Our future in the Europa League is in the balance as we come up against a Benfica side who are in fine form and have no issues scoring goals.
Granted tonight is only one leg of this two-legged Quarter Final, but a decent result tonight is a must if we are to have anything to take back to St James’ Park next week. We simply mustn’t let the tie be out of sight by the end of 90 minutes this evening. We’ve got this far so let’s not get all “gung-ho” and blow it by being too cavalier. We need to be cleverer than that.
Possession is going to form an important part of our game plan tonight, or at least it should do. Frustrate them and play with purpose and patience and we might just surprise a few people who have this down as a defeat before a ball has even been kicked.
Having said that you can see why we are underdogs in this tie. Benfica have some cracking players and don’t have the pressure of a relegation battle looming over them. Instead they have the pressure of a league title to consider albeit in a significantly weaker league than the one we compete in.
The match preview has been up since yesterday and can be viewed here if you haven’t already had a peek at it. It features some updates on the injury front, confirmation of our 19-man-squad that we’ll form a team from tonight along with some interesting stats and facts.
The game is live on ITV4 this evening so watching it won’t be a problem for most. The best place to be is obviously in the ground along with the other 3,800 Mags, but the reality is that most of us aren’t there so if you’re not there and can’t watch it on ITV4 then please feel free to leave a link to any streams you may have stumbled upon in the ‘comments’ section below.
I’ll be doing the team news tonight which will be featured at the bottom of this article in full as and when I can get my grubby little hands on it.
And that’s that. Now it’s over to the real Stadium of Light to see just what happens. Being honest I’m not expecting much but we shall see I guess.
Howay the lads!
Benfica: Artur; Andre Almeida, Luisao, Ezequiel Garay, Lorenzo Melgarejo; Ola John, Nemanja Matic, Andre Gomes; Rodrigo, Oscar Cardozo, Nico Gaitan
Subs: Paulo Lopes, Roderick Miranda, Pablo Aimar, Lima, Maxi Pereira, Urreta, Enzo Perez
Newcastle: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Davide Santon; James Perch, Yohan Cabaye; Sylvain Marveaux, Moussa Sissoko, Jonas Gutierrez; Papiss Cisse
Subs: Rob Elliot, Mike Williamson, Dan Gosling, Vurnon Anita, Gabriel Obertan, Shola Ameobi, Adam Campbell
**** Cabs caught him then 😳
KIMTOON(Quote)
Just had the same convo with owld dog big dave
Ice dog(Quote)
Toby ,if only mate ,we’d kill em
KIMTOON(Quote)
Dave – agreed.
Kim – Jonas has been everywhere tonight.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Yanga-Mbiwa got barged off the ball far too easily there.
toonsy(Quote)
Pup it just show’s Dog isn’t daft 😆 😆 I hope he has been behaving himsel 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
Bastards not shy at drinking wine Dave we bought another place so we have been celebrating lol
Ice dog(Quote)
Toonsy Mbiwa hasn’t been to bad so far but im still waiting to see the same Mbiwa that the Kid was talking about that was far better than Saylor
Big Dave(Quote)
Spuds 2.2 now, 👿
KIMTOON(Quote)
Pup good on ye lad just keep an eye on the owld Dog 😉 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
glad to see the back of Rodrigo… although Lima is bit of a goal-machine
M(Quote)
Why can’t we get three or four men in or around the box when attacking. Poor Cisse is ploughing a lone furrow.
Groucho(Quote)
Cheers Kim your quicker than the site I keep checking on the other games
Ice dog(Quote)
Another injury in Europe 🙁
Come on Vernon spray a few gems about. 😉
Why did Cabs put a reassuring arm around Mbiwa earlier 😕 did he have cross words with Cisse and Sissoko 😕 ❓ something defo happened .
KIMTOON(Quote)
Anita 😯 😳
KIMTOON(Quote)
Cheers Dave much appreciated
Ice dog(Quote)
**** touch Anita
M(Quote)
well done Sissoko
Big Dave(Quote)
Whats up with all the police in the corner 😕
KIMTOON(Quote)
Pup maybe have to visit Malta sometime 😆 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
schoolboy stuff
M(Quote)
Did you all see the riot police barging up the stairs down at our right side of the stadium? Is that where toon army is located?
TF(Quote)
Shocking from santon, thrown it all away now
Newkie(Quote)
Santon FFS 🙁
toonsy(Quote)
Santon you plonker 🙁
KIMTOON(Quote)
Santon fuking gave that away
Big Dave(Quote)
you could see him going to pass it. never looked
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
u fucking bellend!!!!!!
M(Quote)
Santon what a fucking idiot !
Munich Mag(Quote)
How many mistakes has Stanton to make, bloody hell
ash1001(Quote)
the home fans were fighting amongst themselves
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
All started with Taylor playing around going nowhere.
Groucho(Quote)
Tf @172 no mate other end but something is defo going on 😕
KIMTOON(Quote)
Benfica score from a really difficult chance from a ***** back pass from Santon. Cisse misses two easy 1 on 1 chances with the goalie.
Small margins lose games at this level.
****…. 👿 👿 👿 👿
Munich Mag(Quote)
Saylor is fuking furious
Big Dave(Quote)
Plenty space now Dave and even more than 1 ******* née worrys
Ice dog(Quote)
We re getting battered and are absolutely non-existent. Hanging on by the skins of our teeth for the last 30 minues …
Munich Mag(Quote)
Joke
Newkie(Quote)
ffs falling apart now ,oh well
KIMTOON(Quote)
Well done steven taylor you fucking tool
Newkie(Quote)
Silly there from Taylor 🙁
Game over then 🙁
toonsy(Quote)
FFS its starting to fall apart now
Big Dave(Quote)
retake
KIMTOON(Quote)
oh maybe
Big Dave(Quote)
or maybe not
Big Dave(Quote)
Let’s be honest, Steven Taylor has been ***** tonight. What a complete and utterly twatful effort to talk his way out of a ridiculous hand ball
Munich Mag(Quote)
well cooly taken to be fair
KIMTOON(Quote)
men against boys….
Munich Mag(Quote)
Taylor wants gaffa tape around him, idiot
ash1001(Quote)
Imploded springs to mind
Andymag(Quote)
Taylor special – that’s his downfall
Bye bye Europa – guess we can concentrate on relegation battle then
stevep(Quote)
I actually blame Santon for that 3rd goal as it’s his stupid pass that has heaped the pressure on us to be in this mess .
KIMTOON(Quote)
Of course this will be Pardew’s fault. He’ll have told Santon to **** up and Taylor to have a wavey wavey at the ball 🙄
toonsy(Quote)
**** back pass from Santon for the 2nd
Fucking Saylor handball and he grabs his bollocks to pretend he didn’t handle it! – the daft *****!
Take 3-2 right now
Sharpy17(Quote)
Outclassed and all helped by 2 twatful toon mistakes
Pardew has the arguments lined up now, but lets be honest we haven’t had a sniff for the last 20 minutes 👿
Munich Mag(Quote)
Saylors useless – how many times do we have to see him do that
stevep(Quote)
Silly Santo for second goal but Taylor has not impressed me all game. Distribution poor and passes back too much to Krul.
Groucho(Quote)
If we get one back and make it 3-2 it’s not the end of the world. We’ll be down by one with two away goals in the bank. It could still be ok 😕
toonsy(Quote)
Toonsy off course it’s Pards fault 🙄 and Saylors fault oh and Cisse’s
Big Dave(Quote)
Cisse trying to play in Sissoko there
KIMTOON(Quote)
Cisse please man.
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
**** me Cisse…. what a bad choice of pass. 🙁
Munich Mag(Quote)
Two stupid mistakes and that could be it.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
We still actually worry them going forward, but these two **** ups by two individuals have thrown the tie away for us i think.
Newkie(Quote)
Right come on lads get a goal back
Big Dave(Quote)
WTF did he flag that for
Big Dave(Quote)
that was not off side **** lino
KIMTOON(Quote)
Robbed of another attack, how do these officials get paid to ruin football? cunts
Newkie(Quote)
Assistant cocked up there like
toonsy(Quote)
What now then? Take the 3-1 to St James, or try and grab one back.
My instinct says go for it, but i’m not sure
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
Big D@209, what do you make of it ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
If we can grab a 2nd ,that’s fine .
Santon beaten again there 👿
KIMTOON(Quote)
ST go for it and try to get 1 back ❓
Big Dave(Quote)
Shola overtakes Shearer on European appearances 😆
toonsy(Quote)
I reckon Staylor has been poor, and gave away a daft penalty.
Cisse missed 2 excellent chances pretty much 1 on 1 with the goalie.
Man oh man our central defence is all at sea 🙁
Munich Mag(Quote)