Expect a stronger side to be played this evening

Colo back in action this evening Newcastle take on AS Monaco this evening in what will be our second game of pre-season to date.

Kick-off is at 7pm local time (6pm UK time) and the match is scheduled to be broadcast live from the Hacker-Pschorr Sports Park Arena courtesy of ESPN.

Newcastle lost their opening fixture of the pre-season schedule 1-0 to German third division side Chemnitzer FC although it must also be pointed out that our starting line up barely resembled the one which will start in the opening Premier League game of the season against Tottenham Hotspur in approximately one months time and was instead filled with what can be called fringe players and prospects.

However this evening we are likely to see a stronger line up with Fabricio Coloccini set to start and Papiss Cisse, Cheik Tiote and Sylvain Marveaux likely to play some part in proceedings this evening. There will still be a chance for some youngsters to shine with James Tavernier tipped to start at right-back with an opportunity for more to shine during the course of the match.

I remember a time when Newcastle played AS Monaco in the UEFA Cup. It wasn't that long ago to be fair and if I recall correctly they knocked us out (remember Jean Tigana and has chewy matchstick thing?). Right now though they languish in the French Ligue 2 after failing to win promotion back to Ligue 1 at the first attempt. In contrast we've followed the same path but managed to escape the second tier at the first time of asking and now we're back in Europe.

Funny how things work out isn't it?