Game On! West Brom v Newcastle

Game on at The Hawthorns
Game on at The Hawthorns
Firstly let me just say a very Happy New Year to you all. I trust you are all feeling well and didn’t get tipsy last night?

Now lets get to the point – football. More specifically our visit to West Brom this afternoon.

I had the dubious honour of following the United team bus yesterday as they made their way to the Black Country. I didn’t see anything spectacular or controversial and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but for all I know they could have been getting twisted and playing shot games behind the blacked out windows, but I guess that will soon show in our level of performance.

Performance is key, in every game. I picked up some comments in the match preview thread which hinted that this may be an easy game owing to the poor form of West Brom. Make no mistake, there are no easy games in the Premier League, especially away from home and even more so against sides which are now gearing themselves up for the business end of the season where titles, European qualification and relegation are to be contested.

Anyway, sermon over. For more of a background on the match including news of injuries for both sides, a look at the history of the fixture and some stats and facts why not take a look at the match preview which you can view here? Latest team news will be published at the very bottom of this article when it becomes available.

The game itself is not being shown live here in the UK owing to the fact that it is a 3pm kick-off. However it’s not all bad news as a host of overseas channels are showing the game so hopefully picking up a stream should be too much of a problem. Once again though guys please share it if you do find one and leave a link in the ‘comments’ section below.

And that is just about that. Will we return to winning ways? Was Arsenal just a blip? Was it the start of a decline in fortunes? Have we peaked too soon? All questions to be answered soon of course.

Howay the lads!

West Brom: Foster; Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Mulumbu, Yacob, Amalfitano, Sessegnon, Brunt, Anelka

Subs: Myhill (gk), Vydra, Berahino, Gera, Morrison, Long, Lugano.

Newcastle: Krul; Debuchy, Coloccini (c), Williamson, Santon; Cabaye, Tiote, Sissoko; Remy, Shola Ameobi, Gouffran.

Subs: Elliot, Haidara, Yanga-Mbiwa, S.Taylor, Anita, Ben Arfa, Cisse.

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.

352 thoughts on “Game On! West Brom v Newcastle

  1. Well it looks like a couple of wheels have fell off. Add to that Debuchy’s suspension and the fact that Colo is out for 6 weeks it doesn’t look great.

    Reinforcements please Jabba…

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  2. Stuart79 I hope Mike at the very least gets a replacement for Shola. Someone young with potential but doesn’t have to be mega expensive. Remy wont join us but we can sort out an experienced striker in the summer, unless we go down the loan route again. I don’t trust Ashley to spend anything anymore ?

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  3. you all should have learnt by now, that reinforcements take time to settle in to the squad, before they become effective.
    I honestly feel the bubble has burst on this season now. No sweat, we will still finish mid table, as predicted. Jabba will make back a few more millions than last season and on we go.
    More of the same.
    Enjoy

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  4. JJ – precisely! You need that bunch of players to possess certain qualities.
    So you don’t win titles and trophies simply by one man raising the self belief of players – the players have to have ability as well.
    Poyet has raised the self belief of the Scum players, you can see they are grafting for him, but the quality is not there.

    Of course it’s important to have a good strong manager, but how many clubs get the right manager?
    As Pardew is the 2nd longest serving manager in the league it would suggest not many.

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  5. BB I know reinforcements need time to settle but Shola’s contract runs out this summer and I hope he doesn’t get a new contract.

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  6. ST – please tell me you are taking the **** when you say that Benny is better than Carzola and Ozil?!, there’s quite a bit of crazy talk on here tonight I’m not sure who’s legit anymore

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  7. Sharpy – Ha don’t worry, I haven’t been getting high with JJ, I obviously don’t think that.
    Our decent-average manager has got us comfortably into the league position that our squad merits.

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  8. Cheers Kim. His been out nearly 2 season’s now and his a really useful player to have with Dubucy and Colocini out. Not bad at free kicks either but hope he recovers the same player but I have my doubts. It’s such a shame really.

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  9. Another disappointing loss. With Man City to come this seems to be a little bump in our season. Still we’re in a solid position in the table. Too bad about Debuchy and Colo however. Couldn’t watch the game but heard about it. Cardiff next in the Cup. Not sure what to expect. Here’s hoping everyone out there on the blog is well for the start of the new year (hangovers don’t count 😆 ). All the best.

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  10. G2 Manchester City will stuff us because I think Pardew will sit back and play defensive. It’s all very well when we our a goal up but not at 0-0. Hope you have a good new year as well mate

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  11. Manchester City is a nightmare game best out of the way though being positive for a change. 50 point this season or maybe more ?

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  12. @MARK & SHARPY17

    I agree, we definitely need a Striker to replace Shola in January.

    Shola is not a ‘proper’ goalscorer. If either Remy or Cisse get injured, we’d be down to 1 striker (i’ve excluded Gouffran because apparently he is a left winger).

    The point i was making was from the perspective of Mike Ashley.

    Mike Ashley is not the manager. If the manager needs new players, Mike Ashley will fund it. It’s in Mike Ashley’s best interest to do so.

    However, Mike Ashley will not shell out a few million just because Pardew says he needs a new player or 2.

    There needs to be a business case for it (Joe Kinnear’s job!). Buying a player is a big deal. It’s an asset. It makes sense.

    Why spend a few million on a player only for them to come & sit on the bench. If the new player will go straight into the first 11, then that means one of the current ‘purples’ will be on the bench.

    We already have too many unused squad players.

    If i was Mike Ashley, i would be saying no new transfers in until some players get transferred out. It’s fair & it’s what happened in the summer…

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  13. The only thing we can hope is the Man city away form continues to be THAT BAD. 🙄 😕

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  14. I don’t think Ashley will spend much this january. He spouts a lot of **** that there’s money to spend but he only steps in when there’s a risk of relegation. He doesn’t stay on top of things and complains when he does have to spend anything. If Kinnear has been told not to spend by Ashley then he won’t. Ashley seems to pull the wool over people’s eyes.

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  15. @STEM

    Ashley will buy players but only if we get a few players out the door.

    TBH i think it’s fair. There is no point in keeping players like Obertan or Marveaux around if they just aren’t going to get a game.

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  16. @Sharpy17
    Cisse is our best striker. Maybe he is out of form, maybe he isn’t. I honestly haven’t seen enough of him recently to decide.

    Looking back though, Cisse has scored more goals per game throughout his career than Remy.

    Is Cisse past his best?

    He’s around the same age as Remy so I doubt it.

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  17. @sharpy17
    ‘But then we are only half way thru the season, so the players shouldn’t be too knackered just yet I’d hope. The fact is they aren’t good enough, not that they are knackered.’

    Players can get fatigued at any point in the season. It depends on the number of games they play within a given amount of time.

    Lots of games in a short amount of time = fatigued players. Wasn’t that supposed to be the same problem we had when we were in the Europa League? Didn’t Mike Ashley get the blame for a small squad.

    Now that we have a squad big enough, who’s to blame?

    The players??

    That they’re just not good enough???

    Against WBA????

    WTF!!!!!!

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  18. @Sharpy17
    ‘I can’t believe there are people saying he’s the wrong man and wanting him replaced with some fucking foreign manager?!
    Bad day at the office but were still 8th with 33 points!!. Get a grip man.’

    Unbelievable Sharpy, just unbelievable!

    English managers are rubbish.

    Pardew is English.

    Therefore Pardew is rubbish.

    It’s simple logic. It can’t be denied but your welcome to prove me wrong.

    Unless Pardew implements a modern & progressive playing style (he hasn’t yet despite being the 2nd longest manager), I want him replaced with, as you put it ‘some fucking foreign manager?!’.

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  19. @Sharpy17
    Why are we supposed to be competing with Southampton & Swansea?

    We should be competing with Everton but only because of epic bad management over the last decade. Long term we should be above Spurs.

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  20. @SolanosTrumpet

    ‘I don’t think Pardew got the tactics that wrong. We dominated play but just lacked that final ball.
    I think that was a mix of Shola’s poor performance and bad midfield passes at key moments.’

    Great, so lets blame Shola for a collectively **** performance.

    Bad midfield passes at key moments? Nothing to do with fatigue I suppose…

    ‘Marveaux is named “the invisible man” because he is anonymous in half the games he plays.’

    If Marveaux is anonymous in half the games he plays, it’s not really any different to Cabaye, is it?

    60pts is the bare minimum for this group of players. Anybody happy with less has low expectations.

    & yes, I would like to see Ba back. I have no idea why some fans hate players for having some ambition…

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  21. @Newkie
    ‘Why people still dream of us getting a world class manager under Ashley is beyond me.’

    Not a world class manager but I do hope for young, progressive manager. Just look at what Diego Simeone has achieved! It’s more than I expect Pardew will ever achieve.

    The alternative is to somehow content myself with the possibility that Pardew really will be here until 2020!!

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  22. @Beardsleys Boots – 284
    Thanks 😎

    It seems only the people who post under double letters (BB, JJ & of course me KK 😆 ), talk sense on here!!

    Grouchob, Toby Le Rhone, Stem, Kimtoon, all talk alot of sense too.

    Sharpy, Aussie, Troy, Solanostrumpet, Newkie (sometimes)…..i can’t think of an insult right now but, honestly it’s bad enough being lumped in the same group as Troy…

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  23. Sharpy,

    You can tell Solano is being sarcastic, because he makes up exaggerated Bullshit to make a point all the time – reason being he can’t back anything he says up with facts because he usually gets proved wrong.

    If he’d get “high” with me, he might be able to pull his head out of his **** long enough to see the bigger picture.

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  24. <<<<<<<<< thinks ryan taylors footie career is over meself you dont see many players thats out nearly 2years making a comeback

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  25. 🙄 I see the sky fell down last night for a few fans 😯 😆

    I can remember a few weeks back when I mentioned that we should rest players (before the Swansea game) and I got shot down down “because you never change a winning team”
    Now because we have lost a game, it’s because we haven’t rested players. 😆
    What a bunch of knee jerkers.. it’s generally the posters with two initials the same in there name who are the main offenders! 😛

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  26. Aussie,
    Who shot you down for saying players should be rested. Certainly not anyone with two initials. It’s what we were saying before the match even kicked off? 😆

    It’s hardly knee **** reactions when most of us were complaining that Pardew makes poor decisions prior to the game even kicking off.

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  27. Kim –
    It’s fantastic. A lot more enjoyable than the match we had to watch yesterday anyway!

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  28. It was only ever a matter of time before the bubble burst.

    An upset doesn’t really upset me, its the manner and predictability of those defeats. That’s what upsets me.

    Can you explain why Pardew decides that we can dominate Man United midfield by playing five up front yet when it comes to a slow aging West Brom he thinks Shola is the way to go, leaving Anita on the bench?

    Be honest, his overal management was seriously poor yesterday and his unwillingness to rotate players like Cisse, Anita and Ben Arfa is coming back to bite him in the ****.

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  29. Aussie
    I don’t think you understand football, mate. If Pardew rests players it means he’s arrogant about getting the result and not taking the competition seriously – no ambition ffs.
    If he doesn’t then he is an idiot, and we should get him out immediately, I mean come on – Everton are challenging for 4th – why aren’t we 👿
    Sure they may have finished in the top 8 in the past seven seasons and have had long term stability, but we are Newcastle United, we should be challenging now!!

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  30. JJ
    We dominated the game yesterday with the team we started, it was an inability to create much and hold up the ball effectively that cost us. I believe possession was 60% to us at half time. Don’t let facts get in the way though.

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  31. @341
    There’s the sarcasm again. No evidence of anyone complaining about squad rotation. Just a random bullshit comment to try support another weak arguement. 😆

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  32. Christ, just properly read your comment:
    “It was only ever a matter of time before the bubble burst.”
    &
    ” its the manner and predictability of those defeats.”
    Mental. I thought we played really, really well against Arsenal. I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that.
    http://www.nufc.com/2013-14html/2013-12-29arsenal-h.html
    Too early in the day for this ‘end of the world’ negativity.

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  33. Solano,
    We dominated the game? You must be watching the game through the same beer goggles as Pardew. I didn’t see any domination?

    First half was very even because both teams were **** poor.

    With Anita in midfield we WOULD have dominated.

    Then in the second half the fatigue started to show. West Brom began to overrun us. This resulted in Debuchy’s red card.

    Anita should have been on a good ten minutes before that. But Pard let the obvious unfold as he lost total control of the game.

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  34. Solano,

    We did play well against Arsenal. We had them on the ropes. Until Pard’s made the wrong substitutes and cost us the game.

    It should have been at least a point.

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  35. JJ
    Have you seen Arsenal’s 2013 away record.
    Pardew’s decisions got us that for into the game.
    And no, 60%+ possession isn’t something you can argue against, it isn’t opinion. That isn’t to say I think we did anything great with the ball, but we dominated possession with the players out there.
    I’m sorry, what was the reason for Debuchy’s red card ❓ 😯
    Madness.

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  36. I’m loving the hissy fits going on today.
    There’s been some grapes crushed and tissues ripped. 😛

    KK I know you feel privileged to be lumped in the same group as me. Just don’t get too close. I haven’t vetted you thoroughly yet. Stay in quarantine with Aussie until I decide you are safe from killer diseases. 😛

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  37. Yes, it was a direct effect on the red card.

    I guess its what allows armchair managers like me to see what’s going to happy long before it does in the game.

    I only wish Pardew had the same ability to see it because then he would actually do something about it.

    And what does Arsenal’s away record have to do with an individual game?

    They were missing key players. Their players looked drained and they were there for the taking.

    Pardew went with the right starting lineup. But when it came to crunch time. His poor decision making and limited ability showed.

    Also, if we had 60% possession in a half and we hadn’t managed to achieve more than one shot on target (and none from our strikers). Ameobi didn’t even manage a shot at goal, then surely the manager sees there is something wrong.

    I don’t see how not managing more than one shot on goal is dominating the play? Because if that is your definition then your opinions need no further explanation. You are clearly easily satisfied.

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  38. Troy,
    Its going to be interesting to see how your tune changes from “I told you Pardew is a good manager and needed more time” to “I told you Pardew is an average manager and will bring nothing more than mid table mediocrity which is Ashley’s game plan”…

    Very clever of you to cover your **** for any possibility 😉 😆

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  39. @JJ

    I’ve never and will never class Pards as a top manager.

    I’ve always maintained he’s not as bad as some claim him to be.

    I believe he is doing a cracking job this season with the resources he has available.

    We are sitting 8th which rightly reflects our squad strength.

    Maybe we could finish 7th above Everton as they will hit a sticky patch at some stage.

    I don’t get carried away making big knee **** reactions like some. 😉
    That’s why I maintained we should stick with Pards as I believe he’s the best person to work under Ashley with the budget constraints we have.

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