In a season that has been full of first real tests, the game against Mancini’s title-chasing outfit provides with another as we go toe to toe with the superstars of the Etihad Stadium.
There is an edge to this game today. Whilst a lot of Newcastle fans aren’t expecting much apart from a decent performance, there are some other interesting sideshows that could develop today. The first one being Hatem Ben Arfa who will revisit the scene of his horror injury for the first time since Nigel de Jong put him out of the game for a year. The other one being an unbeaten record that both teams possess, with only one being the overwhelming favourite to hold that accolade come around 5pm this afternoon.
This is a match that needs little build up. The task is huge and the odds are against us, but we’ve dealt with that already this season and at the end of the day it’s only 11 v 11 on a little grass field. Simple, yet true.
If you fancy having a look at some impressive stats, potential team news, injury updates and a bit more background to the fixture then why take a look at Shamrock’s fantastic match preview article here. Honestly, it’s a cracking read.
In terms of streaming, the match is on numerous overseas channels so picking one up should be easy enough. Once again the emphasis is on the word ‘should’ as trying to grab a stream can sometimes be hard work. However, should you stumble across a good one then make sure you leave a link for it so others can share it.
That just about wraps it up for me and now we must leave it to our boys to write the rest with their actions at the Etihad this afternoon.
Howay the lads!
Manchester City: Joe Hart, Micah Richards, Joleon Lescott, Vincent Kompany, Gael Clichy, Nigel De Jong, James Milner, Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli
Subs: Costel Pantilimon, Kolo Toure, Aleksander Kolarov, Garteh Barry, Adam Johnson, David Silva, Edin Dzeko
Newcastle: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Ryan Taylor’ Jonas Gutierrez, Danny Guthrie, Yohan Cabaye, Sammy Ameobi, Hatem Ben Arfa, Demba Ba.
Subs: Rob Elliot, James Perch, Davide Santon, Alan Smith, Dan Gosling, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi
Spencer, all I said was blatant **** up. Which it was.
Shamrock(Quote)
Game over 🙄
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
What is Raylor doing!!!!
HebburnMag(Quote)
Raylor having a nightmare.
JJ(Quote)
😕 😕
hitman(Quote)
Hebburnmag aye but he is a skillful ****.
ah well get in at 1-0 halftime and we will comeout on fire in the 2nd half
Big Dave(Quote)
lol
funkyjesus(Quote)
Spencer-he’s a great asset, but he’s not a defender as i’ve said all season. goth goals effectively his fault.
Newkie(Quote)
And then he ***** up again for goal number 2.
Shamrock(Quote)
FFS 👿
Big Dave(Quote)
both*
Newkie(Quote)
get raylor off and put santon on 2nd half
hitman(Quote)
That should be Raylor out of the team then.
toonsy(Quote)
davide santon in next anyone?
Toon@Jer(Quote)
Well at least we showed in the first 40 minutes that we’re a decent side but now it’s 2-0 it’s over.
SJP14(Quote)
With every goal we concede FJ grows more happy. Fucking *****.
toonsy(Quote)
A couple of mistakes in a game we we’re very unlikely to get anything out of and everyone is jumping on his back 🙄
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
You were sayin big dave?? ha He is an amazing player like
HebburnMag(Quote)
Raylor is playing ***** today. Take him off! 👿
King Arfa(Quote)
Spencer@148…wtf has that to do with a handball today ? Poor defending by Raylor…pity really, cos we had wethered the storm imo..
Munich Mag(Quote)
Don’t worry, I’ve got us 2-2 in the predictor league 😉
richietoon(Quote)
1-0 at HT and there is a way back, unlikely, but still a way back. At 2-0 it’s damage limitation
toonsy(Quote)
Ben arfa is starting to look class, just played with Lescott then 😆
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
Cabaye is missing Titote…. needs a proper partner in crime
HebburnMag(Quote)
Sorry like, but that was more absolutely gash defending from Raylor…Both goals are down to him today…
Munich Mag(Quote)
🙄
DJG(Quote)
MM- everyone is jumping on his back, everyone has a bad game, unfortunately raylor is having his today.
If you ask me, Cabaye isn’t exactly impressing, nee one is jumping on his back.
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
I agree Toonsy. We were showing in the last 10 before the goal that we could grab a goal with Ben Arfa linking with Ba but now we have to push forward and leave ourselves exposed.
Question is would you prefer them to try and get stuffed 5-1 or give up and try to only lose 2-0
SJP14(Quote)
Pardew out! 🙄 😉
Micky Toon(Quote)
toonsy – I know you’re taking the **** but he should be replaced at half time as when it’s not your day, it’s not your day, and it certainly isn’t his day/
Stuart79(Quote)
That was a good performance and we could have been in the lead. Then Raylor lost his mind. Like I said in the preview, our defence is OK, but they cant be trusted not to implode under pressure. Only Colo is trustworthy in that sense.
Not holding it against the lad though, this is Citeh away. Nothing like this sort of fixture to sniff out our weaknesses though and show us where we need to invest. Benny is having a good game. I’m glad for him. 🙂
Shamrock(Quote)
Our main problem is we aren’t closing city down enough, we are giving them too much space. No wonder it was something like 25% possession in the first half. Raylor needs to come off and Santon on.
King Arfa(Quote)
Spencer-I agree, its funny to hear the voices turn, but I’ve been saying Jonas does most of raylors defensive work. People wanted to ship out simpson because he was a dodgy defender-really? Its not that I don’t like raylor or that I aint grateful for his free kicks, but he’s not a left back.
However on the other side, people will now be screaming for him to be sold, I don’t see what people can expect from him, or Simmo, considering how cheap we got the both of them. Keep em, get some quality in January.
Newkie(Quote)
Needed to take those two chances we had. Knew they would haunt us.
I blame perch.
Pardew out.
Micky Toon(Quote)
I don’t think the second was all Taylor’s fault. Jonas has not been tracking Richards (his man, right?) particularly well.
Wellington(Quote)
Remember Arsenal? We need that attitude today, I just hope we don’t roll over for them now. Apart from the goals we’ve done okay and should have scored ourselves. I hope Pards goes for this in the 2nd half and makes a game of it.
NorthernPaul(Quote)
Had Ba found the corner of the net I think it would have been different. In games like this there is usually one chance before it goes tits up.
DJG(Quote)
Spencer – A couple of costly mistakes. Sorry, but that should be the price he pays. We have a player waiting for him to **** up. That player is Santon who should be getting his chance.
There is a reason why EVERY team attacks our left side you know. A couple of goals does not hide three years of nothing.
toonsy(Quote)
Feel sorry for Raylor, but he has got away with.it in others games. These.players have too much quality.and punish defensive errors. Raylor is great going forward, very average defensively. Simpson is the opposite.
Toonsy,
Damage limitation… Na, I rate we give it a go. 2-0 or 5-0 a loss is a loss.
JJ(Quote)
Well, I guess we’ve got an answer to the “how do we introduce Santon” question…
Shame as we were just starting to give them a bit to think about on the counter.
Get one early and we can still threaten them
MDS(Quote)
That hurt.
Fans Should Own The Club(Quote)
Richie @ 171 same here mate.
I would seriously think about taking Raylor of as I think he will drop his head, so it might be rough on him but he would spend the 2nd half dwelling on the 1st half and trying not to **** up again instead of concentrating on what he needs to do.
ye gotta be gruel to be kind 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
Like to say thanks to raylor for all the hard work he’s put in this season but if any game he was going to be found out it was going to be this
1892(Quote)
SpencerTheToon….sorry mate, have to tell it like it is. Raylor is way out of his depth today. Sorry you don’t like to hear it and I commend you defending him, but it’s a fact bud.
We were under the cosh a bit, but I felt quite confident. 2 bad mistakes and the game is toast… 😥 😥
Munich Mag(Quote)
Oh well maybe you weren’t taking the ****, toonsy.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – Not taking the **** mate. Raylor is having a mare and should come off.
toonsy(Quote)
Its going to need a comeback to match the one against Arsenal second half
Axel(Quote)
If we lose now thanks to Raylor I’m not gonna be happy being £90 out of pocket with SkyBet!!
@JamieVincente(Quote)
Funny how ppl were saying why this was the ‘wrong game to play Ben Arfa’.
DJG(Quote)
The pisser is that those goals came at completely the wrong time 😥
FJ – Sorry for being a ****. Virtual handshake?
toonsy(Quote)
Spencer, your defending of Raylor is more impressive than Raylor’s defensive display today!
@JamieVincente(Quote)
Raylor fecked up for both goals, he’ll get stick for it and deserve it. Even if he’d scored the winner in every other game this season it would be irrelevant, he’d still get and deserve stick for his 1st half performance.
richietoon(Quote)
Spence Lad you know how I feel about Raylor mate but I think we have a better LB on the bench 😕
Big Dave(Quote)
plenty of time yet lads, let Pards have one of his famous half time talks, 😀 2 mistakes 2 goals. we could of easily scored 2 (ba for both).
If we don’t lose our heads we might still have a chance for a result.
tidy performance considering we’re missing a few players
mark(Quote)
That ***** Silva is still to come on the second half… I fear this is going to be a drubbing.
King Arfa(Quote)
DJG might aswell play him these next three games he’ll be doing a lot of running and get up to speed
1892(Quote)
Hope Pards Has something up his Sleeve..
Think we should go all in and attack from the start… 😛
DanishToon(Quote)
it should have been 0-0 at half time,2 **** poor mistakes has cost us
hitman(Quote)
DJG – Me being one of them, what has Ben Arfa done that was extra special? Not saying he’s played poorly, he’s done what is expected of him, but he’s also done nothing to dust off the “I told you so’s”.
Premier League player completes a few passes shocker 😯
toonsy(Quote)
Ben Arfa has been good. Really good in fact. He HAS to start from now on. Santon will be in the next game hopefully, but I doubt it. Raylor has had a shocking last minutes, but hasn’t played that bad overall. Feel sorry for him, but he isn’t a left back and we just need an excuse to drop him. This is it.
~ El Toro ~(Quote)
So shall we drop Ba for missing that chance?
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
Hebburnmag
I actually think Guthrie has been one of our better players.
JJ(Quote)
I hope Citeh come out thinking its all over 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
you can’t be too critical on Raylor. 1st one was silly 2nd he was caught off balance. for a midfielder playing leftback hes done superb this season. a couple of mistakes dont warrant him being dropped or called..
mark(Quote)
DanishToon says:
November 19, 2011 at 15:57
Hope Pards Has something up his Sleeve..
Think we should go all in and attack from the start…
It’ll have to be a fcking time machine!
Stuart79(Quote)
SpencerTheToon says:
November 19, 2011 at 15:58
So shall we drop Ba for missing that chance?
Now that you mention it , Yes we should 😉
Johno Toon(Quote)
Spence calm down son, Ba missed a goal yeah, but he didn’t cost us 1.
Big Dave(Quote)
Shola on for the 2nd half anyone? lets face it HBA has done very little so far
Axel(Quote)
Spence – So your justification for keeping a player on who has been directly responsible for us being two goals downs is to argue that Ba should come off as he missed a chance?
By your other reasoning, Ba has earned up six points at least, and for that you want to stick with Raylor, so why not Ba?
toonsy(Quote)
Toonsy
Theres passes and then theres passes the reverse ball to Ba was something that none of the others would have tried, There was a few incidents in the everton match where gosling and best had time to play ba in when he was on the last man and overran the ball, He will see and try things that will open up teams.
CC(Quote)
I bet .org are penning “Pardew out” articles as we speak 😆
toonsy(Quote)
JJ I agree mabye is with had Tiote to play 3 big lads in the middle
HebburnMag(Quote)
Mark he has done himsel proud this season, but he isn’t a LB and we have a LB on the bench, and we are losing Jonas as an attacker because of it
Big Dave(Quote)
It was sarcasm toonsy, I think they should both stay on, that is why i put a question mark
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
No shame if we are beating here at all ,Look Raylor has played very well so far this season but has pointed above he is a right winger playing left back. Only a matter of time before he was found out. And that is not trying to have a dig at him for no reason but I dont think he is up to scratch for where we want to go. Now go on son and hit in 2 free kicks and set up the winner for Ba 😆
Johno Toon(Quote)