Game On! Newcastle v Norwich

Game On at St James’
Newcastle host Norwich City this afternoon as the domestic season resumes once more after a brief journey into Europe and back.

The home side have drawn the last three on the spin in all competitions and will be looking to get back to winning ways knowing that three points against former manager Chris Hughton’s Canary outfit will catapult the misfiring Magpies back into the top half of the table.

I expect no tired excuses aside perhaps from our defence as this will be the third ninety minutes that some of them will have played within the space of six days. Add to that the travelling to and from Madeira and you can perhaps see why some of our defence may just be a little bit jaded, the poor souls…

Hopefully it doesn’t boil down to our defence and perhaps we can instead focus on some attacking threat? None of our big hitting attacking players made the trip to Madeira in midweek so I expect no excuses of tiredness from any of them, or anybody in our midfield for that matter.

If you choose to, you can read Shamrock’s most excellent match preview by clicking here. It’s full of fun facts and fascinating titbits regarding the history of both clubs, both in general and from when they have faced off against each other, with some sound and solid thoughts ahead of the game today.

Unfortunately this is a kick-off that has been moved due to our Europa League commitments which means that the game is not being broadcast live here in the UK. Instead Sky are fizzing themselves silly over another “Super Sunday” which has seen the “random” fixture computer schedule clashes between the bigger sides all on the same day. Funny that… Consequently if you can locate a stream and wish to share it with fellow NUFC fans then you can do so by posting the link in the ‘comments’ section below.

Which just about wraps this up. Team news, as ever, will be posted below as and when it becomes available.

Will it be happy returns for Hughton? Or will Pardew p*ss on his parade?

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Harper; Perch, Williamson, S.Taylor, Santon; Ben Arfa, Anita, Cabaye, Gutierrez (c); Cisse, Ba

Subs: Elliot, Tavernier, Bigirimana, Tiote, Sammy Ameobi, Obertan, Shola Ameobi.

Norwwich: Ruddy; Martin (c), Bassong, Barnett, Garrido; Robert Snodgrass, Johnson, Howson, Surman, Hoolahan; Morison

Subs: Turner, Bennett, Tettey, Pilkington, Holt, Jackson.

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.

319 thoughts on “Game On! Newcastle v Norwich

  1. Thanks for the Pardew interview Big D.
    At least he’s honest, and not bullshitting, or making excuses.
    I just hope we keep improving from now on. Once again, we have a chance of another 3 points from Reading next week.
    HTL

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  2. I really hope you guys are wrong about Ben Arfa, but fearful you are right. He is not stupid and the likes of Spurs & Liverpool will probably come sniffing in Jan once they realise their current squads aren’t good enough for top 4 & the lil’ magician not only has the X-factor, but has also found consistency.

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  3. And on another note, on an emotional day of football I hope everyone spares a thought for a certain Jose Enrique, warming the bench in a relegation side 😆

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  4. The Kid-thing is, he could play for better teams than Spurs and Liverpool as well, its not them I worry about so much. Think we’ll have him for a while yet, but a longer contract? We’ve got him for another 3 years after this have we? Sound’s about as long as we’ll keep him 😥

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  5. Newkie

    Three years is effectively one & a half because they will look to sell him before he enters his last year. 🙁

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  6. Newkie

    Also, I agree he is far better than the likes of Liverpool and Spurs, but they are the teams who will be desperate come Jan and could offer a big lump some. We will see. I hope you are right and we have him for at least another 18 months. Love watching him play. I doubt he will be as adored the the next set of fans.

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  7. The Kid-Aye exactly…I hope the club are careful with him though, I mean, I know he’s grown up and that but he’s shown what he’s willing to do to get out of a club…I’m not saying sell him as soon as an offer comes in but we need to be careful or he could go for nowt.

    Know what you mean, Liverpool will definitely be throwing the cash around…Luckily ManCity and Chelski are already stacked full of players but Manure, Spurs, Liverpool….money to burn 😕

    As long as he keeps the magic up and keeps us entertained/winning i’ll be happy, there’s no doubt he’s one of the best footballers in the world to watch.

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  8. The kid
    Suarez went to liverpool for 23m ish, ben arfa is better and (if its within our league) going to someone we will play so should be 26m+ , clubs stupid enough to pay that can have him and we can reinvest.

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  9. Awful game. Good 3 points. Great goal. Fantastic pass by Ben Arfa. Pity about the Cisse miss but, hey, you guys have just spent a couple of weeks banging on about a lack of team spirit and ***** body language then when that spirit shows itself – in a pressure situation no less – you dismiss it. 🙄

    And I notice nobody mentioned that the first person to congratulate Ba on his goal was Cisse. Hmm, too much like teamwork that.

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  10. Bris-Aye. It was the wrong choice, but for the right reasons in regards to the pen.

    Can’t believe that pikey on MOTD was going on about Ba being unhappy, then Lawro actually stood up for us and was like “well, is he unhappy?”

    Didn’t show at all today like…

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  11. It’s painful to watch us struggling so badly at home. We have a lot of work to do. What is wrong with Cisse? He has been hopeless this season. Ben Arfa was brilliant and Ba’s finish was clinical. Other than that not much to cheer about. Perch played a decent game again, and Jonas eats up some possession. We will have to improve dramatically when we play Man U in the league cup. Probably not a bad idea to go out of that one quietly. Here’s hoping for better days at home in the near future.

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  12. Didn’t realise Harper had the assist to the assist as well. Surely needs to be our aim when our keeper gets the ball-roll in straight to Hatem 😉

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  13. To date every team we have come up against has played well and has been up for the challenge. 😡 We have yet to catch a team having a bad day so it says to me that teams are lifting against us and we are doing well to pick up points.Every teams form will ebb and flow this season so as long as we keep picking up points, I am happy. Norwich are a good team, they really push Spurs a week back and we unlucky not to win… But at the end of the day, Harper really only had to make one great save and the rest of the time he was tidying up thing as he should. Good result regardless of style 😎

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  14. Agree with you Aussie, every team seems to lift there own performances against us, and we end up struggling.
    Typically, if manure were playing a championship team on wednesday, they would probs put out a reserve team. But against us they will most likely play the A team. I honestly think we should just let the younguns have another crack at it and not worry about the result.
    We need a far better performance next weekend from our first team.
    In saying that perhaps Cisse should play, also Tiote and Colo should have a run out too.

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  15. there are some interesting fixtures next weekend and we really have to take advantage, by beating Reading on sat. We could even end up back in the top 6 if results should go our way. 😕
    manure v spuds
    **** v chelski
    fulham v shitty
    vile v wet brom
    toffees v saints
    qpr v wham
    We just need to improve our own play and make sure of the 3 points against this seasons whipping boys.
    Howay the Lads

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  16. Great to see Steve Harper in such good form today. He really put his body on the line on quite a few occasions. I loved the fact that last match he pleaded to the ref not to book the other player when they made contact with each other. He is a real gentleman and great inspiration for sportsmanship for all the kids watching.
    Thought Ben Arfa was also stellar today.
    I watched the game today on Foxsoccer2Go live then watched it repeated ‘on demand’ later. Costs $19.99 per month but shows a lot of matches and has a great picture and no adverts popping up all the time. I’m in the USA, I don’t know if it is available world wide or not, but I used to pay $15 per month for Fox soccer channel on my TV and it didn’t have many games. I got a free trial month with the code ‘Xoomfox’ and will def keep the subscription going. If you like to watch a lot of football, not just Newcastle, check it out. Cheers, Jilly Bean

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  17. Hi Jill, yes Harper played well, and with alot more confidence too.
    Tim Krul wont find it so easy to get back in as number 1 when he comes back from his injury. Rob Elliott looked good mid week also.
    Good competition in the GK department raises the performance of all of them.

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