Game on! Norwich v Newcastle – Simpson and Perch start at the heart of defence

toonsy

Magpies take on Canaries
Welcome one and all to our ‘Game on’ article which will take us through every twist and turn of the game this afternoon as the Magpies fly to Carrow Road to do battle with the Canaries.

Of course this will be a rather depleted Newcastle side that is tasked with facing the Premier League new boys of Norwich City. As Shamrock points out in his match preview, things are looking less that ideal when you consider our injury list.

However let’s not get too down about it. We can still get a result at Carrow Road although admittedly it would be easier with a fully fit squad to choose from. It’s not to be though and I guess we just have to make the best of what we’ve got and hope those that come into the fold can do the job for us.

As far as stats go you can peruse a wide range of them in the previously linked match preview, or you can have a look at more stats and fact aswell as some chalkboards and other fancy stuff here. I suggest you give both a look if you haven’t already done so as they both contain some really interesting thoughts and analysis of the game today.

If you’re looking for a link, the good news is that there are quite a few overseas TV stations broadcasting the match so the chances of picking up a decent one are fair to moderate. Of course you never quite know until the time and it makes it easier if we all pull together and share any decent links we come across on our cyber travels.

That just about wrap this up and it’s over to Carrow Road where Newcastle will be looking to bounce back from a run of three games without a win against a tricky customer in Paul Lambert’s Norwich City.

Howay the lads!

Norwich: Ruddy; Martin, Morison, Whitbread, Crofts, Holt (C), Surman, Hoolahan, Fox, Tierney, Naughton

Subs: Rudd, Johnson, Jackson, Pilkington, Bennett, Barnett, Wilbraham

Newcastle: Tim Krul; Ryan Taylor, Danny Simpson, James Perch, Davide Santon; Gabriel Obertan, Yohan Cabaye, Dan Gosling, Jonas Gutierrez (c); Demba Ba, Shola Ameobi

Subs: Rob Elliot, Shane Ferguson, Alan Smith, Sammy Ameobi, Hatem Ben Arfa, Peter Lovenkrands, Leon Best

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.

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513 thoughts on “Game on! Norwich v Newcastle – Simpson and Perch start at the heart of defence”

  1. Billy – Grant Holt – (a non league player?!) scored his 5th and 6th Premier League goals of the campaign today, not bad for a nobody 🙄

    That said, I do agree Kadar should have played today. Despite what Pardew see’s day in, day out – he was proved wrong today with Simmo and Perch for a pairing. Why give Kadar a squad number only to leave him out of the squad?

    I’m beginning to notice a few areas we are lacking in quite badly. Our width and lack of crossing ability concerns me. When Ba goes in Jan we could be in trouble too. Why the calls for Benny though? He has been **** in every game he has played this season (except Man City) and given the ball away more often than Obertan does!

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  2. @Icedog The best partner we’ve been linked with I think is that Giroud, scores goals and creates them too, seen a few french games that montpellier have played with working night shift on weekends nowt much else to do on security 😆 But think we need a little quick finisher, will be interesting when Ba is away for cup o nations I hope Senegal get knocked out straight away! He has been unbelievable this season. Santon looked good for his first start hopefully the first of many, him and Jonas could be a good combination when he gets up to speed. Cabaye looking better every game even though he’s been a bit over worked lately he’s been a mint signing

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  3. Billy I have criticised players if they don’t put a shift in and still will, I just can’t understand why fans think that Pards is thick or something because he didn’t play certain players. I have always said he see’s them every day in training, so just maybe he knows more about them than we do.
    In DJG’s case he thought that Kadar should have started before Santon which I disagreed with, simply because we have heard fuk all about Kadar lately but with Santon we have seen climpses of what he is about.
    As for the one’s that say get behind the team they are my pet hate as I don’t need anyone to tell me to get behind the team 😉 see we can agree on somethings. 😀
    As for 448 and 450 I agree 😉

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  4. I would like to have seen Best & Ben Arfa back out today. Shola played well in the 2nd half, but when Ba’s gone, we need Best and he played very very well for us till his injury. Maybe Pardew’s saving him till he’s really healthy.

    Smudger? He MUST have come on because we have no other option at CDM next week and Pardew wanted to give him a few actual game minutes, right? That’s all I can think of.

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  6. Agree with Billy Bull.

    End of the day you expect 2 goals to be enough to win or at least draw.

    Name a single team in the prem that would cope without their top 3 centre backs. None would, it’s an impossible task.

    People keep going on about Kadar, if he was anywhere near good enough or fit enough he would play, do you not think Pardew would rather play an actual centre back? Fergie was our only defender on the bench! Get a grip man Kadar clearly wasnt involved for a reason.

    With the blows to the squad i would even take 4 points from the next two games, desperate times like…
    30 points on xmas day and i’ll be a very happy man.

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  8. no1 said pardew was thick dave , just some of us disagreed with subs he made! there is nothing thick at all about that

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  10. By the way, it’s worth pointing out that Norwich have scored 24 goals this season–sixth best in the league. That’s ahead of us. And it’s only below the gang you’d expect–City, MU, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham.

    They’re no slouches, brothers and sisters.

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  12. Big Dave – Why give him a squad number and tell the press this is his chance only to leave him out? I’m not saying he should be sacked at all, nothing even remotely like that. Strung up, hung and quartered maybe, but sacked no 😆

    It was always clea that Norwich would be putting the crosses in and high balls to big forwards. We all knew that – so Perch and Simmo at centre back was a tad silly (are either of them over 5’9”?)

    Kadar played 13 games in the Championship season and looked good for it. We know he is not a bad player. He has the height, which we needed today. Surely he is not that bad an option compared to Perch or Simmo in the middle? Not even making the bench though is weird. Only Pardew and his team know why he was left out, but giving him a squad number then leaving him out is a contradiction in itself.

    Just because Pards has had a good start, does not mean he is in infallible. He is human after all and in my opinion – he made a mistake today. 🙂

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  16. Shamrock-Perch is 5,10 or 5,11 I think, but thats about it. Agree with your points, Simmo is a good player at right back for a reason, where height matters very little. To be honest I’d leave Raylor out of the next match as well.

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  18. strange comment from pardew when asked about injurys for next week;;we will have to watch santon??? dont say hes carrying a injury too

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  19. If fit this would be my line up next week. I know more than Pardew anyway, so i’m sure he will tak this on board. 😐 😯

    Krul /
    Simmo / Colo / Willo / Santon
    Sameobi / Cabaye / Tiote / Guti
    Best / Ba

    Subs: Harper, Kadar, Raylor, Abeid, Obertan, Benny, Ameobi.

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  22. Shamrock @ 462 do you think its possible that he gave him a shirt and said this was his big chance and during training this week he hasn’t done enough to get a game or in the team atleast??
    Heres one for you although Solano has touched on it, do you think Kadar the CB has came in and shown that he was better than the CB’s we played today only for Pards to not even put him on the bench ??

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  24. Dave – It was only a day or two ago that Pards said that about Kadar. Surely he had seen him up to that point and knew enough about him before making those comments?

    Re: the 2nd point – You tell me. Is it a personality clash? Who knows, but I doubt very much Kadar would have done as badly as Perch today.

    Lastly – all this talk of the manager see’s the players every day etc… So did Allardyce, Gullit, Souness et all. They got it wrong plently of times.

    Is it possible that Pardew made a mistake? **** right it is. Does that make him a mug? No. Is he doing a good job? **** right he is. Should we just agre to disagree? I think so! 😉

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  25. We are in the brown sticky stuff if we are counting on a half fit Williamson to come to our rescue. A fully fit Williamson is championship standard at best

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  26. @473 – Tiote, Colo and Willo are all scheduled to be back for next week although probably not 100% fit. Worth risking one or two of them? Certainly in defence…?

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  27. best result 2day? West Ham being stuffed 3-0.

    I hope they fail to secure a premier league spot, a few teams around them now.

    Might be bitter but Nolan was full of pap when he left us and Big Sam’s football doesnt deserve the Prem

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  28. -Toby, don’t agree with that. Willo proved he was Prem standard last year…in his first season in the Prem. He did well, and now he’ll be playing with a better Colo and a better Krul, he’ll do well this season IMO.

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  30. TOONSY/DAVE a blind man can see that the lad has class written all over him,being a evil thinker something doesnt ring true to me has he got a iffy injury is his heed not right?? still cannot understantd how milan let him go at the price 😕 😕 😕

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  31. Shamrock if there was a personality clash I wouldn’t think he would comeout and say owt about giving him a shirt etc.
    I agree that all managers make mistakes and imsure Pards has made loads 😉 But I would say that not playing Perch after the way he performed last week would have been a mistake 😕
    As for 476 I would love it if they were ready but I wouldn’t risk them for 1 game if they weren’t 100% because we could end up losing them for months, then fans will be up in arms that Pards took the risk in playing them when they wern’t 100%

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  32. Newkie disagree my friend. I cannot erase from my memory what RVP did to him at St James last year. It was embarassing. Also I know he is picked to defend but he is the worst passer of the ball I have ever seen. All the opposition need do is close down the other five members of the back six and he will resort to booting it up the field or passing it back to Krul who will hoof it up the field. That is not what i expect from a pro foootballer. Watch El Classico which I know is light years away from where we are but the principles should be the same. Every player on the field will be comfortable on the ball

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  33. Ice I said from the start that after reading different articles that it seemed as if it was a mental problem, he seems to have low esteem and very hard on himsel.
    I thought for sure if he didn’t play today that was him, though I thought he would have been better at CB than Simmo

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  34. Tobylerhone , my point exactly after colo and s taylor we are struggling big style . For me I would play santon centre half he’s tall fast can play not ideal but a million times better than perch and simmo .

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  35. Keith@441 – would Willo have done any better? I think he may have done better than Perch or Simpson playing centre back given he played most of last season and was half decent. (just a hunch like 😉 )
    Like I said we should have brought in another centre back and hopefully we will get someone in in January

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  36. Toby, we are more than a million miles away ha , willo is a route 1 defender and could do the basics against lesser opposition but you are right he can’t play much . 😉

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  37. Toby- I guess we can’t agree then. I agree RVP made willo look like a sunday league footballer, but to be fair he made our entire defence look like amateurs. But that’s exactly what he does. He’s a quality, world class player. Is willo a world class defender? Hell no, but he is quality, and premiership standard-and by that I mean he can deal with the majority of premiership strikers, with the exception of RVP and perhaps others such as Rooney, Silva etc who are also world class.

    He’s a bad passer but it comes from years in the CC where its literally-gain ball-hoof ball. He will have learnt, and simply by passing to Colo we have options again. Or he can simply pass to Tiote and we can move from there. I’ll wait to see his performances but I genuinely think he’s a good defender and will be improved from last year

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  39. BIG DAVE @481 December 10, 2011 at 20:16
    …””But I would say that not playing Perch after the way he performed last week would have been a mistake””
    You’re right there, no-one is better at letting a centre forward attack a ball like perch, especially when we were gonna be up against it in the air 🙄

    @ 482 Tobylerhone Well you must not have supported the toon when Gerrard ripped Colo a new arsehole when liverfool beat us 5-1 or something when we went down?

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  41. I thought Perch played Ok last week, nothing more. There was a 2min period when he had Drogs in his poket then he got beat easily for the first goal.

    I wouldnt play him anywhere near centerhalf, leftback maybe but he’s not strong enuf or fast enuf to be plying his trade in the middle where a lot of powerful strikers do their business.

    But we have problems, obviously, so I trust Pards knows what he’s doing.

    I would of played Kadar there but to be out of the picture then into the first team in a few days might of been asking too much.

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  46. Santoon must play LB if fit.

    Let’s have some perspective. 3 points off CL spot 15 off bottom 3. Cmon man. Willo, collo and hopefully tiote back for swans. Laughing

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  49. 3hours , he’s a squad player and does the basics well and is better than simmo and perch , would he have changed the outcome 2day , I think not . Don’t hold your breath for defensive cover in january my friend .

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  53. Big Dave he did ok except for the important bit (the goal) which isn’t good enough unfortunately, I would have rather Gutierrez there

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  56. On a sidenote. Ba is our best striker since Shearer IMO. Pace, workrate, effort, skill, aerial prowess, and he knows where the back of the net is! Cracking player

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  61. I think Willo could have made a difference today Keith…he did well for most of last season and I doubt we would have conceded 4 free headers but it’s all supposition mate.
    I think we will get a centre back in January …no worries 😀

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  62. @big Dave

    lol apparently nobby requested Troy to still be in them when he received it 👿

    they’ll be stinking nu with troy doing his bicep in, 3 days, ne change..pooo!!

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  63. Toonsey 506 , ow yes as I have said 20 goal plus stricker has got the lot .
    3hours 511, you think willo would have made us 2 or 3 goals better 2day hmmm … And don’t hold your breath , no worries is a big call !

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