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
Fucking stupid sub!!!
Where’s fucking Campbell at man Pardew and you’ve taken off arguably the most creative passer of the ball
Sharpy17(Quote)
Our midfield don’t seem able to stem the tide. Cabaye has disappeared…
Munich Mag(Quote)
Here’s the slayer then. 😆
we look so sloppy at the back ,but they are leaving big gaps also ,we can get one more if we go for it I’m sure ,just need to hang onto the ball for more than a minute.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Come on Gos make a name for yersel
Big Dave(Quote)
Simmo has done alright today, funnily enough had little to do with the 3 goals
Newkie(Quote)
MM your right about Cabaye he has been awol for most of the game but on Saylor and Cisse your starting to sound like someone on here that has a problem with Pards 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
Poor old Santon looks proper upset ,but he looks much better going forward than defending . 🙄
KIMTOON(Quote)
Why don’t we play “Dusty Bin” up front for the toon, he’s got a better touch than Shola 🙁
Munich Mag(Quote)
10 minutes left and we’re pushing for a goal. Ameobi comes on and uses up five minutes with needless fouls 👿
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
JUST to long from Cabs there
KIMTOON(Quote)
Kim @ 232 yeah your right there
Big Dave(Quote)
Shola playing like he’s inside a pinball machine pinging into everyone and anyone 😆
KIMTOON(Quote)
Cabs has been unbelievably quiet this game
Big Dave(Quote)
Big D…tonight I feel sorry for Pardew, I’m not having a shot at him, I’m just irritated and disappointed.
Regarding Cisse’s missed chances, he should have put them in, end of story.
He can’t stand up front with his hands on his hips complaining about not getting the ball, then miss 2 clear 100% chances and expect to be devoid of criticism. A good striker doesn’t need 4 100% chances to score 1 goal. Today he has a LOAD more chances than he would normally get 🙁
Munich Mag(Quote)
good recovery Mbiwa after losing it
KIMTOON(Quote)
Kim @ 237 thats why I say we should play campbell ! we know what we get with Strolla
Come on FFS lads
Big Dave(Quote)
Well I’m up at 3am so I’m off. Will get match report done when I finish tomorrow afternoon. Laters guys and gals 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
Reckon Cabs is carrying a knock you know as he’s never THIS quiet
KIMTOON(Quote)
MM 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
the howler from santon changed the game.
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Bale carried off on a stretcher as a precaution but he’s defo injured .
KIMTOON(Quote)
Pardew is clueless I’m really starting to turn on him. **** poor second half its almost embarrassing. Cant wait till this season ends now.
Santii(Quote)
Toby ,agree with that
KIMTOON(Quote)
Cabs was lucky there , no need for **** like that
Big Dave(Quote)
Might be getting beat off Benfica but makems can’t even win on FIFA
Ice dog(Quote)
Munich Mag
April 4, 2013 at 21:53
“He can’t stand up front with his hands on his hips complaining about not getting the ball, then miss 2 clear 100% chances and expect to be devoid of criticism”
True enough. Shame the criticism started pretty much from the first minute though…
toonsy(Quote)
Pup why are you posting as my honorable friend Dawg 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
Too many defeats.
Michael12(Quote)
I think if we hadn’t made 2 twatful mistakes they would have run out of steam and we may have escaped with a 1-2 perhaps.
Looking back, I think Staylor got caught out by the flight of the ball for the penalty, but Santone’s mistake was the one which rocked us.
Soooo disappointed 🙁
Munich Mag(Quote)
The old dog doesn’t know what FIFA is other than the football assosiation
Ice dog(Quote)
Dissappointing end to a great start, with lady luck we could have really rattled them with a 2-0 lead but it wasn’t to be. Focus on Fulham and get this over with now, 3 points on Sunday.
Oh, Pardew oot? 😆 😆
Newkie(Quote)
well all I can say is Pards is fuking **** and his tactics are **** and he’s going to get us relegated 😈 but we should keep him 😯 and give him the time to take us down 😆 😆 😆 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
People on here are really blaming Pardew. The mind boggles.
Once again, individual errors have cost us. It’s always the same. I would love to know where we are ranked in terms of errors leading to goals.
Getting sick of Santon as well. He makes too many mistakes. Haidara looks better than him already imo.
The Kid(Quote)
Right I really am off before the kneejerkers **** me off too much. Night all 🙂
toonsy(Quote)
Toonsy, criticism is criticism mate. How many chances does the bloke need to score a goal ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
Disappointing, could have been so different with Cisse’s two chances, Santon not making that daft backpass….
but at the end of the day, they were the much better team and probably deserved the result. We were lucky to get as many chances as we did. Didn’t look after the ball at all.
rossco(Quote)
I think we were perhaps unlucky to lose three one. However why this love affair with Shola? That is why I sometimes doubt Pardew’s judgement.
Groucho(Quote)
Didn’t know the slayer was married let alone popping a sprog…..
What she have??
Buncha(Quote)
Toonsy @203. You have it right there unfortunately. As for Cisse not getting the love here, while I am not a big Cisse fan, think on this: if Cisse had scored 30 goals this season up until this march, would you still think his missed chances a sign of a poor striker or would you think it was unlucky. I prefer to think that balls against the post are mostly unlucky.
griff(Quote)
I think firstly its worth remembering that Benfica have been outstanding in there league this season and clearly have some very talented players.
We had good spells and bad spells tonight. We weren’t clinical enough in our good spells – 2 off the posts. But we gifted Benfica goals during our bad spells.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Toonsy, if you are classing me as a kneejerker then so be it.
Cisse missed a bunch of good chances, and we made a couple of horrendous mistakes..
BUT …we got battered, which is a fact. Krul made 4 – 5 excellent saves.
If anybody thinks that is ok then so be it …
Munich Mag(Quote)
Kid I don’t agree with your predictions on Mbiwa so far but hopefully he’ll come up to the standard that you put him at, but I do agree about Haidara and Santon maybe we should try Santon as a LW as as you say his defending isn’t as good as his attacking
Big Dave(Quote)
Speaking on the goals, I think that was a poor effort in defence. We have problem in defence. Simple as that. Can’t wait until/if Colo comes back.
griff(Quote)
MM@254 I’m pretty sure Sissoko ducked and the ball then hit Saylor on the arm ,don’t know why he ducked though .Would have to watch again to be sure mind.
No fault at Pards door for tonight , he said what he wanted from the lads which they gave him first 25 mins ,but he cannot be held responsible for the poor pass by Santon or Saylors HB. However ,Shola was a poor sub ,he should of took a chance on Campbell .
Hope Perch is ok by the way. 🙁
KIMTOON(Quote)
Toonsy @ 259 I might do the same before the anti Pards ***** starts
Big Dave(Quote)
MM it would have been great if Cisse had put away those chances. But didn’t Benfica’s forwards miss good chances? Did you see Van Persie’s miss against Chelsea. I don’t know of any player who puts away every chance.
Groucho(Quote)
If we play like that week in week out, I wouldn’t have any problem with Pards. Great spirited performance. Can’t blame Pards for two individual errors. Only fault was bringing on Shola, who always kills a game when you need to keep it alive. If Pards keeps reading this blog, the penny will drop.
Twatful from Taylor. He’s got to cut that stupid arm action of his out. Felt sorry for Santon who was having a good game.
If my man, Marv, can provide the same number of quality chances at home, it’s game on.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Its sad to see others coming round to my opinion on Santon 🙁 I honestly wish I was wrong. Not sure he will suit being a winger either to be be honest.
griff(Quote)
Griff he mightn’t make a good LW but who do we have now thats better
Big Dave(Quote)
New Contract for Shola, Pardew you have to be joking, 3 fouls, a booking, offside, cart horse slow (sorry carthorses your not that slow) – Time is up Shola. sorry
ash1001(Quote)
Groucho@271…you’re right about Cisse. He had a bunch of chances, and should be entitled to miss now and then. I suppose it’s probably frustration at the fact that he seems to be the only player who ever gets a chance for the toon these days 🙁
I suppose I was just fired up because the stakes were so high this evening, and we just shot ourselves in the foot big time. However, irrespective of the mistakes we disappeared out of the game for large periods of the game and were clinging on at times. The best team won, I just didn’t like the way they won because we made some horrendous mistakes which helped them to win the game 🙁
Munich Mag(Quote)
Big Dave – Typical of you. What you talking about? I can’t see how anyone can criticise Pards for that. Performance like that makes you proud. You stand up and fight; and if you lose, you know, you’ve given it a go. It’s the plan A we’ve been calling for. Another performance with that sort of ambition, and who knows?
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
It really is a mystery why Pardew rolls out Shola… Him and Obertan must have some dodgy photos of Pardew tucked away somewhere 🙁
Munich Mag(Quote)
Played some tremendous stuff at good tempo in first half which was good to see. Shame two of their goals came from self induced ****-ups from us and lady luck was missing for a few of the chances Cisse had. Despite the result still feel optimistic for some bizarre reason regarding return leg at SJP.
Geordie Deb(Quote)
Just watching Chelsea and there was a Terry handball in the box which looked far more a pen than Saylors yet not given 🙄
KIMTOON(Quote)
Laughing at Pardew saying they are a top 10 side… They are a far bigger team than Newcastle and have far better players.
So top 10 they are still 5 places above us. Pardew looks a right **** now and its pretty embarrassing for Newcastle.
Santii(Quote)
Jesus , just seen Bales injury looks like ankle ligament damage ,nasty
KIMTOON(Quote)
Munich @ 278 the very same thought crossed my mind when he came on
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Santii….I suppose at the end of the day Pardew showed a combination of naivety and “typical Pardew talk” with his comments. He is obviously not used to the high profile european scenario press conferences. He needs to learn the ropes how and what to say, and when not to say anything, above all he needs to learn how to play a straight bat. 🙁
Munich Mag(Quote)
I still think Benfica look shakey at the back and we have nothing to lose and everything to gain in going for it at SJP. I wouldn’t mind seeing Cisse and Campbell play next game.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Big Dave
As I have said on numerous occasions, I have seen a lot of Yanga M’Biwa and he is class. His errors don’t worry me at present time as he has joined a team mid-season and sometimes just tries things you can’t get away with in the Premier League/against top sides. He will learn this quickly and be better next season.
He is our best defender and you will agree at some point next season.
Credit to Taylor for his improvement though.
The Kid(Quote)
Bigdave @274. Left wing at a 4 3 3 or a 4 2 3 1 aka a 4 5 1 I would say Goofy has the edge over Santon. I know that Santon has a goal to his name but that was on the right. Goofy has better movement and still looks more likely to score. In a 4 4 2 that is a tough question now that we don’t have Ferguson around. Lucky we don’t play that formation that often at the start of games 😉
griff(Quote)
Kid I hope so as I said he has been steady enough and as you said he has joined us in the middle of a bad season 😉
Kim I agree for some reason I still think they are beatable but Pards will fuk it all up again as usual because he is useless 😀
Big Dave(Quote)
a bit sickening really. held our own and exceed expectations first half even with a cpl of missed chances. Did ok start of 2nd but two awful mistakes cost us dearly.
Terrible back pass and a bad bit of acting from Saylor again with his ‘honest ref it hit my balls’ auld trick.. stupid!
not lost but it will be hard. shame a cpl of mistakes could put us out.
mark(Quote)
B&B – now don’t go down that path Munich is trying to lead you. I was just about to write that I agreed with your 2 prior comments.
The fact is that we are short up front – it was Shola or Campbell. Pardew can’t change those options til the summer and already stated it is a priority. I would have preferred to see Campbell come on but not sure if he would have made THAT much of a difference to be honest.
Agree about our performance though and posted that very comment on Cisses goal – same group of players so what’s the difference?!
Play like that against Fulham – minus the catastrophic mistakes and its 3 points closer to safety IMO
Sharpy17(Quote)
I was right Sissoko did duck cause Saylor caught him on the back of his heel and it made him go down that led to the ball hitting his arm 🙁 **** happens.
Oh Scarface is on ,off to watch ,unexpected treat 😀
KIMTOON(Quote)
I agree with others that it is a shame not to see Campbell on as a sub. However to be fair on the lad, it isn’t the best feeling being subbed on when your team is behind. 😕
griff(Quote)
I think we might see a different game at SJP, and have a feeling that this tie is not finished yet. I saw enough this evening to say that we could score goals against Benfica, just the same as they had us under pressure at times. At the end of the day a 2-0 win would see us through, and we had them worried on several occassions this evening.
Howay the lads, but first 3 points against Fulham 🙂
Munich Mag(Quote)
griff @ 287 thinking about it yeah your right Goofy is better I guess I just have a soft spot for Santon and would like to fit him in somewhere .
Which maybe explains some of Pards choices like \Strolla even though I can’t stand to see him getting a chance, but maybe Pards likes him and tries to fit him in ❓ ❓ ❓
Big Dave(Quote)
MM just wondered are you a relation of the Stavers ❓ 😆 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
Sharpy @265 sums it up.
In our decent spells we looked pretty great, for the majority of the first half I was very impressed. We still lack that steeliness when we concede a goal or two.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
I agree with the Kid about Mbiwa. Looks class to me.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
Big D, I think Sharpy17 got it right, we don’t really have any options up front apart from Shola. Maybe they don’t want to put young Campbell’s lights out by throwing him on in a game where we were pretty much backs against the wall. Haven’t seen much of young Campbell to be honest, but at the same time I have seen enough of Shola 😳 😳
Munich Mag(Quote)
Big D@295, what do you mean mate, there isn’t an ounce of teflon in my being 🙂 I’m well short of being a Stavers … 😆 😆
I thought I was pretty clear in my criticism tonight, and in general 😉
I haven’t slagged Pardew tonight, was just disappionted in our inabliulty to take our chances and the mistakes. Still, for the first 20 minutes I was ecstatically happy with our performance going forward. Pity it had to end 🙂
Munich Mag(Quote)
I hit our new roof when we scored. Leapt off the settee like a salmon. I waited and waited and waited in complete silence, gob agape, watching Cisse’s lob. Never known time stand still as much. Great moments. That’s why I love football.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)