The first switch about we see is in the managerial dugout where former Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce will try to guide West Ham further away from the relegation zone whilst former Hammers boss, Alan Pardew will be wanting to end a run of four straight defeats against the side he used to preside over.
The dugout isn’t the only meeting of former colleagues in this one though as Upton Park is now classed as home for two former Mags in the shape of Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll. We’ve seen first hand what a dangerous pairing they can be as they feed off each other so it’s fortunate for us that our former skipper will be missing through suspension although our former number nine has recovered just in time to face his hometown club after appearing as a substitute against Cardiff last week.
West Ham:
As mentioned above, Carroll is available while Ravel Morrison is still expected to feature despite lingering doubts over his future.
Kevin Nolan serves the final game of a four game suspension with James Tomkins also set to miss out following his red card at Cardiff last weekend. Winston Reid and James Collins remain sidelined while Guy Demel is rated as doubtful after suffering a head injury.
Newcastle:
Mathieu Debuchy serves the last of his three game ban, while Fabricio Coloccini and Ryan Taylor remain sidelined through injury.
Previously…
Newcastle have failed to beat the Hammers (lost one, drawn two) since they won promotion back to the Premier League, with our last victory being the 5-0 win at St James’ Park in January 2011.
At Upton Park it is West Ham who have had the better of the meetings between the two sides over the years having won 29 of 59 games played in East London. United have registered victories on 15 occasions with the numbers being made up with 15 draws.
However, our exemplary record at St James’ Park (P60, W31, D20, L9) means that overall we have the edge over West Ham. The 119 matches played to date have yielded 46 wins for Newcastle compared to 38 for West Ham with 35 draws being registered between the two sides.
Stats and facts…
Newcastle have lost four games in a row in all competitions. A fifth loss in a row would be our worst run of results under Alan Pardew. The last time we lost five in a row was in our relegation season.
United have failed to score in the last three Premier League games.
West Ham were the only side to keep prevent Newcastle scoring home and away last season.
The Hammers have lost 14 points from winning positions this season, more than any other team.
Newcastle are yet to draw an away game this term.
Expanding on the old boys theme at the start of the article, the following players have represented both West Ham and Newcastle – Demba Ba, Craig Bellamy, Lee Bowyer, Franz Carr, John Dowsey, Kieron Dyer, Dave Gardner, Paul Goddard, Shaka Hislop, James Jackson, Vic Keeble, Matthew Kingsley, Paul Kitson, Robert Lee, Joe Loughlin, Scott Parker, Stuart Pearce, Wayne Quinn, Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson, George Robson, Keith Robson, Harold Smith, Nolberto Solano, Hal Tate and David Terrier.
Final thought…
West Ham’s win last weekend came just at the wrong time for us. They were torrid prior to that and whilst there is no shame in getting humped by Manchester City, suffering a similar fate against a side a league lower is not something to shout about.
United need to stop the rot before it sets in and starts to erode what was a cracking first half of the season. There hasn’t been a lot wrong with the performances aside from being a bit flat at times but ultimately it’s results that matter.
Will we get one at Upton Park? I’m not sure. There are too many ex-Magpie factors at play for me to worry about. Andy Carroll is one of those but Sam Allardyce is the biggest one. I don’t recall him losing against us since he was unceremoniously booted out of Newcastle by Mike Ashley although I might be wrong. Hopefully that changes tomorrow.
Howay the lads!
Date: Saturday, 18th January, 2014
Time: 3pm
Venue: Upton Park
<<<<<<< going for a toon win 😀
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
***** old game it depends which team turns up on the day i hope w/ham go back to the way they have played in the first half of season and we have one of our better away days 😕
icedog(Quote)
Given our respective displays against Citeh you’d have to say WHU are heading the right way for a smacked bottom 😀
tsunki(Quote)
Agree with Ice. Depends on what Toon team turns up. The agressive team against City or the negative inept side that played WBA
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
I didn’t think we could get anything from the City game but the performance was an improvement. This is a game where we really need show that the performance levels are back. We will only beat them if we show up and battle, it will be a scrap against Fat Sam and Carroll, although Carroll will lack match fitness he will still be dangerous in set plays.
DJG(Quote)
We need a win but depending on the team we have I wouldn’t be surprised if we were held to a draw 👿
Big Dave(Quote)
1-0 to the toon.
mark(Quote)
In wonder if Pardew will send the players out tomorrow telling them not to pass to each other, not to work hard, not to pick up players at set pieces and to generally play poorly?
If we win it will be the players, of we lose it will be Pardew’s fault. will never understand that logic.
Stuart79(Quote)
WHU have there defensive problems so I would hope for a strong attack minded line up tomorrow.
Would love to see a 4-3-3
—————— Krul —————-
Santon – Saylor – Willo – Haidara
— Cabaye — Tiote — Anita —
— Gouffran – Cisse – Remy —
I think that line up would destroy WH personally. Willo will need his baggy shorts tomorrow as well coz Andy Carroll will be in his fucking pocket!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stu @ 8 😯 why what other logic could it be ❓
Big Dave(Quote)
Think it will be a draw tomorrow.
KIMTOON(Quote)
I think the lineup will be the same than against City with Debuchy as right back for us.
Good chance to win if we start the game aggresively and don’t wait and hoof the ball.
HBA39(Quote)
Sharpy
I reckon it would be best to assign Taylor to Carroll and let Willo marshal the defence. Probably not a bad game to have 2 big lads at the back, against West Ham and Big Spam.
DJG(Quote)
DJG – I considered that mate, but they have history don’t they and I’d hate to see Saylor drawn into something stupid where he kicks out at Carroll and gets into bother.
I’d defo have Willo on Carroll at set plays tho.
If we play like we did against City then I see a win. Their defence and Keeper is weak so our forwards should get chances tomorrow.
Noble is probably their best player but I reckon if he goes with Tiote, Cabaye and Anita we win the midfield hands down. Saylor and Willo could and should take care of Sams long ball game.
I don’t see where they beat us, so anything other than a win tomorrow I’d be disappointed personally
Sharpy17(Quote)
@stuart79 – 8
Ultimately the manager is responsible for results on the pitch more than anyone else whether or not those results are wins, draws or losses.
However we don’t need to keep praising Pardew for the favour he’s been doing us by being our manager.
I know he could have had his pick of any league one club but lucky for us, he chose to come here.
You Pardew fan boys are embarassing him by showing your love for him. I’m sure you were delighted when hughton was sacked & replaced by the awesome pardew 🙄
KK(Quote)
Is Mbiwa injured or suspended? Not sure how he would be behind STaylor in the pecking order.
KK(Quote)
I think will win. We’ll play decent football too but i can’t imagine us not getting the 3pts.
KK(Quote)
@sharpy17
Sissoko is higher than Anita in the pecking order but yeah, that would be a good team to see (excluding STaylor).
Nobody wants to see Marveaux start despite him being our best creative player?
KK(Quote)
@ KK says
Nobody wants to see Marveaux start despite him being our best creative player?
says who bud 😆
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
@ KK
if he was our best creative player and was puting in the graft i think we would be seeing him 😯 but as we not seeing him i would say he aint puting the work in meself 😆
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
@TAE
You’d have to define graft before you can say Marv isn’t putting in the effort.
Marv has been easily our most creative player this season & last season everytime he has played.
If you had a lazy striker that kept scoring you wouldn’t drop him. Why would you drop a creative midfielder that keeps creating chances.
Even if he is lazy we’d still be scoring more than we have been.
KK(Quote)
Where are people getting this idea that Marv is lazy?
KK(Quote)
Stuart,
I said against City and Arsenal Pardew got his lineup and formation more or less spot on.
For me, his only mistakes were his substitutes. Who he brought on, who came off and their timing.
I’ve been satisfied enough with performances.
Think we’ll win today 1-2 if the right attitude is there and he doesn’t play too defensively.
JJ(Quote)
20 odd posts in and already we’ve had the Pardew and Marv posts!! 🙄
Ground hog day!!
Sharpy17(Quote)
I think it could be a 0-0. Both teams will be low on confidence.
Has our super DOF of football signed anyone yet? I believe he’s been to Germany, but I think he was just booking his hotel for Oktoberfest.
Stuart79(Quote)
Given that Pardew is ****, and that our best player doesn’t play it’s a miracle we are where we are really.
Premandup(Quote)
I imagine Pardew and the Lads will have their minds firmly on the trip to abu dhabi and we will lose once again.
A team bonding trip and a time to integrate new players into the squad.
Ha Ha Ha.
Of course if we had qualified for the 4th round of the cup, then the trip wouldn’t be on. How very convenient. 👿
What a bunch of twats the whole lot of them.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Regarding Marveaux, maybe there is a pay as you play clause written in somewhere, because for the life of me I can’t understand how Obertan gets on the bench in front of him.
Munich Mag(Quote)
However **** he may be Fat Sam seems to have the heeby jeeby’s on us. I can see a dour game with West Ham getting in our faces. 0-0 or a 1-0 win for West Ham. Hope I’m wrong though.
Munich Mag(Quote)
MM I agree it must be gut wrenching for Marv to see Oba get on ahead of him.
As for your predictions for todays game I would tend to agree
Big Dave(Quote)
Yalreet Big D….:-)
I’ve been out travelling with work all week, so haven’t been on the blog too much.
Maybe I’m touching on old ground, but I wanna come back to Pardew foul-mouthedly abusing Pellegrini during the Man City game. Pardew should be ashamed of himself, the bloke is representing Newcastle United and the people of Newcastle at the end of the day. He should be fined 20K euros in my opinion. If SAF had have done this the media would have been in uproar.
Pardew has amassed a few embarassing moments on his CV the radgie. No wonder the media give NUFC poor or limited exposure.
Munich Mag(Quote)
Munich. Surly the more embarrassing the more coverage. Still at least he shows some passion.
Premandup(Quote)
MM like Prem I think it shows passion 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Our good run was started on the willo mbwia partnership. was it clean sheets v manu chelsea spurs. cant understand why saylor started there last week. santon rb haidara lb. if saylor is up against carroll today he will be more intrested in the personal battle and forget basic defending and marking. hes always not far from another stupid decision.
kev(Quote)
Even stick Saylor at RB. anything is better than him at CB
Premandup(Quote)
@sharpy17
The posts on Pardew started with Stuart79. Thd post on Marveaux was a question to you.
Why would you pick 3 strikers but not play a number 10 to provide them service?
I also asked why you’d play STaylor?
@Premandup
If any individual player doesn’t play, the team can still function, Colo is a good example.
I thought we had already agreed, Pardew is rubbish by global standards but he is still at the club because Mike Ashley is risk averse.
This squad of players is too good to be fighting relegation, i’m not sure why anybody thinks being midtable & out of the cups is an achievement…
KK(Quote)
KK
I think the general consensus was that, with Debuchy still suspended, Mbiwa will play at RB again, although you could be right and Santon/Hiadara could be at fullback. I think Pardew will stick with Santon-Williamson-Taylor-Mbiwa personally. That gives us the strength to defend against West Ham in the air and if we win the midfield battle (which we should with the players we have) then it could be a decent defence.
DJG(Quote)
Not only risk adverse. Pardew might not be a world class manager, but he is not at a world class club. He is perfectly competent at managing at the level he is at however.
Premandup(Quote)
Big D and Prem, I would have liked to have seen what would have happened if Pardspew had called an English speaking manager that. I’m sure if I had been in the other side of the dug out you would have seen some real “passion” 🙂 Picking on foreigners and old gadgies at that….embarassing…. 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)
The alternative is to play Hiadara at LB or Anita at RB and I don’t think he will. It’s not the Pardew was to make decisions like that. 🙂 Plus it’s shop window time, if Steven Taylor is for sale. 😉
DJG(Quote)
MUNICH MAG
I’m sure you’ve said before, but I was interested to learn your opinion of Luuk De Jong? I haven’t seen him play to be honest but he seems to be a long term target.
DJG(Quote)
@Premandup
We’d have to define Worldclass but we are in the top 20 clubs in the world yet we don’t have the 20th best manager in the world.
KK(Quote)
i see MM must have been on the subs bench havent seen him for a while 😆 😆
icedog(Quote)
KK – I understand your argument re Marv but I also question his workrate and Pard has said this week that he hasn’t given up on him but needs to see more commitment on the training ground.
I also don’t know where I’d play him with the other players we have at the moment. I did post a formation the other day:
—————— Krul —————
Debuchy – Colo – Willo – Santon
———- Cabaye — Tiote ———
– Gouffran – Marveaux – Remy –
—————– Cisse ————-
Would be the only line up where he’d fit I think.
I’ve gone 4-3-3 today coz WH have nee defenders.
I’ve gone for Saylor, firstly coz I think Pards will, but I also think that WH will play with the ball off the ground as they launch it up to AC. I think Saylor is better in the air and MYM is better on the ground. I also think that Pards will likely play Santon LB and put MYM at RB
Sharpy17(Quote)
Anything close to the performance and effort we showed against Man City and I think we’ll get a result.
solanostrumpet(Quote)
@DJG
Hmm, i think Hadaira would be the more attacking option so playing Mbiwa there would seem we’re a bit defensive.
A good point about it being shop window time.
KK(Quote)
@sharpy17
Work rate & laziness have been used as reasons not to play Marv. However he is an attacking mid & his work is to create chances which he has done better than everone else.
I think you’re probably right about Mbiwa starting at right back & STaylor in the centre.
KK(Quote)
Vic Reeves prediction- West Ham 0 – Newcastle United 10
Lawro’s prediction: 2-1
After their good form before Christmas, Newcastle now find themselves on a bad run after losing four games in a row in the Premier League and FA Cup.
Things might get worse for them this weekend because if you are West Ham boss Sam Allardcye and Andy Carroll is ready to start then I think the obvious thing to do is to unleash him against his old club.
I am not sure how strong the Hammers will be at the back because they still have a lot of defenders out injured, but I would certainly back Carroll to cause Newcastle a lot of problems.
😆
DJG(Quote)
@solanostrumpet
I think the effort will be there. It’s been a few games since we won & the players will feel hard done by after last week.
Usually performances are based on effort so i’m very confident we will get the 3pts.
KK(Quote)
Anderson is leaving Man Utd.
Are there any realistic man utd players that we should be interested in?
KK(Quote)
Scum 1 doon 😆
richietoon(Quote)
cracking goal
http://nutjob.eu
1-0 s’ton 😆
mark(Quote)
Well the days off to a good start , Scum 1.0 down 😈
KIMTOON(Quote)
Said a draw for us yesterday, but if we can win the MF battle and play like last week then a win is defo on the cards.
KIMTOON(Quote)
**** me sunderland are woeful so far.
Kim, Aye an away point is always decent in the Premier league, we should have enough to beat them though…if we turn up in the right frame and attitude.
richietoon(Quote)
close up of a scum inbred “come on man ya ****….****” 😆 😆
richietoon(Quote)
2 nowt 😆
richietoon(Quote)
Got the Scum game on 5live 2.0 now and apparently they are being totally outplayed by Saints and now home fans booing .
KIMTOON(Quote)
2.1 now and the home fans now cheering 🙄 fickle ****s
KIMTOON(Quote)
bollox 1-2 with their 1st feckin shot of the game
richietoon(Quote)
Kim…Aye they booed when the second went in 🙄
richietoon(Quote)
@lee_ryder: Interesting quotes from Remy Cabella father and agent saying he will joing #nufc “this winter”
3hourswasted(Quote)
Yes. That’s the Renaldo that plays for Gateshead u11s
premandup(Quote)
Is Fletcher injured for the Scum then, odd he’s not even on the bench 😕
KIMTOON(Quote)
Borini scores but ruled out 😆
KIMTOON(Quote)
Tiote on soccer Saturday 😀
KIMTOON(Quote)
Oh Fletcher is on Bench, coming on now 😳
KIMTOON(Quote)
Jammy fecking gets 2.2 Johnson, would you believe it.
KIMTOON(Quote)