With all games played this weekend already it is up to United ad West Ham to bring this latest round of Premier League fixtures to a close.
With the Magpies still looking for a first league win of the campaign and the Hammers looking for a first home win of the campaign it looks set to be an interesting game played out between two managers who have some competitive history between them at international level.
It was that match in the rain at Wembley where Slaven Bilic’s Croatia side pit an end to Steve McClaren’s tenure as England manager and earned him the now famous ‘wally with the brolly’ tag. While there may be a personal score to settle on that front undoubtedly the focus from McClaren will be gaining three league points for the first time as boss of Newcastle United.
West Ham
Former Magpie Andy Carroll could be in line to feature for the Hammers against the club where it all began for him. He’s never reached the heights he managed at St James’ Park in those formative years of his career and injuries have played a huge part in that buy on his day he is still a massive threat aerially which is not great for a defence which has a bigger fear of crosses than Count Dracula.
In other news Enner Valences is still out although three new signing – Victor Moses, Michail Antonio and Nikica Jelavic – are available for West Ham
Newcastle
Aleksandar Mitrovic will watch this game from the stands as he starts his three match suspension following his straight red card against Arsenal. Paul Dummett has suffered a setback as he attempts to recover from a hamstring injury while both Emmanuel Riviere and Sylvain Marveaux are some way off a return tof irst-team action desoite stepping up training recently. Otherwise McClaren has the majority of the squad he’s had available for the opening few weeks of the season to choose from after welcoming back his players from international duty and confirming that none of them picked up any knocks.
Previously…
The most recent meeting between the two sides was that memorable final day victory over West Ham which secured our Premier League status although away from home we suffered a 1-0 reverse in a fixture that tends to lean towards whoever the home side may be on the day. The betting odds for the match would also tend to point to a home win.
Overall there have been 122 games played between the two sides, with Newcastle being victorious on 48 occasions and West Ham on 39 occasions with 35 draws bringing up the total of 122.
Stats and facts
The draw against Manchester United ended a run of seven straight defeats on the road for Newcastle.
However United have lost only two of their previous nine visits to the Boleyn Ground.
Newcastle’s indiscipline has been picked up on but the reality is that neither team are exactly saintly. Newcastle have picked up nine red cards since the start of last season while West Ham have picked up six from their ten competitive matches so far this season.
Final thought
A lot has been made of our lack of possession in the league but rather conveniently the fact we’ve played over 45 minutes against Swansea (a possession team) with ten men and over 70 minutes against Arsenal (perhaps the ultimate possession team) has been glossed over. An away match against Manchester United has also been discounted as has the draw with Southampton who aren’t too shabby either.
Broadly speaking, 11 v 11 and the game against Swansea aside, I don’t think we’ve looked too bad. However looking ok is all well and good but eventually points need to be registered on the board and the longer we go on without a win the harder those points will be to come by. The aim has to be three points on our final trip to the Boleyn Ground with a point being acceptable.
Howay the lads!
Date: Monday, 14th September, 2015
Time: 20:00
Venue: The Boleyn Ground
Kim, who young on there today – Perez, Mbemba, Haidara, and the first two have not let the side down today
ash1001(Quote)
same ****, different game… carrying at least 4 players. Thauvin, De Jong, Wijndalum, Haidara… Collocini shocking…..Absolutely pathetic.
Munich Mag(Quote)
Forgot about Thauvin, it’s some of the others that are not up to it or disinterested
ash1001(Quote)
Aarons coming on
kimtoon(Quote)
The team is just flat alround SM is a good coach but is he a good manager there’s a big difference, let’s wait and see
icedog(Quote)
Kim. There are two teams in the Dutch league. PSV and Ajax.
The Prem league is completely different. SM hasn’t managed in the top tier for 11yrs
Gashley(Quote)
Ash I said young and inexperienced the poor bit is aimed at Colo and Colback for instance
kimtoon(Quote)
get close to the man ffs !!! why are we standing off them, get in there faces ffs !!!
Munich Mag(Quote)
Just listen to the commentators, “when Newcastle have the ball there is no movement”, that’s down to coaches etc.
ash1001(Quote)
De Jong, that was ****
Munich Mag(Quote)
What a **** substitution, should have been Colbeck, and let Aaron’s play his natural game
ash1001(Quote)
Gash ley ,so now you have gone from **** to only two good teams .And some say there are only 4 good teams in the PL 😉 actually I was listening to bbc sport today and there are mutterings that if PL teams don’t do better in the Champions league in future we will have our allocation of 4 births reduced. Before we criticise other leagues we should look at our own.
kimtoon(Quote)
Penalty ffs
Newkie(Quote)
Ash@609, do players not have brains? they know what they have to do, they just don’t.
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – you said if anyone thought Pards could do better was deluded. So you’re either implying Pardew is worse, or that they are 100% exactly the same. It’s the second is it?
We have seasoned pro’s and internationals in this side too, to go with the young and very talented players we have. No excuse for this side not to beat watford, I’m not having it sorry.
Newkie(Quote)
How about going for Abebayer, might be worth a punt,
F—–ing hell Obertan coming on
ash1001(Quote)
At this rate he may break his forest record.. winning only three of their first 13 games and losing seven. 😯
Gashley(Quote)
Not surprised he got cramp, he’s one of the few who have shown any pace today
kimtoon(Quote)
and Kim if you do not do your job, who kicks your backside? The boss in this case McClaren
ash1001(Quote)
flippin heck McLaren, that took you a while to work out that the Watford left back is weak … Janmaat has been battering him the second half , yet you give Obertan 3 minutes ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
Newks, they are much of a muchness for me mate, except Pards was a gobshite who bought shame on the club with his headbutt and calling opo managers ***s and NEVER taking the blame only the glory.
kimtoon(Quote)
Think it sums it up, when Newcastle have to revert to bringing Obertan it says it all,
Beaten by Watford for hell sake
ash1001(Quote)
I’d love to see Collocinis stats. He must be one of the worst defenders in the Premier League. Headed balls won …. none. Tackles won…none… 50-50’s won. None…
allround pish…
Munich Mag(Quote)
KIM@621 agree 100% mate
icedog(Quote)
Ash, Don’t be silly 😆 you can’t chastise a player these days, they’d have a lip on for 3 months if you did 😀
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim. There may be only 4 teams but even the poor Prem teams can do well against the top teams.
The Prem is way better quality than the Eredivisie
Well that was entertaining Steve
Gashley(Quote)
MM@623, Agree, waste of a contract extension imo
kimtoon(Quote)
Get ready for some stick, from everyone else, least mitrivoc will be back to battle with Costa
ash1001(Quote)
Off for a walk to clear my head, thanks for the company folks
ash1001(Quote)
Kim – so their ability is the same then?
He was a ****, but that’s getting off track, we have total ******* footballers who still get worshipped because they can do something on a football pitch, so there’s plenty of contradiction in football there.
Oh well, a poor performance and a loss to watford. Usually I’d quite fancy us to upset Chelsea, but I get the distinct feeling that while they’ve been poor this season they will still **** us next week. Good times.
Newkie(Quote)
This has panned out exactly as I predicted, horrible set of games to start with that would leave us rock bottom by which time our confidence would be on the floor and we’d lose to Watford.
kimtoon(Quote)
Total shambles from the start. Can’t believe I’ve knocked back work to watch this shower next Sat 😳
I’d drop Colo for Willo or Lascelles
Gashley(Quote)
Yes, the fixtures haven’t helped or the sending offs. Our lack of creating and shots on target should be better. 1 up front is useless, esp hitting high balls to Cisse 😳
Gashley(Quote)
thank goodness I only saw the second half, at least I didn’t spoil my whole afternoon… 👿
We have so many players making downright poor decisions both with and without the ball. We have no shape to our side.
Munich Mag(Quote)
No leaders, no momentum and no quality!
Right back was the most likely goal scorer and that says everything!
Utter shambolic!
Where are the Rose tinters?
Stuart79(Quote)
Newks, it would certainly appear so
kimtoon(Quote)
At least they made a decent fist of it in the 2nd half. Still, not good enough. And still too lightweight all over the field. No creativity and far too green.
brisvegas(Quote)
Bris, agree mate
kimtoon(Quote)
Sharpy will be proper peed off with that.
kimtoon(Quote)
Next 4 figures
Chelsea H
Man City A
Norwich City H
Sunderland A
Gashley(Quote)
Here’s a novel idea, if we insist on young foreign imports who are wet behind the ears why didn’t we go foreign for the coach?
kimtoon(Quote)
Gashley, aye, read it and weep
kimtoon(Quote)
If we don’t beat sunderland we’re fooked, basically.
Newkie(Quote)
From the mirror:
Newcastle are a bunch of lazy wimps
The men in black and white sauntered around the pitch hardly laying a finger on Watford.
There was no pressing of Watford in possession, especially in the first hour. No one tackled. No-one hassled. There was no aggression of hunger of will to do the graft that sets up a positive result.
It improved after an hour, but only marginally.
Newcastle are shambles in defence
Fabricio Coloccini is way past his best, and was given a monstering by Watford striker Odio Ighalo.
Coloccini was out-muscled and out paced repeatedly, and it set the tone in a defence that backed off. And backed off again. And were nothing like the cohesive, strong brutal unit a back four should be.
Gashley(Quote)
The Mirror is spot on, players have no spine apart from a couple of exceptions .
kimtoon(Quote)
I want the season over already lol
So much for entertaining football. I feel its another wasted year under Fatty who won’t sell until we win something 😥
Gashley(Quote)
Gashley@644, we have been standing off teams for years. Collocini was absolutely horrendous today, yet someone found it necessary to extend his contract.
To be honest, if the head coach can’t see the deficiencies in the side, and the distinct lack of intensity, then he deserves all the criticism that is coming his way..
I dare say Lascelles or Willo would have put in a better performance today than Collocini.
There also seemed to be massive gaps between our team, between defence and midfield especially. The main problems are in the centre of midfield imo… the spine there is way too lightweight..
Munich Mag(Quote)
another relegation battle.
hitman(Quote)
Never read anyone’s comments yet but I would imagine some will already be criticising McLaren already. I estimated it would be 12-18mths before the new manager who replaced Pards would be crucified by those who crucified Pards.
I will check later to see the comments. Oh dear. 🙄
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Pards was always a safe pair of hands imo from his time at the toon. Not great, but safe.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
The ridiculous policy of only buying young prospects who have a sell on value comes back to bite us again.
No leadership or real quality experience to lead the young players was again for all to see.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy@651 spot on
kimtoon(Quote)
The blog seems a bit neglected again. No Watford articles at all. At any rate another loss so we continue on the road to ruin with Mike Ashley. At least Sunderland is in the division to give us some competition for 20th place!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I’m seeing the competition between us and the unwashed being very intense this season. 19th place, 20th place, back and forth. That lot with a -7 goal difference, us with a -6, but that can soon change! We’ve got Chelsea and City next! Huzzah!!! 😯
GeordieTwo(Quote)
West Ham winning two nil too. Just really shows how little £50m outlay actually is these days. Always said it and will continue to say it, we are so far behind everyone else in quality, togetherness and infrastructure that it will take more than £50m to fix it.
We’re short at the back and up front yet for some on here they seem to think were fine. Just unbelievable.
Stuart79(Quote)
What is our negative goal difference record? It must be in the -70’s. We have a chance to break that! And the reverse clean sheet record as well!!! This is a season for opportunities Steve. Let’s get some more young Frenchies in during the January window as well!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Graham we’re depending on you to find some even younger French players in the January window. Players that are still unable to shave. Possibly still reaching puberty. Just think how much they’ll be worth in 10 years or so Mike!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Boom, boom, boom boom boom!!
Boom boom boom boom!
We suck!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Even another 50M in January would be of no use. The model the club follows is the problem. A team full of young European babies. Ridiculous. As others have said no leadership, no Prem experience leads to disaster. Ashley out!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I knew we would suck this season mates, but I never in my wildest dreams thought we would suck this bad…The horror!!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Right then, I’m demanding a refund and I didn’t even attend the match!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Pluck out the ingrown hair that is Mike Ashley. It just stares back at us festering away…..Aaarrrghhhhh!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
This is the end, Toon friends
This is the end, my Geordie friends, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
Doors music. Seems to fit right now. 👿
GeordieTwo(Quote)
The glaring thing that has marked me for years whilst Ashley has been here is the haggling over the price of players.
If I’m wrong, maybe so, but I’ve got my info from a source very very close to Ashley and Charnley and it appears to be corroborated by the leaks in the press and other people’s sources, that we bid £13m for Austin but they wanted £15m and Charnley refused to budge and are hoping to get him at cut price in January.
That £10m saving maybe the most expensive saving ever. In fact, come January, if we are relegation favourites then he won’t sign anyway.
Ashley has to put his hands in his pockets and spend his own money on the basis that he’s made a right **** up of running our club or sell up. Surely.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
How to make Newcastle United useful to the community. 1st sell of SJP to make way for parking garage. 2nd send players to knackers yard to be made into glue. Problem solved!
Jill(Quote)
Troy – The biggest problem since Ashley has been here is the transfer policy – full stop! Nobody over 26? Where’s the experience? Where’s the leaders? Where’s the players with PL experience?
Stuart79(Quote)
It would be nice if I could see some shape forming in the team even when we get beat but don’t see anything,one decent player in defence,nothing in
defence,nothing up front no team work,players just strolling around the pitch no idea what they are doing and not wanting to anything just cannot see anything to work with,I just cannot see what SM is trying to do whatever it is its not working we are going from bad to worse.
Come Jan there won’t be a player that wants to come to a team heading to
CCC so there’s no hope there
icedog(Quote)
Nothing in midfield should have been in last comment
icedog(Quote)
I see Austin scored again.
kimtoon(Quote)
And where are the nasty knobblers who can slow those enemy attackers down? Leave them limping aboot. Colo looks like a walking advert for a women’s hair salon. We just don’t have enough grit in the team. Tough lads who fight hard for the 50/50 balls. Spot on again Troy. Penny pinching Ashley puts us in the pudding!!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Alan Shearer Verified account
@alanshearer #NUFC awful AGAIN. Charlie Austin looks cheap at £15 million now!
kimtoon(Quote)
Spot on Steve. Let’s see now, Chelsea and Man City next….so 2 points from the first 8 matches. Looking further ahead in desperation……mmmmm….Norwich, mackems and Stoke. There’s got to be a point in there somewhere…..please tell me there’s a point in there somewhere….
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Yarrrrggg!!! Why didn’t we pay the extra 2M and get Charlie?? Charlie!!!! We need you!!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Please Charlie!!! Forgive us for being penny pinching twats!!! We’re begging you!!!!
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Where is Toon Down South these days to tell us what a wonderful job Ashley is doing? For some reason he’s not coming on….Hmmm. Don’t understand it…..
GeordieTwo(Quote)