The build-up to the game has seen the managers of each side clash regarding comments made by Paul Lambert who made reference to our crowd and insisted his team would start on the front foot in an attempt to turn us against our own side. Alan Pardew said he was surprised by those comments and that Lambert might regret that by the end of the game. I’m not quite sure if Pardew has been watching the same games everyone else has been watching recently?
You have to look at it and say that Lambert has a point. We’ve been on the end of too many defeats at St James’ Park recently and the atmosphere amongst fans is borderline toxic at the moment although admittedly results are just one of many factors regarding feelings right now. What Lambert said is no different to what other managers try and achieve at St James’ Park, the only difference is that Lambert had the nuts to say it publicly.
The game should be nigh on a full house with just over 50,000 tickets being sold for the game. It won’t sell out completely because Aston Villa have failed to fill their away allocation but it will still be a good attendance and shows that any stay-away notion has remained exactly that. For now at least…
Newcastle:
Loic Remy returns after sitting out the last three games through suspension. Fabricio Coloccini is also available after injuring his knee on New Year’s Day whilst Cheik Tiote returns after missing the last two games with a hamstring injury. That’s three key players returning which will undoubtedly give Alan Pardew a boost.
Aston Villa:
Andreas Weimann and Karim El Ahmadi are fit again and could be recalled by Paul Lambert. However Jores Okore, who is making good progress after rupturing a cruciate knee ligament, is still a few weeks away from a return.
Previously…
United go looking for a first league double over the Villains since the 1997-1998 season after registering a win at Villa Park back in September courtesy of goals by Hatem Ben Arfa and Yoan Gouffran.
We’ve not lost to Villa at St James’ Park since that infamous game back in April 2005. It was a 3-0 home loss that day with United ending up with just eight men on the pitch.
Generally speaking we’ve had the better of Aston Villa and a quick look at our history shows that we’ve won more games against the Midlanders than we have against any other side. Of 156 meetings between the two clubs, United have won 68, lost 55 and drawn 33 times.
Unsurprisingly we’ve also been stronger at St James’ Park clocking up 47 wins compared to just 15 for Aston Villa with a further 15 draws adding up to 77 meetings on Tyneside in total.
Stats and facts…
Newcastle have played 370 minutes since scoring their last goal at home – the longest barren run since a 686-minute drought in 2007.
Only Fulham (17) have conceded more league goals in 2014 than Newcastle (14).
Aston Villa have taken 17 points from 13 away league games – the best record of any of the bottom 11 clubs.
Villa have picked up 10 points from losing positions so far this season – the third best record in the division.
Final thought…
Put simply something has to give. Whether that is our dismal recent form or something deeper within the club I don’t know but something has to change.
When you look at the away record for Aston Villa and combine it with our home struggles you can see why Paul Lambert has said what he did. Why shouldn’t he be confident? After all we are a shambles right now.
One more win would probably be enough to call us safe if we aren’t already, and that is all that is required by the club at the end of the day. A season filled with promise and expectation warranted through a good start has faded away and now all we are left with is the wait until the summer when we can see what ham-fisted attempt the club makes at trying to rebuild.
And if I feel like that then why should the players feel any different?
Howay the lads!
Date: Sunday, 23rd February, 2014
Time: 1:30pm – Live on Sky Sports
Venue: St James’ Park
Not looking forward to the game really,Toonsy club said the have given more tickets to villa above what they normally do??
icedog(Quote)
Ice same here mate im not really looking forward to the game, but just maybe with the long break and a few players back we might just turn up and play like a proper team
Big Dave(Quote)
2-1 to the Toon the revival is on,
Pardew waxes lyrics about our style and how the players listened to him and mike is planning a visit to St James’ next game 👿
mark(Quote)
Mark is he planning a visit ❓
Big Dave(Quote)
DAVE maybe jabba will be coming to give pardew the boot face to face if we get beat and put peter in charge till end of season 😆
icedog(Quote)
I have just noticed that you have to pay to see pardews pre-match report on the toon official site,the greedy feekers. 👿
icedog(Quote)
Kim
Good to have you back. Hope you are feeling a lot better soon.
Toonsy
Every fan is waiting to see how the club will rebuild the team in the Summer.
A few thousand season ticket holders have already decided how it will go.
sidekick(Quote)
Toonsy, good preview, got to agree, we are a bloody shambles no getting away from it, we just need a decent win to put some spark back into the season . Like you I also expect a very basic ham fisted approach to rebuilding the team in the summer, I’ve come to expect nowt less from our tosspot of an owner now.
Sidekick, Cheers @7
KIMTOON(Quote)
Ice @ 5 dream on
Big Dave(Quote)
——————- Krul ——————
Debuchy – Colo – Willo – Dummett
—– Sissoko – Tiote – Anita —–
— Gouffran – De Jong – Remy —
2-0 the toon. Remy and a first toon goal for Mr De Jong who I predict will have a cracking game with Goof and Remy running off him.
Sharpy17(Quote)
SHARPY like your faith,pity I don’t share it mate
icedog(Quote)
Ice – I was being conservative with my prediction mate. I really fancy us on Sunday like. We have some big players back in the team with Colo, Tiote and Remy and I do think that De Jong needs pace and movement around him and he’ll have that with Remy and Gouffran.
I may well get caught out on this one, but a win on Sunday could well get our season back on track.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I’m looking forward to this game. I’m looking forward to seeing how the team copes with the pressure. I’m looking forward to seeing if we can bounce back. I’m looking forward to seeing if we can make up ground on the teams above us. I’m looking forward to seeing De Jong playing with Remy. And I’m glad we are not in a relegation fight at this time and I’m more interested in results of teams above us than below us. 😯
If I lived on Tyneside I’d be looking forward to going to the match. Although maybe I wouldn’t. Maybe I’d also be sucked into that great media-inspired vacuum called, in Geordie, Wadoomed. And maybe I’d also be trying to ruin everybody else’s enjoyment of the team/game/club because things weren’t how I wanted them to be. 🙄
Aye, I’m often glad I chose to live in Australia 😆 😆
brisvegas(Quote)
Bris maybe some in Newcastle are also glad that you chose to live in Australia 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
I’m sure there are, Dave, I’m sure there are. It wouldn’t do to have a beacon of light shining in the gloom, would it. 😉
brisvegas(Quote)
I’m also confident of a win. 3-1.
We will eventually get out of the slump regardless of Pardew & now is as good a time as any.
Villa are confident so hopefully they become overconfident before kick off & forget to do the basics in the match.
On paper we have the better team & we’re also at home after plenty of rest.
This one will hopefully be a very comfortable win.
KK(Quote)
Ice – Paying to see news/interviews is how the club want it. That’s their biggest issue with the press in my opinion. They think why should they make money out of us when we make nothing from them.
I bet most of the banned papers wouldn’t be banned if they threw a few sheckles at the club. It’s not a moral stance against the journalistic house if those morals can be ignored for a few quid 😉
toonsy(Quote)
Going for a win.. we are due.. 😉
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
:come on lads give us some goals,wish somebody would take over the club couldn’t be any worse than the present dictator
jack chapman(Quote)
Big Dave @ 14, you got it in one there mate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=291ET6Py6H8
The Brisbane Mags gather today for the Villa game … 😆 😆 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)
If we do win tomorrow it will no doubt be due to us being lucky or Villa being poor! And the luck will be extra lucky because Pardew is tactically inept. Or Villa will be really gash, even against a tactically inept Pardew 😯
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
This could be a good guage as to how our future looks …. if our bairns can hold there own against a club with Chelsea’s financial clout.. great stuff…
FAYC date set
From the official Chelsea website, Friday:
The FA Youth Cup quarter-final tie away to Newcastle United will take place on Tuesday 11 March. The venue is St James’ Park with kick-off at 7pm.
Ticket prices are yet to be confirmed but the game will be shown live on Chelsea TV.
As with other rounds in the competition, a result has to be achieved at the first attempt – via extra time and penalties if necessary.
The Blues lost last year’s final to Norwich City, after having won the competition in both 2010 and 2012.
This will be the second meeting of the two clubs in this competition, following a Fourth Round tie back in 1999, when United followed up a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge with a 2-1 victory at St. James’ Park.
Victory over Chelsea would see Newcastle play the first game of a two-legged semi-final tie at home to either Charlton Athletic, Arsenal, or Everton.
Munich Mag(Quote)
I prefer games on a Saturday , sunday lunchtime ko are a pain in the **** for me. I can’t call this one ,we should be fresh, we should be up for it, we are at home, Remy, Goof , Tiote and Colo back ,yet still I don’t feel overly confident. Maybe it’s the general doom and gloom at present, I dunno, we really need to see some goals from our lads and a clean sheet, stop the rot before it really beds in.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Aussie@21, But Villa are gash 😆 plus I can’t stand their fans.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Kim 😆 agree about Villa but not about your earlier comment about lunchtime kick offs.. I love em
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Benny a doubt
http://www.nufcblog.com/2014/02/22/top-player-now-doubtful-for-villa-game/
KIMTOON(Quote)
Aussie, Aye, it’s a good time slot for you I know, but at least we agree on the important stuff eh 😀
KIMTOON(Quote)
AMF@21, spot on there mate. Those geordies are a reet fickle bunch 😀 😀
When all else fails we have our Brisbane Roar dvd’s to fall back on 😆 😆 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)
Kimtoon@26, absolutely pathetic. Pardew oot 🙂
Munich Mag(Quote)
Kim… Great to see you back and on the road to recovery 😀
3-1 Newcastle, Remy and De Jong on the scoresheet and Pards to have a stormer tactically…what could possibly go wrong? 😉
Ice@1 I can’t see that being true because a) it’s supposedly going to be a 50k plus crowd, b) Villa weren’t even given the full away allocation in the first place.
If they were given any extra it was probably just the ones that they hadn’t taken up originally.
richietoon(Quote)
Obertan will have a major roll to play tomorrow imo…
Munich Mag(Quote)
Or you can recount Bayern stories Eminem 😛
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Kim good to have you back lass hope your feeling a bit better, im sure you are glad to atleast be back home.
Big Dave(Quote)
Munich…Why, is he dishing out the HT oranges? 😉
richietoon(Quote)
Thanks guys ,yeah nice to be home, seem to spend my life on hosp wards or waiting rooms with various family members, so when it was my turn it was a bit strange.
KIMTOON(Quote)
RT@34 …nah mate, I’m just having a daft 5 minutes…. the happy-clappy’s started me off, and I was just trying to post something positive. 😥
The bloke is gash… 🙁
Munich Mag(Quote)
Kimtoon, all the best, look after yourself …great to have you back
Munich Mag(Quote)
Munchen…That’s a long 5 minutes you’ve been having the last few years 😉 😆
richietoon(Quote)
RT@38, you didn’t disappoint me me old cocker.. 😆 😆 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)
AMF@32, you know me mate, a real glory seeker. I hope my tickets for Wembley arrive soon 🙂
Munich Mag(Quote)
Munchen 😉
richietoon(Quote)
MM, Cheers, glad to be back.
KIMTOON(Quote)
well done Kim, we need you to keep an eye on things mate 😉
Munich Mag(Quote)
0-1 or 1-1 for me tomorrow. Villa have been a hard but to crack in the last few games at SJP for us and with us low on confidence it will be difficult. Villa also pretty good away from home – I hope they don’t bring the game try brought to Liverpool or we’ll be in for a tough day and the fans will finally crack and start showing their discontent.
Although Ashley doesn’t care enough to take any action so don’t hold your breath people.
Stuart79(Quote)
RICHIE,re tickets I was only going by what a lot of rags were saying and you know the rags never speak with a forked tongue 😉
icedog(Quote)
Stuart79@44…..you negger !!! 😉 😆 😆
Munich Mag(Quote)
Wayne Rooney is going to be making nearly £43k PER DAY on this new deal?!
The average annual income last year was around £27k – that’s PER YEAR.
How can that be right man?
Sharpy17(Quote)
SHARPY the world of footy has gone mad mate,but he could make a lot more mate as the club said they will work to get him other work in the commercial world,bloody unreal
icedog(Quote)
Sharpy17 / Ice… we can’t blame Rooney, at the end of the day we have to look at the knackers who are offering him this deal. We would all snap there hands off for sure !!! I wonder what Van Persie and the other players at Old Trafford make of this ?
A bit of fallout from all of this is the insignificance of the paying customer, and what Man Utd…or the toon, or anyone for that matter, take through the gate on match day…. that would pay for Rooney’s right boot… That’s why Ashley just laughs when there is talk of a fan boycott and no-one turning up at the toon games… 👿 👿
Could the day come when the big sponsors disappear from football .. ? Probably not…the madness will just carry on… 🙄
Munich Mag(Quote)
Icedog, the older lads like Big Dave remember when players earned thirty bob a week and went to the game on the bus with the fans, the younger lads like Richietoon were brought up on the big money Sky deals, and don’t know any different…
Money will kill the game eventually…
Munich Mag(Quote)
MM the talk is van the man is going back to the gunners in the summer,wonder what wages he will want. 😆
icedog(Quote)
MM aye Dave will remember he was driving the bus 😆
icedog(Quote)
Kim
Nice to see you back
We’ll win tomorrow; We havent got the squad to be without Colo, Tiote, Remy, Gouffran and Cabaye for a run of games. With them back (Bar Cabaye obviously) well start to pick up again.
P.S I very much doubt we would go down on 37 points, There are so many fixtures between teams in the bottom half they will cancel each other out and struggle to get into the high 30s imho.
CC(Quote)
Ice – it’s crazy, and for one person to be able to earn such an outragous amount of money actually turns me off the game.
I think Ashleys wage cap is right but with clubs paying these kind of wages we will always be a stepping stone club for our better players.
MM – Rooney has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons more than the right. He’s handed a transfer request in twice – yet yesterday signed a 4yr deal worth around £70m, can’t blame Rooney at all. But I think Man Utd are a joke and I really really hope they don’t make CL this season.
They have alot of building to do at that club replacing all the older players and ironically I think the next 4yrs will be the least successful in their history – known as the Rooney era 😆
Sharpy17(Quote)
SHARPY I always thought fergie was a clever sod I never liked the guy as a man far to big headed go white,but he knew the players were on there last legs and time was right to pull out so no one could follow him and get the same results without a bloody good clear out which takes a a good few seasons to get right and money too as the players they have don’t have any sell on value,yes a right clever sod was fergie
icedog(Quote)
Sharpy dude, the players earning Rooney wages are a bit few and far between. However, at the same time, there are probably a bunch of players earning a measly 25k a week at the toon. If you have 10 – 15 squad players earning that, plus a Rooney AND a Van Persie in the line up…plus your manager is earning 8 mill a year, where does it all end ?
It’s really bizarre when you have a manager like Pardew, who “apparently” is one of the lowest earners in the EPL, having to deal with players earning a gazillion times more than him, and look them in the eye and demand respect. Bizarre…!! The legendary Nile Ranger (spit on the floor) was probably earning more than the puppet… It’s a funny owld game…
Munich Mag(Quote)
gob ***** — gob white,this tablet is a right pain
icedog(Quote)
Icedog, maybe Man Utd are on the edge of a Liverpool-like blip, where they drop down the league for a few years ? It will take a big clear-out to get them up and running ala Fergie style, that’s for sure. They are also going to throw millions at the problem..they just have to hope that Moyes is the man to trust with all that money…
Munich Mag(Quote)
MM quite a few players at M/City get two hundred grand plus a week,money makes money they say,seems to work for Richie
icedog(Quote)
Well I think Manure are mad to pay Rooney all that , he really isn’t that good imo, never lived up to the hype of being world class, not in the same league as the likes of Messi & co. Plus he’s an ugly fecker in all 😉
KIMTOON(Quote)
Icedog, Richietoon wouldn’t get out of bed for that pittance mate… the Laird of Alicante…
Munich Mag(Quote)
KIM,there is a group of people that will be happy with his pay rise,the.ladies of the night,he seems to love the older ladies so the rags say,I think he’s a sick son of *****
icedog(Quote)
Just thinking pardew is going to the world cup as a pundit for the BBC,who’s going to do the team building needed at the club then???
icedog(Quote)
Ice – dead right, Fergie knew exactly what he was doing and timed his exit perfectly. Most of the players are too old to compete at the very top and those that aren’t too old aren’t good enough – Cleverley, Welbeck and the 2 full back brothers spring to mind.
MM – I know Rooneys ridiculous wages are rare but it’s the way he’s gone about it. He’s a talent but hardly a role model for young kids is he. He just highlights it for me though. There will be plenty of players on 100k pw or more and just aren’t worth that. All that then does us allow agents to fill players heads full of wonder – that players on X amount at Chelsea and you’re far better than him!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Icedog@62, he’d gone soft apparently 🙂
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/article/165/9178508/moyes-rooney-had-gone-soft
Did your boss ever accuse you of that ? if I got that reward I’d also buckle down a bit 🙂
Munich Mag(Quote)
Ice…Shame on you for reading the rags 😉
Ref Pard’s doing commentary for the World Cup,he wouldn’t be that involved with team rebuilding anyway he’ll just tell Carr what he wants, Carr will scout and find the players, Charnley or whatever his name is will negotiate the deals, they’ll all collapse due to not meeting the asking price and we’ll sign nae fecka so Pard’s may as well earn a few extra bob doing punditry as he’s on **** pay anyway 😉
richietoon(Quote)
MM I tend to agree with Kim on Rooney he is not the player he was a couple of years back he was coming to his prime but just hasn’t improved,I think he is a player that will have to control himself at the world cup,there will be some real clever guys to wind him right up,and he will fall
for it imo
icedog(Quote)
RICHIE got to read the rags mate,my fish and chips are wrapped up in them summit to do walking home while eating them,maybe that why my news is old
icedog(Quote)
Ice 😆 …now I feel like fish n chips! 🙁
richietoon(Quote)
Ice I tend to agree on Rooney he had the world at his feet but just hasnt pushed on , infact I would say he’s went backwards.
Re me driving the bus 😀 if it wasnt for you inventing the bus we would off had to walk 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
I could understand Pardew being a pundit at the worldcup if he had a successful season here or if he actually knew anything about modern football.
If we get less than 60pts then the season is a failure & he shouldn’t go.
And why can’t we get some pundits on the bbc that can provide some real insigh instead of the usual nonsense.
KK(Quote)
DAVE. 😆 😆
icedog(Quote)
KK – Pardew is having a good season. He’s achieving what was asked of him.
Stuart79(Quote)
@stuart79
Pardew is aiming to finish in the top 10. That was the minimum target set by the board.
Achieving the minimum is not a good season. It’s barely satisfactory.
That’s the minimum target set by the board.
If as fans we’re more ambitious than Mike Ashley then we need to demand more.
We need to demand more money from the board.
We need to demand more success from the manager.
We need to demand more on the pitch from our players.
Finishing 10th, 9th or with less than 60pts is not good enough.
KK(Quote)
Put it this way – Suarez has just signed a new contract for 200k pw. Rooney a new contract for 300k pw.
I know which one I’d rather have in my team.
Sharpy17(Quote)