Colocinni and Tiote return – Game On! Newcastle v Swansea

Home comforts against Swansea?
Just a brief ‘Game On’ article for you all today, thanks mainly to a bit of a plumbing emergency but anyway…

Welcome one and all to the fantabulous, majestic ‘Game on’ article which will take you through every twist and turn of the match against Swansea today.

Of course today gives us another chance to pay our respects to Gary Speed as the memorial planned originally for the Chelsea game will go ahead with Gary Speed’s wife, Louise, in attendance at St James’ Park. Welsh hymn ‘Bread of Heaven’ will be sung and black and white cards depicting the number 11 will be held aloft by fans in the East Stand. It’s also fitting that the visitors today are from Speed’s homeland of Wales and I’m sure both sets of fans will combine to make it a fitting tribute to the man.

Moving on to the match itself… Team news will be supplied at the bottom of this article as and when it becomes available. However in the meantime why not take a look at Shamrock’s most excellent match preview here or for a look at a compendium of stats with regard to Swansea courtesy of nufc_stats then why not look here.

That just about sums it up from me and it really is ‘Game on’ time. Newcastle will be looking to pick up their first win in four whilst Swansea will be looking for their first away win of the season (I hate stats like that!) and with both sides capable of producing good football we could be in for a pre-Christmas cracker at St James’ Park.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, James Perch, Fabricio Coloccini (c), Davide Santon; Gabriel Obertan, Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez; Leon Best, Demba Ba.

Subs: Steve Harper, Mike Williamson, Mehdi Abeid, Haris Vuckic, Hatem Ben Arfa, Sammy Ameobi, Shola Ameobi

Swansea: Vorm, Richards, Williams, Caulker, Taylor, Routledge, Gower, Britton, Sinclair, Allen, Graham

Subs: Tremmel, Monk, Dyer, Augustien, Lita, Dobbie, Moore

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.

291 thoughts on “Colocinni and Tiote return – Game On! Newcastle v Swansea

  1. mark – i dont think pardew thinks hes ready yet!! hes been out a year and might be taking a long time to get into things!!!

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  2. At home, if you are searching for goals you play 2 up front. Playing benny means you are sacrificing another position as you can’t play him centre mid.

    If we had went a couple of goals up we would have seen him but Vuckic and Sammy kept the shape to support two strikers

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  3. Yeah i agree with 151 and 153.

    Its a decent point today, clean sheet as well. In the right half of the table. Main thing.

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  4. Frustration sums it up.
    3 points against WBA and i’ll be very happy.
    Must be a reason why benny isn’t playing, if he’s going to find form it’s going to be in games like swansea and norwich.

    Pluses:
    Ba is an absolute machine, so much more than Carroll, his hold up play and turns are fantastic.
    Colo is essential to our season, regardless of who we play from Perch/Williamson/Kadar, if Colo is there he has the ability to calm the defence.
    Santon looked fantastic going forward.

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  5. Ben Arfa played on the wing when he was at Lyon and Marseille. I cannot understand why is on the bench. Has he made something wrong??

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  6. @Army69

    but where would you play him. midfield seems out of question so that leaves him up front. One place up for grabs which we’ll probably fill.

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  7. How comfortable does Santon look on the ball eh..he oozes class and makes it look easy.
    I’ll tell you what..add a couple to this squad in January and we have one hell of a team.

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  8. Mark, it doesn’t matter..they will drop points again, so it’s about what we do and let them worry about themselves.

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  9. Agreed m8

    but as someone has said b4, we’re a transfer window away form being a decent team (or something like that) 😳

    We’re rumoured to be in for a swap for tiote involving S Kalou / Alex.. would anyone entertain this idea?

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  10. We were good, but don’t forget swansea were pretty shocking. The most boring team at SJP so far (except chelsea match I didn’t see it live). They barely tried, I know they pass it well but they go no where with it and from the first whistle looked like they were settling for a point. Was it Cabaye who was booked? And does he miss the next match?

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  11. Wolfie @ 163

    “I’ll tell you what..add a couple to this squad in January and we have one hell of a team.”

    We’ve been saying that a while though. We have been a couple of good signings off a cracking team for a while now.

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  12. Ben Arfa will be spitting the dummy soon. I just don’t think Pardew rates him to be honest…
    Vuckic will come good… It was nice to see him play.

    As for Sammy Ameobi. I just don’t think he has what it takes…

    Ba was great, and Santon looked good too.

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  13. It shows how loyal Pards must be to his players if Raylor kept out Santon. Good on Pards I say for being supportive, I just hope he’s not doing the same for Obertan, can Benny play there?

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  14. oh well like i said before 30 points at xmas and im more than happy 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

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  15. In a word disappointing. We pressed them well but other than Ba no real danger men for us. Overall Cabaye’s set pieces were poor. We seem to have little idea what to do from free kicks or corners. Good first half for us in terms of possession but nothing from it. Swansea is the poorest side in English football in terms of points earned away from home and yet we couldn’t beat them. The West Brom game will be a big challenge now with little momentum going in. Why no Ben Arfa? He was on the bench but instead we put in Vuckic? Best should have been off at the half. Have less and less faith in him.

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  16. Yes Santon had a good game, defended well got forward well, but his long passes out of defence just not finding the target. Perhaps he needs to keep it simple.

    Why no HBA, possibly to replace Best. Good to see Vuckic replace Tiote, think a bit more attacking than Abied. Sammi replacing Obertan naturally. so it was Shola or HBA to replace best. Brawn or guile.

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  17. geordietwo stop moaning!!! every game is hard , swansea arent there worst team in english football mate , how are they in the prem!! im sick of people moaning , we are 6th for christ sake!!! still; a long time to go in this season and we are doing brilliant!! roll on jan to get a few good players in HWTL

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  18. Thought that was cabayes 4th card, at least that’s what it said on tv – still has one to o by my reckoning

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  19. @Army69

    stop moaning at geordietwo m8, I also hate moaners 😆

    I dred to think how many goals we’ll score when Ba’s away come January 😯 he has so much pressure on his shoulders, handles it well but he defo needs a decent partner.

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  20. I watched only the second half, and I dont understand how you see a good performance from Obertan, Jonas or Best. I speak only about the second half, ok the defense and Cabaye and Tiote was good. We have only one or 2 chances of goal. Obertan has done nothing, Jonas has try a lot but at the end he was not able to eliminate 1 opponent, even Santon was more dangerous in the left and Best seems to be a little bit tired. Shola brings nothing, he looses a lot of balls.
    Someone can explain me why Ben Arfa didn’t start today? I m sure that it is not related with his football skills, because Benny event at 50 % he is better than Obertan, Jonas Ameobi, Vuckic or best. I have heard in a french TV that he has a clash with Pardew at half time against Chelsea and thats why he was drop and now he will leave when the transfer window opens? is that true or only rumor? If it’s behavior i can understand that he has not played but if Pardew really think that other players are better than him, that’s really impossible.

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  21. Well lads ,how frustrating was that . We could of been there all night and not scored. They turn up put everyone behind the ball ,make no attempt to score to speak of and just to cap it off i think we lose Cabaye for next game don’t we. Look i know it’s a point but can’t help feeling robbed. Feel sorry for swans fans if they gotta watch that every week. 🙁

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  22. Couple of observations. Good attacking play in the first half, really just crushed them and unfortunate not to score. Second half a bit bland with us running out of ideas. Which brings me to the sub of Shola for Best. Think Ben Arfa could’ve created something else rather than replacing targetman with targetman, just my opinion.

    Ohh yea, the ref was a joke letting Swansea drag the time, especially thier goalkeeper should’ve been booked to set an example, but alas yet another weak ref.

    Another thing that bothers me tits off, is we get absolutely zero from our set pieces. I dont think Raylor or Cabaye is the answer as a set piece taker, so that is definately an area which could use improvement.

    All in all just a dissapointing result, but not the end of the world since we played more than alright for 45 mins.

    On players : Good game for the likes of Santon and Perch. Santon looks really good both defending and going forward, and Perch looked comfortable alongside a cool and composed King Colo.

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  23. 😉 Relax ARMY69 I said Swansea are the worst team in terms of points earned away from home (they had 2 points away coming in so 3 now). Everyone is entitled to an opinion, even me. We had several good performances from players today but several poor ones as well. It’s called a critique of the game. We needed the 3 points and didn’t get them so obviously I’m disappointed. We had them on the ropes in the first half but didn’t capitalize on it. I think it’s valid to question why Ben Arfa didn’t even get a few minutes in the game. He made all the difference drawing the penalty against ManU. If he has a knock then fine but why was he on the bench if not fit? We are beginning to see some adversity now so let’s see how the squad handles it. 😉

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  24. Yeah, one of ‘them’ games is appropriate but at the same time we really needed the 3 points today if we are not going to slide towards obscurity then Swansea should never have been able to hold us and then create some chances like that at SJP. Another poor show as far as I’m concerned. It had that ‘flat game’ feeling to it that is as if it meant nothing to both sides. Why should people pay 30odd quid to go and sit in the freezing cold and watch that? Im so glad I decided not to after wor lass suggested we go to see the Speed tribute. I feel for the people that went, must have felt like a waste of money today.

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  25. Surely V WBA at home is the ideal time to drop/rest Obertan and try Benny there, unless theres something seriously wrong with benny. 😕

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  26. Cabaye misses next week so whack Arfa ahead of Tiote and play Ba and Best….or Arfa on the right and Obby in the middle? Think we do need things freshened up a bit.

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  27. You know, you can be a fan and criticize the team or the coach or some players. When they are good, we say ok this guys did fantastic job but when they are bad you can also say. But i think it can be a good question to ask to Pardew, why Benny did not play? This guy was used in almost all games when he was not fit and when he looks good he is dropped. I think he starts in the 3 hardest games and was really dangerous againt Man city and Man united, more than obertan or Jonas..? Maybe he has a physical problem but I don’t think so

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  28. Oh, and that game really reminded me of blackpool last year. Just couldn’t break the bastards down. I’m loving Guti but maybe we should start using Arfa as a sub on the left? Something has to change, and we rely a lot on Sameobi’s impact, the lad is only young and we can’t expect too much from him. Same with Vuckic today I guess.

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  29. Really liked Santon’s work at left back. He overlapped well with Jonas and provided something new in attack. I think he is only going to improve with time. Perch was quite steady with Colo beside him which was a relief after the Norwich game. Thankfully no Smith in midfield. Cabaye tries hard every game but we need something different in terms of set pieces. They really soaked up our attacks well. Surely Ben Arfa should be getting lots of playing time with Ba and Tiote soon to be away at the Cup of Nations. Don’t understand Pardew’s thinking there at all. Either there is an injury or an attitude problem so I’m hoping it is a slight knock. We just aren’t enough of a threat from the wing players. Obertan had one pathetic shot which missed entirely and Jonas had one good chance. Overall Obertan’s performance was much stronger than last week though. What to do with him? Very frustrating time right now. Clearly we need to settle down and play well against West Brom because much tougher challenges lay ahead.

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  30. Mark

    Benny must be half the player he was if Sammy Ameobi and Vuckic are now getting on ahead of him. Could see his face wincing in the background. Sammyobi is Pardew’s little favourite but he’s done next to nothing in the league so far. Marveux is looking like a miss, I always backup Obertan but today he was *****, needs to get his head up more. Best looked rusty, Pardew is starting to leave it too long to make changes IMHO, don’t start turning into Hughton Pardew it was all going so well until the last month. 😐

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  31. And something that i remark is that in the first games we do some great actions with short passes and in this game in the second half we just use long balls in Ba or Best and we never had the second ball even in the 80 minutes something shocked me it was a cross and only Ba against 6 players of Swansea in the box even if normally we want score..

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  32. Next week i reckon a 4-3-1-2 formation like this would work. We’ve already got a sound defence. Perch played well today and Santon looked great! We just need some extra bite so having the 3 forwards could work well…

    Krul
    Simpson Perch Colo Santon
    Tiote
    Obertan Jonas
    Ben Arfa
    Best Ba

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  33. Just been confirmed by pardew on radio, Cabs will miss west brom match, which is mid week so hope we bounce back.

    Colo was excellent, Perch looked good alongside, the only thing was Simpson kept putting him under pressure when he ran out of talent. I think Santon showed how poor Simpson is today, he looked good for his 2nd premier start. Obertan was frustrating on his decision making getting in good positions, delaying the cross or not shooting, but his pace was quality.

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  34. Best get something from next two games as we’ll get nothing from Pool or Manure. I might of fancid something from Manure what with the poor midfield they have at present but you just know sir alex will sort that by Jan . Rumour is he wants Tiote and Cabaye and we all know Ashley loves them pound notes. More to the point with Ba away who’s gonna score for us.

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  35. We were the better team and although the goal would not come we gave nothing away at the back , considering the goals we have shipped lately thats a plus . Obertan needs dropped and Benny brought in to play that wing , it’s all very well having pace to burn but when he runs around like a heedless chicken and does not pick out a cross then it’s time to make a change .

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  36. Swansea came to be physical and to shut us out of the game and worked their bollocks off to achieve it.
    Bringing Ben Arfa on to try and run through a packed out unit like that could have been a bit too much for him and maybe why Pardew didn’t give him a second thought.

    It would have been different had we scored in the first half because Swansea would have had no option but to open up, which would have suited Ben Arfa.

    That’s why Pardew is the manager and we are not.

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  37. A good performance from Santon today, the defence looked tight with Collo back to lead them. Unlucky not to get all three points we deserved them. Pardew obviously does`nt fancy Ben Arfa must say what I`ve seen of him of late he does`nt inspire me. Ben Arfa seems to upset the balance of the side and I think he leaves us vulnerable. He loses the ball and sides quickly counter attack us. Cabaye will be a big miss on wednesday when I think we`ll face more of an attacking force coming from WBA.

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  38. All the guys here asked for some good players in the transfer window, but if the manager doesn’t want in the pitch his best player? you see Mancini, in a game where he needs to win, he starts with Silva his best player. Even Rooney had not scored for one and half month but started almost all the games because great managers know that when you have a very good player with some special skills you need to start him always..

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  39. Wolfie, I know the ref was bad but Swansea weren’t really physical they just ‘parked the bus’ but we were one dimensional so no physicality needed, just guile needed by us and it lacked massively

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  40. So now Cabaye is out for the next game with 5 yellows. So it will be Tiote and who else? I fear the answer is Smith unless Abeid is put in there. Surely not Vuckic for a whole game? How can we improve the attack without using Ben Arfa? Really worried about him now. Should have been out there today as we badly needed his creativity on the ball. What is going on there with Pardew? We better get some answers soon or more points will slip away.

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  41. HBA39 what about Torres for Chelsea?

    I think that Ben Arf does upset the balance against certain teams, but against teams like Swansea we should be imposing whatever style we want and I think he should have been brought on instead of Shola.

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  42. Fan own the club, that’s too attacking for Pardew it has to be boring 442, remember when he tried something different in the first half of Chelsea then he hauled ben arfa off at halftime because cabaye let mata run him then perch let drogba get a free jump.
    Yes benny loses the ball now and again but what about the time when tiote loses it no one says a bad thing. Benny needs these games to get his sharpness back but will be used over the africa cup, I hope, or we’ll see best and stroller up top 😯

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  43. Obertan was improved today but we still lack that cutting edge from either wing. Not fussed if wing position isn’t Arfa’s best, he needs to get on one of them, and the right might be the best bet. I think he’ll still be willing to track back-he has done every game he’s played for us. He’s not strong but neither is Obertan and he can hassle until we reorganise. Worth the risk imo, and coming on on the left would be good as Santon looks really solid. Ran up the pitch and outmuscled two swansea players to win us the ball, shame we couldn’t do **** with it.

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  44. If Pardew will only play him I would agree FSOTC @211, put Ben Arfa in behind Ba instead of Best and use Abeid with Tiote as a pair. I thought the plan was to bring Abeid in before Tiote went to the ACoN? What happened to that plan? Since our wingers play so defensively a lot of the time we need more attack through the centre. I think Cabaye just had an off day today. With Santon in there permanently now the attack from the left should improve without sacrificing on defence.

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  45. FSOTC-That would be my solution…It has to happen surely? I can’t see how Pards does not rate Benny after he actually signed him up? I guess they may have had a tif, but not rating him seems wrong. Benny for Cabaye, allow Tiote to play the simple balls rather than be creative and push him back a bit more.

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  46. Vuckic looked bright and he’ll probably replace Cabaye in midweek. No funky formation changes necessary. Best and Ba link well together and assuming Best is fit, there’s no reason for him not to start. HBA is likely to get a run-out coming off the bench and he needs to make the most of it

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  47. Haven’t read all the comments so sorry if this has been covered but there was no way Harris and Sammy were gonna win it for us, terrible subs. HBA looked pissed too.

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  48. I agree with you its really strange that Torres doesn’t start in Chelsea. But first, Torres last season had start almost all the games and he was not performant and this year he has got a lot of chances to show his quality but at this moment he is really bad. Secondly, in Chelsea in place of torres you had Drogba, Mata, Sturridge or Anelka last year who are top class players and have scored a lot of goals in the career.
    In Newcastle, Ben Arfa had 3 chances to start he was good 2 times and against Chelsea, he was far to be the worst in the first half. After that 2 last games 0 minutes of play? for you its normal? in how many games Obertan Performance or Jonas performance was really amazing? and they started all the games.
    Secondly at Newcastle, in place of Ben Arfa, they are Sameobi, Vuckic, Obertan, Jonas, Best or Shola Ameobi. If Ben Arfa needs to compete with this kind of players to start….., they are decent players but Ben Arfa is 5 steps higher than these guys. So a player like Ben Arfa must at least start almost all the games in a club like Newcastle.

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  49. Doubt very much Pardew would start Vuckic M @216. Ten minutes at the end of the game is one thing but starting against West Brom? Not likely. Pardew will probably try something more conservative. Just don’t see Best working well enough with Ba to continue to play them as a pair. Why bring Ben Arfa to the team and rave about how good he is, then wait a year to get him back from injury and then sit him on the bench week after week? To me that is the biggest mystery of all right now.

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  50. Oh…and someone needs to have a word with the lads about set pieces. We’ve not made one corner count all season. 9 corners in a match and nothing from them is disappointing. Half the times’ cabaye’s delivery doesn’t get past the first man which seems really strange as he’s such a good passer/FK taker..Guess we’ll be missing Stevie T for them as well, but Nolan/Barton worked really well and surely we’ve got better players now 😕

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  51. @ 217 – u mean just like they didn’t change the game at Scunny in the cup?
    @218 – HBA played well at ManC, wasn’t so hot at ManU and was awful to the point of being a liability against Chelsea. He’s clearly a talent, but he’ll earn a place in our side by performing well not just by reputation.

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  52. According to Einstein the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the outcome to be different. That’s how I feel about the pairing of Ba with Best or even Ba with Ameobi. It works once in a while but not nearly often enough. We have Ben Arfa sitting there and he was clearly brought to the team to be an impact player. It is fairly difficult to be an impact player with zero playing time.

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  53. HBA39-If you think Arfa should have started in place of Jonas from the beginning of the season you’ve got to be kidding yourself. He’s been one of, if not our top performer this season consistently covering for Raylor and our defence as a whole as well as working all the way back up the pitch, which can’t be expected from Arfa.

    His use may decline with a solid left back like Santon, but calling for him to be replaced is premature imo.

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