you will find at the bottom of this article.
All in all that is just about it. Hopefully we can extend our unbeaten league run to 12 games and our overall run to 14 games.
Howay the lads!
Newcastle: Krul; Simpson, S.Taylor, Coloccini, R.Taylor; Obertan, Tiote, Cabaye, Gutierrez; Ba, Best
Subs: Harper, Santon, Perch, Smith, Marveaux, Ben Arfa, Ameobi
Wigan: Al Habsi, Boyce, Caldwell, Alcaraz, Figueroa, Diame, Watson, Jones,Moses, Rodallega, Crusat.
Subs: Pollitt, McArthur, Gomez, Sammon, Thomas, Maloney, Lopez.
man I must say we have been brilliant in the second half, they have been chasing shadows, and 1-0 is fully deserved. And man what a finish from Cabaye ! He’s even more of a star now the lad !
Munich Mag(Quote)
Give credit to Pardew. Can’t be long before people warm to the cockerneee
Jesmon Dean(Quote)
Who cares if the Mackems scored. We just did 🙂
The 59 sound(Quote)
Equal 3rd (for a bit)
Jesmon Dean(Quote)
what’s up with the sweaty commentator ? He is SO pro Wigan. ffs we are well worth the lead…
Munich Mag(Quote)
WTF is Raylors position today. Jonas is playing right back and right wing.
All Taylor just stands on.the halfway line and takes free kicks.
JJ(Quote)
come on ameobi where’s your magic touch
ron(Quote)
Dreamboat 😉
toonsy(Quote)
where did 4 minutes injury time come from ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
Motm between Jonas and Saylor
JJ(Quote)
Is it just me or does Moses have a rapist/murderer look about him?
Moreno(Quote)
Another good 3 points if we hold on. Great stuff. Come on the toon!!!
The 59 sound(Quote)
4 mins of added time
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
lol @ moreno
King Arfa(Quote)
Tiote had a bad game, which is rare.
Toon@Jer(Quote)
I reckon Marveaux has a better left foot than HBA 🙄 🙄 🙄
Munich Mag(Quote)
Get in
CC(Quote)
wehey !!! game over 1-0 joint third top !
Munich Mag(Quote)
GET IN!!!
The Kid(Quote)
😆 Ower the moon
Got Colo and Cabaye in fantasy team too, with Simmo on bench 😀
Moreno(Quote)
BELTA
TOONPIPES(Quote)
How did Colo do?
King Arfa(Quote)
Again a hard game in which we played were patient and solid at the back. This performance at the back meant were were going to get something from the game and at worst a draw and with luck a win. The results keep coming our way and the performance was again good except in the final third in terms of finishing.
One point: Ben Arfa needs to know when to pass the ball too many times he tries to get cute and loses the ball.
Well done.
Michael12(Quote)
played *****,but still come away with 3points,happy days.
laters
hitman(Quote)
Well played lads – dreamboat breaking his duck
Geordie Deb(Quote)
What a great win against such a hardworking, dogged and determined side. It took a true moment of class to do it.
The Kid(Quote)
Wooo Wooo Newcastle dream train chugging along…
Thad(Quote)
Good result from a poor performance
-King Arfa, pretty solid but nothing special
Newkie(Quote)
Awful game but the subs looked good when they came on. Ben Arfa still looks rusty as hell but showed a few touches of class including a great strike on goal. Marveaux looks a lot better than Obertan from what I have seen today.
lacedaemonian(Quote)
and the heed won as well happy days 😀
icedog(Quote)
just look at the table..9 games played 2 goals conceded.WOW!
ron(Quote)
As rusty as Ben Arfa looked, he still forced a good save from Al Habsi
The Kid(Quote)
Man, Marveaux has a great first touch. Much prefer him to Obertan. Jonas was MotM for me.
A much better second half. Good subs by Pardew (though fairly obvious). Great goal by Cabaye.
Happy with 1-0.
Brisvegas(Quote)
Perhaps we may see some changes for the cup tie next week. Bring Marveaux and Santon into the side. I still think Ben Arfa needs more game time to get his fitness back, he’s not quite there yet in terms of his fitness
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
btw how **** is wigan today..apart from that shot in first half never threaten krul.
ron(Quote)
Thought the referee today was awful, it looked like he was going to give a proper match changing controversial decision but thankfully it didnt happen, just how we got more yellow cards than them is beyond me.
Great result, scrappy performance, tactics **** first half but credit to Pardew for putting it right.
Robert(Quote)
Robert,
I too am completely baffled how they didn’t get more booked. How many cynical challenged did Watson make? He should have been off. Jones too. Too many cynical, strategic fouls from them for me.
Their game-plan was clearly; stifle us in midfield, slow down the play, attack on the break and keep a solid shape when off the ball.
To be fair to them, they did all of the above and did it well. However, they don’t have players like Cabaye etc to provide that extra class. That’s why we won and it’s why we deserved to win.
Unfortunately, I think Best just lost his place in the starting line-up. He missed a sitter and Ameobi has now made a telling contribution from off of the bench for the second consecutive time.
Obertan too, who was very poor today. Marveaux must be close to taking that right spot now…
The Kid(Quote)
Zoe im with you ben arfa s timing looks way off needs games, both full backs are our weak links, but a win is a win.
shottiesbru(Quote)
Well a win , another clean sheet and still undefeated onwards we go . 😀
Axel(Quote)
Did anyone else think both our fullbacks are the problem with our game? I think neither is happy on the ball for different reasons.
shottiesbru(Quote)
no. Both fullbacks played ok today and Simpson had his best game on the ball in a while (relatively speaking obviously, we’re talking Simpson here). The problem was below-par performances from everyone except Jonas and the back 5
M(Quote)
Shottiesbru
Raylor – he is just too slow, and he is obviously playing on the wrong side because he keeps getting beat on his outside left foot. Definately a problem for me.
Simpson – he is actually good defending, but he is so panicky in possession, and doesn’t offer Obertan anywhere near enough support pushing forward.
For me though, Simpson is the better of the two! Definately a position of weakness. We desperately need two another full back, another striker and central defensive cover. Then we’ll have a very strong squad.
JJ(Quote)
Really i think both were poor, simpson is terrible and taylor is on the wrong wing.
shottiesbru(Quote)
Played ***** and still got the 3 points. Isn’t that what they say about top 4 teams. 🙂
Wish people would stop writing Obertan off already. People are just looking for negatives that arn’t there IMO. The whole team were **** and everybody points the finger at Obertan. Can’t play great every game thats football. Thats the one thing I hate about NUFC, the better the team does the more and more the expectation gets cranked up. This time last season we were losing and scraping draws against these sides at home and people were supporting the Messiah CH.
DJG(Quote)
JJ
I m with you on the raylor comments but simson is a poor right back, drops off too much without the ball and poor with the ball.
shottiesbru(Quote)
Playing poorly and getting the result. How many times have seen that at Newcastle. Just think what we could do when we play to our best.
Icke(Quote)
DJG
Spot on, I would say we played poorly, but the fact we played poorly and still won, and looked very comfortable second half, says quite a bit on its own.
I actually like Obertan, the only thing I can fault him for is his final ball, that takes time, as he has to learn his strikers. There’s definately a lot about his play thats positive too. But he did have a poor game.
In the cup I’d give Jonas a rest and play Obertan and Marv on both wings.
JJ(Quote)
Icke
October 22, 2011 at 17:49
Playing poorly and getting the result. How many times have seen that at Newcastle?
I can’t think of the last time we played poorly and got 3 points.
DJG(Quote)
I think its like pards says game at a time, im stoked we won but i thought we were weak at the full back positions and then that effects the wings, spiderman was very good ut he had next to no help from taylor going forward.On the right simson is poor and i think this effects oba
shottiesbru(Quote)
C,mon fella’s the display was poor but the result at this stage of the season is everything. Are we perhaps expecting too much from this team who are surpassing all expectations.
Lets get some more game time from HBA and Marv and perhaps introduce Santon at Blackburn. I think Pardew’s substitutions are timed just right,I also think a lot of people are being to harsh on Obertan, I would agree his crossing is not up to speed but but in a decent shift in terms of defensive duties.
Just keep looking at the table
Toonanti(Quote)
Toonsy: Have a look in drafts 😉
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
Back lads! Dont ever want to see that plonker obertan in a Newcastle shirt ever again, he is bullshit!
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
@ toonanti i here what you are saying but i think some of our problems today are because of our fullbacks.Our leftback is really a right midfielder and our right back is poor and i belive this effects the wing play.oba is looking for simpson to support him maybe run past and look for the ball but he never does and when simo gets the ball his decision making is poor.Raylor is doing well out of position but offers nothing going forward for spiderman.
shottiesbru(Quote)
@ spencertoon do you blame it all on oba mate or his lack of options on the right?
shottiesbru(Quote)
On oba mate, look at Jonas, he has lost Jose and is still class, Simmo trys to get forward on oba does **** all apart from ***** himself, he doesn’t even attack his man like, I think he did it twice in 90 mins today, and fair enough when he did he was good, but he hardly ever does it.
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
I agree mate but i think its to do with confidence on the right, simo offers nowt to oba who is clearly not a confident guy and i think its effecting his game, jonas has been here for a while and is cool taking the ball forward on his own.
shottiesbru(Quote)
Good article and some good comments
One thing, from my angle, is that we werent poor; it was more that Wigan nullified us in midfield. They had stated a 4-3-3 at KO time, but it soon reverted to 4-5-1 and by early 2nd half it was 4-6-0
this stopped us, wigan got every loose 2nd ball, as they swamped midfield, but they had almost nothing up front
I expect most (average – hope this doesnt sound patronising to wigan, cos it aint meant that way) team to come to SJP and try to stop tiote/cabaye/jonas
that will be their tactic; and its up to us to break them down, eke out a win and keep climbing
so long as we support them and dont hassle them they will win more than they lose (I hope)
chalky.toon(Quote)