Game On! Newcastle v Wigan

Game On at a floodlit SJP
If it is possible to have so-called “six-pointers” before Christmas then this match most definitely comes under that category.

A win at all costs is what is required to put a temporary halt to an alarming run of form which has seen Newcastle start to look at the relegation spots rather than trying to replicate European qualification that we managed last season.

The fixture list has not been kind but that is the price you pay for being in Europe and now Alan Pardew must prepare his threadbare squad for three games in a week, starting this evening with the visit of Wigan Athletic, who themselves will be looking for three points for the very same reason we are.

As mentioned in my match preview, both sides have a whole host of players out of action this evening so both managers will have to try and make do the best with what they have available. Some other titbits from my match preview include a history of the fixture, recent for guide and some fun facts and stats ahead of the match. You can read it by clicking here.

The game is live on Sky tonight which is probably a bad thing given how we’ve been playing in recent weeks. However it’s a good thing if you want to dodge the cold or are unable to take advantage of the cheap tickets on offer this evening. There should be streams available so normal rules apply and if you come across a decent one please leave a link to it in the ‘comments’ section below.

As ever team news will be updated in full below as and when it becomes available.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle (4-2-3-1): Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; Cheik Tiote, Vurnon Anita; Papiss Cisse, Sylvain Marveaux, Jonas Gutierrez; Demba Ba

Subs; Steve Harper, James Tavernier, Shane Ferguson, Gael Bigirimana, Sammy Ameobi, Shola Ameobi, Nile Ranger

Wigan: Ali Al-Habsi, Maynor Figueroa, Gary Caldwell, Emerson Boyce, Ronnie Stam, James McCarthy, David Jones, Jordi Gomez, Jean Beausejour, Franco Di Santo, Aroune Kone,

Subs: Mike Pollitt, Romain Golobart, Adrian Lopez, Fraser Fyvie, James McArthur, Mauro Boselli, Callum McManaman

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.

219 thoughts on “Game On! Newcastle v Wigan

  1. For me nothing very clear when he stops a ball, make a pass or make a cross. He just has physical ability but in terms of class, of skills he has no natural talent. Its a big mess when he has the ball

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  2. A win! Probably the most unconvincing 3-0 win I’ve seen for a long time. Glad Wigan only had 10 men.

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  3. Ba out as well now?! – this is just getting bloody ridiculious now like!!
    We need players coming back from injury over the Xmas period, not loosing more!!

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  4. Richie- and you’re still a ***** 😉

    Dave- nah mate, just super busy and it’s hard to type on my paper route. I do the best I can though :mrgreen:

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  5. We got lucky with the referee tonight. I would say 75% of referees don’t give that penalty. However, the red card is the right decision if the ref did think it was a peno.

    I thought we were professional today. Marveaux and Anita both showed what they can do. Let’s hope they can do it against 11 now though, eh?

    Fulham will be a tough nut to crack. Sods law that we play them as soon as Hangeland’s suspension is up. No Senderos for us. 🙁

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  6. Brilliant result 17 p sure looks better than 14. Have to say though it wasn’t that convincing considering it was 10 men like ,we still gifted far too much possession to them imo. We’ll have to do much better V Fulham .

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  7. Great result. Certainly seen some big improvements BUT still some serious concerns.

    I thought Ba, Anita and Simpson were outstanding.

    Marvauex and Cisse were much improved.

    Bigi looks an outstanding talent. Unfortunately Sammi doesn’t. He just looks clumsy.

    Willo looks a level below all the time. Good in the air but that’s it.

    Ben Arfa would have destroyed Wigan. Need him back.

    Jonas looks.finished.

    Improvement but we were OK against 10 men relegation certs. A bit lucky to be honest. A LOT more improvement needed.

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  8. OHurley
    It’s Monday for you mate. Lay off Richie!

    For me on the other hand. It’s Tuesday… So ye Richie is a little *****. 😎

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  9. Bloody greedy Demba Ba! He only set up Cisse about 4/5 times and scored two goals, it’s a fckin joke like. Causing **** in the dressing room as well, nobody celebrated when he scored!

    Yeah, I rest my case. Good game, well played lads, let’s hope everyone is alright and willing to put in the same effort in next week. Tidy football-where are the ones who wanted Martinez again… :mrgreen:

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  10. Will take that any day. These points will be so vital to give us some space especially as we go into a maelstrom. Could be the difference between being in the relegation Zone come new years or just above.

    Some people here were blaming Ba for our current run of bad results talking about how he should go for the good of the team. 10 of our 17 goals have come from him. Hope you are reminded of just why he is so important.

    Marv was great tonight. Pardew was always slow realising HBA’s worth and seemingly slow again to realise Marv. There were spells he caused such panic in the Wigan defence and is able to run with the ball.

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  11. Just to add to the Ameobi argument. I don’t think either have talent. But Shola has developed a brain. Sammi hasn’t.

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  12. Standouts tonight Anita ,Marv , Ba ,Bigi and Krul .
    Some good work by Simmo and Cisse tried hard too.
    Wilo worries the hell out of me he really does and when in Combo with Colo has a horrible effect on Colo’s game .There was some serious camikazi defending by them first half, I really want Willo to come good but I really don’t think he will. 🙁 And god we need to work on our crosses as they are ***** at the mo.

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  13. The pen may have been dodgy-personally I thought it was the right decision. The ref was nice enough to Wigan when he didn’t send Caldwell off, who chopped our players down like Jack the Ripper.

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  14. Newkie,
    I think Ba is often selfish but certainly not tonight. He was brilliant.

    The biggest difference for me tonight was the front two actually passed to each other and we kept the ball on the ground.

    Ba, Anita and Simpson were great. The rest worked hard and did well. Although Jonas and Willo made me **** a few times.

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  15. Costly win if Ba and Santon are out long but an absolute must. Great goal from Bigi and Ba was solid up front. Cisse has forgotten what offside is again. What on earth is he doing? Does he look around before he makes a run? I don’t think so. His shots have been horrible as well. He’s just expecting them to fly into the top corner and it isn’t happening. Still we can build no this but let’s hope Ba and Santon just have minor knocks.

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  16. Good result but to be honest I was a bit peeved with the second half. We had a good chance to reduce our -7 GD but we did not seem to want to attack. Anyway chuffed with result but it seems to be at a cost again. 🙁

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  17. Kim-It wasn’t a stellar performance but we played some tidy football, 3 goals and a clean sheet will help the confidence whether we fully deserved that margin or net, we deserved the result. Good confidence for Fulham, hopefully, where hopefully Ba, Benny and Santon will be ok…

    JJ-Every good striker needs a degree of selfishness, sometimes Ba can go overboard, but with the form of some of our players I don’t hold too much blame. People have painted it as if Ba refuses to pass to Cisse out of principle, suggesting he doesn’t run for the team and is obsessed with himself. I thought that was another example of that being a bullsh*t opinion.

    Anita was good again, looking more and more comfortable and Marv showed his class, even if it was only in bits. Willo showed what he is-generally solid until you give him the ball! Thought Fergie did well at lb as well.

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  18. Well done Alan Pardew for me like, yeah we got lucky with send off and peno, but the change of formation and introduction of creative players like Marv seems to have had a positive impact.
    I accused him of lacking to balls to mix it up and he proved tonight that he is ready to do that.

    Well done tonight boys – encouraging signs there :mrgreen:

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  19. People are on here saying Ba’s goals prove he should be selfish, but he was actually much more of a team player tonight. Scoring a penalty and a tap in doesn’t stand testimony to him shooting from 25 yards when there are better options. Tonight he didn’t do it once and instead looked for a pass. We looked better for it and I would say it’s proof that he needs to be less selfish on a more regular basis.

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  20. By the way, tonight was the nail in the coffin for Jonas tonight imo. He looked garbage against 10 men. He needs to be offloaded and it can start with dropping him for HBA when we tackle Fulham.

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  21. The Kid-I never said the goals “prove” he should be selfish. I just thought the game proved that he can pass to Cisse or indeed anyone, when in decent positions etc.

    I suppose you don’t think Santon or Bigi should have shot from the distances they did then? There were plenty of people closer to goal after all…

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  22. Agree about Jonas though. He was absolutely gash yet again. We can’t carry people anymore. Surely Marv and Fergie are better for a wing position, with Bigi and certainly Anita looking better in the centre.

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  23. Newkie

    Shooting from 25 yards from time to time is fine, but it’s the frequency that is the problem. I read an article today that said Demba Ba is one of the players to have had the most shots in the league. We haven’t created that many chances so you can bet your bottom dollar a very large proportion of these shots were speculative efforts from distance…which is fine, but just in moderation.

    Anyway, like you say, today proved the two can work together to a degree. I just hope Demba now sees that he doesn’t need to try and do it alone. The goals will come if he brings others into play more.

    As for Jonas, well he can’t have much longer. Pardew must see he loses the ball far too much and doesn’t even attempt to run with the ball anymore. Marveaux central and HBA out on the right for me. The two can interchange as they please and cause the opposition a problem.

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  24. Fickle twats. Ba has one night as a team player and all is well again? **** off man, get fucking real.

    Anita was class tonight, amazing work rate through out very pleased for him. Marv had a good game too and was over the moon for Bigi…what a corker.

    Best we have played all season tonight, hope we can build on it and bring a couple of fresh faces in during the January window.

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  25. The Kid-Problem is like you say, we’ve not made that many chances and this is bound to frustrate strikers. Considering Cisse spends half his time offside and the only other person who generally wants to get in the box is Hatem, who also takes plenty of long shots, he rarely has much of an option given how we’ve played so far IMO.

    He’s had what, about 50 shots? Averaging about 5 a game? That’s not bad for someone who’s roughly scored one out of five shots and hasn’t exactly had many “tap ins” this season.

    I always thought he was good during the build up of moves, he will drop back and play with his back to goal when necessary to sweep the ball along the line, the problem has been our penetration from midfield into the opposition box/final third.

    Don’t really care who replaces Jonas. Agree Marv in the centre may be best, he might not have “the legs” to play on the wing exactly…

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  26. Definitely super stoked for Bigi. Cracker of a first goal it sounds like! That kid is a gem. Gonna be big for us in the future. Anita grafts his bollocks off too.

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  27. well we got a much needed win and a much improved performance , that will boost the squads confidence . onwards and upwards .

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  28. Newkie agree about jonas mate, but i think marv is a bit more composed in terms of passing and keeping the play moving than HBA, i think hes earned the right to stay in the centre, Anita looked brilliant as well.

    Cisse is a mystery at the moment he looks good with his back to goal and finding space, but out him through and he either drifts offside or snatches at the opportunity. 😯

    hopefully we can kick on and get 3 more against fuham. 😀

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  29. The last one was aimed at the The Kid not newkie,

    BTW AXEL i always seem to comment straight over you, 😀

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  30. It wasn’t directed specifically at you…but if you think that all along Ba has been a team player and has done no wrong then more fool you.

    I’d rather sell Ba and get a dedicated left sided striker, because generally he is a selfish dummy spitting **** who has made unreasonable demands to Pardew and yet refuses to remove a clause in his contract. Pandering to his personal egotistical bullshit has caused the team issues. This is partly Pardews fault as he shouldn’t have been such a spineless *** and told him where to get off.

    If he would play like tonight in every game with a smile on his face sacrificing the lime light he obviously craves then I’d change my mind…but I suspect he won’t.

    The reason why Cisse appears to be offside a lot is that is the game he plays. He plays off the shoulder of a defender…yet he makes the runs and no one has bothered to try and play a ball through as we haven’t bothered to set up our team around him this season, he is not a 4-4-2 striker.

    Ba’s goals don’t paper over the obvious flaws for me like, and try and look at the bigger picture…the team as a whole.

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  31. And I agree that Jonas’ time is running oot…I actually thought he was better tonight than he has been in a while but think it’s a slippery slope for him from now.

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  32. Alex@199-Was literally about to say the same thing, you two confuse the **** out of me 😆

    He did snatch at plenty of chances today, was hoping for a goal from him after they went down to 10 but he worked pretty hard and his touch seems to have improved.

    Franky-I wouldn’t say Ba has “done no wrong” exactly, but he has generally done what I expected and I have generally thought *shoot* when he’s taken his shots and I can’t argue with much of his play. He has contributed to creating more of our attacks than Cisse-imo-just look at their passing stats. He’s also finished the moves, which Cisse hasn’t, so I can’t really complain.

    To say Cisse “appears” to be offside is bollocks. He is offside and far too much, plenty of different players have played through balls and they’ve wasted our attacks doing so. When Ba was down the wing it was fairly clear he was looking to whip the ball in as soon as he could, he probably should have looked up. But Cisse just didn’t drop back to at least be on line, I mean ffs, he just needed to stop for 2 seconds but he didn’t 😕

    I’m getting tired of the Ba/Cisse factionalism to be honest. I like them both, I want to keep them both and I believe they can play together well, in the right system.

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  33. Played alot better tonite though between collo and williamson look at times like laurel and hardy

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  34. Marv isn’t a winger. That should be obvious to people now. He is suited to being the ‘creative’ type player in a three-man midfield. The one who dribbles with the ball. From what I saw Fergie put in another good stint. Although people might not agree, I’m starting to think he is actually more suited to the attacking full-back role than as an out-and-out left winger. He always just seems to have a better game at LB and he seems to hit a brick wall when he’s at LW. He just seems more confident joining the attack from deeper than starting it off. As for Bigirimana… well, I said he is more than just a mini-Tiote and that I think he has a more complete game to him. He gets forward and will either play people in or have a pop himself and he has lovely composure on the ball. What a goal tonight! I said he looked like a little cracker. 🙂

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  35. Nobody knows what the truth if the Ba contract is so how people can have such strong emotion about it us beyond me? Ba is the best striker we have had in years and people want rid becayse ge us a selfush sulker? On what basis? I put out hus stars the other day in firect comparisin to Cisse. He contributed more to the team than Cisse both offensively and defensively. He does his bit for the team and importantly he regularly finds the back of the net. If he went you would soon realise just how good ge was. So what if he wants to be paid well, he us ine if the top strikers in one if the best leagues in the workd. If he’s scoring lots over a long period if time then he deserves to be paid well. We dont know ehat he’s asking for but we do know Llambastad us a tight fisted ****, so lets not assume too much here…

    On today – great result. Well done to Pardew and the lads. Please keep up that focus! Credit where it’s due.

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  36. I knew we would win this one 😎

    Great game from Anita, good to see him starting to get to grips with the PL. He was always presenting an option which was nice to see. Really pleased to see Bigi bang one in too :mrgreen:

    Very happy with the result and the 3 points… :mrgreen:

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  37. We will probably see more of Richietoon on here now. 😉 Seeing that we have won a game, he will crawl out of his self imposed exile and converse with the outside world again 😆 😆

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  38. Shamrock – I completely agree with you mate, I really don’t understand such strong emotion against a Newcastle player. At the end of the day, he’s a striker – and a striker scoring goals, so I’d expect him to have a selfish streak about him.
    I watch teams like Arsenal try to score the perfect goal or walk it in and imagine it to be so frustrating as a fan shouting ‘just fucking shoot man!’. Don’t get me wrong, if a player is in a much better position he should pass, but if he’s on form and fancies it – why not?!
    How many wonder goals did Cisse score last season when others were better placed?!
    I also don’t agree with Ba holding Pards to ransom. His beef is with the board, not Pardew! and the same goes for Simpson.
    In my opinion both have conducted themselves very well throughout, and as you said, we don’t know enough of what’s going on to really judge.

    I don’t understand why so many people on this site are so anti Ba and Cisse partnership. It’s almost like, if both don’t score every game then they aren’t a strike force. It’s madness!
    I don’t understand why there has to be some kind of rift between them just coz they are not best mates?!
    I’ve said it before, we create the chances for them and they will score, maybe not both in the same game but they will get goals.

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  39. One thing that this game showed is that Fergie is a much better player at LB than he is at LM. There are those that said he is a better player at LM but they need to now admit that they were wrong 😉

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  40. We won, so we must have been playing 433. We only ever lose the other way.

    I enjoyed Marveaux’s little dribbles today, and Anita’s energy, and Bigi’s goal. Thinking Jonas is fast approaching his use by date.

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  41. I have been a big fan of Jonas for some time now but the past 3 or 4 games he has looked out on his feet. Not sure if he is carrying an injury or too much weight but he has been hopeless to say the least.
    To me, it looks as if his legs have gone, he reminds me of Geremi 😯
    I hope he comes good but he should be gracing the bench based on his current form…… 😕

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  42. very shocked at people saying Ba has a right to demand 90K a week…….. listen the guy aint on minimum wage here FFS

    world class striker? he wasnt classed that when he left westham and stoke (almost) due to dodgy knee …..

    bit gratitude wouldnt go a miss in my eyes hes the reputation he has due TO newcastle not stoke or pissing westham!!!

    no im not a ba knocker i like the player but u dont go demanding to leave every 6 month either if you dont get wat u want

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  43. Thought Cisse put in a good shift and although he didn’t score he looked sharp. If Santon is fit I would play Fergie in place of Jonas. I haven’t seen the stats but I think we played less long ball probably due to Marv and Anita who did well. Don’t agree that Simpson was good and neither did the crowd around me at the match. He and Willo are the weak links.

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  44. @djg yeah i see fergie as more of a g nev type, ie making the overlapping run then pitting a decent cross in as opposed to taking on defenders

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