The FA Cup is taken very seriously by a majority of our fans. After all it’s a competition which is synonymous with our history and, most important of all, we, like other clubs, have a chance of winning it.
To win it though you must first be in it, and standing in the way of us doing that is the very man who has previously dashed our FA Cup dream – Gustavo Poyet – and his Brighton outfit. For those who are unaware, Poyet had a habit of scoring against us and scored both goals in a 2-1 loss in an FA Cup semi-final back in 2000. Hopefully we can pay him back today.
Thing is I hate these ties against teams from lower leagues. Granted Brighton aren’t far off the play-off places in the Championship but there is still a shock to be had should they beat us today. We will be a scalp and they will be fired up for it which means that it won’t be easy and we’ll need to up our game from the Fulham debacle to ensure we aren’t bemoaning another cup exit come around 6:45 this evening.
As ever, Shamrock had penned one of his most excellent match previews ahead of the game. I messed up the posting of it though so some of you may not have seen it or read it. If you haven’t I suggest click here and have a little looksie whilst we collectively wait for the kick-off.
The match is being broadcast live on ESPN which is good news for all concerned. Firstly those who have ESPN can sit and watch it on the big TV and those who don’t will more than likely be able to watch it on the internet. Not that I advocate that kind of thing of course, but if somebody happens to accidentally post a link to an internet stream then there isn’t a lot I can do. If you wish to check it for quality purposes then fell free.
That’s about it and it really is ‘Game On’ time. Hopefully we won’t be licking anymore wounds by the time the final whistle goes, although looking at the strength of the team we’ve put out it would appear that we are taking this match very seriously indeed!
Howay the lads!
Brighton: Peter Brezovan, Inigo Calderon, Gordan Greer, Lewis Dunk, Adam El-Abd, Liam Bridcutt, Matt Sparrow, Jake Forster-Caskey, Will Buckley, Craig Mackail-Smith, Ashley Barnes
Subs: Casper Ankergren, Will Hoskins, Alan Navarro, Ryan Harley, Romain Vincelot, Torbrorn Agdestein, Grant Hall
Newcastle:Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, James Perch, Davide Santon, Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye, Danny Guthrie, Jonas Gutierrez, Leon Best, Shola Ameobi
Subs: Rob Elliot, Tamas Kadar, Shane Ferguson, Ryan Taylor, Dan Gosling, Gabriel Obertan, Peter Lovenkrands
Hark at that slimey little **** on ESPN trying to talk up the Cabaye ‘stamp’.
Gav(Quote)
and that was our best 11 god help us thats two in a row where do we go from here games like these could make you lose faith in footy 😥
icedog(Quote)
Exactly, but we’re clearing telling the players to plkay 4-3-3 and best just isn’t a winger/striker, he doesn’t really understand what’s being expected of him. I don’t really see why we had to change to 4-3-3 to be perfectly fucking honest. Is it just a fashionable to *** 4-3-3 because Barca play it and other Europeans look down on us for it? I see the strengths but jesus, when we’ve played a 4-4-2 that’s served us well for the majority of the season, why fanny around with it. Best and Jonas today were fucking lost, and I don’t really blame em.
Newkie(Quote)
ICEDOG@302, that wasn’t our best 11.
wolfie(Quote)
We are in a bit of a rutt at present. Blackburn, Qpr, Fulham then this today four real ineffective performances. There i think are some players too complacent and get their team place to easy. If we had lost 3-2 I would of been happier than to never trouble their goal. I suppose having witnessed inept performances over the last fifty years I should by now be getting used to the disappointment.
Season ticket renewals come around next month. I will confirm my renewal but I really need to go and see a shrink supporting the Toon is an obsession that has a serious health warning.
What happened to the 35 million
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
long-time reader, first ever post
I will lose my mind if Shola starts the next match. I know it’s all been said before, but I find his lack of effort astonishing at times. If he worked half as hard as we just witnessed Mackail-Smith do for brighton, he would be a real asset. Watching him make no effort to turn and chase after a cross gets over his head drives me mad. His two blocked efforts today were as much threat as he’s posed to the opposing goal in three months. All else aside, for a premier league striker, that simply isn’t anywhere near good enough.
To those who constantly defend his play, WHY? He holds the ball up sometimes, and wins a few headers from long balls? So does any decent-sized striker in the world. You think Xisco or Ranger, both of whom have no business in our team (and no longer DO have a place in our squad) wouldn’t win a few headers, or occasionally hold the ball up or provide an outlet from defense? They would, because any striker would. If I were Peter Lovenkrands, stuck on the bench watching that for 90 minutes (again), I would have to think I might never get another chance at Newcastle. I love Pardew, but his tactics and subs today were not the best, and his reliance on Ameobi has to end.
Rant over, bring home the Dembas, and bring on Blackburn!
stoibs(Quote)
Does anybody want my Leon Best autograph??? Seriously?? If not it’s going in the bin. Any takers??
DJG(Quote)
I will DJG! 😆
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
WOLFIE its the bloody best we got at the mo,poor ***** against a team like them,if your happy with that your easy pleased imo
icedog(Quote)
What is the good of having an impact player like Ben Arfa and then sticking him out on the wing about 40 miles away from the strikers? And Best is about as good a winger as Ben Arfa. Really makes you wonder. We made it so easy for Brighton to sit back and just hope for a fluke goal, which is what they got. They set little traps all over their half for our attacking players who all tried to beat everyone on the other team. At times Ben Arfa had 3 of their players within a couple of yards of him. We are in desperate need of a pacy winger who can stretch the game and actually cross the ball (remember the days of accurate crosses, there certainly haven’t been any lately).
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Is this not Pardew’s tactics again?
Best was way off Shola because the boss told him to play out on the left. Is that his fault? Sure, he should have put that header on target, at least, but it seemed like his orders were to stay out wide.
Did those three changes make sense to anyone? Honestly don’t understand them. Anybody?
Fans Should Own The Club(Quote)
Email yur address to toonsy and he will email to to me. 😉
DJG(Quote)
lets get back to reality lads …. were we really gna win the fa cup?? we were really gna beat a good team in this competition with shola ?? no!! lets concentrate on getting some signings in and try and stay around the 7th mark in the league!! i can assure you when ba and cisse get back in the team we will have a different look!! please ashley get samba in
Army69(Quote)
He already has it DJG 😆
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
Army go away, I hate people who say that, there are how ever many teams in the pot, each and everyone of them has a chance to win it, and if we got through this round we would of had demba back, also with man u and man city out, it was perhaps our best chance!
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
DJG-I’ll have it buddy, be worth a fortune when he spearheads our trophy winning, champion’s league challenging team…..Next season?
Newkie(Quote)
the players AND pardew were to blame for that peformance!! bringin players on so late in a game when your getting beat isnt good enough!! its not like hes just done it today .. he done it against norwich when we were getting beat , he done it at fulham last week now today!!
can i ask … what is wrong with obertan?
Army69(Quote)
😆
Newkie(Quote)
WOLFIW@299 it is obvious why the ref did not give the penalty , he is Trelford Mills’s love child . You can’t blame him its in his genes .
Axel(Quote)
One thing that gained my respect from Pards was his honesty. when things went bad he holds his hands up.
Now those post match comments concern me because if he really does think ‘we gave a good account of ourselves’ then the buck has to stop with him and his tactics/formation
Moreno(Quote)
That should read WOLFIE@299
Axel(Quote)
The shocking thing to me was Perch actually had a decent game for the most part but Pardew please don’t tell me he is starting against Blackburn. And don’t bother with a string of excuses after this load of bollocks. Just come out and say it. The team played like **** and lost. 🙁
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Army go away, I hate people who say that, there are how ever many teams in the pot, each and everyone of them has a chance to win it, and if we got through this round we would of had demba back, also with man u and man city out, it was perhaps our best chance!
go away hahaha?? yi dafty .. its my opinion matey , i dont think we could win anything with with sqaud we have got 😉
Army69(Quote)
i just really think we wernt gud enough today and it has narked me of the peformances of most the players!!
perch my man of the match for us
Army69(Quote)
Maybe i shouldnt have told you to go away, but I bet you thought cardiff had no chance of winning the Carling cup? they are in the final?
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
You’re right Moreno the buck does stop with Pardew. The subs were pathetic and far too late. He should have changed things at the half. He just isn’t decisive when we are losing. Look at how Jol handled things when Fulham were 1-0 down against us. I have a lot of respect for how Pardew has handled the club but subs when we are trailing are not his strength. If I hear him mentioned again as a potential England manager I will know there really is no hope for the national team. I know things are going to get better for us but it can’t happen too soon for me after the last couple of weeks.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
What difference a goal can make.
lacedaemonian(Quote)
alreet lads,
That was fucking woeful, shola, simpson and williamson are terrible, on the very limited bright side ferguson looked okay when he came on although he’s defo not a left back, diddnt understand those substitutions either why diddnt he bring lover and obertan on.
Really hope we sell simpson he’s startin to **** me off he looks so uncomfortable its mad, hopefully we have seen the last of shola now, i can’t take much more.
Pissed off
Alex(Quote)
its a wee bit different in that cup tho spencer as alot of teams play there 2nd team , every team takes the fa cup alot more seriously … but i do get your point
Army69(Quote)
Everyone is mad about the game, but I am well over that.
I am more concerned about Cabaye’s imminent FOUR MATCH BAN! He is far to petulant at times and he needs to be reigned in.
The Kid(Quote)
Ice spot on I have always said that we asa team shouldn’t have to rely on refs, or other teams scores etc. We need to do things ourselfs.
Againn Pards has to take some blame but the players deserve 90% of the blam, its just not good enough.
Big Dave(Quote)
Perch WAS MAYBE man of the match. But doesn’t that say something? 😕 To me it says Ashley spend some money of this season is in danger of collapsing. With or without our strikers we should have been better than that. Now the priority (with l’pool still in both cups) is and all out assault on the league. But it is pointless because we havn’t got the squad depth under Ashley for Europe. Our best bet was the FA cup and the players have let us down big time tonight. No if’s…no buts.. they have let us down.
DJG(Quote)
The kid, i think everyone forgot about that, put i wish people would put the boot on the other foot, cause defending that is fucking stupid imo.
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
The Kid good point that is a few times now he has been dirty, and I can’t stand dirty players as there is no need for it.
Meant to say imo this is another game where we miss a player like Joey, we have no one in the team that will tell the players to fuking wise up and play for the shirt. 👿
Big Dave(Quote)
agree with you dave – not good enough!! never mind we will hopefully have a stronger team next time we are in the fa cup!! lets concentrate on the league now and beat blackburn on wed
Army69(Quote)
Forget about Ashley spending money now people!!!!
I honestly think that he will tell Pardew to **** off now like, and he’ll want players shipped out before he hands any more cash out.
Think about it, we have nowt left to play for. Ashley doesn’t want Europe and we won’t get champ league with this squad. So I don’t think he’ll spend. They may use the last few days sorting pre contracts and loans but don’t see any more money being spent!
Sharpy17(Quote)
The Kid
I am mad about the game because I know that our ONLY chance to win anything for another 15 months is out of the window without so much as a ‘kiss me **** goodbye’. If you can’t see that then there is a problem mate. Cabaye is just an afterthought.
DJG(Quote)
I’m seeing a bit of hate for Pardew’s subs. Let’s look at the bench…
Subs: Rob Elliot, Tamas Kadar, Shane Ferguson, Ryan Taylor, Dan Gosling, Gabriel Obertan, Peter Lovenkrands
Three of them came on. The only two viable ones when chasing the game are Peter Lovenkrands and Gabriel Obertan. One is **** and the other one has 50,000 fans telling him he is **** every few weeks…
Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot that Pardew could change in my opinion. It’s down to squad depth, and we all know how we are lacking in that department…
toonsy(Quote)
The kid-I didn’t see the stamp myself but it sounds bad, and he’s got away with a couple of dirty tackles. It was kinda funny against Sunderland but he needs to chill out.
Newkie(Quote)
Aye Lace what a difference a goal makes but we were dross for the entire game. We should have been all over them. I think once Cabaye started to lose his cool and our strikers (? should I even call them that?) couldn’t connect it got even worse. Ben Arfa was completely shut out of the game and we had no answer for their midfield traps. Ba would have torn them a new one. Sad but true. If we leave this window behind without a good new CB in I will scream. 👿
GeordieTwo(Quote)
AROUND @306
Perfectly worded mate, that’s exactly how I feel about Shola.
JJ(Quote)
Guys one thing about making subs ,he makes them because he honestly thinks it will make a difference to the tactics he set out . We can sometimes not understand them but i do think he makes them with a plan to change the game . Bert Van Marwijk used to get get slagged off by fans when at feyenoord because he makes late changes and look at him now ,he got Holland to the final of the world cup . Managers make changes because they believe in their players and its the players that cross the line and enter the field . The fact is our players let us the fans and the manager down today ,their was just no effort from alot of them today and Pardew should be judged on how he now reacts in the next game in terms off the players picked to play .
Axel(Quote)
djg
You actually thought we would win this cup?
I’m sorry, but I struggle to get downbeat about the cups. Probably has something to do with the fact that I have never seen my team win one.
The Kid(Quote)
Toonsy, which is which 😉 😆
SpencerTheToon(Quote)
Seems like Ben Arfa isn’t up for a cold Saturday evening in Brighton.
Leon Best was the only attacker who tried and he can’t do it all by himself. How people are picking Best of all people out boggles the mind.
Ben Arfa was a disgrace, Shola actually did his “task” well but it never counted to anything.
We only seemed to try after going behind when we put two wide players on who can cross. Cabaye looks a right **** too, he lashes out at Shaun Derry and then kicks out nevermind his near broken leg on Jay Spearing. ****.
Start with Ferguson and Ryan Taylor next game and we will score a headed goal.
funkyjesus(Quote)
He could have taken off Shola for Loverman and gone with a straight 4-4-2 for the final 20 minutes. It’s not like our midfield was overrun.
Dunno. I have to admit I’m often baffled by tactics and don’t know much about it, so that’s why I’m questioning.
Anybody have better sub ideas?
Fans Should Own The Club(Quote)
I know Strolla gets a lot of well deserved stick, but I think Best gets away too lightly he has scored in 2 games out of 15 or 16 is that the best we should hope for ❓ .
Big Dave(Quote)
Toonsy Pardew could have changed the formation earlier in the game. Bringing on 3 subs in the last 8 minutes was pointless. Ben Arfa was completely ineffective where he was used. I agree many have been critical of Obertan but he was desperately needed out there today for his pace. He has to show some guts and just go out there and prove he is worthy of a place in the team. If he is too soft to handle a little criticism he will never make it. But he didn’t get a chance anyway. Very frustrating. It was only a couple of months ago that Pardew was singing Obertan’s praises. Lots of work to do to restore confidence Pardew. Use Ba and Cisse well and make us forget about this fiasco.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Also, I am starting to worry about Santon’s form. That’s two shockers in a row for the young Italian. Needs to bounce back against Blackburn.
The Kid(Quote)
agree with that Axel, at the end of the day players should be able to do it on the pitch regardless of tactics but when we are getting beat 1 nil you would expect players to be brought on who are capable of scoring goals, the substitutions said to me give it to taylor and ferguson and get it in the box. sorry but you have to be more imaginative than that. why he keeps picking shola i don’t know.
Alex(Quote)
Axel @ 342 spot on I agree 100% 😉 the only problem for Pards is he doesn’t really have much to choose from.
Big Dave(Quote)
i wana see on news now tonight ” samba in newcastle united talks ” or douglas agrees terms with newcastle united … not .. newcastle united try 4th attempt to buy mariappa 😆
Army69(Quote)
The Kid – Do these two shockers for Santon coincide withJonas going wandering and effectively leaving Santon on his own against the whole pf the opposition left side?
toonsy(Quote)
FJ
You definitely see things differently from me if you thought Best did OK. For me he was as much **** as Shola. Alarmingly those two weren’t our worst players. Williamson Simpson and Jonas took that honour easily.
A well documented fact is that before this season I wasn’t a Guthrie fan but his performances pre Christmas were winning me round but this month he has been painful to watch once again. Slows play down. I want my football a hundred mile a hour with loads of attempts at goal not the dire of stuff produced lately
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
My take on the match goes as this.
Krul, didn’t have much to do and could do nothing with the deflected goal. 6/10
Santon, played ok and got up the line but defensively I think he switched off too many times, probably an Italian mentality of playing so called minnows and believing it’s gonna be easy. 6/10
Perch, didn’t really put a foot wrong and stood firm with everything that came his way, which wasn’t that much. He done his job though. 7/10.
Williamson, he had a reasonable game and wasn’t really troubled at all but unfortunately his deflection led to their goal and I have to question why he turned his back on the shot like a sissy. 6/10
Simpson, I thought he had a poor game and his crossing always ends up 90 foot in the air or 90 foot past the goal posts, plus he got caught out too many times and looked clueless really. 4/10
Jonas, looked lethargic even though you could see he was trying but nothing hardly came off for him and lost the ball more times than I can remember. 5/10
Cabaye, he covers a lot of ground and loves to rough it but you could see the frustration on him when tackles against him went unpunished and he seemed to lose any influence on the game as it went on but still put in a decent enough display, although Pardew is gonna have to try and calm him down in games because we will end up with 10 men too regular if he strops , he distributed some really good balls though….7/10
Guthrie, average at best and didn’t really get into the game. 6/10
Ben Arfa, absolutely frustrating and believed he could just run through the Brighton players as if they weren’t there and lost the ball too many times, plus his distribution was way way below par, I was very dosappointed in him today. 4/10
Best, I thought he had a very good game, unfortunately the shape of the team didn’t do him any favours to be fair to him but he still put in a great shift considering and COULD have had a brace. Unfortunately it wasn’t his day. 7and a half out of 10
Shola, I just don’t know what to say really, I mean people can argue that he holds up the ball and flicks the ball on and such but that’s no good in a system we were playing of him being basically the last man. He was too slow in mind and body to have any meaningful effect on this game. H e is a player that wants his chances on a plate like someone bringing his breakfast up to him in bed and refusing to go back down and get himself a glass of orange, if you get my meaning. 😉
Subs.
Ferguson, I thought the lad was extremely good from the minute he came on and foraged forward at every opportunity and he looked hungry and I don’t mean because he has a Jody Kidd frame lol 7/10
Raylor, looked a better bet than what we were seeing , it’s just a shame we couldn’t have gained a free kick for him to be a hero .6/10
Gosling, I don’t know why we brought him on because there was no urgency in him to get forward and didn’t do anything that was different to what we were doing in the first place.5/10
Pardew, Sorry Pardew got it wrong this time and I can’t understand why he didn’t alter the shape because Brighton weren’t really much of a threat even with us playing as bad as we did. I think Obertan could have changed this game if he came on and we reverted to a 4/4/2
Ref Lee Probert, I thought he was terrible for a lot of the game and certainly seemed to favour Brighton. The blatant hand ball for a penalty to us he didn’t bottle it, he blatantly cheated us out of it.2/10
All in all, this wasn’t a team game and all of our players looked like they just met yesterday, plus there was no urgency hardly when we went a goal down.
wolfie(Quote)
I know it’s 20-20 hindsight now but we got the same type of disaster against Stevenage last season. I don’t think it is a fluke that we were criticising Pardew’s in that game as well. We got behind and he made bizarre pointless subs as with today. It has happened several times in the league games as well. Look back at the Stevenage game and compare it to today. The same kind of insipid performance with very little desire to get into the game, then the strange subs. What happened to Pardew’s comments that he only saw Ben Arfa as a withdrawn striker? Withdrawn to where? The wing? I still remain unconvinced about Pardew’s ability to manage from behind. Only time will tell about that. He will get lots of opportunities if we continue to play like we did today though.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Anyway, match report up. Pretty pissed off so it might show through. Sorry 😆
toonsy(Quote)
The Kid I think its the whole back 4 that was suffering, I think they badly miss Colo and Saylor because when they were there we had one of the best defence’s and that was with Simmo and Raylor in there. Could it be a lack of trust between them ? I think sometimes that could be a problem for the team in general trust, because the way I see it we can make as many chances as we like but if we are relying on our front 2 to get the goals we need then we’re fuked, and whats to stop the other players thinking the same.
Big Dave(Quote)
The Kid
Please tell me if you rated Santon as having a shocker how did you rate Williamson and Simpson tonight?
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Good question about Jonas’ wandering leaving Santon exposed, but that’s down to Pardew’s dabble with the new formation too, isn’t it?
I think Santon’s been a little suspect defensively before these two games. Looks good going forward, no doubt, but has had some trouble defending.
It’s true Pardew’s in a pretty tight spot squad wise, but the changes were late and hard to wrap my head around anyway.
Perch was good today. I remember Toonsy writing he’d had really good games in central defense in the past too.
Fans Should Own The Club(Quote)
ALEX i think you are right about the thinking about bringing Taylor and Ferguson on and getting the ball in the box , trouble is the recipient of those balls today was Shola . I think next time with Ba and Cisse in their it will be a different story .
Axel(Quote)
Army @ 352 you never know as we still have £ 15 – 17 mill to spend 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
I have to agree almost completely with your scores for the team wolfie. I would give Pardew about 3 out of 10 for his performance on the day. Poor formation to start, no subs at the half, waited too late to make subs and then made the wrong ones. Leave Gosling off, bring on Peter and play 4-3-3 with Best and Ben Arfa up front. Obertan on the right (leave Raylor off) and Ferguson on the left with Guthrie in the middle (pull Cabaye off he had lost it earlier on). Attack from both wings with pace.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
ARMY69 believe me we dont want Douglas here ,he is not good enough for the premiership . He can tackle but thats it ,his distribution once on the ball is **** and his positional play can be left wanting as well .
Axel(Quote)
Gutted and very angry about result/performance and its not good enough. However I hope it doesnt take away from the fantastic progress we have made this season. We all know the squad isnt good enough in certain areas but we are a work in progress.
Johno toon(Quote)
Simply best and shola are not good enough ! play vuckic play the kids play lovenkrands play the lad from bogner but not those two they are very very poor . Pardew did get it wrong today but we are all allowed an off day ! And at the risk of the “get behind the team ” ers shooting me down it yet again proves we have a very good first team and a poor squad and this is mainly down to lack of investment and trying to do everything on the cheap 🙄
keith(Quote)
Toby
Williamson and Simpson were comfortable for the most part. Simpson was useless towards the end of the game as he was clearly tiring and was on a yellow card. The result is a defender that will not put in challenges for fear of making a lazy one that results in a sending off.
Williamson didn’t really anything wrong. Neither did Perch. We weren’t really threatened by them.
I was probably harsh on Santon when I said he had a shocker, but he was certainly below his performances prior to Fulham.
Toonsy
Yes, I believe there is a connection between Jonas’ new position and Santon’s performances. Modern day full backs always tend to struggle in a 4-3-3 formation as they are left exposed and have to be equally good at defending as attacking…Very rare nowadays.
The Kid(Quote)
Man to man all the Newcastle players were better quality but Brighton just showed more determination.
NUFCgt(Quote)