Game On! Newcastle v Sunderland – Ryan Taylor starts on the right

Game on at St James' Park
Welcome one and all to the ‘Game On’ article which will take us through every twist and turn of this early kick-off against the inbreeds of Sunderland.

This isn’t your regular match. This is the Derby. There are many others like it but this one is ours.

You may recognise (sort of) those lines from the movie ‘Full Metal Jacket’, but whilst its not outright conventional warfare that will be taking place on the St James’ Park pitch this lunchtime there is most definitely a tribal feel to it.

Who will come out on top? Who will take the bragging rights in what is one of the most hotly contested duels in Premier League football between two top-ten sides? Its been a while since that has been applicable, which is maybe why this one feels bigger and somehow more important than recent encounters.

A win for Newcastle would set us up to attack the rest of the season and look towards European qualification while a win for the Mackems will set them dreaming about what they could salvage from this season. This is not a place for pretty football or fancy footwork, instead all that matters is getting those three points!

Anyway that is enough chest thumping. This match needs little build up as it is. Everyone knows what it means to us and them so I need play on the emotion no longer.

Now it’s down to the boys in black and white to do the business, but first off we need to find out just which boys in black and white are tasked with getting us a result. To help with that we must consider injuries and team news which you can do with the help of match preview, which you can view by clicking here.

Now it really is ‘Game On’. Team news will feature below as and when it becomes available but for now it’s time to crank up the noise, increase the fervour and really become the 12th man by roaring our team on to yet another success against the Mackems.

Howay the lads indeed!

Newcastle: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon, Ryan Taylor, Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Jonas Gutierrez, Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse

Subs: Rob Elliot, James Perch, Danny Guthrie, Gabriel Obertan, Hatem Ben Arfa, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi

Sunderland: Simon Mignolet, Phil Bardlsey, John O’shea, Michael Turner, Kieran Richardson, Seb Larsson, Lee Cattermole, Craig Gardner, James McLean, Stephane Sessegnon, Nicklas Bendtner

Subs: Craig Gordon, Wayne Bridge, Matt Kilgallon, Jack Colback, David Meyler, David Vaughan, Frazier Campbell

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.

570 thoughts on “Game On! Newcastle v Sunderland – Ryan Taylor starts on the right

  1. from a pards interview > ” Some of Hatem’s play was breathtaking; it was his best 45 minutes for us. I have to find a way of getting him in my team.”

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  2. Big D….cos he mentioned earlier the “WAITING TO BE MODERATED” bit on tumbleweed….which is always a sure sign that you’ve been bagged…. 😆

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  3. Dave – That’s what I never understood, they were getting on at other supporters about Oba but suddenly it was ok to slag Arfa?

    Utter garbage, he was immense today. The lad should take a lot from that performance because those dirty inbred cunts couldn’t handle him. The fact he drew so many defenders to him when he had the ball says it all. It also create space for other players to get into attacking positions too.

    Really really pleased for the lad today.

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  4. ICE – He is a great footballer and with time in the team he will only get better, he is definitely the type to build a team around.

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  5. EvilFranky/Big D….to be honest Jonas always pulls three markers to him every game. If he could just slip the ball inside to a supporting midfielder to move forward, we would also create a lot more imo…

    Thought he put in a real good shift again today….

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  6. Munich – yeah I agree, Jonas did put a shift in and he does a similar thing with drawing defenders too him. But as you say, he mostly doesn’t have that extra bit of talent that Arfa has to pick out that pass when surrounded by the opposing team.

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  7. Kim – Aye the ref really got to me today like. I didn’t get to see the game on TV with replays etc. But from what I could gather we had about 3-4 really good penalty claims. There was a moment in the first half where Cisse got his legs taken from under him and from where we were it looked a pen all day long.

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  8. I don’t think Jonas options are all that great to be fair – yes he regularly pulls two players to the byline, and the he can lay it back to….Raylor…..or Santon. No offence to either but on the run neither provide an inspiring outlet, do they? perhaps that’s why Jonas (and HBA/Obertan for that matter) prefer to run into walls.

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  9. Lads I think with Jonas its important to remember that he plays on the left because thats where he is asked to play even though he prefers the right as its his natural position, I think he is better on the right and provides more but plays on the right cause that has been a problem area for us

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  10. Can’t wait for Marv to be fit to play, it will be like a brand new signing.Anyone know how he’s doing by the way?

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  11. Agree with a lot what has just been said above.
    The only thing I keep feeling, is that HBA is no winger and would be better suited to playing in an advanced central midfield role.
    so 5 in the mf but maybe only 1 up front, or 2 up front and 3 defenders.
    The 3 defenders would work if the midfield had more confidence in their ability.
    Still think Obertan should be given the time to develop into the right winger that we need. He has loads of pace. which would complement HBA.

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  12. Shola is a rabid animal when Sunderland fixtures appear. Only on for half an hour and won a penalty that he should have pulled rank to take and got the goal. He almost single handidly beat Sunderland on his own in 30 minutes.

    Sunderland must have nightmares about the guy.

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  13. HBA was utterly fantastic today. He just totally took the **** out of Richardson and showed McLean what being an attacking player is allaboy. Pace, tricks, class and he seems to be learning when to pass and when to take a player on.

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  14. KIMTOON imo hes a top player mate hes comeing along but may catch the last couple of games was the last crack i heard,been a big miss to team set up

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  15. Stu – Agree, HBA really come of age today in a very intense, heated and dirty battle. His decision making got better as the half progressed and made mugs of both Richardson and McLean.

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  16. Funny how it was a near-miss that turned into a won point and the views today are so positive! The return (did he ever go away) of Shola, the emergence of HBA, the regrouping against the mob of O’Neills thug band, Pardew radging it up on the equaliser, 3-match bans to help the mackems slide back down the table – all good things imo. 🙂

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  17. I wouldn’t mind seeing Jonas on the right and Fergie getting a go on the left, young Fergie played brill for us ( Norn Iron ) and put in lots of super balls

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  18. Thanks lads,nice to know how he’s doing as ain’t heard owt for ages.Sad he’s not gonna be back sooner though.

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  19. I’m livid with that first half display. 😈
    You knew we were going to be utter ***** just by watching the first five minutes. If somebody had offered me 0-0 then, I would have snatched their hands off. We were completely over-run.
    I like Pards as a bloke, but I despair when he either does not see the problems or does not know how to put them right. He needed to act fast, but did nowt until half time. I have a great view from my seat, which is about 20 yards behind Pards, and I was shouting at the players more than him. Cabaye was attached to our goal posts with a bungee rope. He needed to step up instead of sitting on top of Colo and Willo ALL THE F*CK*** TIME! Pards should have commanded him forward, but was feckless. Did they analyse the video of the Wolves game because it was exactly the same problem – sitting far too deep, sometimes with six players marking two? 😳
    Ba and cisse weren’t great, but they had little supply and even less support.
    Jill asks why nobody supports Jonas. Its because our starting position is so deep, and its not helped when Cabaye is on a bungee.
    I don’t get Pards whine about 5under1and playing ugly. What does he expect FFS!?
    I was close enough to see Carver holding a Myriad of Pyramids. I could see a few post-its, but they were in the wrong f*ck*** chapter!
    Negative rant over. I feel better for that. HTL.

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  20. B&B@549- That’s right get it out your’e system lad ,like a big fart when your’e belly aches better out than in 😉

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  21. will be good to have Marveaux back, but dont expect that much from him probs until pre season. Last thing he needs is to rush back too soon and just make things worse again.
    Will be like a new signing come pre season.

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  22. Classic game of two halves. Lads did us proud in the end could and probably should have won it. HBA on the right from now on and let dreamboat take the set pieces – he’s better than Raylor anyway

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  23. Kimtoon – They are fantastic occasions, the best days you’ll ever have IMO. But I was going apeshit. It was torture, and I was looking to Pards to save me.

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  24. Ha ha already looking forwards to next season as it will be even better than this one imo.
    Loving the stability at the club these days. Good players on long contracts and the manager too. Things are looking good for a change.

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  25. First time on this blog, sick of negative people on another blog iv been using, anyway gutted we didn’t quite get the win at the end today. Ben Arfa was fantastic though most skill iv seen in a toon top since Ginola

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  26. Disappointed to hear AVB’s gone, it’s fun seeing the plastic Chelsea supporters all mad. Good news is I don’t think Di Matteo will improve things much.

    But will AVB take that sexy little club doctor with him? 🙁

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  27. Welcome Craig – plenty of beggars on here too altho most of them probably drowning their sorrows right now – miserable gets 😉

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  28. welcome aboard Craig T.
    You’ll get a good balance of views and opinions on here, both pos and neg, but with good adult reasoning behind both.
    Dont be afraid to pipe up, the more opinions the better.

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  29. You’ll even be welcome to write an article of your own if you feel up to it. As the blog master only does half a job these days. :mrgreen:

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  30. evening all.. hope everyone’s well, or at least jarred and merry 🙂

    planning to get an article up tomorrow, just wanted to see what people think before I do… rank the following from best to worst as you see it…

    cabaye.. modric.. adam.. toure.. carrick.. ramires.. arteta

    cheers 😉

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  31. 1) Modric 2) Toure 3) adam 4) arteta 5) cabaye 6) ramires 7) Carrick
    Very close 1 and 2, and very strong big influence in their teams. No discussion.

    cabaye and arteta close to.

    Adam is not very good in the last games but played some very good games in the first half of season.

    Ramires lof of pace, but very bad passes especially in the last 30 meters.
    And I hate Carrick because this kind of players make me sleep when i watch a game.

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  32. Thoroughly entertaining match today, if a little unfair on wor lads. Was great to see passes being strung together much better and not giving possesion away too much. There were some clever little touches going on and the team worked their socks off! Makes me wish that the lads put this much effort into every match mind!

    Hatem Ben Arfa was looking much better today now that he’s passing the ball and really looked like a threat in that 2nd half.

    Demba and Cisse had a quiet one, the ball just wasn’t getting through to them and fair play to the Dirty Monkey Mackems for a strong, persistent approach (albiet a brutally dirty one!) to their defending.

    We were unlucky as there were many controversial decisions in that match. 2 handballs in the box were not given to us and the early challenge on Tiote should have been red. However, Hatem went down way too easy in the box during the 2nd half and if I was Dean I wouldn’t have given that Pen either.

    A lot to learn from today!

    In King Shola We Trust…

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  33. Half a job you cheeky sod 😛

    Was actually pissed that I couldn’t quite get match report done. Not far off though.

    Needed to sleep. Had three hours kip in three days now. I think im alive purely due to energy drinks. Buzzing aroung like a humming bird 😆

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  34. And welcome CraigyNUFC.

    Generally we get a decent mixture on here. Some are positive and some are negative while some are indifferent.

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  35. Not said much on the victory, but surely Benny has to be given more time on the right now? And not just when we’re chasing the game, some game time in general, perhaps even up front just seems to be a decent idea. We’re so **** one dimensional with Raylor on the right, it really is fcking boring 😯

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  36. “Indifferent” ya cheeky sod :mrgreen:
    All the scum seem to have it in their “deluded and obssessed” heads that we’re all gutted and they are all happy and they were playing fluent attacking football whilst we kicked them off the park 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 ….I’m sorry like but when you’re winning against your fiercest rivals at a stadium where you rarely win with just a few minutes left on the clock and then the said “rivals” score an equalising goal :mrgreen: …..I know who feels gutted and it ain’t us, if they had the intelligence to think back to their place last season they may be able to understand, but then that would involve some sort of thought process, so it isn’t going to happen

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