Game On! Newcastle v Southampton

toonsy

Game On at St James' Park
Game On at St James’ Park
A good day to you all, and welcome to this ‘Game On’ feature which will build up to and take us through the match with Southampton this afternoon.

Last weekend was momentous for us. We managed to beat Manchester United on their own patch for the first time in 41 years which should assure a decent welcome home for the lads today.

However whilst we were upsetting the red half of Manchester, Southampton set about frustrating the blue half by holding City to a draw at St Mary’s – ending a run of three straight defeats in the process. That sounds as though Southampton haven’t been performing this season – they have, and under Mauricio Pochettino the hard-working Saints will provide a tough test for Alan Pardew against his former employers this afternoon.

My good friend Marktoon has carefully crafted a match preview for you all to have a flick through if you’ve not done so already. You can view it here and it features news of injuries and suspension for both clubs, a look at previous meetings between the two sides along with some stats and facts thrown in for good measure.

The match itself will not be broadcast live here in the UK although it is due to be shown on some overseas channels so keep your eyes out for any decent streams as those who aren’t lucky enough to be going to the match are going to want to watch. If you do find a good stream then please share it with your fellow NUFC fans and leave a link to it in the ‘comments’ section below.

Team news will be added in below on full as soon as I can possibly get to it. However if you’re to eager and can’t wait it usually appears in the comments below courtesy of some of our hawk-eyed regulars who are on it like Sonic! Either way it should be out just after 2pm.

That is just about it. This is an interesting game involving two sides who are probably overachieving at the minute if you take into account pre-season expectations so I guess we’ll all have to watch and find out which way it goes.

Howay the lads!

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

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

Southampton: Paulo Gazzaniga, Calum Chambers, Dejan Lovren, Jos Hooiveld, Luke Shaw, Jack Cork, Steven Davis, James Ward-Prowse, Jay Rodriguez, Rickie Lambert, Dani Osvaldo.

Subs: Cody Cropper, Maya Yoshida, Morgan Schneiderlin, Jose Fonte, Gaston Ramírez, Adam Lallana, Sam Gallagher

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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558 thoughts on “Game On! Newcastle v Southampton”

  1. @troy

    I’m one of those that want pardew sacked. It’s no secret. We don’t need a bad run of form either. Pardew needs to be replaced by a more progressive manager. He tries hard & is a decent english manager but he’s a small fish.

    Clarke did ok last year but i haven’t followed their performances this season. Perhaps he is not as good as a lot of fans think.

    Sure he has a good coaching background but fulham’s new manager has a good background too. Perhaps clarke just wasn’t up to the task & lukaku glossed over it last season.

    The same could be said about avb & bale.

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  2. Pardew is a small fish & he’s not going to get any bigger.

    We can attract lots of small fish. We need to hire one that is young & growing. A baby whale perhaps?

    I don’t know…

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  3. Turns out Steve Clarke has been rubbish all year:

    “You have got to look at this in the context of this calendar year. They have played 34 Premier League games and scored 31 points. Since they were third in the heady days of 2012, they have played 41 Premier League games and they have only won nine of them.

    Their chairman Jeremy Peace is ruthless. He is unsentimental.”The 20% win percentage in 2013 is a major blow to the club’s prospects. They put a lot of money into the first-team squad. They smashed West Brom’s transfer record twice in the space of a couple of hours before the window shut.”Having followed West Brom for over 40 years, I believe this is the best squad since 1981-82 and I think they are underachieving.”Roy Hodgson left behind a professional outfit. Under Steve Clarke, when West Brom were at their best, they were more attractive than when they played under Hodgson, but they were less difficult to beat. Jeremy Peace likes his seat at football’s top table and it would not sit well with him if they got relegated.”

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  4. Thought it was an enjoyable game to watch today. I thought everyone played well today, except Cisse, who was a waste of space! Looking extraordinarily good was Debuchy, Sissoko and Anita. I usually slag off Shola and Williamson, but I must say they have both been playing well recently. Respect to the ref, Mike Jones, for taking the hit to the face so well, even managing a little smile and realizing it was accidental from Sissoko. I didn’t know what had happened to the poor guy at first, then I saw the replay. I went from feeling sorry for him to laughing my *** off when I saw what happened. Sorry about that ref, I feel guilty for laughing! 🙂 Then with the melee that followed in the dug out I thought I had switched to a ‘fight night’ channel. Too funny!

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  6. Sorry Jill. Can’t agree with you about Cisse yesterday.. I am not saying he played well but what chances did he spurn? I think the open goal Remy missed Cisse would at least have hit the target. He was more mobile than Shola in my opinion. Southampton were able on several occasions to get ten men in our half. What does that say about our tactics? Surely we should leave at least one man up front.

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  8. decent result from the lads.. although we seemed a little unlucky with Remy missing a couple of chances. Tbh it had draw written all over it after beating Man U and Pardew bigging this game up. All-in-all a draw seems a fair result as we keep this impressive form rolling on.

    Linked with Berbatov 🙄 what a load of ****. we have a team of runners, team players, berbs would fit in here at all..

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  11. Mark @ Hasn’t Colo come out in the last couple of days to say he’s happy and staying?. Pretty sure Remy won’t be with us beyond this season though, his poor form in front of goal last 4 games is also a worry too. How he missed that sitter yesterday is beyond me, blimey had that been Cisse we’d never hear the last of it. Cabaye is the most likely exit I would think and possibly Krul if a big enough offer comes in .

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  13. He has Kim, but we’ve heard that many times & then a player leaves..

    If Krul did leave I would like to re-sign Forster. I really hope Krul doesnt leave tho as we’re settled with a decent keeper and he seems happy. Give him a good wage and I’m pretty sure he’ll stay.

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  14. I agree mark, I wouldn’t want to lose Krul either but I think he’s getting some attention lately . I’m also concerned Cisse will be unhappy being on the bench, I know he’s seriously out of form but he won’t improve if he never starts and his value will only go down. Then there is Benny, he won’t be happy not starting either, it’s a difficult job keeping them all happy I would think.

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  15. Anita is another who must be frustrated not starting. It was nice to see him start yesterday and I thought he was really good with one particular spellbinding passage of play which deserved a goal at the end of it. He tired in the second half as did a lot of them due to the sheer intensity of the game and probably because he’s a bit rusty from not starting every week but I was still really impressed and hope we keep hold of him.

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  16. Anita has really impressed with with his attitude. always looks decent when he plays but rarely starts unless there’s injuries. He’s always smiling and speaks positively about the Toon.

    If we could replace Cisse with a decent striker I wouldnt be too bother tbh. He’s a natural goalscorer thats not scoring. Apart from his goals his general play has to improve hugely before I’m worried about losing him. Same as Benny really, if he’s happy on the bench.. good, if not, he can leave.

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  17. so is Marv injured or wat? If we could get a decent price for Benny I’d be happy Marv took his place on the bench. he’s also a game changer but offers a bit more to the team IF fit..

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  18. Mark, No idea mate on Marv, I know he was injured at one point but it really is a bit of a mystery whats going on with him.

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  19. Still find Clarke a bit of ***** since he just sat back and said nowt when Gullit was treating Lee and Shearer like ****, The Story Stuart pearce tells about Clarke asking him whether he had any suggestions who to play at the back when he had been ostracised for the best part of a year is disgusting.

    West brom have a good squad and should go back to an experienced manager like when Hodgson went there…

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  21. Debuchys awesome, Doubt people are still pining for Simpson to come back

    On yesterday fair result i thought, Game of two halves

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  22. Debuchy is awesome but Simpson was solid too. He would have been a good squad player but i think he wanted first team football.

    Not sure why some fans dislike him.

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  23. Dont dislike him, He did a sound job for us for four years. Just some people wrote Debuchy off way too early. Hes showing now why they chased him for so long, Hope Gomis is the same in january

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  24. @cc

    Yeah i agree, Debuchy was written off but so were the rest of the french players.

    I’ve no idea how some fans can just generalise & say the french players lack passion, are lazy etc.

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  28. Liverpool say they aren’t a one man team because they did well without him, but he is an utterly class footballer. Ok so we ripped them off with the Carroll deal, but they got Suarez for 22 million, what a steal that was, even if he is a complete nutter.

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  29. KK-Why, you think we’re going for the league 😯 😆 if we want to do well and finish as high as poss then we need Spurs to implode. Not sure whether it would be good for AVB to get sacked or not tho. I guess a new manager might come in and want to clear out some players and they have a few that are worth a punt, but Levy would never let them go cheap.

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  31. Is no one else concerned that we just aren’t scoring enough goals. ❓
    We had the chance to put that match to bed in the first half yesterday.
    We are still struggling to keep going for 90 mins.
    The equaliser was inevitable, the way we kept inviting them on to us.
    We gave them far too much possession back in our own half and struggled to create hardly anything in that 2nd half.
    We kind of lose our direction once we get that first goal.
    Frustrating as hell

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  32. Its good to see the spuds GD taking a hammering too 😆
    I think they should stick with AVB for a couple more seasons :mrgreen:
    ffs give the man time 😉

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  33. Beardo-I think everyone wants us to score more goals, simply put Remy missed two sitters yesterday and we were punished for it. But then Southampton are a very defensive/organised side. They fouled us plenty of times when we went to run at them on the break-and the ref let them get away with it-and that cost us plenty of chances.

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  34. Also I really hope something clicks with Sissoko, he needs to be more confident at taking on the last man and going for goal, he is getting caught in two minds ala Obertan when the pressure is on him.

    I’m liking him on the wing though, in advanced midifield his touch would let him down and he would run himself into trouble, but on the wing once he has beaten his full back there is no catching him and there’s plenty of space for him, and he’s decent at finding his man inside the box.

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  35. @NEWKIE

    Not for the league but for 4th place. Man City, Chelsea & Arsenal have 1st, 2nd & 3rd.

    Liverpool, Everton, Man Utd & Tottenham are going for 4th. I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t compete with them & the worse they do, the easier it will be for us.

    Sissoko is also not a winger. He’s done ok there because of his physical attributes but he really needs to improve his technical skills.

    He’s also a better player in centre mid. He can tackle, win the ball, drive forward at pace & with some decent dribbling skills.

    What he’s lacking in is:
    1) his ability to pass through balls
    2) his finishing
    3) his decision making. Too often he has time & space but doesn’t know what to do with the ball. By the time he’s figured it out he’s out of options.

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  36. His decision making is probably slow because he knows he doesn’t have good technical skills & therefore he isn’t confident & sure of what to do.

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  38. Good one Brisvegas 😆 Keep it up 😀 😀 😀

    On a serious note, Sissoko really could be a great player but until he improves his ability with the ball, Anita should be starting.

    Come to think of it, who should get the drop vs Crystal Palace?

    Tough choice for Pardew.

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  42. It’s a tough one.

    Williamson has been very solid but he’s also been at fault a goal or 2.

    Imo tiote has been the biggest factor in our better performances recently.

    We haven’t got the whole team playing anywhere near what they’re capable of. If it happens, we will finally be able to take a team apart.

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  43. West Brom are fucking daft. The guy led them to their best placed finish in decades!
    And now Jol is favourite for the job!
    Doesn’t make any sense to me.
    Lose Lukaku and sign absolute ***** – what do you expect.

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  44. Salano I have to agree. Any manager can go on a losing streak and turn things around. I don’t think they would have been relegated this season.

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  45. 3 more games until the 1st of january and to be fair i think its time to cash in on cisse. he isn’t good enough anymore and we could sign someone better on the transfer fees we would get for him. clear out jonas and obertan and get ince, zaha and gomis ?

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  46. Be nice to go into January with 30 points or more, a win from Palace or stoke and maybe a draw v the other. Won’t count Arsenal as can’t see a result from that game though being home you never know. 😉

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  47. Solano-but it seems all the fans were against him and wanted him gone though, always worth checking whether the fan base are for it and It’s funny how a manager can go from hero to zero like that…

    They are going on about their form since January, but given they went out of the cups and had nothing to play for apart from safety I think they seriously struggled to motivate themselves. It’s carried on a bit in this season but they haven’t been that poor from what I’ve seen, they simply lack the striker that was winning games on his own for them.

    Something that highlights the dangers of the loan market… 😐

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  48. Kim

    Arsenal have had a similar start to ours two years back. A couple of the big boys but the majority of early fixtures against the lesser teams. Not that they get it rammed down their throats every five minutes like we did 🙄

    They had two acid tests away against the manc clubs and flopped, Chelsea will beat them and cant see them fancying playing at a freezing SJP with our current form…

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  50. Could have done with Spurs keeping AVB a while longer. Think a decent manager will get them in top 4 contention easy.

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  51. Stuart-but who are they going to get? Most decent managers are in work and I’m not sure Levy is the type to buy a manager out…

    People are saying Hoddle but I don’t really see it happening, or if it does happen, working very well.

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  54. Newkie…I’d read that they tweeted all possible combinations then deleted the incorrect ones after the draw.

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  55. Spurs won’t want Pardew. They will consider themselves above him and will probably do one of two things.Try and tempt Pochetinno from Southampton, or try and get De Boer from Ajax.

    Both will be pointless in the long term as neither will get the time/patience needed to turn Spurs into what Levy wants. Silly club.

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  57. My last 4,Semi final rounds.

    PSG
    Real Madrid
    Bayern Munich
    Chelsea

    PSG vs Real Madrid

    Bayern Munich vs Chelsea

    UCL likely to come out such matches. Then Headline would be

    Carlos Ancelotti vs Former Club

    Pep Guardiola vs Mourinho

    Then Real Madrid will win UCL. 😳 😳

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  58. Richie-Aye, it was on huffington post and they said that might be it, makes sense really because otherwise they’d be making a bigger song and dance about having inside info long before the day before the draw.

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  59. Clubs really aren’t learning, are they? So Brom sack Clarke because he wasn’t doing well enough, and will no doubt hire a manager who is available because he got sacked for not doing well enough.
    When are the boards going to realise that nobody has a charmed existence and if you’re going to sack your manager every time you have a poor run of games, you’re never going to get any better? Surely just watching us between SBR and Pardew should be a good enough example of what not to do?
    There’s only one manager I can think of who’s not been under threat of the sack for most of his career, and he just retired.

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  60. Guessed AVB was a gonner, Levy seems a ruthless $*&% . I suppose he’s looking at the shedload of dosh spent and thinking they should be flying by now. Will be interesting to see who lands the job, though can’t think who they can go for right at this time, who ever it is they will be expected to get them in the top 4 knowing Levy’s ambition.

    CC@348 ,Aye good point mate, hope your right.

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  61. Whumpie – Only successful managers get time (and success is relative), but I think a few of these managers are getting sacked as they don’t necessarily get on with the owners or players and as players are real assets the owners will always listen to them.

    Fair play to Jabba for sticking with Pardew after last season, now we’re seeing the fruits of stability.

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  62. AVB as well!
    He had the highest ever points tally to not qualify for the CL last year (also Spurs highest Premier league points tally).
    Madness.
    They haven’t been great this year, but they have had a complete overhaul so you would surely expect some bedding in time.
    Tbh if he signed the players in the summer then he should take a lot of the flak, if it was the DofF then surely he should go. Soldado really doesn’t suit them at all.

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  63. On Clarke –
    If they do a Soton and get a manager that genuinely seems a step up, then fairplay. But inevitably they are going to get someone for the same old marry-go-round. This new manager will have a decent honey moon season where they finish 8-10th, the following season they will start off struggling and bang – they are back to square one again.
    You see it so, so much.
    The ones that keep shooting the gun end up being relegated.
    If West Ham stay strong stick with Fat Sam – they will be fine and he will stabilise them as a PL side.
    Whereas West Brom are now going into a winnable home game, managerless.

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  64. Interesting Scum and Spurs both signed a lot of players which doesn’t look to of paid off and West Brom broke the bank with a couple of last day signings too didn’t they 🙄

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  65. Yeah I don’t think any of them paid heed to quality over quantity did they !
    £6M for Anichibe who has a worse goals to game ratio then Ameobi!

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  66. I can’t believe RDM is still getting paid 130k pw from Chelsea 😯
    If Roman isn’t laundering money through Chelsea FC then the bloke should still be locked up to protect the financial world as he clearly has more money than sense!!!!

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  67. Four or five months is no where near long enough for all those players to gel though. I bet half the coaches didn’t even know who they’d be working with and how many of these lads speak good english? Just as we showed last year, while they are capable of good performances communication can easily break down. Oh well, hopefully Spurs appoint someone rubbish and continue their decline. They vastly overrated their title chances this year anyway, I don’t think they realised just how good Bale was, if anything their points tally is impressive simply because they haven’t had bailing them out week after week.

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  68. Sharpy-it’s not laundering he should be in for mate. It’s murder…*

    *…According to some Russian sources – these views do not reflect the feelings of me or any of my kin, apologies Roman.

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  69. I can’t see Spurs recovering that easy to make the top 4. AVB may be gone but he spent the Bale money on players who don’t look like top 4 players. It’s like Poyet having the new players at Sunderland, the seeds have been planted by Di Canio. 🙂

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  70. I think spurs made a big mistake by spending all of the Bale money too quickly. When you bring in that many players at once, no matter how good they might be, you risk completely disrupting the squad and not being able to allow players to settle at a sensible pace.

    It seems to me best to use a large transfer kitty by bringing 2-3 players at time, give them time to settle, and then reassess your needs the next window

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  71. Chris Murphy ‏@ChrisMurphSport 4h

    Newcastle got pumped 6-0 by Liverpool at home and even then Mike Ashley didn’t sack Pardew.

    Totally agree. 😳

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  72. On Spurs – I can’t believe clubs don’t realise that half a dozen new players from abroad take a long time to settle. A glance at us last year tells you that. It’s only 10 months later they look good players. Can’t tell if Clarke is a good manager or not. Lukaku on his own is doing it again at Everton.

    Still feeling twinges of disappointment about Saturday. They are a good team but really we should have won. 99% of the crowd would have scored Remy’s second half chance. I guess we’re now seeing why Remy is an £8m striker and not a £20m one. He seems to freeze at the best chances and then score the rest. I really like him but there is a flaw there. (seems harsh but there you go 😐 )

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