Game On! Newcastle v Metalist Kharkiv

toonsy

Game On at a floodlit SJP
Game On at a floodlit SJP
The Europa League returns to centre stage this evening as Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv travel to St James’ Park in the first leg of this two-legged Round of 32 tie.

Newcastle will want to put themselves in a position to secure passage into the next round by getting as much of the job done as they can tonight.

With no league game at the weekend a strong team is likely to be picked and the aim has to be a comfortable win to take to Ukraine next Thursday with the ultimate aim of meeting either Hannover of Germany or Anzhi Makhachkala of Russia in the Round of 16.

However United will have to be wary of the threat that Metalist Kharkiv can and will pose. This isn’t your stereotypical Ukrainian outfit full of physical powerhouses who can run all day. These are good technical players, the majority of which come from South America no doubt lured by their owners significant wealth. They won’t be the pushovers some seem to be expecting.

For a bit of background ahead of the match, such as advanced team news, injury updates, a history of United in the Europa League, some stats and facts rounded off with some random thoughts, why not take a peek at out match preview if you haven’t already done so or simply wish to have another look? You can view it online here.

Tickets are still being sold for the game and are available via cash turnstiles right up to pretty much kick-off time, and with tickets priced at just £15 for adults and £5 for children you should head down there and cheer the lads on.

However if you don’t want to or can’t get down to St James’ Park then why not watch it live on ESPN? Or on an internet stream if you haven’t got ESPN? Again if you’d like to share any decent streams please feel free to do so by leaving a link to said stream in the ‘comments’ section below.

As ever, team news will be updated below as and when I can get it published which shouldn’t take long as I have a rare night off. However I dare say somebody will post in the comments section below quicker than I can get it published so if you’re that impatient have a mooch and I’m sure you’ll come across it.

Which about wraps this up and now it’s left to us to see what kind of strong team Alan Pardew decides to play.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle:Tim Krul; Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye; Gabriel Obertan, Moussa Sissoko, Jonas Gutierrez; Papiss Cisse

Subs: Rob Elliot, Danny Simpson, Massadio Haidara, Vurnon Anita, James Perch, Sylvain Marveaux, Shola Ameobi

Metalist Kharkiv: Oleksandr Horyainov; Cristian Villagra, Papa Gueye, Marco Torsiglieri, Fininho; Edmar Halovskyi, Juan Manuel Torres; Marlos, Cleiton Xavier, Jose Ernesto Sosa; Jonathan Cristaldo

Subs: Vladimir Disljenkovic, Andriy Berezovchuk, Oleh Shelayev, Sebastian Blanco, Jaja Coelho, Oleh Krasnopyorov, Willian Gomes

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.

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366 thoughts on “Game On! Newcastle v Metalist Kharkiv”

  8. Newkie,
    Exactly. We should be 3-0 up and we’ve played **** IMO because players are all too far apart.

    With Metalist looking this bad if we’d actually been set up to attack them properly the tie would be basically over.

    I can only see Metalist improving second half.

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  14. Newkie,

    I think Sissoko has been our biggest threat, but the only player anywhere near him is Cisse.

    If Sissoko had the support of a more attacking winger like Marveaux, then we’d have been winning this by miles.

    Why on Earth on the wingers playing so deep. I could understand if we were the away team, but we are the home team.

    Its all a bit negative for me.

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  15. Love seeing these American ads on these links 😆 , so cheesy. There was one for NASCAR before, for those who are too Redneck for Football (American). 😆

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  17. JJ-Aye, that’s where I agree, Marv should have been on for either of those boys, though I don’t think either of them have been that bad.

    I thought you were moaning at the formation of 4-4-1-1 for the sake of it 😉

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  18. And regardless of any selections-we should have been 2-0 up after a ridic decision and a 1v1 where Cisse should have scored.

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  20. Dave @159,

    Its all very well Jonas protecting someone week in week out, but he has left Sissoko playing on the right wing all alone, having to do everything himself.

    I can only assume its Pard’s tactics. We seem to be playing with two right backs. No left wing, no right wing, although Sissoko spends most of his time there. He has to play the no.10 role and be right wing.

    Obertan is playing left wing back/central midfield.

    Its all a mess to me.

    The gap on the left means Santon pushes too far up, struggles to get back. I’ve seen Metalist nearly expose this twice.

    For me, we have by far the better players on the field. But the **** tactics employed balance out the equation.

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  22. Maybe it’s a good thing to be 0-0 coming out 2nd half we have to try to win the game, as if we were 1-0 we might have came out and tried to hold on

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  23. @Toonsy 145: I really agree with you here. His link up play is very good of late. I actually feel even though he is not scoring he is really contributing to the attacking play.

    I think thus far they have had the better chances. We have been poor tonight. We really should be too hot for this team. One goal against us I think will finish the game. One goal for us the game would still be open.

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  29. Michael12
    February 14, 2013 at 21:01

    “@Toonsy 145: I really agree with you here”

    Somewhere in the world a kitten has just been slaughtered 😆

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  32. We finally get a midfielder willing to get himself in the box, and what does Pard’s do. He plays him as our no.10. hahaha.

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  36. We needed a Goal that first half because if we have another Pardew second half we are screwed. Poor utilisation of the resources we have.

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  44. Andy – If a **** could talk, and you could imagine the voice that would accompany it. That sounds just like Chris Waddle

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  45. Toonsy,
    I don’t have a problem with him playing no. 10 role. But then we need the midfielders behind him to push and and support him.

    Our wingers and both central midfielders behind all play deep defensive roles.

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  46. We really need to sell that fat waste of space Jonas. He offers the team nothing.

    This performance is embarrassing they should be at least 3 goals up. Joke of a team.

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  48. Seriously wtf do our coaches do? The lack of crossing is ridiculous. Surely as a professional you can at least get it near the danger area.

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  51. FSOTC-He’s not done much wrong, can’t see why he shouldn’t be considered good back up in either FB position.

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  57. Whitley bay must have played decent to get a draw with them,
    we need to get into them and take advantage of playing at home otherwise we might have to send a good squad over next week to have a chance 😥

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  58. lets get Anita and Marv on now ,bit of pace and invention needed ,Tiotes a red waiting to happen now imo

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  72. Also evident how not having a natural attacking right back effects the balance of the team.
    Take Debuchy and Gouffran out we look very one dimentional.

    Take Sissoko out and its clear why we were on course for relegation.

    Pardew is very lucky these top players disguise his complete incompetence when it comes to tactics.

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