It’s early days in terms of the Premier League season yet United have managed to tick along quite nicely in terms of results.
A 4-0 humping in our first game of the season wasn’t the best start, and our goal difference is still smarting from that, but four games unbeaten since the opening day has given supporters a cautious optimism. However it’s not just results that have mattered though as performances have also been better. Simply put we’re playing better football these days and there is a sense that if we can keep these players fit and performing we might actually be able to muster a decent season.
Standing in the way of us continuing our run today are Hull City managed by former Mackem manager Steve Bruce. He will no doubt want to prove a point as the last time he was seen at St James’ Park he presided over our fiercest rivals heaviest defeat on Tyneside in living memory.
It’s an interesting game on paper as United should have enough in the tank to despatch the newly promoted Tigers, but United always seem to struggle when they are favourites and that is something I’m very mindful of.
Team news will be added in below, in full, as and when it becomes available but it’s always worth checking the comments at roughly 2pm as team news is often posted there first.
Being a 3pm kick-off means that the game is not being shown live here in the UK but it is being broadcast overseas so finding a stream shouldn’t be too much of a hardship. If you do happen to stumble across a reliable stream then by all means share it by leaving a link in the ‘comments’ section below.
That’s just about it. Will we fall the right side of expectation today? Or will Hull City be celebrating a third win at St James’ Park in four seasons?
Howay the lads!
Newcastle: Krul; Debuchy, Yanga-Mbiwa, Coloccini (c), Santon; Anita, Sissoko, Cabaye; Ben Arfa, Cissé, Remy.
Subs: Elliot, Dummett, Williamson, Tiote, Marveaux, Sammy Ameobi, Gouffran.
Hull City: McGregor, Rosenior, Davies (c), Chester, Elmohamady, Brady, Huddlestone, Livermore, Quinn, Aluko, Graham.
Subs: Harper, Bruce, Faye, Boyd, Meyler, Proschwitz, Sagbo.
KK@444… it really is one defeat mate…. you can’t lose a single game twice.. so please spare me the psych babble.. if you have interpreted it as much more than a loss, then that doesn’t make what you are saying correct.. .so please don’t post it as gospel..
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
And kept the same shape? Not much of a plan B there either, Toby.
I think Pardew’s plan B happened when we went 442. But it made no difference to the game. Plan C was long ball into the middle. That nearly worked out at the end.
I think he tried things. But they weren’t very effective, mainly because Hull played so well in defence.
brisvegas(Quote)
Deep into the second half, you could see by the look on Pardews he was thinking “What would JJ do here, what would he do?”
if only JJ was there to help out 😆 😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
🙄 *Pardews face*
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
well what can you say after that bubble-buster?
Poor defending and Hull wanted it more. Just shows how poor Villa are after they thumped the Gunners on the opening day.
Hull deserved their win for the endeavour they showed and the way they stifled our play.
We have a long way, esp Pards with his lack of plan B. cant believe old cabbage moi tactically outplayed him 😳
I also cant believe we didnt try and bring in Lukaku. total beast yesterday, he would of linked great thru the middle of our forward line… just shows we havent got a pot to **** in if we cant afford a loan player after shifting a few off the wage bill.. 🙄
mark(Quote)
KK
September 22, 2013 at 00:51
@roy cropper
What did you possibly expect to do on here??……..
a BIT of a moan & LOTS of laughs perhaps??
anyway no offence meant mate – let’s meet up for pre match drinks at the next home game & we can talk tactics.
that said – the hanging lady – from the airplane movie springs to mind.
i don’t think i’ll bother with those drinks after all – ted.
roy cropper(Quote)
just watched the last 2 goals again. Elmohamadys goal was embarrassing, no one near him and Aluko also had loads of space, he even had a a spare man behind him..
mark(Quote)
Things are going well. Bang on course for mid-table mediocrity. 🙄
Troy Stavers(Quote)
What bandwagon are you going to jump on this week Troyster ? 😛
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
aye Ive noticed troys become a bit of a butterfly, jumped straight into my chrysalis. 😉
mark(Quote)
Looks like we signed the wrong Amalfitano 😳
Really, really, really…where does this all end ?
Remy, a loanee, is by FAR our best striker. QPR get promoted, and of course have the option to welcome him back into the fold.
Of course he returns, or, other clubs have been awakened to his qualities, and he is sold on to a “big” club who recognise what it takes to sign international strikers…i.e. pay the money..
Cisse’s non-existance is a really worrying situation, which were it not for Remy’s goals and HBA’s occasional brilliance would have us down there with the makkems.
If Pardew thinks we have replaced Ba’s goals, or in fact made inroads into solving our lack of goalscoring (and the non-contributing midfield/defence need to be lumped into it too here), then he’s not seeing the real picture.
We don’t expect to score 3-4 every home game, but need more goals throughout the side. That’s patently obvious ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
Oh and p.s. obviously our defence isn’t as tight as Pardew thinks following yesterday’s performance ? I’m playing the blame game, Pardew as always should take part of the hit, because at the end of the day that was his full strength team out there.
No Europa League distraction, an almost full strength squad to choose from, a full house at home…. What a disappointing end-product, we should really ask the question, why were we only in third gear ?
My answer, our players, Cabaye in particular, are quite simply not as good as Pardew will have us believe. He aint conning me.
Munich Mag(Quote)
http://www.3news.co.nz/VIDEO-All-goals-highlights-3-2-Hull-City-V-Newcastle-English-Premier-League-2013-14/tabid/415/articleID/314199/Default.aspx
Video quality isn’t too good I’m afraid… but better than nowt.
At the end of the day we still had 15 minutes to try and salvage a draw. Could anyone who was at the game let us all know whether we actually built up a head of steam at all looking for the equaliser ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
MM .That’s the disappointing thing for me ,the fact there was little urgency to equalise in the remaining 15 minutes from the lads .The only one busting a gut was Remy who deserved a hat trick yesterday ,he was our motm imo. Second half they played as individuals not as a team and it was a mess ,too many trying to be the hero instead of trying to be a team . Hull played like that against City but didn’t reap their reward ,yesterday they did . Everton will beat us I’m convinced of that much ,player for player we can match them but team for team they are better .Cardiff won’t be easy either ,remember they held Hull to a draw so are likely similar competition to Hull .Then we have the Dippers who despite the loss to the saints yesterday are looking very good and oh yeah Suarez will be back. And then we have the unwashed who may well have a new broom sweeping clean by then knowing our luck.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Oh and then Chelsea and Spuds 🙄 🙁
KIMTOON(Quote)
Our defense is being let down by some lazy midfielders and co. The goal from Benteke last week was because Sissoko didn’t track his run. Ben Arfa was day dreaming for hulls first. Debuchy was out of position but Benny didn’t help out and fill the space..Remy was supposedly helping out when he failed to track mohamody’s run for Hulls second. And Sissoko wandered in to space ala Saylor to mark nobody for hulls third.. these are small things that cost you in the pl. We also didn’t close down space quick enough and we allowed hull to pick passes. Only Anita really worked his **** off to put pressure on hulls players..
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Thought the ref had a decent game although there were two occasions where neither the players or crowd knew what was happening. He did let the game flow and played the advantage very well.
Groucho(Quote)
A new article up would be good. I can’t access this one but I’m fairly certain some will still be trying to pin yesterday’s defeat on Pardew
Sharpy17(Quote)
Aussie I agree about Anita ,I really like him he forces opo players to get rid of the ball quicker than they would want to due to his pressure on them .
KIMTOON(Quote)
http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1560150?cc=5739
He talks about not making Knee **** signings but isn’t that what we will end up doing in January if injuries to key personal set in and leave us floundering.
KIMTOON(Quote)
For all of their supposed brilliance (Pardew’swords not mine), several of our French players do tend to have brain farts at inopportune moments.
Sissoko,while I love what the bloke brings to the team in strength and presence, obviously cannot head a ball to save his life, and is often caught ball watching or out of position in situations on the edge of the box. Ditto Mbwia last week for the Villa goal, and shockingly so Debuchy, who is really hit and miss at the moment, and still has a long way to go before becoming an established EPL player.
ffs if we have so many Francophiles in the team, and still cannot get the communication right, then it’s obvious where the problems lie…:evil: 👿 👿
We need to get working on the mental agility within the team, and our ability to concentrate the full 90 minutes. Getting to grips with the rigours of the EPL, and the consistency required is obviously problematic for wor lot… Pardew must be pulling his hair out ….but there again, it is 100% his side…
Munich Mag(Quote)
@brisvegas
Everything i’ve posted has been rational. I don’t blame pardew because of the way he looks or his personality. I blame him because when we don’t perform, the buck stops with him.
I agree with most of the rest of your comment.
KK(Quote)
Has everybody got over the inevitability of our defeat yet? From the moment we all realised Hull were playing well and we weren’t we were never going to win that game. When our first 11 aren’t at their best, Pardew has nothing to replace them with and nobody on the bench who will change a game. Cisse at the moment is a pile of *****, he has no confidence and when he’s not scoring he gives very little to the team. But what options does Pardew have? The fact Cisse is still playing tells us he has no other options and that is down to the pathetic regime.
God forbid we get injuries to Arfa and Remy – we would be relegated like a shot.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart79, I would settle for “mid-table mediocracy” – Troy’s quote not min….NOW… I don’t fall for Pardew bigging up his average squad, and as for Nobbin and Dobbin sniggering in the background, well….words fail me …
Munich Mag(Quote)
@amf – 451
There’s no psych babble from me. It really is more than one defeat. It’s the performance that means more than the defeat.
We haven’t had a very good performance this game, last game or last season.
Losing to teams like hull is not a big deal. It happens to other big teams too. Players do make mistakes in every games, most games they get away with it. It’s completely ok.
What is not ok is just sending a team out without a plan. Hull had a plan, they targeted ben arfa & debuchy.
What was our plan? How do we play? What is our style?
We don’t have answers to these because of bad coaching & a bad
manager.
Remember it doesn’t matter that we lost, it does matter that we didn’t have a plan to win.
KK(Quote)
@ roy cropper – 456
I’m doing my bit with a bit of moan but…..
you don’t seem to be doing your bit with the laughs.
That joke about hanging lady/airplane movie – atrocious!
I guess it doesn’t matter as long as you laughed to it. You did find it funny,didn’t you roy?
KK(Quote)
@amf – 466
100% agreed. Only anita looked like he knew what to do & when.
Aren’t they supposed to do this stuff in training? Don’t the watch dvds of the opposition and get told who to mark??
KK(Quote)
@stuart 79 – 473
Perhaps he could start gouffran instead of cisse?
It shouldn’t be just down to the strikers scoring or the midfield scoring the occasional wonder goals.
We don’t carve out chances.
The goals we scored yesterday were because remy reacted quickest.
They weren’t scored because it overloaded the opposition defence or because our players were one on one.
We move up the pitch too slowly. How is that possible with players like remy, sissoko, ben arfa etc?
KK(Quote)
KK if only Jabba decided to run the club properly by doing the most important thing and getting the right people in to run the club and team, then it could be so different.
But then he’s happy enough with how things are aslong as he doesnt have to pay proper money to the right people.
Big Dave(Quote)
KK, so we had no plan to win? 😯 😆 😆
Poor man marking doesn’t translate to a lack of a game plan to win.. we were up twice before we switched off and conceded.
Couldn’t disagree more with you…
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
AUSSIE MAGPIE FAN
I think we were poor but also a bit unlucky, how many times will Hull go and score three goals like that this season? The third goal was a peach of a volley that he couldn’t do again in a hurry. On another day we would have played poorly and won or got a point. But it’s a lesson to the (newish) guys that you can’t give less than 100% in this league no matter who you are playing. They need to work on that big gap in defence between Debuchy and Mbiwa, Everton will drive a coach and horses through it if it is still there next week.
DJG(Quote)
Aussie an odd time you get things right and thats one of them times, bad marking but I guess it was Pards that told them not to mark their men
Big Dave(Quote)
DJG, true enough mate.. i think teams also target Debuchy because they know Benny is not much chop at defending, so Debuchy is isolated somewhat… and if Benny is defending, he isn’t attacking.. teams will be go all out to make sure Benny is doing his share of working back…
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Big Dave, thanks….i think 😆
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
MM@462 ‘Why were we only in third gear?’
Well, in Pards interview he moaned that we dropped down a gear into third gear.
The real question should be why does Pardew think we are unable to play in first gear and that the best he can get out of the team is with them playing in second gear?
sidekick(Quote)
Aussie, I have said many times (and previous to our signing him) that Debuchy is not a full back.
Jamie Carragher is right in saying that most full backs in professional football are failed wingers.
I am still convinced that both Debuchy and Santon would make excellent attacking wing backs – and that natural full backs, Mbiwa and Dummett should play behind them.
Unfortunately , we will never see this tried.
sidekick(Quote)
Sidekick, i think Debuchy is going to find his feet.. he has a defenders mentality but needs to get to grips with the pl. Collo and Jose were both average in their first season and they developed well.. Debs will come good..
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Sidekick@485, spot on. I think it’s a combination of several things, the players aren’t as good as Pardew says, plus Pardew isn’t as good as he says, so the end product is bottom third mediocracy.
At the same time, the majority of clubs seem to be suffering from inconsistency at the moment. The one thing that gets my goat is Pardew trying to ram the fact down my throat that Cabaye, Ben Arfa etc are all “world class players”. They quite simply aren’t.
Munich Mag(Quote)
Eminem, from my lounge chair, it looked like Benny surrendered a little after he failed to get the better of his man early on.. i won’t say he gave up but you could see he was not in the contest mentally.. it was a bit disappointing to witness…
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
KK why not write up your thoughts in an article coveribg what you want and how we can get there. Sure Toonsy would publish it.
Premandup(Quote)
AMF, I take your word for it mate, spot on.
Let’s be honest, me and thee from our lofty armchairs could work out a tactic to double up on HBA, it aint rocket science at the end of the day. However, I’d like to think we would also come up with a cunning plan which would take advantage of the fact that the opposition were doubling up on our best player, and perhaps leaving space to be exploited ?
That HBA lost heart so early on bears witness to the fact that he obviously isn’t the world class player Pardew thinks he is. Pardew should stop blathering so much nonsense and concentrate on getting his team sorted out.
The big worry for me is the morale-sapping effect of having so many fair weather players in the side, who’s performances fluctuate so shockingly from week to week. It’s just a matter of time before the “purples” kick off again because the club is not moving forward on the pitch. That they have a responsibility and also huge part to play in this improvement seems to be lost on them ? Too many “followers” and not enough leaders perhaps ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
Premandup@490, I can’t formulate it effectively enough mate, and prefer to deliver bite small pieces of reflection for consumption, be it good or bad.
Munich Mag(Quote)
btw, what a brilliant finish from Remy for his second goal. Henriesque finish, “passing” the ball into the next, rather than blasting it. Surely Cisse can learn something from having this lad playing alongside him ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
Eminen, i think the fair weather call is a good one. I noted it earlier that i believe that the lads went out expecting a win over Hull.. They seemed to be waiting for things to happen, instead of masking them happen.. Hull to their credit, worked hard and got the win.. bastards…
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
AMF, I think there is no doubt that superior skill can win through, and I am ecstatic to have HBA and Remy in our side, Cisse too for that matter. However, it only goes to show that without a master plan,100% TEAM effort, a certain level of consistency, and a reasonable portion of luck, you just aint gonna win the games. Application is everything, and a sensible tactical system which promotes the “we” over the “me” is the way to go for sure.
Putting all our eggs in the HBA is way too predictable, that we don’t have a cunning plan as a second option is all down to Pardew’s tactical ability, and the players implementing his wishes. “We were too loose” Pardew said yesterday after the shock defeat. Yeah, that’s right, but “loose” for 90 minutes ? Give ower man. Get some players into the team who have some nads about them, and can take the game by the scruff of the neck, and put a rocket up there backsides I say.. 👿
Munich Mag(Quote)
Munich @ 495 Couldn’t agree more. Pardew also needs nads to take off players who are not performing no matter who they are. Forget how well a player played last week if he is not performing in the current match sub him. I think a good manager needs a ruthless streak.
Groucho(Quote)
Groucho, the scene is set perfectly for the return of Jonas and Tiote to the first 11… 🙄
Munich Mag(Quote)
Are there any longer match highlights from yesterday’s game to be had ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
I see that damned Europa league really having a negative effect on Swansea performances isn’t it… Amazing what a bit of squad strengthening does.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart, some on…we are 5 games into the season and who gives a **** about Swansea..
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
AMF – We were only 4 games into the 2008/9 season when Hull beat us at home.
I didn’t give a sh*t about any other club , but I did give a sh*t about being relegated at the expense of Hull.
sidekick(Quote)
Sidekick.. the 5 games in comment is in relation to europa games and league games to date.. it’s early days for all teams in the comp..
As for hull? They didn’t get us relegated.. we did.. what have they got to do with anything?
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
AMF – It’s pretty normal at the end of a season for fans to look back over that seasons results and see where we would have ended had a seemingly easy game not been lost.
Hull come into the equation because if we had only drawn that game they would have been relegated in our place.
I do, however, fully accept your point that our displays over the whole season got us relegated.
sidekick(Quote)
People finally agree with me on just how poor and useless Cisse is. I feel truly vindicated. Cabaye too is average at his best. One average season, a poor one and he clearly started as he left off last season.
When people say Cisse is good and just needs this and just needs that surely you realise how precise everything has to be for him. That is The stars must be aligned in such a specific way, the moon must be the right distance from the earth, Demba Ba must be the player out wide anyone else it will not work and The defence must also give him a 10 meter head start and the goal keeper must be on his knees and the ball must be just on the goal line and then he will score.
I’m sure even our grand mothers would be scoring too.
My point is a striker in need of such precise conditions and only when all are satisfied is deadly is actually a rubbish striker and Cisse is Rubbish. Hr has only been good about 25% of his time at newcastle and that is not near good enough.
michael12(Quote)
http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/74823-Sir-John-Hall-Mike-Ashley-bought-the-club-to-advertise-SportsDirect
KK
I suppose you will believe what you want but John Hall clearly believes that Ashley bought the club as a vehicle to promote his other business.
And he was actually in the negotiations so maybe he has some insight that you do not.
Just sayin’
Pootle(Quote)
Ben Arfa lost possession 23 times yesterday. And should have done far far better with both the first and third goals.
One of the worst performances I’ve ever seen in a black and white shirt.
Hopefully he gets back to his previous form soon.
JJ(Quote)
Now that’s embarrassing for Manure ,how much better are city with Kompany back in the ranks
KIMTOON(Quote)
4.0 to city 😳
KIMTOON(Quote)
You could play Vuckic in flippers and he would still be better than Cisse
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Cisse willcome good, I’m sure of it. It just it would be nice to have another option to take him out of the spotlight for a while… Shola is hovering on nthe horizon…
Munich Mag(Quote)
Looking at the table we definitely missed out yesterday.
Premandup(Quote)
TOBY LE RHONE
I would like to agree, but Vuckic was incredibly poor in the Morecambe game. 😯 Might as well stick Obertan upfront if you just want someone to be a lingering threat.
DJG(Quote)
@premandup
That’s a good idea. I’ll get working on it soon.
Yeah it’s a shame otherwise we could have een 6th. If we lose to everton we might be in the bottom 3 and that would do nothing for our momentum.
Once we’re in a bad spell we almost never come out of it….
KK(Quote)
I’d be very surprised if Vuckic ever makes it at Newcastle, or in a top league, he either will be injured or to be honest, what I’ve seen of him so far, he just isn’t good enough. 🙁
DJG(Quote)
Will Man U have a difficult time finishing in the top 4 this season? It’s beginning to look like it. If they continue to struggle I would expect a lot of activity by them in the January window. Without Van Persie they looked decidedly average today. We sit 12th now. That’s about where I expect us to continue to sit or lower. No depth, a poor number 9, weak on the right side. The core isn’t strong enough yet either. Cabaye has too many average or lower games along with Cisse, and Debuchy. We have a lot of work ahead of us and little help to be expected from the owner and Joe, Director of F*** All.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
KK – It’s still early in the season though, when you can climb a lot of places with a couple of wins. Eventually things will even out and we will be… in mid-table. 😉
DJG(Quote)
Oh my god Munich mate you’re not relying on Shola to right the ship are you? If we have to rely on Shola we’re in even deeper trouble than I thought. I think you were having a laugh there mate. This is the depth that Pardew has at his disposal. Pathetic. Kinnear and Mike were enjoying themselves at the match apparently. What exactly was amusing them? The thought of more than 51,000 handing over their hard earned dosh possibly?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
@pootle
1) John Hall saddled the club with debt (debt now owed to ashley). Mike Ashley prevented us from folding like leeds & portsmouth. Do you not think John Hall might want mike ashley to look like the bad guy so that he can look like the good guy? I’d take Mike Ashley over John Hall & co anyday.
2) It’s cheaper to sponsor a club than to buy it. Otherwise the likes of Barclays and Emirates would just buy clubs. They are a lot bigger than Sports Direct.
Mike Ashley has made mistakes but he’s not some kind of antichrist. The club hasn’t been this strong since SBR.
KK(Quote)
KK
very worst we can be is 4th bottom. If that’s any consolation 😆
Premandup(Quote)
Man Utd showing what happens also when you fail to improve the squad as much as your competitors.
In football – when you fail to improve the squad, you go backwards.
Stuart79(Quote)
It’s not really Premand @519 mate. We struggle to make an impact on consecutive weeks. The sign of a poor team. Now we have Everton away and they look very decent already. If we make excuses for the club we can’t criticize Pardew for doing the same in my opinion. Therefore we should criticize poor performances, especially with a laughing owner in the stands enjoying the sight of a full ground when he has just spent nothing again.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
@djg
A lot of fans would be happy with a mid table finish now which is odd for me because where is the excitement in that?
I want matches to mean something rather than it not mattering because we’re safe.
Cisse will come good but in the mean time we have remy & gouffran. We should also be getting goals from all over the pitch. How come evra gets a few goals and our defenders & midfielders struggle.
KK(Quote)
Spot on Stuart79. Something our owner will clearly never learn. I think the last window is the true indicator of Ashley’s ambition. Spend little or nothing, laugh at the supporters for filling the ground and pocket some of the TV money each season. From wealthy slug to an even wealthier slug. The slime trail gives him away.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
If the only reason to be in the Prem is to be “safe” we’re wasting our time. That is what Ashley wants, together with a full ground for every home game and huge TV profits. That is it. Nothing more. He will continue to employ dolts like Kinnear as long as he gets that. The only possibility of change is if we sink down towards the bottom again as with last season. What a pathetic way to run a club, but we’re stuck with it. We either end up with owners who loot the club and leave a huge debt or an uncaring idiot worth billions whose idea of planning for the season is a pissup on a yacht.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Rant over. I’m looking forward to the Leeds game as a way of seeing some of our other players. Dummett, Bigi, and possibly even Good could get a game? Is Haidara finally fit again? And I suppose Sammy will make an appearance as well. A game against a Championship side should allow for squad rotation without a catastrophe as in previous seasons. Let’s hope it turns out that way.
GeordieTwo(Quote)