Another one bites the dust!

Tiote back for next game.
You could be forgiven for thinking that Newcastle got hammered at Villa Park yesterday. However, this was not the case.

I’ll agree that our performance was very weak and I feel sorry for those who travelled to Birmingham yesterday and had to watch it. Mind you, it’s worth bearing in mind that we only lost the game because Villa were slightly less worse than us. We didn’t really get dominated for any long periods although it was glaringly obvious that we were never going to score given the lack of quality and options within the squad.

It’s worth bearing in mind though that whilst it is always disappointing to suffer a defeat, we are still on track for our goal of securing Premier League football for next season. That was the aim at the start of the season, and we look like we are going to achieve that.

This weekend was a nothing game really in terms of Newcastle United and the relegation race. None of the current bottom three gained any points and nobody above them managed to overtake us. In that sense this weekend was a ‘gimme’. Sure it was a chance to put a bit more daylight between us and the struggling pack, but ultimately it didn’t matter and we finish the weekend as we started it – both in points and league position.

It’s another game gone for us, but most importantly it’s another game gone for those at the bottom who can catch us. The maximum points that West Ham and Wolves can now get is 18, however unlikely that may be. That means that Newcastle need seven points to mathematically assure safety.

So how does the next round of fixtures look? Obviously we don’t play until next Tuesday, but the rest of the league are in action over the weekend. Let’s take an early look at their fixtures.

Birmingham v Sunderland.
Blackpool v Wigan.
Everton v Blackburn.
West Brom v Chelsea.
West Ham v Aston Villa.

That’s all the teams below us, and once again not all of them can win and consequently not all of them can gain ground on us. It’s probably a good job really as we face Manchester United, but hopefully it will be another game chalked off with nothing gained on us.

I still think one win will do it and will be enough for us to assure our Premier league status. And with players like Cheik Tiote, Kevin Nolan and Stephen Ireland ready to come back into the team for the run in I’m pretty sure we’ll get it.

Hopefully sooner rather than later!

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.

139 thoughts on “Another one bites the dust!

  1. Spot on that Sy. Mind I nearly bricked it when I saw the pic of Tiote and the headline “another one bites the dust” 😆

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  2. yeah, gotta agree…ED…what are you doing with those headlines and pictures? 🙂

    Would have preferred some points obviously, but happy to still be sitting in 9th.

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  3. Birmingham v Sunderland. home win
    Blackpool v Wigan. home win
    Everton v Blackburn. home win
    West Brom v Chelsea. draw
    West Ham v Aston Villa draw

    Those are my predications, the way West Brom are playing I can see them getting something against Chelsea.

    I rekon we will beat Blackpool away…Well we should 😆

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  4. The reality is that for us to go down the teams in the bottom three at the minute need to turn a 20% win ratio into a 50% and that’s without us picking up another point all season.

    It ain’t going to happen. Personally I think 40 points will be enough.

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  5. Nolan misses the Man Utd game because he has a 2 game suspension due to the 10 yellow cards, does he not?

    I mean, Tiote has missed 2 so Nolan will too, right?

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  6. Im strangely optimistic about the manure match, Our seasons been freaky enough for us to get something off them.

    We should take a few points from Blackpool/Brum and West brom being on the last day has a 1-1 truce written all over it…

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  7. Do you reckon Ireland will get the start like? Or will Guthrie start with Ireland coming off the bench?

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  8. I would start Guthrie and Ranger and double sub both at 60 mins to give Ireland and Kuqi half an hour.

    If we manage to be only 1-0 down somehow at 60 mins, Ireland’s vision and passing and Kuqi’s simple brute force may manage to steal us something.

    Kuqi looked quite handy in his 10 minute cameo against Villa.

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  9. I think Guthrie will start, with Ireland probably coming on after an hour or so. 😉

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  10. MM i was thinking that,but with them being 10 points clear red nose might try a couple of diff players in,then it might give us a chance to get something if we play at the top of our game,ime looking for hope here lol

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  11. icedog…good point mate…that could work out. If we had our full team out we could be in with a shout. Who^s missing for the Manure game…only Nolan ? Hope Shola makes it, even only for his nuisance value ! 😆

    Looking forward to the Champs League this week….Chelsea and Schalke 04…howay !!!

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  12. man I wish Joey Barton would shut his gob. Canny player now and then….but howay man…he just brings ridicule on the club 🙁 🙁

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  13. batty…would settle for 1-1 against Manure mate.

    I reckon the toon are running out of steam…canny season for the first season back in the big league, we all need to remember that. Throught that in with the turbulence brought about by wor elegant management team…Carrol toast, Houghton toast, Ben Arfa crocked, Gosling crocked…….what a crazy season it^s been, could have ended a whole lot worse… 😯 😯

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  14. reet…off for a couple of litres of Sangria and some scran….later alligators… 😆 😆 😆 😎 😎

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  15. On this particular thread there is absolutely no mention of anyone slagging off any players so what you on about?

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  16. I dunno what to expect from the Man U game, they will play a weak team considering they play City a few days before hand.

    With Tiote and maybe Ireland coming into the team I rekon we have a chance of getting something.

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  17. We’re gonna have a strong last few games when HBA, Ireland, Tiote, Nolan, Shola are all back!

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  18. It’s worrying that Pardew who loves to speak to the press has made no mention of Phil Thompsons quotes regarding Enrique .
    It suggests to me that there may be some truth in Thompsons quote.

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  19. Phil Thompson has just revealed the Liverpool line-up for tonight’s game against Man City. Apparantly him and Collocini are starting at centre back

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  20. @toonsy
    Aye, my source reckons Osama Bin Laden is hiding up Phil Thompsons nose and will never be found due to the vast size of his nostril chambers ! 😆

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  21. Bobby if they couldn’t find him in the Tora bora there is no chance of finding him up Thompo’s nose,
    His nose is that big because he tells so many stories 😆

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  22. Shame De Jong isnt starting for City tonight so he can do what he did to Benny to Carroll.

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  23. @51

    I tried to comment before with the link but it didnt work, might have went to spam im not sure.

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  24. Right, off to hand my notice in at work 😕

    I’ll be back on in a bit as I’m getting driven about for the evening 😀

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  25. DJG wor Jay has expensive tastes he isn’t in to slumming it 😉
    Toonsy im sure your work will have a party 😆 once you go that is 😉

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  26. I was doing a job in a bank (not robbing it 😉 ) and there was a whiteboard which read something like, ‘Rachel has now officially left woohoo’ with lots of smiley faces people had written on. :mrgreen:

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  27. Wow, Ray Wilkins is actually a decent commentator when he isn’t totally biased to one particular team.

    That Tottenham game might have been an aberration.

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