Cisse smashes Potters! Newcastle 2-1 Stoke

Cisse grabs the winner
Cisse grabs the winner
After spending so long waiting for comeback wins, United have turned into comeback kings in recent weeks.

After recovering from losing positions to beat Chelsea and Southampton in the not to distant past, yesterday Newcastle managed to grab three points after going behind again as Papiss Cisse scored an injury time winner to defeat Stoke City at St James’ Park.

Jonathan Walters gave Stoke the lead after being felled by a rather reckless and unnecessary challenge by Cheik Tiote before Yohan Cabaye dragged the home side level with an exquisite freekick. However the glory was left until the last as Papiss Cisse smashed home from just outside the six yard box to give United a valuable three points which sees them jump to 13th in the table and extends the gap between us and 18th placed Wigan to nine points.

United had the better of the first half without really creating too much. Plenty of possession was enjoyed by the home side but they struggled to break down a solid Stoke outfit and only efforts from Yohan Cabaye and a guilt-edged chance which Yoan Gouffran skied over the bar were really worth mentioning.

Having said that, I get the feeling that Stoke were quite happy for us to have the bulk of the ball and territorial advantage. Essentially they were saying “break us down” and as the game wore on United’s attempts to do so became more desperate as the ball was just lumped into the box in the hope that Papiss Cisse could do something about it. Shackled by at least two men at all times, there wasn’t much he could do in fairness.

Into the second half and the pattern remained much the same as United found themselves unable to break down Stoke. The game had a “0-0” feel about in truth and time was starting to run out.

That “0-0” feeling turned to one of those “0-1 loss” feelings halfway through the second period as Jonathan Walters burst down the left only to be taken out by a rash sliding challenge from Cheik Tiote. No complaints from me about the award of the penalty kick which Walters duly smashed home to give Stoke a lead they barely deserved due to their sheer lack of any real attacking threat.

However just five minutes later and with 18 minutes remaining on the clock the home side were finally able to breach the Stoke defence, but it took an unstoppable freekick from Yohan Cabaye for it to happen.

Moussa Sissoko was fouled right on the edge of the penalty area which gave Cabaye a shot at goal. The wall was big and there wasn’t much to aim for, but Cabaye dinked the ball into the top-right corner of the Gallowgate net via the underside of the crossbar. That was his sixth goal of the season, all in the league, giving him a ratio of a goal every three games in the league (or 1 in 4 overall) which isn’t bad for a midfielder.

I must give a mention to Steven Taylor, who did his very best to put off Asmir Begovic in the age of time it took between the award and eventual taking of the freekick. He mirrored Begovic’s every move and tried his best to put the ‘keeper off. I’m not sure it had much of an impact but it was amusing to watch at least.

With the score at 1-1 and with time running out I hoped United would have turned the screw in the search for the winner, but it just didn’t happen. Sylvain Marveaux tried his best to create something but Stoke were equal to what we could offer in attack and the game looked destined to end as a draw.

That was until deep into stoppage time when Adam Campbell fed Marveaux who slotted a clever ball through to an unmarked and onside Papiss Cisse who fired past Begovic sending the home fans into raptures.

It was an important win for us although I’m yet to be convinced that we’re truly out of the relegation scrap it does at least give us some breathing space. If we keep on picking up wins, however ugly, then we’ll soon be out of it properly. We can give ourselves another few inches of breathing space by beating an in-form Wigan next weekend.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Rob Elliot; Mathieu Debuchy, Steven Taylor, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Davide Santon; Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote; Jonas Gutierrez, Moussa Sissoko, Yoan Gouffran; Papiss Cisse

Subs: Steve Harper, Massadio Haidara, James Perch, Vurnon Anita, Gabriel Obertan, Sylvain Marveaux, Adam Campbell

Stoke: Asmir Begovic; Geoff Cameron, Ryan Shawcross, Marc Wilson, Andy Wilkinson; Ryan Shotton, Glenn Whelan, Steven Nzonzi, Jonathan Walters; Cameron Jerome, Peter Crouch

Subs: Thomas Sorenson, Brek Shea, Charlie Adam, Dean Whitehead, Michael Kightly, Kenwyne Jones, Michael Owen

Attendance: 50,703

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.

144 thoughts on “Cisse smashes Potters! Newcastle 2-1 Stoke

  1. Good read Toonsy. I would say if we beat Wigan away, it’s a real 6 pointer and we will not just have breathing space; we will be out of the relegation scrap, aside a complete nightmare. If we beat Wigan it will put us a full 12 points clear of them in the final relegation place, it’s a long way back from there, we would have to go on a long losing streak to be in trouble.

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  2. I still remember Wigan last season when they tonked us 4-0. For each of the last few seasons they go on a charge that saves them.
    Having said that I do think we’ll not end up anywhere near the bottom.
    Not worried at all even if we lose there.
    Thursday should be interesting though. Anzhi have a really strong defence and several players who can score from nothing.

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  3. Good review Toonsy .Pretty much spot on ,I said during the first half that it had 0.0 or a late sucker punch 0.1 to them written all over it ,so it was nice to get the win in the end and based on our second half performance well deserved too. Football won on the day as at least we tried to play ,they just seemed intent on playing for the draw or sneaking a goal on the counter. The time wasting after they scored was so irritating and even the ref got pissed off with Jeromes so slow exit when subbed 🙄 In the end I bet they wished they’d showed more impetus what with us getting back into it then getting the late winner ,serves em right 😈 . Big shout out to Saylor who really impressed yesterday and young Campbell put a brilliant pass to Marv to set up Cisse for the winner ,great stuff,and I’m a happy bunny today. 😀

    That is the type of team we need to be beating to survive ,next up Wigan another ***** outfit I’d like us to turn over though a point away will do me. Feeling much more secure we will stay up now but we must not rest on our laurels. Next up Anzhi ,get the win and I’ll be purring like my cat 😀 😎 .

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  4. maybe next game Taylor can do gangnam style 😆

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  5. Toonsy good preview but can’t believe you still think we’re not safe yet 😕 there is more chance of B&B starting a Pards fan club than us going down 😀 .

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  6. A very poor first half by both sides. We were much improved in the second half. A bit ominous that Pardew said Cisse did nothing throughout the game before scoring in added time. Cisse’s frustration was starting to show. What a puzzle this man is. Gouffran got himself into far better scoring positions than Cisse but couldn’t finish. He needs a goal for confidence now. We were mainly excellent at the back except for Tiote’s gaffe. The subs were excellent and paid off. Haidara is looking class. All in all a huge relief to get the 3 points. 😀

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  7. couldn’t catch the match on the tele yesterday, but was keeping up with it via push notifications on my iPhone. When we scored that second goal just before time expired, I jumped outta my bed and screamed unintelligible obscenities in such an elated way that my roommate came to make sure I wasn’t dying lol. Good win yesterday, and a win against Anzhi and Wigan will have me over the moon!

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  8. Btw- anybody got a link for Saylor’s antics right before Cabaye went all Biblical and tore down the wall of Jericho?

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  9. I’m buzzing by the fact we’re actually able to come back from games now-although both games I’d say we were on top when we went behind anyway so I guess we have gone a while since playing poorly and then suddenly changing it round, but no matter. There’s actually a reason to stick watching after we go down!

    Saylor was hilarious, especially after the goal, but I still think he’d be a bit of a poor captain as he’s a clown. But as a deputy and in terms of spirit he’s a great shout. Cabaye is leading the troops well, I wonder how much his captaincy, or at least his emerging seniority (given all the french lads we signed basically made him de facto captain among the frenchies) has had on our spirit and better performances…I mean, you can’t help but look back at all the earlier games this season and wonder whether Colo’s heart was in any of it? Has he wanted away for a while, or has it only been since he’s been caught out by his missus in Dec/Jan or whatever…?

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  10. Yeah Saylor had me in stitches with his wobbly dance and after Cabs scored he was right back in Begovic face taunting him , nutcase .

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  11. Newkie @14 ,That’s a bit knee **** imo ,who they gonna get in now 🙄 He had them playing well until recently .When I went to Reading for our match I was impressed with them and then they beat us at home , daft decision if you ask me.

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  12. about sums it up toonsy,as i said before the only way to beat teams like stoke is to play footy where it should be,on the deck

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  13. Why did Pardew say Cisse had an awful game? Even if Cisse did have an awful game, (which I don’t think he did), should Pardew be saying it in public – hardly a confidence builder. As I have said before, along with others, it was more a question of poor or wrong type of service. Pardew has to my knowledge never criticized Shola or Jonas in public: surely more deserving of criticism than Cisse who was coming back after illness.

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  14. Kim-Aye, seems a bit stupid. I mean, Saints and QPR spunked god knows how much money on new players, Reading played it cheap and to be fair got some decent deals (Guthrie and Pog on frees, most teams would have been happy with those two in the summer) they have a largely championship side, being relegated wouldn’t have hurt them and the money brought in this year would have meant they could compete and go for it again next year…If they bring in Adkins it will be a joke.

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  15. thought cisse done ok meself 1 chance 1 goal after stoke tryed to rough him up mosy of the game

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  16. Was just reading some of the bits and pieces on young Adam so pleased for him.

    Newkie completely disagree with you on Saylor not making a good captain because he’s a clown, for me he has the most important ingredients of a captain. But I will be more than happy with Cabaye as for me we haven’t had a Captain that leads us for a while, as imo Colo was never a leader. I don’t think Cabaye has been made captain just because of the frenchies coming in, sure we have spoke about him as captain before we brought the new players in, there is just something about him.
    But I still believe that he has became a different player from the one we had before we strengthened the team, and the rest of the team are different now aswell, it’s amazing the difference the team is from then to now

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  17. Half time text to my mate: “Jonas off. Marvo on for some creativity.”

    Seriously, I do not get it. I’m tearing my hair out to work it out. Who bangs their head against a wall for 1,000th time after finding out the first time that it bloody hurts? 😳

    Can you imagine explaining our tactics to a martian? He’d think we were absolutely bonkers. 😯

    “You see the idea is to get the ball in the opponents’ net.”

    Martian: “By what method?”

    “Every time we get near the goal, we kick it in the air. We keep it on the ground everywhere else, but when we get near goal we loft it.”

    Martian: “How many goals do you score using this method?”

    “Eh, none. It never works. Goalkeepers use their hands and grab it or their defenders head it away because they are facing the right direction. We have no one who is any good with their head anyway. we did have aplayer who was okay at it but we sold him to Liverpool a very long time ago.”

    Martian: “Who is responsible for persisting with such a silly tactic week after week?” 😳 🙁

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  18. Marv’s pass was spot on, but what made it was the enormous amount of time he bought himself on the edge of their box. Stoke were frightened to death that he’d do them, so they stood off. Class! 😆

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  19. Dave-I don’t know, it was funny but can you imagine your captain running up to an opposition goalkeeper after we scored a goal and pulling faces? I’d expect a bit more class to be honest, and I’m not sure it would help discipline. Cabaye seems much better suited-although even he is capable of the odd sulk. Still, the “odd” sulk is good going for a Frenchie 😀

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  20. DAVE well you were closer than BATTY he said 4.0 you said 2.1 you nearly got it spot on,aussie never fronted up with that sub of dollars so never got a bet on 😀

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  21. Newkie I know what your saying 😉 but I have served with lots of head bangers/ jokers that once they got their stripes on their arm they became a lot more serious, but Saylor for me has some qualities that make for a real good leader. But as I said for the time being I think Cabaye is the main man

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  22. I must have watched a different game.

    Ice @ 17 – You’re right to say it needs to be on the deck, but not just against teams like Stoke. Week in week out, without players like Benny and Marv, we have the same plan: down the wings and loft it in. Excuse me, Ice, for one moment:

    ALAN PARDEW, WE NEVER SCORE BY LOFTING IT IN. WHEN WILL YOU GET IT?

    TAE, Pards was right: Cisse was absolute gash. Some of us have been brave enough to say it on here that his general play has been poor for ages now and seems to be getting worse. Okay, he scored, but his first touch for the goal was gash, and I suspect, given his recent form, it was more by good luck than good judgment that he wasn’t offside.

    As for Stoke, they looked every bit as good as us until Cabaye and Marv showed that bit of class that no other players on the pitch were capable of. Another very poor performance and get out of jail.

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  23. BLACKLEY & BROWNLIE would you not think of trying .org out as they are very like minded and boring much the same as yourself its always the same old story and it bores the tits of me as i enjoy reading this blog but your contribution just lowers the quality. so please try .org or just change the fookin record and maybe others would try to converse with you instead of just ignoring you much the same as i have done until now because i just couldn’t stop myself any longer and thought i would tell you how i and i guess many others feel about you

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  24. Dave – Three men of the match for me: Sayls, MYM and Cabs.

    Sayls is great entertainment, something in very short supply yesterday. His antics with the goal keeper were choice. He is the sort of player you would hate for being a complete ******** if he played for someone else!

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  25. @ BLACKLEY & BROWNLIE
    1 pass dont make marv no superstar bud and gos missing in action alot of the time.As for cisse being gash me answer to that is 1 chance created 1 goal the winner i might add that got us 3 points

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  26. ToonToon9 – HaHa. I bore myself sometimes.

    You must be boring too because I can’t remember you ever making a contribution. Haha.

    Could you be a bit more constructive in your criticism?

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  27. TT9 @ 37 do you feel better now getting that of your chest

    B+B I guess it’s all about opinions as I didn’t think Stoke looked as good as us, and a lot of others felt the same. as for Cisse yeah his final touch is still missing but the rest of his play imo is far better than it has been

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  28. TAE – Marv goes missing in action because he doesn’t get picked by the numpty of a manager. He was just getting into his stride and building up match fitness when he was dropped.

    It wasn’t just one pass either. We only played an effective game once he came on. He ran at Stoke, putting them on notice that he’s not a player to you jump in on. I’m not claiming he’s a superstar, but he’s an intelligent and skillful footballer who plays the game the way it should be played, not like Pardew’s plan A loft ball.

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  29. DAVE players like cissie have to have the ball played into feet,he will get very little in the air more so against teams like stoke

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  30. @ BLACKLEY & BROWNLIE
    calling pards a numpty of a manager is a bit harsh bud lol he prob knows alot more with whats gone on in training than we do bud

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  31. Dave – I was sitting quite close to those Stoke boys, and they gave as good as they got IMO. When you consider we were never going to score using plan A, it didn’t matter what they did. If somebody agrees with plan A, come out and defend it. ToonToon9 are you there? I don’t know about .org, but why don’t you liven this place up? 😆 😆 😆

    My emoticons are very temperamental at the moment so I’m going to make the most of them while I’ve got them this time. 😆 😀 🙄 😯 😉 😐

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  32. Dave-yeah you could be right mate. Thing is though is that he might not have to “grow up” in that sense, I mean if he can be light hearted and a joker and keep the squad happy as well as making sure they know what is expected of them as footballers in Newcastle then maybe he can stick with that, as Cabaye’s deputy. Can’t really see him being captain up there on his own-he’s older than Cabaye and for their positions Cabaye is more certain of a start, plus there’s injuries…but hopefully he can stay clear of them for the rest of this season, touch wood…

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  33. Newkie I guess one of the main things for me with Saylor is that he is a Geordie knows what it means to the fans and City and knows everything about the Toon and Club, and IMO would be the type of player to stay and see out his career with us etc etc,

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  34. TAE – He’s a numpty because he cannot get these very good players playing convincingly. He doesn’t see what’s going wrong, and he dithers when tactics need to change and when subs need to be made.

    I’d just love to hear anyone try to defend his game plan, which is so old hat. Corners that never ever work, and lofted crosses from wingers and fullbacks that are grist to the mill for every opposition, not just teams like Stoke.

    None of Stoke’s players have the international pedigree that most of our lads have. Most, if not all, of them have English names! Good English players cost a fortune, but I suspect their side was put together on a modest budget, far smaller than ours. Yet there was nothing to choose between the teams. The difference was the tactics.

    When plan A doesn’t work, he has turns to plan B Shola. I trust the penny has now dropped with that one, but how long has it taken? It’s no surprise Pards wants Carroll back; he hasn’t got any other tactics in his locker.

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  35. Toonsy here here mate. Marvo is a great little player. People give him a hard time because he doesnt always get involved. Thats because pards likes to play him out wide, hes wasted there imo. How many assists is that now? For me he should be one of the first names on the sheet. Drop tiote move moussa back and allow him to break from deep, pop marv behind cisse with benny and gouff either side and we will see more goals. Campbell looks like an intellegent forward too hope he gets more playing time i wouldnt bother sending him out on loan.

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  36. @ BLACKLEY & BROWNLIE
    we were on top most of the game i watched they parked the bus bud

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  37. Dave-Didn’t we all think the same about Carroll? 😆 If Staylor stays to see his career out with us, it won’t be because a better team than us goes in for him…think similar reasons to Shola 😀

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  38. Wait, does that make sense? I mean, if he stays it won’t be because he turns down a better team to stick with us…

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  39. See we’re looking to offload Obertan and get Menez, seems a bit out of our price range, can’t see us getting him unless we sell a big name ala Hatem.

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  40. TAE – We must have seen different games. 😆 Granted, they didn’t threaten a great deal but neither did we. It was a boring game until Cabaye scored with 20 or so to go. With the amount of investment in talent, we really should be humbling teams like Stoke especially on our turf.

    I was delighted to see Campbell on, although I thought pards left it so late he almost didn’t get a touch. He looked quick and lively. His parents must be very proud.

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  41. Neewkie obviously if a CL club came in for him he might go but im talking more if a west ham type team came in for him I don’t think he would go for the money ala Nolan 😉
    As for Carroll I never thought the same of him, but I do think if he got the chance he would comeback in a flash and wouldn’t jump at the chance to go again. I would love to have Carroll back as I think we would be a far stronger team with Cisse feeding of him plus him scoring from corners and defending at corners

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  42. <<<<<<<< still thinks carrols the best header of a football in the prem and would love him back only dount for me is his injury record

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  43. With the attack we have at the moment (with Hatem still to come back, who would drop down to allow Carroll the first team spot? Not Cissé as it would result in Hoofball again and the players and fans hate that, not Benny or Gouffran as they provide pace and flair and definitely not Sissoko as he’s beast and our best attacking outlet. The best Carroll can hope for is a bench place as an impact sub and I doubt Ashley will pay 10m+ for one of those.

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  44. Andy tend to agree with you re Carroll, though I still think he would be a better impact sub than Shola. By the same logic who would you drop to make way for Marv.

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  45. @ BIG DAVE
    would go as far as saying hes probally 1 of the best headers of a football on the planet on his day hes simply unstopable and you can clearly see he strikes fear in the heart of defenses

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  46. ‘If God had wanted us to play football in the clouds, he’d have put grass up there’ The late, great Brian Clough, who also said this:

    ‘Players lose you games, not tactics. There’s so much **** talked about tactics by people who barely know how to win at dominoes’

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  47. @BLACKLEY & BROWNLIE
    <<<<<<<<<<<< takes it you lost your dominoes match 😆 😆 😆

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  48. To be fair I can see games where we need to play Strong defensive midfielders, games where we need to be more technical and games where a battering ram would be useful. At the moment we don’t have the choice and competition over the park to make those choices, but our top starting 11 seems a good balance.

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