Welcome one and all to this ‘Game On’ article which will take us through the highs and lows as we travel to local rivals 5under1and for today’s Premier league game (4pm kick-off), having lost the last four meetings with the Mackems – the latest of which came just before Christmas when Adam Johnson struck a last-gasp winner at the Gallowgate End to break our hearts again.
But John Carver is determined to change United’s fortunes today and was speaking ahead of today’s clash.
“Growing up as a Newcastle fan it’s the first fixture you look for on the list,” he said.
“As a manager it’s a proud moment. We all know it’s one of the biggest games in the North-East and so it’s something I’m more than looking forward to.
“Our record isn’t very good and so I’m looking to break that. I think we have more than enough in the dressing room to do so. It’s a big occasion and we don’t want to make it five losses in a row.”
Carver also rejected suggestions that his overseas stars will not understand the importance of the fixture against their neighbours from Wearside.
“There’s a lot of people out there that say our foreign players won’t understand what the derby means,.
“But the majority of players in our dressing room have played in at least one and we drum into all of them how important this fixture is.
“Hopefully over the last four games they’ll have felt a bit of hurt because I certainly have, and sometimes that’s what you need to spur you on.
“It’s a cup final for us and that’s how we’ll treat it. Any team of mine that goes up against Sunderland will not be faulted for lack of effort, determination or not knowing what it means to the Club and the fans. I’ll be driving those guys forward.”
Sunderland appointed **** Advocaat as their head coach last month following the departure of Gus Poyet from the Stadium of Light hot seat.
And while he and Carver may have seemed an unlikely pairing to be coming head-to-head at the start of the season, the latter believes he may hold the advantage.
“At least I know what this game means, whereas it’s ****’s first derby,” said Carver.
“He’s in a difficult situation because he’s only had a couple of weeks to get to know his players. I’m sure he’ll get them prepared, he’ll have been able to get a couple of things across and he’s got a boost in the return of Cattermole.
“Sunderland have outworked us in previous games and that’s not a good stat to have – I don’t like that.
“If we can cover anywhere near as much ground with the same intensity as we did against Arsenal then we have a great chance at winning.
“I think we have everything to play for. We have a lot to prove. It’s not good enough to lose the last four derby games and I’ll be banging that drum in the dressing room without a doubt.”
So with the talking out of the way it’s time to show what we have and make sure we don’t give them anymore bragging rights.
Howay the Lads
5under1and Pantilimon, Jones, van Aanholt, O’Shea (c), Vergini, Cattermole, Gomez, Larsson, Fletcher, Wickham, Defoe.
Subs Bridcutt, Johnson, Reveillere, Graham, Coates, Buckley, Mannone.
Newcastle United Krul, R.Taylor, Janmaat, Williamson, Colback, Sissoko (c), Gutierrez, Gouffran, Ameobi, Cabella, Perez.
Subs Elliot, Anita, Abeid, Kemen, Obertan, Riviere, Armstrong.
BB – The club have been found to have lied to fans in the past so I think it’s a pretty reasonable to assume they did the same to Pardew. I’m sure he didn’t just make things up and I am sure he was told things by the club which just didn’t happen. But also why would he stand up to Ashley and risk losing his job? He’s proved he was as good as we can get by the results here and at Palace since he left.
Nobody stands a chance while Jabba is here.
Few things on Twitter about a boycott for the Spurs game like AC Milan did recently. Seeing an half empty stadium on live TV would be a hell of a statement.
Stuart79(Quote)
Pardew starts well at every club and leaves under a cloud, give him 18 months and things will have turned around
seeing him reunited with Pellegrini on the touch line reminded me of what a nasty unlikable **** he is
CC(Quote)
We clearly cant compete with any teams that have ANY ambition
As for ‘top 10’ – my ****
Ashley OUT
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Stu – but the point is, he could still get his money back,it isn’t just going to vanish when we go down, it would just take longer. On current course we could probably clear the debt we owe him in about 4/5 years. Instead it will be more like 11/12 if we go down again.
I’m sure he’s patient enough, if he’s going to hang on to SD for 10 years it’s still worth owning us. After that he can worry about making an operatingprofit on top of his free advertising, or think about selling the club for “market” value.
Newkie(Quote)
BB@221, you might find that in the early days at the toon Pardew had to rebuild or prove his “reputation” and consequently had to eat a lot of **** at the toon from the supporters and Ashley.
Now the bloke has wind in his sails there’ll be nowt stopping him.
Munich Mag(Quote)
Stuart – if he proved he was as good as we could get, how would he lose his job.
Ashley already knew he couldn’t find a better puppet.
The 5th place finish came a season too early unfortunately.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Can’t believe some think Pards is out of his depth as a premier league manager. 🙄
I would say after 18 months Pards loses his way. He left the club in 8th place having been here 4 yrs
I don’t know where some get it from. 🙄
Troy Stavers(Quote)
I wouldn’t say rather.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Newkie, if Ashley had to put another £20m into the club it would kill him. The value of the club won’t be that high for him to get all his money back. He can’t even get his money back now, let alone putting more money in. I am pretty sure he would cut his losses and sell up after relegation.
Stuart79(Quote)
Been calling for a half empty stadium for years.
But this year the premier league gave the fans all the licence they need, when they stated the need for clubs to have full stadia.
This is the perfect time to ramp up the pressure on the fat slug, by staying away.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
#boycottSpurs
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – what are you basing it on though? He’s already had to put 130 mil or however much in, what’s another 20 mil, particularly when he’s just made that much last year from the club? It’s a drop in the ocean to him,the man is a billionaire and he is happy to play the long game.
He was happy to drop the share price value of SD himself when he was pissed off at the board by selling a chunk of shares, he’d probably have a good chuckle at us going down, particularly with the irony of all the abuse he got for not sacking Pardew..
Newkie(Quote)
Come on, man! He is not in the habit of spending his own money on the football club. He goes to extremes to save money so its not as simple as it being a drop in the ocean to him. In my opinion I don’t think he will have the will to go through all the **** again as it won’t be as easy to get straight back up and fans would absolutely stop turning up. It would be hard for him to stick around.
Stuart79(Quote)
so we should just be grateful we are in the PL
No ambition for anything more than that and not competing for anything cup wise.
So what’s the point ?
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
So that’s Palace safe on 39 then, be interesting to see how they go next season.
kimtoon(Quote)
BB – exactly. We might as well be in he Championship for what it’s worth being in the PL for NUFC supporters.
Stuart79(Quote)
yes I suppose it was a bit inaccurate the **** hit the fan for the snide at Charlton & Southampton way earlier than 18 months
And it was at least 24 months before Bosingwa saved us from relegation
CC(Quote)
A club with no commitment to excellence is a complete waste of time. To do nothing but go to matches and complain is a complete waste of time. Support other local clubs until Ashley is gone.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Boycott the matches and get rid of Fatty Hogswill.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Deface any SoDisappointed signs you see. Don’t buy his pathetic gear. Don’t go to matches. Speak up about wanting him out.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
The Miserable Stats:
Carver in charge: played 13, lost 8, drawn 3, won 2.
(Scored 11, conceded 22)
The 152nd competitive meeting of the sides now sees Newcastle having won 53, drawn 49 and lost 50. The mackems have scored two more goals (224 v 222).
The Magpies have gone seven derby matches without victory, equaling their worst-ever run of results in these games (between 1958 and 1963). The longest winless run remains nine games, “achieved” twice by the mackems.
The run of five successive defeats extends Newcastle’s worst-ever run of derby losses, which was three before the current sequence started. It also means that we share the worst sequence of derby scorelines, having racked up five successive wins between 2001 and 2006.
United have failed to score in three successive derbies, something that they’d never done before. The mackems racked up four games without a goal in all competitions between 1901 and 1903.
After scoring at least once in our previous eleven visits, today was the first time that the mackems managed a clean sheet in a derby match at the stadium of plight.
Our last visit to wearside without finding the net was the 0-0 playoff game at Roker in May 1990, with our failure today breaking the sequence after fourteen games.
Derby “contributions”:
Moussa Sissoko, played 5, lost 5 (5 starts)
Yoan gouffran, played 4 lost 4 (4 starts)
Sammy Ameobi played 4, lost 4 (3 starts)
Newcastle lost a fourth successive Premier League game – their worst run of form since they were beaten six times in a row in March and April 2014. That could soon be equalled, with Liverpool and Tottenham to come. 😕
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
Did everybody see what Carver said about Santon:
“He came back against Leicester in the FA Cup and he wasn’t prepared to wait to earn his right top get back into the team. He thought he could go straight back into the team.
“He drove the situation, not us, not the club, he drove it.
“After the game on the bus, he was on to his agent saying he wanted to get out, he wanted to go and play.”
Carver indicated that United were better off without a player that didn’t want to fight for his place.
He added: “Listen, I am not saying anybody has got a divine right, and I’m not saying he wouldn’t have been in the team within two or three weeks, but if you have got a player who doesn’t want to hang around and fight for you, then that’s an issue, for me.”
Oh, Santon called his Agent in the heat of the moment did he, BIG DEAL. I am sure it happens all of the time. Many players are kept at clubs when they are a bit unhappy (Cabaye, Tiote). We needed Santon but he was sold because he only had 18 months on his contract and his value would diminish. Screw the fact we would probably need him in the run in as Carver even says himself. Carver is an idiot and a stooge and takes us for fools. **** off and take that rag-tag bunch of so-called coaches with you. The Sunderland display proved again what a waste of time you all are.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It’s a business and money comes before the football. That’s why we will never achieve anything
Stuart79(Quote)
Actually, Ed just wrote a good piece on Santon and the stooge Carver, echoing what I just said.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
This pretty much sums up my feelings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=738jXIZEvIo
brisvegas(Quote)
brisvegas
if (like me) he’d had a ton on the mackems winning & getting some financial compensation – then he wouldn’t have felt so angry.
i intend doing the same for the rest of this season.
this time next year….
roy cropper(Quote)
Big Dave, you have mail 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
Eric – I actually think it is such a big deal mate – and it’s one of our biggest problems. We have a group of players who are only at the club because they see if as a stepping stone club. The likes of Ba, Cabaye, Debuchy, Remy, Sissoko, Janmaat, Cabella – these types of players (and there will be more) aren’t comitted to NUFC – so they don’t give a ****. Couple that with an owner who doesn’t give a ****, and add the fact that he hires dross and that is why we are a club with no aspirations.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy17 very true mate.
Terry(Quote)
Ashley is selling up in the summer and taking over Crystal Palace.
Terry(Quote)
Pardews there you see
Terry(Quote)
Just need to stop going. It really is as simple as that. Spurs should be the start as I won’t be going to another game this season.
Stuart79(Quote)
Kim im on my phone atm but I will get it shortly 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Carver must be the only manager **** enough to actually put Ashley off choosing the cheapest option…
CC(Quote)
Don’t bet against it, CC. I still fancy Carver to get the gig. It’s the easy option and certainly the cheapest and that’s what Jabba makes his decisions based on.
Stuart79(Quote)
He won’t get it now, McClaren will get it when Derby fail to come up
CC(Quote)
In my opinion that is, Its pathetic he’s ever been considered
CC(Quote)