A headed effort from Demba Ba was enough to secure victory for Alan Pardew’s men who now head to Austria on Saturday where they will meet with Fenerbahce, who will hopefully be leaving the worst of their fans at home.
In much the same way I wasn’t too bothered about the 1-0 loss to Chemnitzer FC last time out, I’m also not overly bothered about the victory last night. I really don’t think you can read too much into formations or anything else at this stage of pre-season especially when you look at how different the team looked last night to how it will probably look against Tottenham next month. I must admit, it’s nice to win though and it was nice to see Demba Ba back on the scoresheet.
There was definitely more experience about this team compared to the one that faced Chemnotzer however. Steve Harper made a rare start between the sticks with Davide Santon and Jonas Gutierrez looking after right and left back back respectively, either side of Mike Williamson and Danny Simpson who were paired in central defence.
Mehdi Abeid and Gael Bigirimana were paired in the centre of midfield with Sammy Ameobi on the right and Romain Amalfitano on the left tasked with supplying the ammunition for Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi to try and finish up front.
Newcastle nearly took the lead in the opening minutes through Shola Ameobi’s cheeky backheel but he saw his effort rebound off the post after good work from Davide Santon and Demba Ba. However it was Monaco who carved out the next few chances and probably should have taken the on 21 minutes when Yannick Carrasco managed to beat Davide Santon and shoot beyond Harper only to see the ball bounce narrowly wide. Minutes later Harper probably wished the ball did bounce wide as he managed to stop a goalbound effort with his face!
Newcastle went ahead just after the hour hour mark when a Danny Simpson free kick was headed on by Mike Williamson and Shola Ameobi before arriving at the bonce of Demba Ba who rise higher than the Monaco goalkeeper to nod home. Shola could have made it two before half time after being played in by Sammy but Danijel Subasic in the Monaco goal was wise to it and blocked the shot on goal.
James Perch, James Tavernier and Haris Vuckic were all introduced at the start of the second half with appearances for Cheik Tiote, Ryan Taylor, Gabriel Obertan and Sylvain Marveaux following later on in what was a pretty dire half devoid of any chances. The most notable perhaps was a quick break from Gabriel Obertan who fired too close to the keeper with the rebound from Dan Gosling being sent harmlessly wide.
A win, a clean sheet, a good run out for a fair amount of players, and no fresh injury concerns so I’d say all in all, for only our second game of the pre-season campaign, I’m pretty happy with that. There is still along way to go though mind, and still a lot of hard work to be done.
Howay the lads!
Newcastle: Steve Harper, Davide Santon (Ryan Taylor 57), Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson (James Perch 46), Jonas Gutierrez, Romain Amalfitano (Gabriel Obertan 61), Mehdi Abeid (James Tavernier 46), Gael Bigirimana (Cheik Tiote 61) Sammy Ameobi (Haris Vuckic 46), Demba Ba (Sylvain Marveaux 78), Shola Ameobi (Dan Gosling 61)
Monaco: Danijel Subasic, Eric Marester (Jeremy Labor 86), Andreas Wolf, Andrea Raggi (Gary Kagelmacher 63), Layvin Kurzawa (Dennis Appiah 63), Nabil Dirar (Emir Bajrami 75), Nampalys Mendy, Gary Coulibaly (Delvin N’Dinga 86), Ferreira Carrasco (Tristan Dingome 75), Ibrahima Toure (Valentin Eysseric 63), Valere Germain (Nacer Barazite 63)
Attendance: 900 (unofficially)
More a fitness exercise than anything else ,Thought Santon ,Amalfitano and Marv looked good ,Sammi also. Harps face save looked well painfull ,poor sod. Pleased for Ba ,hopefully go on a scoring spree now 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/transfer-zone/2012/07/17/3246835/debuchy-newcastle-are-my-priority
Well Debuchy looks a certainty to sign eventually. As does Douglas. Which I’d be happy with if we didn’t lose anybody.
Another striker would be a bonus. I’d like a pacey striker who is full of running just to add diversity.
JJ(Quote)
Toonsy ,Shirts arrived, thanks 😀 😀 😎
kimtoon(Quote)
Was probably a good workout for the lads fitness wise, which is what its all about for now. Clearly got a long way to go attacking wise. At least we are injury free so far. Anyone know when we are likely to see a return of Krul, STaylor and Cisse?
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Yeah was a good run out for the boys, and was good to get a win but tbh I don’t think its got owt to do with the result its all about fitness and trying things out.
Big Dave(Quote)
Kim now you can stop picking on toonsy and call dave and dog off his back 😆 😆 😉
batty(Quote)
Too right Batty 😆
Just jesting Kim
It was a problem with the shirt printing apparently. Does it have the name and number on the back? In the end they got it from somewhere else so I don’t know if it arrived with name/number.
toonsy(Quote)
BB – Cisse was “ill” apparently and will also miss the game on Saturday
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2012/07/17/illness-rules-out-newcastle-striker-papiss-cisse-72703-31408912/
toonsy(Quote)
All in all a positive workout for all the lads. Thought Marveaux looked a classy player in the last ten minutes and hope to see him play at least 20/25 games this season. Vuckic abeid and biggy also did well as did amalfitano, much better in the 2nd half when we added an extra man in midfield. Demba looked really sharp too. Gabby and tav did ok too.
Simpson is a liability on the ball which results in us not being able to play out from defence, even though he was playing cb he was still a liability. I do hope we get rid of him now. Also, Williamson is too slow and gets done in every one-on-one! We need a few defenders like!
BigPapa(Quote)
Batty @ 6 I never said owt 😀 you c@nt .
But then maybe I did but cant remember like I must have been on .org abusing worky and co and can’t remember fuk all about it.
Maybe its an age thing i’ll have to ask Ice
Big Dave(Quote)
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news/2012/07/17/andy-carroll-deal-is-in-the-hands-of-mike-ashley-72703-31408911/?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> when has ashely ever handled a transfer deal directly? Strange: is it good or bad though?
BigPapa(Quote)
Bigpapa we have needed defenders for a while now. As for Marv yeah he looked good and lightening fast feet he had.
Big Dave(Quote)
Big Dave
what do u think about the ashley thing good or bad? Is larder cover himself incase we aren’t gonna seriously offer enough?
And shouldn’t we be leaving the transfers to old Carr? ❓ 😉
BigPapa(Quote)
Larder = Pardew
BigPapa(Quote)
Toonsy ,no name or number, but that’s o.k . It’s defo maroon lads not scarlet and more of a nylon type fabric .I had imagined a more silky fabric going by the pics but it’s nice though. All I need now is lews nose to stop running for 5 minutes so to put it on and take a good photo 😆 poor sods been rough for 2 weeks now and hacking like a twenty a dayer 🙄 ,I swear I’ve used a dozen boxes of tissues in a fortnight, This damp weather is not helping ,need some warm air to make us all feel better. Anyhow ,nice one Toonsy will get up the pic as soon as I can. 😀 😎
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – Take it to somewhere like JJB, get the name and number on the back, let me know what it costs (think it’s about £10) and I’ll Paypal it across to you.
toonsy(Quote)
@toonsy
When you get a chance answer my question @187 on the AC thread. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Bigpapa – I doubt Carr has anything to do with negotiations anyway. That will be Charnley, Llambias and ultimately Ashley. Carr just identifies players that Ashley would be willing to buy.
toonsy(Quote)
Bigpapa I think they only thing Jabba has to do with transfers is to say if he’s willing to pay the money.
But as i’ve said a few times I don’t think Carroll will be playing for us.
Big Dave(Quote)
“Toonsy, can you explain how you find the idea exciting and romantic after your vitriol attack on him one year ago.”
I don’t really, others do though. It’s like when Srnicek came back for a bit, nice, but never the same. To me he is just a failed footballer who has wasted some of his formative years as a bit part player which will ultimately cost him in the long run.
Although I also see you missed the bit in that same article where I pretty much said he is just a footballer and will go where the highest money is offered 😉
toonsy(Quote)
Quite impressed with the new lads in the midfield would like to see them on a bigger pitch where they can play a bit more, Will be refreshing to see these young lads in the first team this season not being hindered by the presence of hasbeens like **** and Smith.
Tiote head and shoulders above everyone, Obertan looked bright apart from his miss, Marveax tidy, The gaping hole for another strapping powerful centre half was obvious.
Nice to see Demba back scoring and Harps in the fold again safe and sound exactly why he is the perfect number competition for Krul not fucking Elliot.
Awful match but im expecting the bump in quality to bring out the best in the lads against fenerbache, porto and olimpiakos…
CC(Quote)
Sounds like it was promising stuff. Can anyone else comment on whether Simmo was so poor? His free kick set up the goal, so he can’t have been that bad. Also, if he started, it doesn’t sound too certain that he’s leaving.
I’ve always thought he got a raw deal from us, tbh. I think he has ‘Shola syndrome’ where he’s sometimes painful to watch, but the stats show he does ok for us. He covers more ground than any other player for us and is the starting point for a lot of good attacking moves. But you’d never guess from the slatings he gets on here.
Odd.
Whumpie(Quote)
Whumpie – it was abeid’s free kick that set up the goal, all simpsons did was hoof it around and generally looked shaky (no composure) in any attempt to keep/pass the ball
BigPapa(Quote)
* Braga
CC(Quote)