Yohan makes it, and Hatem starts! Game On! Fulham v Newcastle

toonsy

It's 'Game On' at the Cottage
Welcome one and all to the ‘Game ON’ article which will take us through every twist and turn of the visit to the rather picturesque Craven Cottage where Alan Pardew’s men will do battle with Martin Jol’s Cottagers.

It’s not been a bad start to 2012 has it? As Shamrock pointed out in his fantastic match preview, we’ve won all of our fixtures, including that one against some second class (well, we made them look second class on the night) outfit from Manchester, and signed one of the most sought after strikers in Europe. To add to that, we’ve still not seen any of our key players leave the club and are actively trying to retain the services of Captain Coloccini, who may have a new impressive defensive buddy if rumours are to be believed!

All of that pales into insignificance this afternoon though as the focus shifts towards what happens in 90 minutes of football in West London. Thing is, as our resident statto pointed out in another one of his expertly composed “Stat Attack’s”, we don’t exactly have the best record against Fulham. They are yet another one of our bogey teams.

However Newcastle have become quite adept at ending these hoodoo’s in recent times. I mean we recently beat Manchester United for the first time in a decade, we beat Blackburn earlier in the season after about eight years of failing to do so, we won at Stoke away and Bolton away – both grounds where we traditionally do pretty badly. You get my point.

We’ll see what happens today but no doubt the lads will have been boosted by the arrival of Papiss Demba Cisse. The level of competition, especially for our strikers, has been ramped up a few notches and now they must show their worth or risk being left behind in terms of the first team. Plus they have the bonus of knowing that if they can keep in touch with the top five or six whilst Cheik Tiote, Demba Ba and Cisse are away at ACoN then we will be in a cracking position when they come back and can challenge those European spaces.

Anyway, that’s enough waffle. Both Shamrock and NUFC_stats have provided more than enough background on the match without me going into more so I’ll leave you to have a gander of their articles instead of me going on and on and on…

The match is being broadcast overseas so there is a good chance of picking up a stream although, as ever, the quality will be hit and miss. If you do manage to stumble across a good stream though why not share it with your fellow Mags and leave a link to it in the comments section below? It would be most appreciated I’m sure.

Right now though it’s Game On, and with NUFC knowing that a win would guarantee 5th place ahead of the Arsenal v Manchester United match tomorrow the carrot is already on the stick and the lads know what is on offer.

Howay the lads!

Fulham: David Stockdale; Stephen Kelly, Brede Hangeland, Philippe Senderos, John Arne Riise; Steve Sidwell, Danny Murphy (c), Clint Dempsey; Damien Duff, Bobby Zamora, Bryan Ruiz

Subs: Neil Etheridge, Matthew Briggs, Chris Baird, Aaron Hughes, Kerim Frei, Marcel Gecov, Andrew Johnson

Newcastle: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini (c), Davide Santon; Hatem Ben Arfa, Danny Guthrie, Yohan Cabaye, Jonas Gutierrez; Leon Best, Shola Ameobi

Subs: Rob Elliot, Shane Ferguson, James Perch, Ryan Taylor, Dan Gosling, Gabriel Obertan, Peter Lovenkrands.

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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667 thoughts on “Yohan makes it, and Hatem starts! Game On! Fulham v Newcastle”

  1. Has to go down as one of those games lads. To give away 5 goals and Fulham haven’t even played particularly well. No one could possibly have predicted that at half time. It brings us down to earth but don’t get too negative guys, it was just a crazy game.

    It certainly puts our defence in a different light though, totally unable to cope against an unsophisticated offensive strategy. It brings home exactly why we really do need another quality central defender. Hopefully the current incumbents can learn quickly, very quickly, from that embarrassment.

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  4. sky plastic fan boys your starting to sound like another muppet we get on here from time to time, next you will be telling us we have no right to comment because we wern’t at the game.
    I take it your a real supporter 😆

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  7. Williamson lack of pace was cruelly exposed by the introduction of Johnson. Generally, the team played well. We lost due to the crucial 25 mins period in the second half. The defence collapsed after the first goal and there was no way back. Could understand Perch’s introduction when we were 4-1 down though, damage limitation instead of going gung-ho with not much offensive options on the bench. Funny how some are calling for Obertan now, given the amount of abuse and stick he had to take when he actually played.
    Positives to take from this game, Benny looked sharper now and Ameobi actually had a better game than the one against QPR. Jonas looked our most dangerous player while Guthrie had a solid game in the first half.

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  8. Tony Toon

    Exactly it’s one of those games, we wouldn’t go through the whole of 2012 without one, lets hope that was it and put it behind us.

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  10. nufc_stats when was the last time we gave up 5 goals in a half? The second half was a shocker. Jol made the right moves bringing Johnson in and replacing Ruiz with Baird. We couldn’t handle their pace up front. We play too high a line sometimes and get caught without enought pace especially with Willo in. Still they truly put us to the sword in the second half. Aside from Ben Arfa’s goal there was nothing to cheer about. Forget that game and move on. There’s nothing to be gained from moaning about it.

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  12. **** off Sky Plastic *** Boy!

    Everyone else, thanks once again. We will do better next time.
    Nite nite 😉

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  14. SPFB, welcome aboard. I think you’ll find folks on here are more inclined to debate and argue a bit than shout each other down.

    It was a bit flukey in the end, but Pards has some thinking to do after that, for sure.

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  17. Most were raving about Shola v ManU. I thought he was poor then and even worse today. He drives me f*****g mad.

    While I’m on the subject of Ameobi’s, I’ll say it now. I’ve seen nothing in his brother to warrant the plaudits he gets on here. He’s as weak as pish!

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  18. Are people really singling out defenders for criticism?

    ALL were bad. Even King Colo. Santon had his worst game for us and was lucky to stay on the pitch, but it’s just one game. They will bounce back strong against Blackburn.

    It’s easy to forget we actually played some great stuff today. Best was superb for most of that game. I just feel sorry for him that he has to partner up with Ameobi, who is just far too lazy. He passes and then stands still all of the time. There was an incident in the first half where Best received the ball from Shola and then tried to play a one-two. Best ran forward after playing the ball, but Shola was nowhere to be seen. He was still standing in the same spot as he was when first giving Best the ball. Tat is NOT good enough and doesn’t match the way we play(hard work, commitment et)

    Once we get Cissa, Ba and Tiote back we will have a mean team if we stick with this 4-3-3.

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  19. Maybe, my name is billybullshit normally but on the mobile version I’ve put what is more apt. But I’m down landaan and while the display was embarrassing, it’s not as embarrassing as the knee **** on the blog after a bad performance, yet again by people who watch a choppy stream on a pc monitor like they’re the fucking oracle of football. Do I care what a lot of sad ***** on a blog think? No do I **** at least I go and SUPPORT the team!

    Cue the usual *** boy clique pretending to be massive fans from their pc chair

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  20. B+B I tend to agree with you there Sammi is a bit of a headless chicken and Strolla is a one decent game in 10 type of player.

    sky plastic fan boys your not related to billybullshiter are ye ❓

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  21. Fulham have some old players now though, would rather have our squad than theirs. Duff, Murphy, Johnson, they can’t go on forever.

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  22. sky plastic fan boys, super supporter, billybullshiter or whatever you want to call yersel if its that bad on here why dont you do us all a favour and just fuk off then you fuking arrogant ******

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  23. You can look that in a game to play without strikers is very difficult. With who can you play when you make a difference noone.you need to make the difference alone as did HBA at the end. Secondly Santon have a terrible second half but thats happend and Johnson changed the game (why Sidwell got an injuryy, he was so bad). Guthrie expect his goal was really not here was a little bit lost, in a game like that if you have Tiote and BA you win easily because they weere really bad until this stupid penalty and this counter attack in the second goal. In my opinion Benny was one of our best players he was involved in our 2 goals and he creates some chances and takes some good risk.

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  24. 469 – If you dont like this blog then dont visit it. We would not want to insult you, Princess.

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  25. Pardew should have learned something from that game. Jol’s changes and tactics made us look like an amateur side. We needed a fifth midfielder after the cheap first penalty. We should have been playing 4-5-1 in the second half after the penalty with just Best up front. Too many turnovers of the ball. Johnson’s pace killed us. Willo cannot turn and catch anyone. He has to have the ball in front of him We still need that quality CB many of us have been talking about since last summer. This isn’t the end of the world just one loss. I think our expectations had gotten too high but it is disappointing to see the team fall apart in a single half. Buck up lads. Let’s play a great cup game next and forget this one. 😳

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  27. You obviously do care otherwise you wouldn’t be on here 🙄 and I did go home and away until I moved over here last year (not that gives me anymore right to comment than the next man) so if i want to say that was a **** 2nd half performance I will……not that I believe for one minute you’ve been to watch the Toon v Fulham SMB

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  28. sky plastic fan boys I seldom go to the games mate, cos I live in Munich so it’s quite difficult. There are in fact a lot of ex-pat’s on this blog who cannot get to the games and rely on the live streams.

    Where you at the game today ? Was the second half better live, cos on my choppy PC screen the second half performance was absolutely dire.

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  30. Oh rats!

    My “Real-and-True, Honest-To-Goodness Newcastle United Fan” application and credentials have been denied because it’s hard to travel to the matches from the United States.

    A big, ugly loss and now this! What a crappy day.

    Right, off to workout and have some lunch, folks. See you later, my fellow false fans. Try not to take it too hard.

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  32. what worried me was,jonas was all owa the place which left santoon fked.
    then again the whole team were all owa the place 2nd half..
    but we live to fight another day..

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  34. sky plastic fan boys the super supporter aka billybullshitter and several other names I take it if your down in London then you were at the game today ❓

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  35. spfb@469- I don’t think anyone on here thinks they are a footballing oracle, end of the day we’re just a bunch of Toon fans who like a banter with each other. As for real supporters go to all the matches , utter tosh man . What if you are unemployed and skint ,what if you live and work abroad, what if you are so disabled you can’t make matches and likewise a carer to someone like that like i am .Does that make me any less of a fan .

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  36. Pretty disconcerting the way Cabaye and Guthrie seemed to disappear in the second half. 🙁

    There again Best and Shola disappeared the whole game… 😆 😆

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  37. It worries me about where our goals will come from over the next month.

    In our last 3 games we’ve scored 5 goals and 4 of them have been individually brilliant. We won’t score them every match. It’s a concern until Ba and Cisse return.

    I have been consistent in my view regarding some of our players, I don’t rate Williamson, Best, Strolla or Lovenkrands and unfortunately we’re going to have to rely on them over the next few weeks. Scary for me.

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  40. Richietoon…that’s the way it looked from my wobbly PC stream. 😉 😆 😆

    But what the flock do I know anyway… 🙂 🙂

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  48. Munich…..I have to watch the ACoN on German Eurosport 😯 …unfortunately I won’t be able to comment on any of the games though, as I won’t be there in person 🙁

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  49. MM I cant stand ones that think they are better than others just because they say they go to games. Or that others opinions don’t count and their not real supporters because they don’t go to everygame.

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  52. To be fare Willo ain’t done too bad of late and best scores good goals he’s just inconsistant and Loverman is really just fizzy pop level now as for Shola ye god’s it’s enough to make you weep at times, he’s like an old sheepdog with arthritus who wants to keep herding but is past it . 🙁

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  55. oh well – least we aint spent 100 million and getting beat 2-0 at Bolton, could be a lucky break here if Liverpool get beat

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  60. Hitman

    We don’t need all that. We just need another versatile CB/RB with a fair amount of pace so that we can play our high line properly.

    High line is the way forward as it squeezes the gap between midfield and defence. Taking players like Ruiz, Rooney, Van Der Vaart out of the game. It also allows us to commit more bodies forward after pressuring higher up the pitch.

    We just need a CB that can make the recovery if a great ball is played in behind.

    Jonas seems to have regained his form and Ben Arfa is our new right winger. Marveaux will be first team if he returns from injury well.

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  61. Glad that Sky are showing Nufc as the main game at 8-15pm.

    Can watch us win the first half then switch over to watch Senegal .

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  62. Booting better no fook this up! 😉

    By the way, all you Shola bashers need to get behind the boy now, on his day he is unplayable.

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  66. JJ, is that because ‘on his day’ he is on the bench, therfore making him physically unplayable? 😆

    TBH he has had a shocking 2 games now. Really terrible today. Just no movement or intelligence. I like the lad, but only in certain scenarios. He cant start the next match surely?!

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  67. Cant believe we will be in the same predicament this time next season with the ACON! Going to lose our strike force and tiote again!

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  70. Shamrock… I heard on his day Shola is incredible.
    His day must be a Thursday or somein’… Because it sure as Hell ain’t Saturdays or Sundays… :mrgreen:

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  71. sky plastic spastic – picking on a woman b4 like? big hard man eh? al give you my number if you wana sort things out you mug!! why come on here and be a complete tool ?? must feel gud to argue on with a woman little boy

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  72. JJ – not sure about Vuckic, he isn’t a striker for a start – bad thing about today was that scoring 2 goals away from home should be enough to get you something from the game, letting in 5 in 45 mins is nothing short of discraceful – defence has to shoulder the blame for today imo, they were outdone by simple through balls every time

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