Game On! Stoke v Newcastle

Game On at The Britannia Stadium.
Newcastle take on Stoke City this evening for what is a non-televised midweek encounter, possibly of the fourth kind.

Why the fourth kind you might say? Well simply because United are bidding to avoid defeat for the fourth game in a row for the first time in over four years.

Will we or won’t we? We’ll soon find out although I’m at the point now where I expect nothing from a team that has looked short on confidence, short on effort and devoid of ideas for a number of weeks now. Worrying times, especially when you consider the strength of our opponents on their own turf and the injury list we have to contend with at the moment.

The game is not being shown live here in the UK although there are a number of overseas channels who are broadcasting the match. Which means normal rules apply regarding streams, meaning basically if you happen to find a good one then please feel free to share it by leaving a link in the ‘comments’ section below.

I’m actually at work right now so team news will be supplied by Big Dave as and when it becomes available. As ever it will be added in at the bottom of this article.

Which just about wraps it up really. My match preview is online here for you to read if you haven’t already done so. It features some grim injury news for United, a history of meetings between the two sides with some stats and facts thrown in for good measure.

Howay the lads!

Stoke: Begovic; Shotton, Shawcross (c), Huth, Cameron; Walters, Whelan, Nzonzi, Adam, Etherington; Crouch.

Subs: Sorensen, Palacios, Jones, Whitehead, Upson, Kightly, Jerome

Newcastle: Krul; Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini (c), Santon; Anita, Tiote, Perch, Gutierrez; Cisse, Ba.

Subs: Elliot, Tavernier, Ferguson, Bigirimana, Marveaux, Sammy Ameobi, Ranger.

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.

322 thoughts on “Game On! Stoke v Newcastle

  1. It was also interesting to note that as soon as Cisse stated working his bolox iff, he scored. The whole team should learn from that.

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  2. The kid-I thought they both looked better as a partnership yesterday than they have at any other point if I’m honest. I don’t have passing stats, but neither does that guy it seems and I guess I’ll have to watch the whole match again to check all options.

    To say Ba doesn’t pass to Cisse is bullshit though, I remember him doing so. Were there other opportunities? Honestly can’t remember now.

    And re Ba not passing Tiote when we got our goal-maybe he was returning the favour when Tiote should have passed the ball through to Ba against Southampton and didn’t, instead fannied around and took a pathetic shot and wasted our one good chance, think we were at 0-0 then as well like.

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  3. I thought Santon was kinda poor yesterday as well…his forward runs are great but he needs to get back quicker for me, especially as Jonas now doesn’t seem bothered about defending well..

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  4. Can anyone summaries how is the game?? i knew we lost again,but some reports i read mentioned at least the performance is better than last game. ❓

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  5. Is jonas bothered about doing anything at the minute? He has had his time. Flog him, cant believe he is vice Captain?

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  6. AOD-Definitely a better performance than our other matches, certainly off the ball as we kept pressure on their players and won plenty of the second balls from their clearances as well as our own.

    We were a bit shaky at the start and Santon/Perch picked up early yellow cards and Stoke put some pressure on us but we dealt with them fairly well. We tried to get them on the counter attack, didn’t exactly make many chances but were good value for the 0-0. Then Tiote/Ba robbed the ball from one of their defenders in possession, Ba took shot, keeper couldn’t hold it and Cisse slotted it in. Stoke started to throw a lot at us but Krul generally dealt with their crosses and there weren’t many problems. Then in the last 10 minutes we just slacked off, numerous errors from all over the pitch in combination led to both goals imo.

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  7. Shamrock-yeah, definitely half arsed attempts to defend yesterday. I think maybe his legs are just gone. Should have had someone else on earlier, surely ferguson/marvuex could have come on…

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  8. Angel briefly it was like this;

    1st half – initial 15 minutes we looked lively. Chased balls and created chances. After that both sides cancelled each other out tesulting in hoof ball. I dont know overall stats but 1st half I’d say we launched more long throws and long balls than Stoke did…

    2nd half – came out looking hungry. Cisse and Anita in particular chasing everything. Team applying decenet preesure off the ball. Cisse got the goal. For a period afterwards we looked reasonably disciplined, however towards the end we rode our luck thanks to switching off and looking as if we ran out of steam, unbelievable really.

    Sloppy distribution by Williamson and Krul meant we could kot keep the ball. Eventually Jonas, Colo, Willo and Tiote all did their bit by getting complacent/sloppy and cost us 2 goals. Game over…

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  9. So disappointing to lose that lead. Is that the first time we’ve done so in like a year or something? I know people point to us not coming back after going a goal down, but the other side of that was that we often took the lead and usually held it for a win (last year) or a draw this year…this time we lost in 4 mins…Looking for a big response vs Wigan, if the players play the same and we get Benny back we’ve got a chance.

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  10. Newkie, I reckon you are right about his legs going. That’s his only plus point really- having speed and hunger to track back and cover. Without that he’s as good as finished. Time to move on…

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  11. Shamrock-Yeah, I just don’t get it. I mean at the start of last year he was MOTM several times and only because of that work rate, covering for Raylor as he did. But at least then he could still go forward and beat a man or two, take us to the opposition’s corner area if need be.

    He just can’t do any of that anymore. Is it complacency? Physical? I guess he is fairly old for a winger now but ffs….not great showings from a vice captain.

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  12. why cant one of these so-called journos point out the blatantly obvious and force pardew to explain 1)why we have now become a long-ball team 2)why we play so deep on the pitch and with 3 CDMs (FOUR last night) and 3) why we insist on playin Ba and Cisse together as a front two (personally think they can play together but NOT as part of a simple 4 4 2 formation and especially NOT in a long ball team

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  13. That article on Ba ignoring Cisse is spot on for me too…

    I said it when Ba was still on his hot scoring streak. He is too selfish and it isn’t good for the team

    He has been so desperate to reclaim the limelight that he takes shot from everywhere and anywhere ignoring players in better positions ever game so that he can be the one to score the goals.

    I think Cisse getting all the attention last year dented his ego.

    Personally I wouldn’t be upset to see Ba sold in the transfer window. I think if we got an quality creative (unselfish) player in his place, we would be a far better side.

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  14. I don’t see us buying anyone of Ba’s goalscoring quality, or spending much. If we get the creative midfielder or attacking winger that some want, what happens when/if Cisse gets injured, and this season to boot?

    Reet up **** creek.

    Let’s face it, yesterday Cisse, Ba and possibly Anita are the only ones who weren’t at fault for our sloppy goals. It was unwise to expect one goal against stoke, but to expect 3? It was our shocking defending that cost us.

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  15. Newkie

    I agree with that point. Ideally, we would keep both they would complete for that position, or rotate, or if both played Ba would have to play on the left like he did last season without being lippy about it. AND we would go and invest in a creative attacking midfielder to play behind them as well.

    Unfortunately with the buffoons in charge, it means paying another “purple” player which they won’t do.

    IMO we need another THREE purple players and probably another two squad players with Willo, Simpson leaving and some youngsters going out on loan.

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  16. JJ-Aye, I think rotation was kind of what Pards had in mind to start the season, have those two competing as that would have made a bit more sense with Ba’s 90% through the middle. He’ll play there, when he’s actually on the pitch….

    But due to Cisse’s poor form, Ba couldn’t be dropped, but to get Cisse firing he needed to play. Very tricky situation. There was also the off chance they might both hit it off…

    Just pisses me off the owners didn’t sort Ba’s contract out in the first place. I said at the time I was angrier at that than most of the other deals or non-deals during the summer. Proper ****** us over. Means we get no money and no serious investment if he goes, and presumably nobody in if he stays.

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  17. Ba is our top scorer over yhe past 2 seasons and people want rid? If it was not for him his season and the first half of last season – individual brilliant goals – we would not have qualified for Europe and would be firmly in relegation zone now. Thank God we have him. We need somebody to compliment our strikers’ abilities, not get rid.

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  18. Shamrock-Exactly. I’ve heard people talk about Cisse firing us into europe last year….short memories IMO. Ba’s goals got us off to a solid start and if we hadn’t had him, we could have been in the relegation zone in Jan…

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  19. Shamrock,

    I guess its the negativity the board have instilled in us. The **** we’ve just learned to accept.
    That if a top player is to come in we have to accept that one is going to go out.
    Out of Ba and Cisse I would take Cisse. Just. If we could keep both and rotate them… like I said, that would be ideal.

    But we desperately need some creativity and goals from midfield. Ben Arfa can be soley relied apon.

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  20. That’s right JJ. Our midfield is pretty **** considering that’s where the majority of signings have been made. No good Ba laying it off if nobody else is calable of scoring. Even Cisse has not been capable of hitting a barnyard door from 10 yarss for most of this season.

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