Game On! Newcastle v Metalist Kharkiv

Game On at a floodlit SJP
Game On at a floodlit SJP
The Europa League returns to centre stage this evening as Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv travel to St James’ Park in the first leg of this two-legged Round of 32 tie.

Newcastle will want to put themselves in a position to secure passage into the next round by getting as much of the job done as they can tonight.

With no league game at the weekend a strong team is likely to be picked and the aim has to be a comfortable win to take to Ukraine next Thursday with the ultimate aim of meeting either Hannover of Germany or Anzhi Makhachkala of Russia in the Round of 16.

However United will have to be wary of the threat that Metalist Kharkiv can and will pose. This isn’t your stereotypical Ukrainian outfit full of physical powerhouses who can run all day. These are good technical players, the majority of which come from South America no doubt lured by their owners significant wealth. They won’t be the pushovers some seem to be expecting.

For a bit of background ahead of the match, such as advanced team news, injury updates, a history of United in the Europa League, some stats and facts rounded off with some random thoughts, why not take a peek at out match preview if you haven’t already done so or simply wish to have another look? You can view it online here.

Tickets are still being sold for the game and are available via cash turnstiles right up to pretty much kick-off time, and with tickets priced at just £15 for adults and £5 for children you should head down there and cheer the lads on.

However if you don’t want to or can’t get down to St James’ Park then why not watch it live on ESPN? Or on an internet stream if you haven’t got ESPN? Again if you’d like to share any decent streams please feel free to do so by leaving a link to said stream in the ‘comments’ section below.

As ever, team news will be updated below as and when I can get it published which shouldn’t take long as I have a rare night off. However I dare say somebody will post in the comments section below quicker than I can get it published so if you’re that impatient have a mooch and I’m sure you’ll come across it.

Which about wraps this up and now it’s left to us to see what kind of strong team Alan Pardew decides to play.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle:Tim Krul; Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye; Gabriel Obertan, Moussa Sissoko, Jonas Gutierrez; Papiss Cisse

Subs: Rob Elliot, Danny Simpson, Massadio Haidara, Vurnon Anita, James Perch, Sylvain Marveaux, Shola Ameobi

Metalist Kharkiv: Oleksandr Horyainov; Cristian Villagra, Papa Gueye, Marco Torsiglieri, Fininho; Edmar Halovskyi, Juan Manuel Torres; Marlos, Cleiton Xavier, Jose Ernesto Sosa; Jonathan Cristaldo

Subs: Vladimir Disljenkovic, Andriy Berezovchuk, Oleh Shelayev, Sebastian Blanco, Jaja Coelho, Oleh Krasnopyorov, Willian Gomes

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.

366 thoughts on “Game On! Newcastle v Metalist Kharkiv

  1. Cisse was alive today. Really good link up play. He also got himself in good positions to score. Could have had a hattrick.

    Pardew poorly utilised his resources.

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  2. Don’t know why Cisse tried to head that in goal. Seemed to have more time than he though.

    Very disappointing night.

    Poor performance, but shocking officiating. Cisse scored two but got nothing and its only going to effect his confidence more.

    We should/could have wrapped up the tie tonight.

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  3. You can blame tactics or anything else, but the fact is that we had two legitimate goals chalked off. That is **** all to do with tactics and everything to do with poor refereeing.

    We also had other guilt-edged chances to score but their keeper just found himself in the right place every time. That last header from Cisse being the exact thing I’m on about.

    Were we at our best? No. But it change the fact that we had the sum part of no luck at all tonight.

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  4. Santii,
    If Cisse was off for the second it was by a ball hair. I’ve seen those give 90% of the time. Seemed level to me.
    The first one he was at least a yard onside.

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  5. @293

    Stop talking rubbish. We had two perfectly legitimate goals disallowed.
    We weren’t brilliant but we were better than them, had more decent chances and should have won 2-0.

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  6. I’m really bloody angry with them officials ,we were truely robbed tonight plus a stack of cards to boot . Wreck of a first leg ,they will nick it 2nd leg as we can’t afford to send a load of purples over there cause of our pressing need of points in the PL . 👿

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  7. Santii – Not for me it wasn’t. Level at best. Plus attackers should get benefit of the doubt. And what happened to that “clear air” ruling…

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  8. Why wasn’t Anita brought on? This love affair with Shola has to stop. Pardew’s desperation hoof ball tactics.

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  9. lol santii we clearly dominates the game, creating may chances especially in 2nd half. like toonsy said, luck wasnt on our side

    btw mbiwa looks fast and strong. excited to see him at cb

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  10. Robbed twice , still they did not get an away goal so if we score in the first 15 minutes at their place and they have a mountain too climb . We weren’t at our best tonight but if thats the best they have too offer we will win .

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  11. FIFA should look at this game, shocking decisions 👿
    Liked the look of Mighty Mbiwa though 😉

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  12. @Pootle

    The 2nd one was off…

    They should of been about 3-0 up before half time but for poor finishing. We only started playing ok once they tired at about 80 minutes lol.

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  13. TLR.
    Bit harsh on Cisse mate, he scored 2 legit goals. Shola offers absolutely NOWT………………… 👿

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  14. Was about to say when that second ‘goal’ went in that the assist goes to the sprinklers as the defender fell over.

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  15. Dave,
    Tactical wise, I am mystified as why Pardew insists on 2 DM’s at home and plays Jonas for 90 mins.
    Obertan needs to go though, bloody awful player and wasteful.

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  16. Incidentally Cisse had a handful of chances and scored two of them. His link up play was generally pretty good. Singling him out for criticism is ludicrous.

    The linesmen and referee were a bunch of buffoons.

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  17. Andy@331 ,But we all know that would of been given in the PL ,how the lno could judge that as offside in real time when that close a call is beyond me . It’s all very dodgy imo.

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  18. There is simply no way on earth anyone could have seen that a tiny fraction of his body may have been offside for the second goal without thebbenefit of a camera and an action replay. The benefit of the doubt is meant to go to the attacker. That would hardly ever, if ever, be ruled offside in the league.

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  19. Hamann just said he was half a yard offside. That almost the entire width of his body, Hamman, you bonk-eyed *****. At best he was maybe a knee cap or a few toes offside. That would be impossible to notice from that distance with the human eye while they were running at that speed. Their bodies however were level and the benefit of the doubt should have went to the attacker. Simples.

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  20. Still think Anita should have been brought on early in second half. Think he would link up well with Siisoko.

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  21. Didn’t see the game but I’ve now read a few reports. I understand the two ‘offside’ goals were flagged by the same linesman. But they happened in each half. How come the linesman changed ends? They don’t usually do that do they?

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  22. The game was stolen from us by the linesman. No wonder so much talk of match fixing is going on. The first goal was clearly onside and Cisse was level for the second. They look a good team overall so a difficult second leg now.

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  23. Just back from the match. 2 good goals ruled offside. Ridiculous decisions. We should’ve won that game but clean sheet is valuable. If we score 1 next week they need 2.

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  24. Sounds like we had a few bad calls last, disapointing to read tbh.
    JJ, on match days you seem to turn into the most negative, whinger on this blog. Do you derive any joy from watching the Toon play mate?

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  25. Watched the match in my local in London with a mackem bookie…was great…

    He hated me. 5-1 5-1 5……..1

    Ok I’m drunk…bedtime

    But my point remains

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  26. Bris – I thought the same last night. I always thought the linesman ran the same line in each half to stop things like this.

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  27. Fix Fix Fix 👿 …thought the second one was close and possibly just off, someone mentioned “a toe” but that’s all it takes, the first one however, **** me what a cheating barsteward!… still 0-0 could be worse, if we score one then they’re the ones with all the work to do.

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  28. Thought Pards got the tactics pretty much spot on – metalist are a decent side and we should have won 2-0 and it could of been more.
    Can’t see how it’s Pards fault that we everyone was giving the ball away although that’s probably gutis fault who seems to have taken over the Williamson figure of hate for people on here
    Actually thought Jonas played well and covered more ground than anyone

    We can still get through but it’s gonna be tough

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  29. Aussie,
    I do, but if I feel there are blantant errors in tactics, I’m going to point them out.
    Even with the horrible officiating, we should have had far too much for Metalist last night. I just felt we were set up too far too defensive.
    Both Jonas and Obertan played far too deep.
    Relied far too much on Sissoko and Cisse to do things on his on.

    When we play well I’ll be the first to commend them. I’ll be the first to praise Pardew. But last night reminded me of the disjointed side we saw in December.

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  30. Stevep
    Everyone was giving thre ball away because there was a massive gap between the midfield and the front two of Cisse and Sissoko (who themselves were too far apart from each other for most of the match).

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  31. Lad I feel most sorry for is Cisse. If he had scored just one of them, he’d have far more confidence for the games ahead.
    He’s actually playing very well. Just having no luck at all.

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  32. JJ….Aye, really feel sorry for Cisse, the sheer joy on his face when he scored to the sheer frustration when they were chalked off 🙁

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  33. Richie,
    The second time must have killed him. I think he was having some strong words with Allah when his header in the final minute was saved.

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  34. JJ, fair call mate but going from your posts there are only the same 2 or 3 players that ever make mistakes 😉

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  35. Any one else annoyed that Marv keeps getting left out.

    Im sick of Jonas getting constant game time, if were not careful we are going to lose a great little player in Marv.

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  36. Bit of a funny game last night. Didn’t seem to be the urgency or intensity of a PL game. Almost like a friendly…

    On the other hand If we had won 3-0 though I don’t anyone could have complained.

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