Newcastle v QPR – Premier League match preview

Howay the lads!
Howay the lads!
Newcastle take on Queens Park Rangers in what can most definitely be described as a “six pointer” at St James’ Park tomorrow afternoon.

Performances by Newcastle have improved in recent weeks even if results have been missing, but the same could be said for Harry Redknapp’s QPR outfit who are unbeaten in four Premier League games and finally won a match at the 17th attempt last weekend.

It will be a game full of nerves but it’s a game Newcastle simply have to win when you look at their other two fixtures over the festive period. With trips to Manchester United and Arsenal following this game the need for three points couldn’t be greater as United tread water dangerously above the drop zone.

Newcastle:

Hatem Ben Arfa is unavailable, as are Yohan Cabaye and Steven Taylor with injuries that affect our starting side. Dan Gosling, Ryan Taylor and Haris Vuckic are out although I feel that injuries to those just weaken the squad generally and not the starting XI.

James Perch is a doubt with a neck injury although Gabriel Obertan has resumed training finally and could be recalled to the bench. Mike Williamson, Jonas Gutierrez and Cheik Tiote are all one yellow card away from an automatic one match suspension.

QPR:

Harry Redknapp will be without goalkeeper Julio Cesar and right-back Jose Bosingwa who both miss out with back injuries. Longer term absentees include Kieron Dyer (surprisingly!), Park Ji-Sung, Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora, although the latter is said to be edging closer towards a return and wants to be back in action in January.

Previously…

It’s 19 years since QPR managed to take all three points away from Tyneside owing to a 2-1 victory back in October 1993. There have been just four home meetings since then with Newcastle coming out on top in three of them and the other ending in a 1-1 draw during our Championship campaign.

Overall the two clubs have a similar record. There have been 44 meetings between the two clubs in all competitions with United just shading it with 20 victories compared to QPR’s 16 victories.

You can’t get away from a match preview with QPR and fail to mention the highest scoring game ever between the two sides. Taken from a time when men were men and shorts were, well, short (22nd September 1984), this match saw the two sides play out a 5-5 draw on the plastic pitch that used to be a feature of Loftus Road.

Stats and facts:

This will be the sixth different side Harry Redknapp has managed at St James’ Park (Bournemouth, West Ham, Portsmouth, Southampton, Portsmouth again, Tottenham and now QPR) but he is yet to take all three points away from SJP on his first visit with a new club.

QPR have not won back-to-back Premier League games since December 1995.

Only five players have scored for United in the Premier League this season (Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse, Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye and Gael Bigirimana) – the fewest amount of goalscorers in the league.

United’s December match loss total now stands at 42 games lost in this month since the Premier League began – the highest in the history of the Premier League.

Final thought…

In a way I’m quite glad that QPR managed to beat Fulham last week. My thinking is that if there is some crazy losing streak to be ended or a dry spell for a striker to be brought to an end you can bet your mortgage on it being against us so at least we have that particular monkey of our backs.

Redknapp is a man motivator so you can bet that his side will be up for this match and Newcastle will have to match that if they want to take the three points in this game. Fortunately performances at least have been improving even if results have still been wanting, but the same can be said for QPR who will need to turn their habit of picking up draws into a habit of winning if they want to breath comfortably towards the end of the season.

Which way will it go?

Howay the lads!

Date: Saturday, 22nd December, 2012

Time: 3pm

Venue: St James’ Park

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.

151 thoughts on “Newcastle v QPR – Premier League match preview

  1. Icedog

    Nah, he’s played a lot more times than that. He just doesn’t start. Either the new manager doesn’t rate him, or they just don’t want to aggravate his injuries and try and cash in now. Think he only has two years left on his contract.

      (Quote)

  2. or they just don’t want to aggravate his injuries and are trying and cash in now*

    Don’t know what’s up with me today. Can’t seem to spell or form proper sentences. 😐

      (Quote)

  3. KID ime sure he is free to talk to clubs in the summer as he has refused to sign new contract and go on free,remy has stated that himself

      (Quote)

  4. Icedog

    That can’t be right. He joined OM just a couple of years back and I’m sure it was a long term deal. If he was available on a free a lot more clubs would be chasing him, surely? He was very highly rated until recently.

    Are you getting him mixed up with Moussa Sissoko?

      (Quote)

  5. I’m worried about this game. I see QPR as having some good players but were just low on confidence or unlucky. They are not as bad as their league position suggests and ‘Arry is a good manager at the end of the day, I think he will have calmed them down and got them playing. We on the other hand are a train wreck at the minute. Key players are still missing and we haven’t played well all season. The performances may have slightly improved but it still isn’t enough if we are still losing. Pardew can’t really use the excuse of Europa league forever and it’s starting to dawn on him that the squad isn’t a strong as he thought. Nevertheless it’s strong enough to get something if we were playing anything like half decent. 😐

      (Quote)

  6. KID defo not, om want to cash in before summer or get nowt something in his contract they say,and your right that applys to Moussa Sissoko as well

      (Quote)

  7. **** I hope we win today 🙂 I am that desperate for a good result that I am prepared to agree with Big Dave on something as a trade off 🙂 🙂 🙂

      (Quote)

  8. DJG. If our work rate is high we we will win. If we are sitting back and not snapping at their heels, we will struggle. The 3 points are there for the taking, it will be down to how bad we want it.

      (Quote)

  9. Icedog

    That’s quite odd as a few other sources claim he has a contract until 2015, which makes more sense to me as OM signed him for a lot of money just two years ago. They are idiots if they signed a player for circa £12million and then put him on a 3 year deal.

      (Quote)

  10. All good here Ice, hope it’s the same for you.. I have a good feeling about this game mate!! I reckon we the lads will be switched on for this one. 🙂 🙂 Can’t wait for the game 🙂

      (Quote)

  11. KID aye i know what your saying,but there is a clause in it as per BA has,who could leave after 6mth if he wanted BA i mean,so maybe remys after two yrs,funny old game with these agents looking to cash in 😉

      (Quote)

  12. Icedog

    If that’s the truth then I will be very disappointed because he also had a clause in his contract at Lyon. The last thing we need is another clause-loving player…

      (Quote)

  13. KID there will be a report t/morrow that BA has rejected a 80grand offer from QPR as hes wanted by spurs,l/pool and awaiting offer,the plot thickens

      (Quote)

  14. AMF ime off to try and sleep,will need it t/morrow/today,keep the faith and hope richie does not come on and stuff things up 😀 😀

      (Quote)

  15. Icedog

    I am resigned to losing Ba and if I am honest, I pretty much want him gone.

    I keep reading on here that “he scores all the goals so we need him”, but that is just so over-simplistic. He scores all of our goals because he is the only one that prospers in our current style of play. Ba is a quality striker that will score regardless of how a team’s playing. A bit like Bent. If he didn’t have a contract clause I would be all over keeping him, but he is a selfish player on the pitch and career-wise. He will be off as long as a decent club offers him better money. We knew this when we got him. We beat off Everton by offering more money for crying out loud!

    With that in mind, we need to build the side around Cisse in a 4-3-3.

    I have spoken to a number of different fans of different clubs and they all agree that in the long term we will be better without him.

      (Quote)

  16. Ice, I always have faith mate 😉 There are some on here that try and knock it out of me though 😆

    Well my local team Perth Glory had a great 1-0 victory over the Brisvegas Roar last night so all I need is for Newcastle to win and it will be a great weekend of football. :mrgreen:

      (Quote)

  17. Kid @ 98

    Absolutely right. Its not about wanting Ba gone at all.
    Its about realising that if he doesnt want to stay (which he apparently doesn’t seem to) and if catering to him tactically disadvantages Cisse who will be staying if Ba leaves then the best thing to do may well be to let him go and get in a new replacement, make the best of what we got and hope it inspires Cisse again.
    Yes it carries risks if Cisse cannot recover his form.
    But it has to be said if we continue in the vein we are, even with Ba, there already seems to be a grave risk to our league survival.

    —————————————Krul————————————-
    ———————————————————————————
    Debuchy———New Player————Coloccini———-Santon
    ———————————————————————————
    ————Cabaye———————————-Tiote—————–
    ————————————-Anita————————————-
    ———————————————————————————
    ——Ben Arfa—————————————————Remy—-
    ————————————Cisse————————————-

    Is the sort of thing we need to see after January in my opinion.
    Obviously if those players wont/cant come then it needs to be players of a similar standard as a minimum.

      (Quote)

  18. (THIS IS A GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING. THIS POSTER IS LIABLE TO DISAGREE WITH YOUR POINT OF VIEW. ONLY ENGAGE IF YOU AREN’T SENSITIVE AND DON’T TAKE HISSY FITS)

    @The Kid

    Your views on Ba stagger me. 🙁

    Have you ever thought its the players around him that aren’t contributing?

    Last season we were riding high in 3rd place with Ba in the side.

    Totally disagree with you. Staggering. 😯

      (Quote)

  19. (THIS IS A GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING. THIS POSTER IS LIABLE TO DISAGREE WITH YOUR POINT OF VIEW. ONLY ENGAGE IF YOU AREN’T SENSITIVE AND DON’T TAKE HISSY FITS)

    @The Kid

    It’s not our goals tally that’s the worry. We only had one goalscorer last season at this stage and that was Ba.

    Have you ever thought the problem is not him but the defence??????

      (Quote)

  20. Troy agree our defence is terrible ,but i cant say we have any stand out players this season ,the frenchys have no bottle 👿

      (Quote)

  21. This wanting rid of BA is purely a defensive mechanism to make the pain of him leaving a little more tolerable (if he does go). It has to be the only reason for some of our fans wanting him to leave…..

      (Quote)

  22. Batty, I can understand the criticism of BA regarding the press and contract ****. But saying he is greedy and stuffing up or formations is laughable. Pardew is in charge of our team set up, not BA.

      (Quote)

  23. aussie if am truthfull iam pissed of with most of the team ,they dont seem to be giving there all , but thats what happens when you have to many non brits 😉

      (Quote)

  24. Batty, I am on the same page as you mate. I have said repeatedly on here that we are simply not working hard enough. There is no excuse for a lack of effort. Nothing ***** me more than half arsed performances. We need to get Good into the line up. At least an Aussie will give his all…. like Viduka used to (cough cough) 🙂 🙂 🙂

      (Quote)

  25. Troy Stavers
    December 22, 2012 at 07:26

    “Last season we were riding high in 3rd place with Ba in the side.”

    Not at this stage of the season we weren’t. We were 7th this time last year, and only ten points better off.

      (Quote)

  26. as much as a donkey that some people call him re nolan we havent replaced his goals ,bring back carrol and fck ba off 🙂

      (Quote)

  27. oh i had young brad innman round my house in the week 😯 my son and his mate brought him up >> byron moore he plays for crewe ,young brad seems to have a thing for the bookies 😯

      (Quote)

  28. Aussie has found a mate 😆 thats what I like about Batty always doing his bit for care in the community 😉
    Batts im sure you set Brad straight about gambling, taught him a few tricks of the trade

      (Quote)

  29. Nailed on win today because I’m there, 3 points and a win by 2 goals……what could possibly go wrong 😯

      (Quote)

  30. I see the Journal this morning saying the club intend to make ‘significant’ investment this Jan! Looks like old Mike crapping his pants at the thought of missing out on the financial bonanza next season.

      (Quote)

  31. Stuart…aye, believe it when I see it, and regardless of how much they invest its one window too late 👿

      (Quote)

  32. Stu I think thats just the journo doing their pr work to keep the fans happy and on side ove the xmas period.
    Richie dont let him get to you Lad, I think you will be our lucky charm today 😉

      (Quote)

  33. Love to be at the game to watch it live 😕 I might have to start planing a trip in the next year or so.. Maybe I can meet some of the cracking lads that contribute on this blog or Big Dave if there is time 😆

      (Quote)

  34. The Journal…I personally don’t believe a word that Douglas lad says, but I agree with one part of that article. Remy won’t cost £10million. We would probably get him for about £8million (10million EUROS), which is still a small risk as he is off-form, but could be a massive coup.

      (Quote)

  35. I’d go as far to say if we get beat today there’s a real good possibility we’ll go down. I just don’t think we’ll get anything from the next two games and Everton at home is also tough the way they’re playing. No win today and I think by January 2nd we’ll be bottom 2!

      (Quote)

  36. Pootle

    You seem to be one of few that looks at my WHOLE point and not just the fact I want Ba gone. He has no loyalty to us so we need to move on. I really don’t see how people can’t see this?!

    I don’t dislike Ba for his greed because if it wasn’t for that he probably would have ended up at Everton. Let’s just appreciate the time he was here and forget about him once he has gone. Quality striker, but too similar to Cisse to keep both anyway.

      (Quote)

  37. I don’t understand the stick ba gets for:
    i) not signing a new contract
    why should he? would you sign a contract that makes your situation worse?
    ii) having no loyalty
    Again, no actual proof that Ba has less loyalty than other players. regardless i don’t believe loyalty exists in football except possibly to clubs that players either support or that gave them their break.
    Would i be loyal when i’m top scorer yet receiving tweets from “fans” saying “sign up or **** off” hmm

      (Quote)

  38. Agree with whoever said that where ba plays is down to pardew not ba. ba is a striker, he wants to play up front. how the hell can anyone moan about that?
    If pardew is bowing down to ba then pardew is.the problem, not Ba.
    And people are posting formations with remy, and there’s no guarantee he would come even if we sold ba, let alone succeeded immediately.
    With that in mind what team would you line up with today? ba is without a doubt our most important player atm.

      (Quote)

  39. Met Harry Rednapp, Joe Jordan and Kevin Bond in a restaurant last night, after chatting for a while I asked how about Demba Ba for Tarrabt, the instant reply was IN A HEARTBEAT !! Interesting, as we are missing Cabaye and Ben Arfa`s creativity and playing long most of the time Tarrabt could be the answer to start getting the best out of Cisse. Rather have the player than the £7.5 mill. ❓

      (Quote)

  40. I would be interested to see how many chances cisse had created for him per game last year vs this year. i know his chance conversion was insanely high, and given that half his goals were ridiculous and individual, it doesn’t seem to suggest we create anymore chances for him in 4-3-3 anyway.
    Would need to look at the stats though.
    Contract aside, i’m ba everytime.

      (Quote)

  41. Ba did a job for the “Team” when he played on the left, we went on a great run but the rumours were around the that he wasnt happy with Cisse playing as the main striker, I dismissed them at the time but it now seems as if this is the core of what has gone wrong for both him and the club.
    When we altered to accommodate both strikers, results have suffered but Ba’s personal goal tally has increased, great for him but at a cost to the club and i noticed recently that Cisse has been played out wide, it doesnt suit him but he just gets on with it as all players should.
    At first, I never wanted Ba to leave, but if he is causing problems with a selfish attitude then he may as well leave.

      (Quote)

  42. Interesting stat………………No Premier League side have lost more matches in the month of December than Newcastle (42) 😯 😯

      (Quote)

  43. Djibril Cisse has scored in three of four previous Premier League appearances against Newcastle. 😯

      (Quote)

  44. TGS
    Winter blues? 😉
    Just got into Newcastle from boro. Unzipped my jacket to show my Newcastle top (hidden away in boro), only to find that it was pouring with rain, zipped it up again, and put my big raincoat too. Ah NE England I’ve missed ye. HWTL

      (Quote)

  45. Waiting in Starbucks, away from the rain, for my dad and brother (still in Whitley Bay) so we can meet up with friends for a pint before the game. :mrgreen:

      (Quote)

  46. Aussie ,you had to go and say you got a good feeling didn’t you 🙄 that’s done it good and proper. 😉 😉

      (Quote)

  47. Kim, it will be all good,fill that glass (half full) and get ready to bank 3 points 🙂 🙂

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *