Sissoko settles it! Newcastle 2-1 West Brom

toonsy

Moussa's magic moment
Moussa’s magic moment
Newcastle maintained their 100% record for the month of November by beating West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at St James’ Park yesterday.

Goals from Yoan Gouffran and Moussa Sissoko either side of an equaliser by Chris Brunt proved to be enough to give United the points in what was a game of few real chances.

The victory moved us into fifth position in the table ahead of the matches on Sunday where results will likely see us drop a couple of places. Not that it really matters at this stage of the season as it’s all about getting points on the board and we’ve done that in an impressive fashion since the defeat to Sunderland by going on a run that has eased the pressure on Alan Pardew who now must surely be in with a chance of winning the Manager of the Month award.

Tim Krul had to be on hand to tip a long range effort from Chris Brunt round the post but West Brom hardly troubled Krul or our defence for the majority of the first period. Mind you the same could be said for Newcastle who could only muster a headed effort from Loic Remy which deflected wide before taking the lead in the 36th minute.

Yohan Cabaye sent a corner in from the left which Boaz Myhill failed to clear. The ball bounced high into the air in the centre of goal allowing Yoan Gouffran to rise highest and head home from just a couple of yards out. 1-0.

Added time in the first period brought a note of controversy as Yohan Cabaye played Loic Remy through on goal only for the striker to be seemingly pulled back by Jonas Olsson which would have surely resulted in a red card for the West Brom defender had Phil Dowd deemed it to be a foul but he waved play on.

Half-time: Newcastle 1-0 West Brom

The opening exchanges of the second period saw more controversy after Chris Brunt’s robust challenge on Yohan Cabaye went unpunished with many feeling that a second yellow should have been waved in his direction. If he was off the pitch he wouldn’t have been on hand to level the scores in the 53rd minute, finishing powerfully past Tim Krul at the far post after getting on the end of Morgan Amalfitano’s cross.

Parity only lasted four minutes however as Newcastle broke forward. A sequence of neat play saw Loic Remy head to Moussa Sissoko who let the ball roll across him before firing an unstoppable right-footed shot past Boaz Myhill and into the top corner of the Gallowgate net.

A late rally from the visitors failed to conjure up a second equaliser for Steve Clarke’s side who bombarded our penalty area with crosses only to find the United defence, and Mike Williamson in particular, equal to most of them with the one exception I can think of being a header for Victor Anichebe which went wide.

At the other end United had a couple of handball decisions turned away, most tellingly when Yohan Cabaye’s effort bounced of both hands of Billy Jones before being cleared.

Full-time: Newcastle 2-1 West Brom

Not a fantastic win but another three points all the same. It’s reminiscent of the 2011/2012 season where we ground out wins for the majority of the season, not that I’m fussed by that of course. Away trips to Swansea in midweek before a Saturday lunchtime date at Old Trafford await us now. Tough games where positive results are hard to come by.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Tim Krul; Mathieu Debuchy, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; Moussa Sissoko, Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye, Yoan Gouffran; Shola Ameobi, Loic Remy

Subs: Rob Elliot, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Vurnon Anita, Gabriel Obertan, Sammy Ameobi, Hatem Ben Arfa, Papiss Cisse

West Bromwich Albion: Boaz Myhill, Billy Jones, Gareth McAuley, Jonas Olsson, Liam Ridgewell, James Morrison, Youssouf Mulumbu, Morgan Amalfitano, Stephane Sessegnon, Chris Brunt, Shane Long

Subs: Luke Daniels, Goran Popov, Victor Anichebe, Saido Berahino, Diego Lugano, Zoltan Gera, Claudio Yacob

Attendance: 49,298

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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297 thoughts on “Sissoko settles it! Newcastle 2-1 West Brom”

  1. 4 in a row.. who would have thought that.. I big wad of kudos must go out to the fitness trainer we got in at the start of the season. We have had very few injuries and we are running games out well. We still sit a little deep at times tho… happy days..

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  2. Thought Colo and Remy were our less impressive players. Story in itself.

    6.5 – Krul
    7.5 – Santon
    6.7 – Colo
    8.1 – Willo
    7.8 – Debuchy
    7.3 – Sissoko
    8.1 – Cabaye
    8.5 – Tiote
    8.3 – Gouf
    7.9 – Shola
    6.8 – Remy

    My MOTM – Tiote.

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  3. JJ@2, agreed regarding Collo and Remy. I thought Collo was a bit dodgy..

    Have Marveaux and Jonas eloped ? No sign of either of them…I thought Jonas was back from his compassionate leave stint ?

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  5. @Aussie

    Got to agree. We look fit and press the ball.

    That was one of the criticisms thrown at Pardew by the players last season, stating they didn’t think the training sessions were hard enough and they lacked fitness.

    Pards listened to them and it’s paying off now.

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  6. Toonsy good read and it sums it up well.
    Aussie it’s not often you get things right, but regards the players fitness your spot on, I have thought that but didnt want to mention owt incase I scudded us 😀

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  8. Pretty much agree with all that’s been said, the “new” fitness coach seems to be doing the job so far(fingers crossed).
    MM… Aye I think Jonas is back but I doubt he’s anywhere near match fitness… he wasn’t even fit in some games last season when he was here and training all the time 😆

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  10. The press have been oblivious to the Gouffs goalscoring, 5 for the season now and barely a mention. Hes scored more than Benteke, Lambert, Lampard, Dzeko, Soldado and Morrison who are raved about in the press.

    We could have two players well into the teens if he and Remy carry on their form, They have both created goals, have good technique and work as hard as anyone.

    Both tremendous signings by Carrdew

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  13. You must a fine observer of every detail of the game, JJ, to be able to be so precise with those ratings. 😉

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  14. StevP ….Titanium Mike Williamson and The Gouff, two players who between them cost thirty bob and a box of Bovril crisps, and now both forming the backbone of the exciting new Toon. Who would have believed it.

    It only goes to show that you don’t always have to shell out millions on “names”…

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  15. The thing which pleased me so much yesterday was the tempo of the game. It seems as if we have upped our tempo, and really looked like we could mix it technique wise and muscle wise with a hard tackling West Brom team. Well done the lads.

    As lads have mentioned earlier, it’s all down to the new training regime. Plus we don’t have the dastardly Europa League disturbing our preparation work. In his defense of Pardew, Troy has been saying this for months now, and no-one believed him. He really does have a good idea for the big picture has wor Troy…

    I think Soussoko’s shoulder charge on Ridgewell was mental, and Ridgewell aint no wuzzy. Soussoko, the man is a beast 😯 😯

    All of our Frenchies are starting to look comfortable with the pace of the EPL.

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  17. My analysis is flawless.

    Team of 11 with 11 monitors, one for each player on the field. I work to five decimal points but round off for the benefit of the simpletons on the blog.

    If your opinion varies is probably because of your lesser understanding of the game. 😛

    I’ve been sending my stats and advice to Pards who began listening for the first time about two months ago. 😉

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  19. JJ, after the win, ive been looking forward to you multi post “forget all the good stuff, here is what we did wrong” reviews 😯 😆

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  21. I’ve nae idea what that means but I guess a “never mind there’s always next week” is in order 😀

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  25. Whisper it but King Kev sort of, almost , just about paid the regime a compliment during his punditry yesterday 😯

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  28. It was a good solid display. Nothing fantastic but definitely a deserved win.

    Both teams had chances to win it but we won it because we have more quality/better players than WBA. Pardew has done well getting most of the players, playing for each other.

    This win was a much better performance than at both Chelsea (where we could have been 3-0 or 4-0 down at half time) & Spurs (where Tim Krul gave us the 3 points).

    Swansea could be difficult but i don’t think they will be harder to beat than WBA. Why is Laudrup supposed to be this awesome manager?

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  32. Richie , Defoe is off to Canada isn’t he, he’s signed a pre contract agreement with Toronto in the MLS for a reported £90,000 a week 😯

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  35. Kim…Aye he’s off to the MLS as opposed to Key’s “NFL”.

    Aussie… Oh well it was nice while it lasted 😆

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  44. Do we want Chelsea or Southampton to win?

    I think a Southampton win would keep things much tighter at the top but it would also mean we drop down a place.

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  46. Who would have thought that we’d be a point off 2nd and ahead of manure, spentup spurs and man city after the Sunderland loss when we were crying for pard’s head.
    Now he’s likely to win motm for November …. Football, funny old game ….

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  47. I want chelsea to win, I have a $50 bet with my brother that manu will finish up outside the top 3… :mrgreen:
    no sturridge, **** me, he is in my fantasy team 👿

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  48. WOW! We must be getting used to winning on this site now I think based on the posts.
    Not a player slagged off, no Pardew criticism and hold the fucking phone …. Troy has agreed with Aussie 😯 😯 forget FA Cups, that is Pardews greatest achievement!!.

    I thought we were excellent yesterday to be honest. WBA was a tough fixture I thought and you could see that they are a team that are well disciplined and won’t give up. It was a cracking performance by our boys I thought and a cracking goal by Sissoko. I have to be honest though, my first thought was, god I wish it was Cisse who hit that. That’s the type of goal that could break his duck and get his form back. That said, I was chuffed for Sissoko and it was great to see him celebrate with the bench.

    Personally 5th spot is nice to see, but for me the fact that we have 23 points in the bag already is brilliant!. I know there has been alot of talk about what position we finish in (top 5 to 10), but I’m sure that Pardews first goal will be to reach that all important 40 point mark as quickly as possible.

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  49. Just took a quite look at fixtures of Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton.

    Only Everton have the “tough matches” ahead.

    Which means, we might have chance to be 4th.

    😳

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  50. SteveP… It is indeed and that’s why I love it and that’s why I find it amusing when people use “fickle” to put someone down, I’ve never met a football fan who wasn’t fickle to some degree.

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  51. Sharpy 😆 Troy knows im right most of the time, its just that the misguided fool is too proud to admit it 😆

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  57. @richietoon

    6-8 weeks, it’s not nice to be happy about players being injured but…lol.

    @sharpy17
    I wouldn’t say we were excellent. We were solid & decent. We controlled most of the game & had a couple of chances where we could have ended any chances of a comeback from WBA.

    Hopefully an excellent performance is on it’s way, perhaps HBA & Cisse will come out all guns blazing against Swansea?

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  60. @sharpy17 – 55

    I understand what you mean about Colo & his wife but seriously, i can’t see how it is a big deal!

    He gets paid enough to fly them around on a private jet if he wanted to. They could quite easily spend a few weeks here & a few weeks there – money is no object.

    It’s 2013 where we can talk to Aussie in an instant.

    Maybe i have no heart?

    Or maybe they just need to check back into reality??

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  61. Hull Tigers? Is it really that bad??

    If anything, i would change the name from Hull to something else.

    Newcastle United Magpies, doesn’t sound too bad either lol

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  62. Aussie,
    That’s a nailed on bet that. I have a bet with several mates (made at the start of the season that Man U won’t finish top four. Ie. No Champions League.

    I think Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool, Spurs, Man Unite (6th).

    Think we’ll finish 8th/9th.

    So anything above 8th Pards has done well.

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  63. KK – WBA have a very good away record and are a threat to alot of teams. Look what they did to Man U at Old Trafford. Ok so we didnt turn them over 4-0, but no team has!. I genuinely thought the way we applied ourselves to the game yesterday was excellent. When we conceded the goal we didnt panic and we didnt allow them the chance to gain momentum. We were strong and positive and as you say, we controlled alot of the game. Short of taking those chance you speak of, I don’t think there was much we did wrong yesterday at all mate.

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  64. KK – money isn’t everything mate. By the way she writes I’m not sure that being flown round the the world on a private jet is the lifestyle she is really bothered about. Not every footballers wife is a WAG. His wife aside though mate, he has young children who are caught up in it as well. It looks like the club may be working on for him anyway:

    http://mobile.newsnow.co.uk/A/682593174?-11058

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  65. @sharpy17

    I think we’re almost on the same wavelength about our performance yesterday.

    For me, an excellent performance is 8 or above out of 10.

    I would say yesterday we were 6, possibly a 7 out of 10. It might have been our best performance over 90 mins this season (Liverpool was the other game where we were solid).

    It’s still a positive because i still think we are far from playing at our peak.

    About Colo’s wife, i’m not saying she’s a WAG & long distance relationships would be almost impossible for your average joe, but they’re not like us.

    Money can & does make people happy. She could come & see him within 24hrs on a private jet, he could talk to her everyday on skype- it makes me wonder how got by before the internet & jet engines lol.

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  68. KK@65, I think the key element forgotten here is trust. If he has previously strayed and that is what caused the rift between them, then all the skyping in the world or jet planes won’t help .The minute she returns to Argentina after a visit or talks on Skype she would be wondering what he’s up to, once a cheat and all that if you like. That marriage can only be saved if they are back living together imo , hence why he knows he needs to return . Only thing is, I can’t understand why he doesn’t buy out his contract if it’s such an important issue. 😕

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  69. @kimtoon

    I understood it as that they had just grown apart by not spending much time with each other.

    Perhaps she was feeling lonely & neglected so she went back to Argentina to be with her family & friends.

    In any case, his career is nearly over, he has 1 chance of featuring in the world cup & he can only make the squad if he plays well for us.

    I kind of feel she should wait for him.

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  70. KK – ” but they’re not like us”. They are exactly like us mate, footballers are human being with a talent – but they are still just humans.
    Their wads of cash may steer them clear of the problems the ‘average Joe’ may face. But with it come other problems – all the leaches want a piece of you, girls throw themselves at you and as we are now – everyone has a judgement or opinion on you.

    Can we settle on 7.5 out of 10 for yesterday? 😉

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  71. Kim,
    Again agree with you.

    I feel for Colo, but he has the option to buy put his contact. San Lorenzo could contribute to that.

    But he won’t. So how much does she really mean to him?

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  72. KK, maybe, depends if the rumours of straying are true or not I suppose. To be fair he’s always given his all to us, though the last couple of games he’s looked slower to me but maybe he’s just not match fit yet.

    On yesterdays game I really enjoyed it, we actually entertained as well as won the game . 😀

    Woo hoo Hull regain the lead 😆

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  73. Sharpy I would give yesterday 8/10 I was very pleased but I’m still waiting on a really barn storming show where we totally thrash a team ,preferably the Scum :mrgreen: .

    JJ, aye you have to question his commitment to her really, why does it have to be penniless San Lorenzo he goes to . If it’s all about family and getting home surely a richer Argie side would be a better option.

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  75. Just watching Hull 2 Liverpool 1 on TV. The game I’m watching Hull are battering Liverpool, who are playing on the break. Hull are forcing the game.
    The commentators on the other hand seem to be watching a completely different game as if Hull are lucky.
    They seem genuinely sad that Liverpool are losing. I thought they were supposed to be neutral 😯 😆 😆 tossers…

    Take Suarez out of the Liverpool team and they are decidedly powder puff up front.

    Howay the lads !!!!

    Pardew for England. 🙂

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