Newcastle v Sunderland – Derby Day match preview

Magpies v Mackems
Magpies v Mackems
The derby at St James’ Park is the one fixture I always used to make sure I could get to.

No matter what I had planned, whether it be work or anything, I would give it up just to be there to cheer on United.

However in recent years the derby has taken a sinister turn with trouble flaring off the pitch. I’m getting too old for that and can’t be bothered with the hassle (because I can’t just walk away!) so missed out last season and will be again this season. The derby has turned toxic.

However there is a motion with this one to put the passion to the fore whilst leaving the aggro at the door. Both sets of fans have been guilty of it, most notably after the last derby on Tyneside where the result didn’t help but the reactions of a few were completely over the top.

We’ve suffered at the hands of the Mackems in recent times and face the possibility of losing three Tyne-Wear derbies on the spin for the first time since 1923. To stop that happening we need to keep cool heads and play with commitment and take our chances when they come. There may be a gulf in the league standings, but in these games it is who wants it more on the day.

Newcastle:

Loic Remy will miss out through suspension after having his appeal for his red card at Norwich turned down but not extended, which confuses me. Being upheld means that surely it was a frivolous appeal, so why didn’t the FA extend the ban to four games?

Also missing are Yoan Gouffran and Fabricio Coloccini while Ryan Taylor remains our only long-term injury concern. Luuk De Jong looks likely to occupy a space on the bench due to a lack of match fitness. Papiss Cisse should be fine to play after missing out against Norwich.

Sunderland:

Carlos Cuellar and Kieran Westwood will miss the game through injury. Phil Bardsley will be assessed after limping off against Stoke. New signings Ignacio Scocco and Liam Bridcutt are not likely to start the game.

Previously…

This will be the 150th competitive Tyne-Wear derby with results being fairly evenly split over those encounters. United have won 53 times, Sunderland have won 47 times with 49 draws making up the numbers.

At St James’ Park we have been stronger than Sunderland having win 31 of 68 matches played on Tyneside compared to 19 wins for the Mackems. However, more recently, it’s worth noting that we’ve not beaten Sunderland at home since that famous 5-1.

Stats and facts…

A total of five red cards have been shown in the last seven league games between the two sides.

Shola Ameobi has scored seven goals in his last ten Tyne-Wear derbies. Only Jackie Milburn has scored more goals in this fixture.

Topical since Yohan Cabaye has now left, but United won only four of the 20 games Cabaye missed during his time on Tyneside.

Newcastle have failed to score in four of the last five league games and have won one game in the last six outings.

Adam Johnson has scored or assisted each of Sunderland’s last seven Premier League goals.

Sunderland have lost just one of the last eight matches and are unbeaten in their last five away games.

Final thought…

Granted I was all calm and placid at the start but by the time kick-off arrives tomorrow I’ll be just as radgie as ever and will be screaming for us to get into them. At themoment though everything seems low key. Maybe it’s the midweek games? Maybe the closure of the transfer window the day before the match is playing a part? Maybe it’s because Sunderland have an actual cup final to look forward to rather than treating their jolly to SJP as their annual cup final?

After the loss of Cabaye we need a win. I’m still not sure how we didn’t win at Norwich after hitting the woodwork so many times and wasting some guilt-edged chances, but what better way to get things back on track than a win against you’re local rivals? We need it, the players need it, and Alan Pardew needs it.

Howay the lads!

Date: Saturday, 1st February, 2014

Time: 12:45pm

Venue: St James’ Park

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.

252 thoughts on “Newcastle v Sunderland – Derby Day match preview

  1. Roy Cropper – dead right.

    Still fucking absolutely fuming.
    This cockney-laden club is so full of **** it’s embarrassing.

    Absolutely no ambition – no direction from the board – no interest from any one at the club.

    What compounds the disappointment of having to watch your club, sell your ‘best player’ for relative pittance, is then the sheer inadequacy of our actions.

    Bidding with intentions for Grenier? Nowhere fucking like it.

    Cabaye has come out and said it had been AGREED he would leave, so why oh why did we wait till the last couple of days of the window?

    SO WE COULD POCKET THE MONEY AND SPEND **** ALL.

    WE ARE TREAT LIKE MUSHROOMS – FED **** AND KEPT IN THE DARK

    LOST ALL INTEREST FOR THIS SEASON.

    LOOK AT THE STATS FOR “WITHOUT CABAYE”

    LOOK AT THE ATTITUDE OF THE OWNER

    Loo at the attitude of some of the players at the club who are happy at Cabaye’s move to a big Club (supposedly)?? I BET THEY’RE ALL WISHING FOR ONE

    Also it was interesting to read about the Pardew’s body language at his press conference, where he mentioned a need for a rebuilding job in the summer(cabaye,colo,jonas,remy,cisse,ameobi,marveaux). Surely this is the reaction of a man who realises he is forever pissing in the wind, against these slippery little turds?

    £20 million is **** all nowadays!!

    Just to finish it off, I for one now won’t be returning to blogs, websites or debates after this latest episode, I don’t enjoy being a NUFC anymore, if we look for a profit and live in a world where 95% of the teams in the PL have more ambition than us.

    After the bullshit of “learning from the AC deal, where we were left short”. I can’t support this club sending out this message.
    Why support something that is dieing on it’s feet?

    For me, the Club’s changed, the Stadium has changed, but the ***** who run it aren’t going to change – I’m punch-drunk.

    God I must be sick, I’ve just read this back there….Jeez.

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  2. carnt believe theres people shocked we didnt spend nowt this winda,this will always be the case with the fat 1.unless it looks like we will go doon thats the only time he will spend.plus he has made pards to look like a reet tossa again.

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  3. Feeling your pain BigPapa
    But hand on heart, you didn’t really expect it to be any other way did you ❓
    We’ve had years and years of this regimes Bullshit and should be well used to it by now.
    What does surprise me is that despite all the false dawns and garden paths, we still turn up in our thousands and support the regime.
    Meanwhile the fat kernt is laughing so loud at us it hurts.
    And he couldn’t give a ****
    *******

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  4. Big Dave – we will buy new players in the summer, if we need them and if we can get them at a rock bottom price, provided they are young enough and have a resale value in excess of 400% of their purchase price.
    Nothing to do with taking the club to ‘the next level’ or anything.
    Just enough to keep us mid table and the ‘fans’ on board.
    MUGS

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  5. I really thought I would miss going to this match today. but my decision to give up my season tkt last year has been vindicated.
    The atmosphere has been **** for years now. I wont be surprised if we are out sung by the scum today too.
    Outsung and outplayed. Another humiliation.

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  6. Well, well done Joe, you didn’t do a fucking thing, mike will be firing off a bonus to you as I type. Not surprised, it was always gonna end this way, after all we have only had Pards banging on about how he’s worried about losing A,B or C and how it will take BIG money for the last 3 windows or more 🙄 Could of been even worse though as they were offering Cisse to all and sundry late yesterday but wanted £10m + 🙄 , It would of been madness to let him go imo. All it would take is Remy to get injured then it’s a gamble that Luuk can cut it in the PL or Shola to start . How must Cisse feel about all this?, he must feel like he’s in a nightmare, join the club mate 👿

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  7. Just to add, has it not occurred to our owner that Cisse and Luuk could possibly strike up a great partnership ❓ , no doubt if they do and we see a rejuvenated papiss he’ll be flogged come summer to the highest bidder along with Debs, and who ever else excels from now until may.

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  8. @Kim thats the biggest problem. If Cisse was offered around as suggested then its a total sign of contempt to us fans and the manager.

    To lose another forward and rely on Remy (out for 3 games) Shola (****) & a loanee would be disastrous.

    We’ve already lost Jonas and Cabs. Benny and Marv must feel like **** already.

    Its pretty obvious MA doesnt give a ****. I’m surprised anyone defends him or the situation we’re in.

    Other players must be wondering whats the point in hanging around.

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  9. tiote, krul, barfa, sissoko, Debs, Cisse next season. If theyre not bought I’d expect them to want to leave. along with players not happy. Saylor, Marv….

    Pardew is now talking about building a team next year to push for Europe 😯 🙄 😆

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  10. Right ,that’s out me system, on to today. Not sure if it’s the bad feeling about the window and Remy’s suspension but have a bad feeling about today tbh. So want us to win today ,the club needs a lift and it would give the squad moral a good boost too. If Goofy is out too that will be a loss as he is always likely to score , not sure where the goals are gonna come from today. Scum having been an utter shambles for the most part have really picked up last few weeks, Gus has them fired up and they will be in good spirits due to the cup final and 5 new bodies in yesterday, add into that the fact they are now free scoring again and today could worse than yesterday, I hope not as 3 in a row is unthinkable.

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  11. Based on what the guys have done at their previous clubs, a joint strike force of Cisse and De Jong is quite a mouthwatering prospect. The problem is that they both seem to be firing blanks for the last 6 – 12 months.

    Could they get it right today playing up front together ? Time will show….. there again, it could be Shola time !!

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  12. Cisse is fighting back tho Kim.
    He has refuse to go out on loan ANYWHERE
    he is not interested in any swap deals and has made it clear he isn’t going to Turkey, for any fee.
    Big respect to him, but I’ll bet cashley is furious.
    Ha Ha you’ve got to love it.
    He is having the last laugh for being forced to wear the wonka ****.
    He’s not playing and still getting paid a fortune.
    Well done son. way to go 😆

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  13. Mark, Didn’t he say we were pushing for Europe this year?, Several players have all said that too, what will they be thinking this morning I wonder. It’s telling that one of the things Cabs said once at PSG was, ” I want to win things, it’s nice to play football but I want to win things.” Note he didn’t specify the title, just said things, he knew **** well he would NEVER get his hand on a cup with us.

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  14. BB, yeah I’m glad he dug his heels in like and really hope he can get it on well with Luuk, on the pitch that is 😆 . Question is will Pards try pairing them up or stick with a Remy and De Jong duo.

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  15. BB, lot’s of fans said last summer Cisse was using Wonga as an excuse to leave the club/ orchestrating a move if you like, well I think that’s been answered yesterday.

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  16. sooner or later, the penny will drop with all players and no one with any ambition or hopes and dreams will want to come to NUFC to play their football.
    I believe the tide may have already started turning in the French league, hence why we failed so drastically in this last transfer window.
    The Montpellier and Lyon coaches were spot on.
    Talented players will have a better chance else where, or staying where they are and at least improving their development.

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  17. The lure of a big money move to the EPL isn’t even an option for us as we pay so much less than any other top 10 clubs.
    When all the news is about Rooney Pig getting offered £300k a week etc,
    and then we go looking for players as Cabayes replacement, and offer probably only 10% of that.
    Its laughable. 👿

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  18. Football club ownership has never been about making money.
    £45M profit in 5 years, is staggering, with another £60M+ coming in at the end of the season.
    Un fucking believable.

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  19. Very disappointed we didn’t get who we were after, but neither did a lot of clubs, some higher up the PL than us. If we cannot get the quality we need then I think we are better off getting nobody. I don’t want another Obertan, thank you. Now is Pardew’s chance to bring players through. Unfortunately, in spite of our league position, I have no faith in him. He will probably go for Shola again. Has he not looked at his recent scoring stats?

    If I had a choice between a good player coming in or a good manager, I would go for the good manager.

    Well here’s hoping for a good win today to cheer us all up.

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  20. any ho…, lets just curl up into a little ball and get on with it.. 😯

    I’m going with a 2-1 win with Barfa starring in the middle. De Jong to come off the bench to be a hero.. 😆

    TOON TOON!

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  21. BBC has article about the winners and losers of the window and we are “the biggest losers of the window” and it openly questions why Joe Kinnear is actually employed.

    Are we still over-reacting if the BBC say the same thing?

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  22. I don’t get on this site as much as I’d like but still the best blog for Newcastle fans so well done to all involved.
    I would of considered myself fairly pro Ashley , I do think he has done some good but the lack of ambition is driving me mad. Joe Kinnear should not be employed at any club let alone a top flight club. I really unsure of the direction of the club. Is it just top 10? That’s not good enough.
    Small little rant over….big day is here. If we play as well as we did against Norwich we should win.

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