Game On! Newcastle v Bolton – Captain Colo returns

Game on at St James' Park
A quick turnaround awaits Newcastle United now as they go looking for their fifth win on the spin against Bolton Wanderers this afternoon.

After playing patiently and diligently in our 2-0 win away Swansea on Good Friday, Alan Pardew will know that this time around the onus will most definitely be on us as the home side to ask the questions.

Bolton are teetering above the drop zone at the moment with just a single point separating them from 19th placed Wigan. Coming to St James’ Park on the back of a 3-0 home defeat to Fulham a mere 48 hours ago, Owen Coyle will be keen to see his side recapture the kind of form which, previous to the Fulham game, had seen him side win three games in a row.

As we’re getting towards the “business end” of the season and now we know where we are aiming for, I thought I’d add a little look at who our rivals have today. For the sake of clarity I’m discounting anything above third and below sixth! In short, Tottenham host Norwich City at White Hart Lane in another 3pm kick-off, whilst Chelsea travel to Craven Cottage to take on Fulham this evening with kick-off at 8pm.

If we better Chelsea’s result we’ll go fifth today and if both sides win we’ll stay sixth by virtue of goal difference. That kind of needs addressing as it effectively gives the teams above us an extra point such is the difference between our goal difference and the rest. A good hammering of Bolton today would help that a treat of course, but it’s also games like Tottenham and Fulham away which have hampered that particular stat.

For a more in depth look at the fixture you can peruse my match preview by clicking the blue text. Basically it discusses team news, injury news, form and previous meetings, with a few fun stats thrown in there for good measure.

That’s just about it really. Oh yeah, for a change we’re not being broadcast live here in the UK so if you happen to find a useful link where people can watch the match, and are willing to share it with your fellow NUFC fans, then please feel fee to paste the link for it below.

Team news will be featured below…

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon, Yohan Cabaye, James Perch, Jonas Gutierrez, Hatem Ben Arfa, Papiss Cisse, Demba Ba

Subs: Rob Elliot, Shane Ferguson, James Tavernier, Ryan Taylor, Mehdi Abeid, Dan Gosling, Shola Ameobi

Bolton: Adam Bogdan, Gretar Steinsson, David Wheater, Tim Ream, Sam Ricketts, Chris Eagles, Mark Davies, Darren Pratley, Nigel Reo-Coker, Martin Petrov, Kevin Davies

Subs: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Mikel Alonso, Zat Knight, Ivan Klasnic, David Ngog, Marvin Sordell, Ryo Miyachi

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.

372 thoughts on “Game On! Newcastle v Bolton – Captain Colo returns

  1. Brendan- it’s from a radiohead album. I like it because it’s strange and, of course, black and white 😉

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  2. Have to say that Pardew got the subs perfect .. loving the energy that Fergie bringing .. we were desperate for that and yet again Shola super effective last 20 mins ..

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  3. ……..what a fooookin weekend lads n’d lasses eh? If three days ago was good Friday then today’s gotta be marvellous Monday!! The unwashed gettin turned owa and spuds gettin beat like a Delia egg!!!!!! …….On top of the world here like!!! ……..LALAS!!!!!! 😎 😎 😎 😎

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  4. 5 on the bounce. 😯
    Level 4th. 😯 😯
    Mackems thrashed. 😆 😆 😆
    Holy ****! What a day! 😀 😀

    Cmon Fulham!! 😈

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  5. Toonsy Re: Mackem baiting …ask them if if they would prefer Werthers or a sticky toffy or 4? 😯 😯 😯
    …….I’ll get me coat…..

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  6. Ba have been bad for more than a few games, and this has nothing to do with lack of goals, its more about bad passes, bad touches and losing almost all the high balls… It seems fickle I know, but arent players supposed to play on merit rather than early season form? On this showing and with his bad attitude today I think Shola should start instead of him next game, and I am not a Shola fan, he just did more in his 30 minutes than Ba have done in the last few games.

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  7. Should take as much buzzzz out of this as possible .. these are rare times to be enjoyed … cooooome on Fulham!!

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  8. -Toon wins 2-0 over a spirited Bolton side
    -Mackems get properly drubbed by Everton
    -Spurs lose to Norwich at home meaning we’re now level on points with 4th place.

    Christ, all I need a beautiful blonde girl with huge knockers to just fall right into my lap today and I can’t possibly think of a better day.

    HWTL.

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  9. Ba might be also frustrated that he is not the main man, the main striker for NUFC now. But that would be ironic given that he gave the no.9 to Papiss when he came to the club.
    Hopefully he is just frustrated that he is not given enough time on the pitch to end his barren run. Sadly, Ba’s performance today wasn’t up to scratch.

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  10. Another great result and fantsatic goal by HBA. My stream kept freezing saw BA walking off initially but missed his reaction to Pards. What went on? be very disappointed in him if he was throwing a strop – he definetley was on Friday as we all pointed out then. If this is petulance – he needs to get over it.

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  11. The Barca fans i know are getting really sick and tired of the Messi/Ben Arfa comparisons- they’re all afraid Messi will get a swelled head…. 😉

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  12. What a goal by HBA but the credit has to go to Krul for some crucial stops and also Ameobi for the difference he made when he came on, for me, why did we go 4 4 2 when the previous system worked so well.

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  13. love to see Birmingham give wham a good beating …. tug boat must be well gutted hahahahahahaha f cuk you tugboat you ruined carroll career telling him to go to the bindippers ..

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  14. Hearing Pardew speak when interviewed he really impresses me. He’s humbled so much since his days at West Ham. Compare him to Kenny Dalglish who just ansers everything with a sarky little grunt.

    I really can’t believe what i’m seeing from Ba though. We’ve won 5 games in a row, but just because he isn’t scoring he’s going round in a sulk. Who does he think he is?!! And all this whilst giving these open displays of his religious faith. Does that not include a bit of humility and decency?! Fucking hypocrite.

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  15. What a struggle that was … until Benny;s brilliance. What a fucking good goal.

    Thought Santon was outstanding today.

    And some other rather nice results as well. It’s been a really good Easter football fest. I’ve watched 12 live games since Friday night in the PL, A-league, Liga, Championship and League One. I don’t think I can stay up for the next match. Too tired. Too pissed. And I have to catch a plane to Canberra in about 8 hours. Howay the lads.

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  16. Is my arithmetic wrong cos when i look at the table the mackems can’t catch is?!? A good day 😛

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  17. Wouldn’t worry about ba – he should be pissed off, he’s lost a bit of rom and keeps getting subbed – why would he be happy, doesn’t mean much as far as I’m concerned

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  18. let’s lay off Ba for a bit. He’s shown great character until this weekend. I guess the ACON disappoinment and lack of goals is frustrating him and he’s showing it a bit too openly.

    But he is human, and it must be difficult being a passionate person and footballer to keep a level head at all times.

    Pards and him will talk it out and he’ll be back doing his talking on the pitch.
    We fans need to stay on his side, and not alienate him as we did with Xisco. After all, he is still part of our team…

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  19. Much more shocking than Ba or HBAs goal or any of that….. Lawro predicted our score 😯 😯 😯

    ah well, you know what they say about blind squirrels 😉

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  20. BIRMINGHAM GET ANOTHER!!! HAHAHAHA FAT SAM LONG WAY FROM REAL MADRID NOW ISNT IT!!???

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  21. Can’t wait for two captains to line up next year:
    Nolan vs Barton in the fizzy pop 😆

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  22. HAHAHAHAH 3-1 .. the hammers had just statted blowing bubbles and they all got popped!

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  23. 335 :mrgreen:

    Solano don’t you know, a champions league team will come in for Joey this summer….just like Fat Sam and little fatty Nolan will tag along for the ride 😆

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  24. Undeniably the greatest thing for us at the moment is that we have THREE players that are capable of turning a game on it’s head. Ba has been off for a few games, no one played amazingly up front today, but for us we have the contingency there, because each of them are capable of obscene moments of magic.

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  25. Newkie, one more win and we’ve finished above the bin dippers!
    As much as I would love to finish in the champions league anyway, part of me wants to make it just to shove it in Enriques face. Don’t know if these players care with all the money they are making, but it would be brilliant for them to regret making the mistake of leaving us.

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  26. You reckon Karen Brady will get in her mate Suralan to utter those famous words?

    Fat Sam, YOU’RE FIRED!

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  27. Great result today, howay the lads. Pardew will deflate the B a confrontation cos he’s a great manager

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  28. Solano-Know exactly what you mean mate, Enrique and Carroll both. I know the players from last year like Willo, Krul, Simmo etc who had their fair share of games will be quite happy to see where their “superior” ex players are. If Colo and Jonas are still friends with Enrique I hope they give him shedloads of stick, hopefully they’re not still friends and they’ll give him banter anyway 😈

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  29. Do we still own Xisco? Does this mean we can sell him in the summer? 🙂

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  30. What a game untill Bennys goal i feared they would get a late goal and nick it , but all of a sudden a flash of brilliance and then we kicked on . Cisse is a gift from god , never did i think we would get a goal machine in to match Shearer’s record , but we have got one now , i know he has not been here long but we need to tie him to the club for the rest of his playing days .Champions League is on .

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  31. I’m sure we could sell him to a rubbish spanish side for a couple million

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  32. The problem is that he’s on big wages, so any move would probably mean him having to take a big pay cut.

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  33. No Spanish club would pay him 1/3 of what he gets here,I reckon we’re stuck with him until he runs his contract down unfortunately 👿

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  34. He’s on 50k a week, so yeah he’s got one more year with us I think.

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  35. I was privileged to have witnessed one of the best goals you’ll see in the European football – ever today!

    His back heel to turn the midfielder at the start of the goal was out of this world. In fact he very nearly did it again five minutes after but instead of shooting he tried to play Cisse in.

    We do appear to have genuine Champions League players in the squad and I think a couple of tweaks in the summer and we will have a real chance next season. Hope Ashley’s enjoying this – it may encourage him.

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  36. How much money do we have to spend in the summer. Have as in own.

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  37. Ben Arfa was fantastic today and worked hard for the team and capped it all off with one magnificent piece of skill and run on for the goal.
    Shola’s perfect cross to Cisse made it look like a training game towards the end as well as Ben Arfa nearly repeating another piece of magic goal but for unselfishly playing it to Cisse who was offside.

    Goal of the season for me.

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  38. ben arfa!! what can i say about him?? he is an absolute pleasure to watch!! love him! what a stunnin stunnin goal! 5 wins in a row now!! outstanding! 59 points!!! what a season!!! happpppy days!!! cisse again, what a striker!! champions league footy on its way?

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  39. Keys? Check. Wallet? Check. Tiote? Cheick. if we keep all our top players I don’t think we need to spend that much but we do need to spend what ever the players we need cost. if we can get the right players for free thats even better but unlike some fans I don’t think the price should be the main factor.

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  40. AOD,
    It was HBA’s first prem strike at home, he did score a **** goal against Blackburn at home in the cup though 😆

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  41. Jon R… I doubt they’ll be paying much of his wages as they’re in the 2nd div this season.

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  42. I am watching the football program Voetball international here in holland and they have just said Newcastle have tabled a bid of 5 million euros for Douglas from FC Twente , these guys usually are 100% right .

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  43. Axel you said he’s a bit prone to mistakes? Can’t go far wrong though at 3.5/4m. I trust that he’d at least be a serviceable 3rd CB anyway and we have an OK record in the transfer market lately 😉

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  44. Axel….what dya reckon to him?…I’ve seen very little of him but he looked decent enough.

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  45. Well he is quick ,strong and mobile but is prone to being caught out of position because he carries the ball forward and then fails to get back . His distribution is not all that either , but that said look at the way Pardew has improved the likes of Perch . In pure defence he is better than Williamson .

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  46. Cheers Axel……just one more question, how can you be “usually” 100% right? 😉

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  47. If’s better than williamson defensively then all good cos he can’t be more awkward on the ball than him. Pards definitely has been able to drill the whole defensive unit positionally so i wouldn’t worry too much about that. Sounds like decision making is the real question mark. Thanks axel

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  48. RICHIETOON i don’t know , but i keep asking the wife that when she say’s am usually 100% wrong . 🙄

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  49. Axel…you can’t argue with that, if you do you’re “always” 100% wrong 😉

    Dubz…..I’m usually 50% right, but I am never 50% wrong 😕 :mrgreen:

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