Game On! Newcastle v Arsenal

Magpies v Gunners
Magpies v Gunners
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and of course welcome along to this ‘Game On’ thread which will take us through every twist and turn of the game against Arsenal.

A week after our rather notable goalless draw at Old Trafford it’s yet another early start for the benefit of the TV cameras, with BT Sport again selecting our game for live coverage.

That 0-0 draw last week was followed up by a safe passage through to the next round of the League Cup after seeing off Northampton Town 4-1, with new signing Florian Thauvin impressing on his home debut. You can see what Bet O’Clock reckon the odds of Thauvin proving to be a thorn in the side of The Gunners by taking a look at the link.

The question now will obviously be whether he can come close to replicating the form he managed against a League Two side when he faces sterner opposition in the form of Arsenal.

I’ll miss the match completely as I’m at work from pretty much the moment the game kicks off but I’ll be checking back her for updates so keep those comments rolling.

For those at the game make sure you have a good one and for those not at the game or who aren’t able to catch BT Sport please remember to share links in the comments below.

Team news to follow.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle:

Subs:

Arsenal:

Subs:

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.

606 thoughts on “Game On! Newcastle v Arsenal

  1. there has been a lot of talk about our current lack of attacking threat (no shots on goal etc etc) but when you look at the priorities that SM would have been looking at, fixing the **** poor defence would have been the highest on the list. It seems that the work he and his team have done on that is paying off, hopefully with a bit of time the rest of his game plan will start to bare fruit and we start to score some goals… keeping all our players on the park will help but at least there are some signs of improvement in our defensive play.

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  2. Not only that Aussie, we’ve played 4 good attacking sides so far, our new boys are still settling, and we were down a man twice. I agree with SM that we ought to wait to judge until the 10 game mark

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  3. Situation between Colo and Perez isn’t that different in a simple way. They are both NUFC players! That’s the important thing.

    Perez is just young and the £15m bid seems crazy for a player with so little experience in the top flight, so I think it’s bullshit.

    I don’t think we’ll sign anyone unless a good deal presents itself. Looks like van Dijk is off to Saints for £11.5m. No way we’d be signing him for that fee after signing Mbemba and giving Colo an extension. Austin for £15m when his contract ends this season? Crazy! I’m just impressed that he hasn’t kicked up a bigger fuss with the Euros coming about after this season. He’s going to really struggle to get into the England team without being in the PL! Don’t think it’s a good choice to stay for his career…a few hours to go though…

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  4. Can’t do a crazy overhaul of a team. Need the core still there. Mbemba, Wiji and Thauvin should start most games so that’s a pretty big influx. Mitrovic…well…hopefully he’ll start banging in the goals when he can stay on the pitch…

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  5. We have enough in th squad for a top 12 finish I reckon. It won’t be easy though. You just need to look at all th other clubs and how much money they’re spending on improving their squads.

    Let’s just hope we don’t get any long term injuries in key positions.

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  6. Stuart – that’s probably the key to our season now. We’ve signed what I think is four good upgrade players but a couple of key injuries will leave us too short for comfort and underline the fact we needed at least 6 in.
    Still think we’ve only got 16-17 PL players.

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  7. Guys, we’ve lost nobody of note and added 4 very good players. I’d think we can be a little more optimistic!

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  8. TDS – Well it can’t b any worse than last year. Unfortunately every other club has strengthened a lot too so how much have we really strengthened in relative terms?

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  9. STUART

    EVERY other club has strengthened A LOT? You sure about that? You impressed with Everton’s signings? Villa’s? Spurs’? Sunderland’s? Exactly how many signings can you name that you would have wanted and we could realistically have got?

    And remember, you’d probably have named the likes of Hooper, van Wolfswinkel, Michu (after 1 season with Swans) and others…and look how they turned out.

    Absolute bullshit to say every other club has strengthened a lot.

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  10. KIM

    Enough for what though?

    We haven’t lost any players who would expect to play for us this season. And we’ve added 4 first team players.

    How could we have expected more than that?

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  11. the squad was paper thin to start with adding 4 players wont change that,as we have let more go.
    are you taking injuries into account when you make your top 8 prediction.
    you made the same statement last season and when it went pear shaped you disappeared like santi.

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  12. HITMAN

    The squad is too big not too thin! We’ve got so many players we have had to loan out or sell some because we can’t register them all!

    I haven’t made a top 8 prediction, I’m saying that’s what the club is targeting. I think it’s going to be very tough to do that as the top 6 are ahead of us in many ways so top 8 means just one other club finishes above us. Things should be fairly even between about half a dozen of us.

    Last season was going ok until Pardew left. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible either.

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  13. Well the good news is that McClaren doesn’t think we’ve done enough either and has already said we have £100m to spend & expect to continue strengthening over the next few windows.
    I think based on some of the guff we have signed previously it’s important we hang fire for the players we actually want. Good players brought in so far and let’s be honest – other than Virgil from Celtic there’s been no other player move today that I thought – we should have been in for him.

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  14. But no doubt we were thin on the ground last year. Mostly because not enough of the youth players seem to be making the step up!

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  15. SHARPY

    I agree. I would have been up for van Dijk too. Not saying he’s definitely going to be amazing but he’s the kind of player we could do with. But like I’ve said a dozen times, there was no way we’d be getting a first team centre back after Mbemba signing and Colo getting an extension and staying captain. Maybe next summer we will be signing someone like him.

    Ayew has done well so far for Swans but that doesn’t mean it will continue.

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  16. McClaren has a vastly improved squad than Carver had. He has Tiote, Aarons and de Jong coming back from injury. Cisse is back from injury and stupidity. And McClaren seems to rate Anita whereas others didn’t. Plus there is addition by subtraction – Williamson and Alnwick.

    I am not going to use the cliche that they will be like new signings. But maybe I did.

    Remember, we have more than 4 in because there are Darlow and Lascelles. Whether these 2 are any good is a different matter.

    It will be interesting to see if Willo and Marveaux stay whether they make the 25 man squad. Probably.

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  17. Soccer Sauce ‏@soccer_sauce · 19 mins19 minutes ago
    Our information is that #NUFC made a bid in the past 4 hours for Leeds player Sam Byram, but the offer was quickly rejected #LUFC

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  18. KIMTOON
    watched him play a couple of weeks back he aint good enough for our 1st team in my opinion

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  19. I don’t get this Charlie Austin situation. QPR signed him when they were in The Championship so he could easily triple his wages with a move. QPR are probably banking on him firing them to promotion but they are still a yo-yo club. And what about Euro ambition? Plus they have crazy Tony Fernandez as Chairman.

    I know he will be a free agent and probably get a big pay day, but would it really be that much more than he would get now, after another period in the Championship?

    I think a game of chicken was played here where everybody lost.

    On the other hand if we are in the bottom 5 on January 1st. I think there will be a desperation move made by us.

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  20. KIM/TAE

    We shouldn’t be signing Byram for our first team. Janmaat is our number one right back. We should be looking to sign someone like him to learn and push Janmaat in future.

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  21. ERIC SYKES
    i think qpr greedyness cost him a transfer 15 million for a dude in the last year of his contract was never ganna happen

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  22. TOONDARNSARF
    prob right bud dont think he could compete with janmatt not on what ive seen of him anyway 😉

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  23. @Eric

    I said a few weeks back we might wait until Jan & get him for 8mil.

    QPR are being greedy and Charlie knows it, he’ll get a nice wage if a club doesnt have to pay a transfer fee so he’s quids in. good on him I say.

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  24. Ok, so consider the 25 man squad then…

    We already have nailed on:
    Krul, Darlow, Elliott (3)
    Lascelles, Taylor, Colo, Haidara, Janmaat (5)
    Tiote, Anita, Colback, Wiji, Sissoko, SDJ, Thauvin (7)
    Cisse, Perez (2)

    So that’s 17.
    Mbemba, Aarons and Mitrovic don’t need to be registered.

    So that’s 8 from 9 for a full 25
    Dummett, Willo, Good, Bigi, Marv, Vuckic, Goofy, Obertan and Riviere

    That’s assuming Fergie, Cabella and Sammy aren’t going to be registered because we figure they won’t come back.

    of the 9, I’d be surprised if Good, Bigi or Marv ever play for us again, but the other 6 could potentially have a part to play.

    It’s not really a thin squad lads…

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  25. I looked at our squad and we basically have 26 first team players. That includes Gouffran, Willo, Marveaux and Obertan. If there isn’t a loan or sale arranged today I don’t think there will be much of a problem leaving any of these off the 25 man PL squad.

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  26. TAE

    Nah. I don’t think he would either. But we shouldn’t look to signing a player as good as Janmaat anyway. I’ve said it before, but why would that player join us unless he was first told that he would be first choice? We need to sign a player like Byram and tell him to learn from Janmaat and the coaches and start pushing for a start.

    We either sign a player BETTER than Janmaat to take his spot, a squad player happy to fill in occasionally or a young player hungry to improve and fight for his slot.

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  27. TDS: I forgot that Mitrovic and MBemba were so young and included them in the 26 I mentioned. We have no problem registering all the first team then and can even register Willo if we want.

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  28. Kim – I hope Byram is one that eventually comes off. I think he would provide good competition with Janmaat – oh and I’m sure Ashley would see a profit in the lad too.

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  29. The only reason I can think to extend Vuckic’s contract and then loan him to a division 3 club is so he can prove his fitness. What else are we going to learn? I suppose if he tears up that league his sale value increases?

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  30. ERIC

    You’re right. I’d leave out Good or Bigi out of that lot. Can’t see Marv featuring either.

    It’s a big enough squad to handle the PL and domestic cups though. Maybe get 1 or 2 more in in Jan depending on how players are doing and how injuries are affecting us.

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  31. Aaaaah…I’ve twigged what might be the score with Vuckic…

    If we don’t offer him an extension to his current deal at an increased salary (I reckon it could be a minimal increase), then he could leave for free with no compensation as he’s under 24. He does turn 24 next August but I’m not sure if that means he can leave on his birthday for free or he has to wait until a certain date after his 24th birthday.

    So it’s probably just ensuring we get a bit of money for him.

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  32. Coventry tried to loan Bigi for the season apparently and Brighton and Brentford wanted Willo but fee couldn’t be agreed.

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  33. ERIC

    Haha, no Goofy for £4.5m is the biggest load of bollox I’ve heard! That makes no sense at all, when surely we’d flog him for a mil or 2!?

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  34. I am not sure if all of this transfer **** is totally done yet. I think the Middle East teams don’t really have a deadline and might go for Tiote or Cisse.

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  35. Hahaha, and he also mentions Douglas (AGAIN!) who I don’t think has ever played in a major European league? I don’t care if he’s interested in joining NUFC, so would I be! But no chance NUFC wanted him.

    And he also mentioned Abdennour again…I did say he was a ridiculous target anyway. Especially as competition for our existing centre halves! And he moved to CL Valencia for £18m…

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  36. It really is transfers like Abdennour that show up how deluded some of our fans really are…

    Going to a CL club for £18m shows how far away we were from signing him. A club record fee to sign a centre back is just one battle…convincing him to join a club outside of Europe is another big un. It was just unrealistic and we weren’t even going to try once Colo signed his extension and we had already signed Mbemba.

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  37. Ok, so I better explain to TDS what it means when other teams have strengthened a lot. You ask how many of them players would get in our team from other clubs? I’m not fussed about that. The fact is and even you can’t ignore or deny this, is that the likes of West Ham, WBA, Sunderland, Swansea and Palace to name only a few have better squads than they had last season. That means they’ve strengthened or do you not understand the word strengthened?

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  38. Stuart79

    Stuart, you’re a ****. I’m done with you.

    You stated that EVERY OTHER CLUB strengthened A LOT. I disputed that and pointed out that the likes of Everton, Villa and others are not A LOT better this season compared to last.

    I would say we have strengthened a lot more than most clubs!

    And you decide to send me a stupid post on the meaning of the word “strengthened”? You’re a moron. I won’t bother replying again.

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  39. Dubai-Toon: the rumours were we wanted 4.5 mil for Goofy and 2.5 mil for Willo. If that is even close to the truth then they were priced out of the market 🙂 I think a mil apiece is top wack.

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  40. KIM

    You can have an intelligent debate with most. You can’t have an intelligent debate with someone that ignores what you say, makes out you said something completely different and then argues with you in a rude way. I’m all for people having different opinions and I respect them. I’m not for ignorant ****** who don’t even give my opinion the respect it deserves.

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  41. I am not getting into the strengthening or not debate but there was a massive transfer merry-go-round for English based players and a massive influx of foreigners. All of this new money has definitely changed things and I don’t think we will know who the winners and losers are until Christmas.

    You can probably bet the promoted teams will struggle but I have no clue how much the likes of Villa and West Brom have improved.

    It is all relative though because of the vast amount of change that has happened in only one window.

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  42. Only player in that list that I think we could realistically have signed and would have been decent would be van Dijk in my opinion. And he wasn’t going to sign after Mbemba signed and Colo signed his extension.

    Don’t see any others that were obviously good. Maybe Sinclair as an attacking option but not sure that would have been good with out attacking options and Aarons wanting games. Maybe Ayew will turn out to be decent too but tricky for the same reason. We had 3 blatant gaps in our squad this summer (CB, AM/Wing and striker) and we filled em all.

    Time to deliver…

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  43. Dubai – not just that they are **** but they are on huge wages too – for championship clubs anyway.

    I’m relatively happy with what we have just now. We need more for sure, but if we can get the quality that we want in, then I’m happy to wait.
    Get the coaches working with what we have and formulate a plan for Jan & the summer now I reckon.
    I said 11-12th and I still reckon that, providing we don’t get hit hard with injuries. Mitrovic is a worry as he’s 1 red card off an 8 match ban now – which if I were a bookie would get **** odds 🙄

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  44. The most interesting one is Man U because I am not sure if they are any better after spending all that money. Losing Di Maria, Van Persie, Hernadez and sitting De Gea is a big gamble. Carrick Scweini and Jones all have big questions over their fitness. Oh God, it would so good to see the Mancs squirm a bit more after all of their arrogance over the years.

    I am sure WE have a much better squad than last year, not least because of the injured players returning. How many goals we have in us is up for debate 🙂

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  45. Eric – have to say that looking at that list, I reckon Palace & WBA have had a really good window of the teams in and around us (based on both ins & outs).

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  46. When Fergie was in charge I would occasionally read the comments in a Guardian match report after they played Liverpool. Man, they were like a bunch of spoilt kids and most were porabably in their 30’s and 40’s. Having a bit of payback, if only for a short time, would be fun.

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  47. Well having been at graft all day and only having half an eye on SSN, just been on to catch up with the full crack. Looks like Saido Berahino has well and truly **** in his nest now doesn’t it?! 😆
    I can’t imagine Pullis is a manager you refuse to play for & get away with it like.

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  48. Shamrock: is anybody writing a new thread? I can bash one out if you like if only to start something new and limit the posts.

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  49. That’s a relief, TDS. You’re half baked buffoonery was getting to me anyway.

    Just look at the squads though before you start making statements like above. You’ll find you look a bit of a quarter wit.

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  50. With a bit of luck our crappier players will go out on loan. I’m pretty happy with new guys coming in, plus Anita seems to be better, Colo seems to be playing better but let’s see when injuries kick in… Mitro may well spend a lot of time in the stands banned, but I hope not.

    All we can do now is get behind the team on the pitch and give them our support as we all will. And hope … And dream …

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  51. Dubai – if the team keep putting the same effort in, and showing the same spirit they have in the last 2 games, it would be too difficult to get behind them. I’m sure the goals & wins will come. We hope … and dream … 😉

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  52. I agree, hopefully our injury curse won’t strike with it’s usual severity and our goal getters will have a good run of form, hopefully because they will start getting some service.

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  53. So a contract extension and season long loan for Vuckic then. After six years could they not just sell him? What is the difference between him and Medhi Abeid? (ambition?)

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  54. Agree, it’s all relative now as we see how the new signings bed in, what injuries clubs get and how much the managers can get out of the squads. Promoted teams are bound to struggle and I think Sunderland and Villa will too. Other than those, I think there are still a lot of clubs in the middle ground. Wonder if Palace will falter after a year of Pardew…can Leicester still keep overachieving?

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  55. DJG

    I’m going to suggest simply that someone offered the asking price for Abeid and not for Vuckic. or who knows, maybe he could shock all of us and be a late developer!

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  56. <<<<<<<<<<< thinks Vuckic has been told to prove what he did at rangers in a higher league meself 😉

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  57. if he can do the same there dont see why he could not be given a chance to prove he could do it in the prem

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