Game On! Newcastle v West Ham

Game on at SJP!
Game on at SJP!
It feels strange saying this, but to me this actually feels like our first game of the season.

Playing away as an opener isn’t great and when it’s against a team like Manchester City it kind of leaves you a bit feeling flat, but it’s done now and hopefully our season can start now.

The visitors are West Ham United who have strong ex-Newcastle connections and no doubt a point to prove once more. Kevin Nolan bagged the winner for his current employers last term so a repeat of that will need to be avoided, as will Sam Allardyce extending his unbeaten run as a manager against us ever since he was removed from the managerial hotseat at St James’ Park. Another former Mag, Andy Carroll, will have to wait to face us.

I can’t stress the importance of getting a win today. Being bottom of the table, even after only one game, isn’t nice so we need to get away from that. Another important factor is the level of performance which needs to be greatly improved if we are to improve this season.

The game is not being shown live here in the UK but it is being broadcast throughout the world on various overseas TV channels so there is a chance a stream could be available. As usual, should you happen to find one then please share it with your fellow NUFC fans by leaving a link in the ‘comments’ section below.

Team news will be added into the article around one hour before kick-off and will be provided by Big Dave as I’m at work unfortunately, which might actually be a good thing as we always seem to do quite well when I’m not watching.

So here we go. The first game at St James’ Park for the season. What will it bring? Will it allow a brief ray of sunlight to break through the gloom surrounding United at the moment? Or will those clouds darken still further?

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Krul; Debuchy, Coloccini (c), Yanga-Mbiwa, Santon; Ben Arfa, Sissoko, Anita, Marveaux; Shola Ameobi, Cissé.

Subs: Elliot, Bigirimana, Dummett, Gosling, Gouffran, Vuckic, Sammy Ameobi.

West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Demel, O’Brien, Collins, Reid, Noble, Diame, Nolan, Downing, Jarvis, Maiga

Subs: Adrian, Rat, Tomkins, Diarra, Morrison, Cole, Vaz Te

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.

706 thoughts on “Game On! Newcastle v West Ham

  1. Richie ,I think we are playing with fear at present ,maybe last season has shaken confidence all round ,add to that no sign of in comings and the guys know there is no back up or fire power to rely on .

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  2. Kim..Yeah I agree,I was hoping that it was just fear that was stopping Pard’s from trying something different and being more attacking last season as sometimes when things are going wrong people are too scared to change even when what they are doing isn’t working, human nature I guess with the old fear factor thing. That’s why I was hoping with the clean slate of a new season he may be more adventurous but as of yet I’m just not seeing it, still hopeful of seeing a change but I certainly won’t be holding my breath.

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  3. Steve could of taught Pardew a few thing’s. Explained it to him so he understand’s the tactics and learn from him. Carver was Bobby’s assistant and he really should be ashamed of himself. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being honest, instead of bluffing all the time.

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  4. Kim…McClaren would probably do ok though he’s very defensive minded, even more so than Pards imo 😯 I wouldn’t like to see him as manager though.

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  5. Back laters lads ,off to take Lew for a walk or rather push his wheelchair while the suns out 😎 🙂

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  6. Kim..Agree again, but then you’ve have to be an idiot manager to bring in someone who’s been more successful than you have…oh wait… 😆
    laters 😛

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  7. Check this out:

    Papiss Cisse did not receive a single pass in the opposition’s 18 yard box (Shola Ameobi got on the end of a single Marveaux cross), and only FOUR passes were exchanged between the strikers (all coming from Cisse to Ameobi).No doubt the Senegalese striker will receive criticism from angry fans. However the truth is that his while his movement was dangerous, Newcastle were entirely impotent in the middle of the park, clearly missing the vision of Yohan Cabaye. Addressing this must be a priority for Alan Pardew and Joe Kinnear.

    http://hitrowz.com/2013/08/26/match-analysis-newcastle-0-0-west-ham/

    Mind you, I did not fact check this and I missed the game, but it seems very, very clear that we need an assists engine, which Cabaye never really seemed to be to my eyes.

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  8. John Udberg ‏@johnudberg 1h
    @MsiDouglas @CaulkinTheTimes after jfk’s new quotes can you follow up and confirm there is no option to buy remy? The man is a fool.

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    7:32 AM – 26 Aug 13 · Details

    Mark Douglas ‏@MsiDouglas 29m
    @johnudberg @CaulkinTheTimes There IS an option to buy Remy, as reported at the time.

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  9. Me too. Interesting stat, but I never really felt like Cabaye was all that creative for us. Is he a natural assists guy that’s being played out of position too deep in midfield or is he just not that player?

    Off to do the laundry…

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  10. More strange talk from Kinnear. The 3 stooges decided earlier in the summer that our squad is deep enough and good enough to get us into the top 10. So why the sudden meeting on Mike’s yacht then? They discussed every possible contingency. Meaning what? Meaning if they manage to sell Cabaye for enough dosh Mike will let Joe spend a few million, possibly on a replacement. Two weeks ago we were supposedly on the verge of signing 2 players. What happened there? Was there ever any real offer put in for anyone? Again, what is Joe actually doing for the club? We know Pardew is struggling based on the team’s poor play for more than a season now but what is Joe doing other than reducing the wage bill by releasing some senior players? I guess we’ll all have to continue to wait for some good news before the window closes.

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  11. FSOTC,

    Cabaye was being played in the right position. Deep lying midfielder.

    However, he (like most players in Newcastle under Pardew) is not being used effectively still because he needs wide runners and movement in front of him.

    Jonas plays too deep. Be Arfa drops deep to get the ball. And he’s played with a fellow defensive positioned player in Tiote or Perch.

    So he’s left trying to pass through balls to an isolated Cisse. Who himself has no support.

    Basically boils down to Pardew’s negativity. He sucks the life out of our players.

    Everything is to counter the opposition’s strengths and nothing to utilize our own strengths.

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  12. We NEVER play an attacking midfielder. They are always defensive.

    We have tried Sissoko, but he is NOT a no.10. He should be played deeper.

    The best no.10 we have is Marv. He is by far the player with the most vision. Yet he gets hooked all the time.

    Also, how Shola starts ahead of Gouffran is beyond me. He is utterly ****…

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  13. When Joe says we are good enough already to finish in the top 10 does that take into account how we actually play? No goals for in our last 4 home games for example. If we lose to both Morecambe and Fulham will that begin to change Joe’s opinion? What would make Joe start to worry about the actual play of the club? If we are in the bottom 3 after 10 games would that worry Joe at all? It seems the 3 stooges live in a different world than we do where their club is just fine thank you.

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  14. I’ve joined you both in the home reno world icedog and Kimtoon. It’s been 10 days of hard slogging so far but I think I’m making progress. I hope Lewis is doing well Kimtoon. Ice say hello to ice pup for me. Looking forward to reading your comments mates.

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  15. It seems the 3 stooges are going to put out a new how to manual in the near future. It will be titled “How to Baffle them with *******, 10 ways to distract people from learning the actual facts.” It should be a big hit, especially in Newcastle.

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  16. “Last week we flew to Nice, and we were met by a private helicopter transfer to Mike Ashley’s yacht off St Tropez, and we spent seven hours thrashing out every idea, and how we plan to take the club forward.

    “Alan Pardew has signed 16 players costing £60m in the last two years, Newcastle United’s wage bill is now comfortably in the top 10 in the country, and he will continue to get all the support the club can reasonably provide.”

    Private helicopter, yacht, St Tropez, = seven hours of pissing it up together and discussing how they are raping the fans of money to support their high lives.

    It’s beyond the point where it matters who signs. Because the set up is such a F up we simply cannot progress under the leadership we currently have.

    It’s an absolute joke.

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  17. G2, re the diy ,you have my sympathy mate, it’s the mess I can’t stand . looking good now just finishing touches really ,been putting it off for a year or two what with helping my daughter do up her pad couldn’t face mine. 🙄 Got to do downstairs loo now ,that’s ok it’s tiny so won’t take long.

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  18. Spot on JJ. Disgusting behavior from 3 disgusting stooges. Ashley is a fool who shows no willingness to change or make an effort for his own club. If we get relegated he will start crying about how he really cares about the club but he can’t afford to support us any longer. He is less than pathetic if possible.

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  19. Thanks for the support Kimtoon mate. I’ve got a lot more left to do than you. Put your feet up tonight and have a well deserved drink lass. 😀

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  20. This is a real shop of horrors now. An owner without a clue even as to how to get his money back, a burned out old DoF who can’t admit even to himself that he’s past it, and a manager who doesn’t get proper support from the owner but who also refuses to changes his tactics or team selection even in the face of absolutely dire results. Wow now that’s a sentence. 😆

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  21. I’m trying to think of positives for the team now.
    1. We have an excellent player and goal scorer (and hopefully not a rapist) almost fit who should give the attack a big lift.
    2. Hmmmm. This is getting hard. We have a week left in the transfer window to bring in some decent talent.
    3. Even more difficult. We have some proven Prem talent who continue to work hard for the club. Krul, Colo (somewhat surprisingly considering he no longer wants to be with us), Mbiwa who’s only had a few Prem games looks promising.
    4. Possibly one or two of our youngsters might be decent. Dummett is one and possibly Campbell and Bigi? Vuckic is a big question mark with his fitness. Sammy? Possibly.
    Ok that’s about all I can come up with. Does someone else want to give it a try?

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  22. It seems obvious now that Joe is not going to bring anyone in unless Cabaye is sold for big money. Pardew says we don’t have to sell to buy but I don’t believe him. Just more baffling with bollocks. Trust is earned. That would be my message to Ashley, Kinnear, and Pardew. And actions speak louder than words. Do something good for the club in the next week or prepare for huge amounts of criticism Mike Alan and Joe.

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  23. This is the Carroll story all over again. Ashley sits tight waiting for a big offer, even to the last day of the window. If he gets what he wants Cabaye goes, whether there’s time to replace him or not. Actually if no time remains that’s even better because it means Ashley doesn’t have to spend anything this window.

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  24. So if we get humiliated by Morecambe perhaps that will start some brain activity with Ashley. It might go something like this: “hmmm Morecambe must be a very good side to beat us. Perhaps I should look into buying into the club. Yes, that’s the thing to do all right. This really lights a fire under my backside. I’m going to buy into Morecambe.” Rubs hands with glee.

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