Team News:
Newcastle United:
It’s fair to say that the fans have been calling out for quality defensive reinforcements for several transfer windows now and yet again the club failed to address the area in January. As a result, we were one injury away from crisis and hey presto! Chancel Mbemba has now been ruled out for several weeks with an ankle injury. His replacement Jamaal Lascelles got himself sent off so misses out today leaving only Captain Fabricio Coloccini and an injury prone hot and cold running Steven Taylor available, who will be lacking match sharpness. At left back Paul Dummett has aggravated his hamstring and sits out for a while whilst Massaido Heidara remains absent until mid March with a knee complaint. Kevin Mbabu returns to the squad carrying a knock and may have to fill in again. Jack Colback (hamstring) is out until next week at the earliest whilst Vurnon Anita and Gabriel Obertan are carrying the same injury. Siem De Jong (eye) may or may not return to the squad today. Tim Krul and Curtis Good are out for the season. Seydou Doumbia is not fit enough to start according to McClaren, but Cheick Tiote returns to the squad following his collapsed move to China. Youngsters Callum Williams, Liam Gibson and Dan Barlaser have all been training with the first team this week.
West Bromwich Albion:
Jonny Evans and James Morrison (both hamstring) are out for 3 and 5 weeks respectively. Callum McManaman has been ruled out by an ankle injury until the beginning of March whilst Chris Brunt (calf strain) is expected back next week. Otherwise it’s a clean bill of health for the Baggies even though Tony Pullis has hinted that Newcastle transfer target Saido Berahino is unlikely to start as he gathers match fitness. Expect him to come off the bench and put us to the sword then….
Shamrock’s stats and facts:
1) The first ever game between these sides took place in 1898, finishing 3-0 to to the Magpies.
2) West Brom have failed to win on the road in the last 6 attempts.
3) Newcastle have won 6 of their 9 home Premier League games in this fixture.
4) Victor Anichebe has scored more times against the Toon than any other PL side (5).
5) West Bromwich Albion have scored 39% of their goals from headers this season, a PL high.
6) Newcastle have filed to keep a clean sheet for 9 games.
Referee:
Officiating today is 44-year-old Lee Mason from Bolton. Of the 19 Toon games he has officiated since 2010, Newcastle have won only 6. He has taken only one Magpies fixture against the Baggies, which took place at the Hawthorns and finished 1-0 to West Brom. Lee Mason caused controversy when he failed to award Newcastle a stone-wall penalty when we were 1 goal down against Liverpool in April 2015. Lovren hacked down Perez and Liverpool went on to win 2-0. Overall though, he is a steady and experienced referee that generally gets the big calls right. He’s just not a lucky omen for us!
Kick off at 15:00, St. James’ Park.
Lineups:
Toon: 21 Elliot, 22 Janmaat, 27 Taylor, 2 Coloccini, 16 Aarons, 12 Shelvey, 24 Tioté, 7 Sissoko, 5 Wijnaldum, 25 Townsend, 45 Mitrovic. Substitutes: 17 Pérez, 23 Saivet, 26 Darlow, 28 Doumbia, 35 Gibson, 40 Williams, 47 Barlaser.
Baggies: 1 Foster, 25 Dawson, 23 McAuley, 3 Olsson, 4 Chester, 5 Yacob, 30 Sandro, 8 Gardner, 24 Fletcher, 14 McClean, 10 Anichebe. Substitutes: 13 Myhill, 15 Pocognoli, 17 Lambert, 18 Berahino, 20 Pritchard, 29 Sessegnon, 33 Rondón.
HWTL
Stu – I think Townsend is still a bit rusty and is getting used to playing with Gini, Sissoko and understanding his role in the team. But he did well today & I liked that him & Sissoko kept switching wings.
Sharpy17(Quote)
For me, MOTM was Janmaat. Thought he put in an astounding shift today. It was great to see every player trying and not having to carry anyone. So often in the past we have had at least one or two players not trying and it’s been like playing with 9 or 10 men from the start. But today everyone pulled their weight. 😀
Jill(Quote)
Stuart
Your assessment is ok with me bar Mitro. He is not strong enough. He gets knocked all over and considering his size is a lightweight.
He must have won and held the ball up 20% of the time.
He did take his goal very well but bar that he was poor for me.
That’s football. Different opinions.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Jill
Janmaat did play well. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Gash
I come up with solutions. You create problems. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy even Alan got a lucky point today 😎
Terry(Quote)
Having players who protect Shelvey Wijnaldum are key. This team would only get better if you find a way to have Tioté Colback around Shelvey, then Shelvey Wijnaldum Townsend at some degree Ayoze are in best conditions to play their game. Another great option imo is to put a 4 man midfield with Colback(Barton/Jonas role for Janmaat) Shelvey Tioté Townsend. Then Mitrovic Wijnaldum upfront. Wijnaldum who by the way should play just next to Mitro as 2nd striker. He fits the role better than strikers.
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
But to be fair this team was the strongest possible. If you put Mbemba Lb with Taylor fit and bring Ayoze Colback Doumbia as sub you have a team that win games. Tioté should stay and be new captain.
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
1 things for sure im pleased we did not sign that berhino 25 million my ****
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Terry
Pards could win the league and the Clueless Crew would call it lucky. 😉 that includes you. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
TAE
If we go down you will be questioning your opinion. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Honestly we can beat City. Chelsea game we must put a concrete plan to get a point.
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
TROY STAVERS
dint make me laugh buddy and i aint seen pards win the league and never will 😆
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
If WBA dont want Rondon, Id take him asap. Better than Berahino
Cholo A. Sall(Quote)
Pards will be lucky if he avoids relegation next season.
Still out of his depth in the premiership.
mommw 😀
sidekick(Quote)
TROY STAVERS
ya still aint sussed bolasie makes them tick
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
good words from the chav
Newcastle have got good players, just look at what they have recruited.” “Like all teams in this league though you need a little luck…today they didn’t need luck though – they were better than us.”
“”I’ve been at the club for just over a year now and that’s most probably the most disappointing away performance we’ve had.”
“The best way to describe is that we were in a boxing match and we shadow boxed for 90 minutes.” “We never got close to them and when we had the ball our passing was poo.”
”Newcastle were better all over the pitch.”
“It could have been more than 1-0 but they are a great group of lads and we will have to take this on the chin and work this out.” “Only in the last 15 minutes did we have a couple of opportunities to score”
“The goal was a poor one to concede and it pushed them on – but we weren’t at the races from the beginning.
gashley(Quote)
TAE
Every team has a player that makes them tick. Take Bellamy out of SBR team and we struggled.
Stop being bitter.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
TROY STAVERS
just hows that being bitter buddy 😯 by the way what ya think of rotties goal the dude you seem to think we selling in the summer 😆
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
TAE
I’ve posted earlier. See what I said to Stuart.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
So the Aussie Mags are toweling up the Alestars.. looks like the league leader is down for another loss. It is against the form team of the league so Newkie can’t get too down hearted! 😛
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
I hope this is the year Allardyce and Pulis get the relegation that ruins their reputations.
While I think Pulis got Palace playing decent stuff, on the whole, he is depressing and so is Allardyce. Both going down in the year the money comes in would thoroughly end the hype over them.
funkyjesus(Quote)
FJ
Even if the mackems go down its hardly down to fat Sam
He took over a shambles. I’m no fan of his but where do you get it from?
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy,
Don’t get me wrong, he isn’t the major reason Sunderland are **** but just on the whole, he and Pulis have this tag of “relegation immune” and it guarantees them jobs in this division. If they get shown up on that, in the biggest financial year ever then maybe we’ll stop suffering teams managed by them and their ultra negative tripe.
Just as someone who enjoys watching good football, they are a curse.
funkyjesus(Quote)
Oz @ 246, The form team at the moment is Shteves Shcitty … and anybody my lot play against.
Good win for the mags last night. Far and away the better side and got some reward for a change. Maybe this is the start of another new dawn – there’s been a few already this season.
Loving Leicester’s run to Champions. It really shows that the difference between a successful side and a relegation candidate has a lot to do with the coaching. Looking at the Leicester side before the season, nobody would have picked that squad of players to be in the Champions League box seat.
Hard work, good organisation, a few players playing out of their skins and some well-directed tactics, and an average group of players become superstars.
Take note, Charnley.
Brisvegas(Quote)
Woohoo! The form team! 🙂
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
TROY STAVERS 212
you sound a bit bitter there bud 😆 😆 😆 😆 this clueless crew bud you should be the leader in my opinion 😆
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/492961/Newcastle-Daniel-Sturridge-Liverpool-transfer
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Disagree Vegas… my lot are ripping up the table, then again your east coast bias has clouded your opinions/ judgment in the past 😉
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
just watched motd and butland brought down the player and gave away a penalty, and was only booked. lascelles brought down an everton player in the last five minutes of the game, gave away a penalty and was sent off.
could someone explain why butlaand doesn’t get sent off ? it was relatively early in the game too..
Munich Mag(Quote)
Munich – wasn’t it Lascelles second yellow mate?. I know he had been previously booked but I can’t remember if it was a straight red for the penalty?!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Just watched MOTD and Tiote’s disallowed goal. Both “offside” players clearly coming back – classic not interfering with play situation. Linesman only put his flag up after protests by WBA – not shown on MOTD. However disappointed MOTD did not discuss why the goal was disallowed.
Groucho(Quote)
TAE I should have known better than to mention King Alan’s name 😆 I was hoping he would go on a 6 game losing streak but Swansea let me down.
Terry(Quote)
Looking at our fixtures: Swansea, Sunderland, Bournemouth, Palace & Spurs at SJP; Stoke, Norwich, Villa & a stuttering Liverpool away
We will have no one but ourselves to blame if we don’t get 38 points
CC(Quote)
Yup
Beating S’land and Norwich is going to be the most important.
DJG(Quote)
If Norwich average one point per game, which is better than what they have done so far and to allow for relegation fighting type wins; they will get 36 points. So I don’t think we NEED 38-40 points BUT we don’t want to be leaving it to the last game again. There is also Swansea and a few others that could go into a tailspin. The Chelsea game is a ‘free hit’, so please Steve, play to our strengths and press high, try to score early. If we set up like the Everton game they will beat us for certain.
DJG(Quote)
I can see 3 wins and a couple of draws that we should realistically expect from that list CC, which is 11 points totalling 35 anything else is a bonus I reckon.
Sunderland, Villa and Norwich should be wins, Palace and Stoke possible draws you would hope but Spurs, Pool, Swans and Bournemouth will be difficult I think.
kimtoon(Quote)
Remi Garde showing what a good manager he is by turning villa into a side that will at least go down with some sort of dignity.
If/when he resigns in the summer we should be back in for him
CC(Quote)
Kim
Swansea seem to be reverting to type after the initial new manager bounce & Palace are doing what Pards teams do. I’d hope we might Nick a few points from those as well
DJG
Agreed I was having a scan of the fixtures the other day and had Norwich finishing on 36 but that was assuming they would beat villa…
CC(Quote)
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/02/06/newcastle-united-cult-hero-jonas-gutierrez-sends-series-of-inspi/
kimtoon(Quote)
CC, yeah I was hoping Swans would go into a nose dive but they are picking up the odd point. Palace do look poor, though that point yesterday might spur them on . Think Liverpool will beat us though, they’ll want payback and are at home. Spurs will be interesting, will they lose their bottle in the run in ? Funny thing is we often win the ones you’d expect us to lose and lose the so called easier ones.
kimtoon(Quote)
We just need to keep playing with the same intensity and desire as yesterday.
We need to turn a few defeats into draws by digging in and frustrating a couple teams. Like Liverpool Chelsea. Etc.
The next few weeks are going to be vital.
Boots(Quote)
I don’t see us winning hardly any away games. We need to win all our home games in my opinion to be save.
Stuart79(Quote)
KIM Good day for you y/day both clubs winning,what do you think of the new manager down there??
Icedog(Quote)
Just love the look on the faces of the young Man City fans. They are like, ‘daddy why is the other team winning, I have never seen this before’.
Nowt like a good slap in the face. 😈
DJG(Quote)
The scum game is going to be a hard one to call imo,we always give them six points every year to keep them up,would like a change
Icedog(Quote)
But Stu. You told me we could not do that because that would be championship form
premandup(Quote)
Ice@269, Sorry, multi tasking, cooking lunch, watching lew and peeking on the blog 😉
Yeah, interesting seeing Lee back at the club, if he does half as good a job as his Dad did they’ll be fine. They are 20th now so hopefully they will build on that win.
kimtoon(Quote)
If we can’t get 3 or 4 wins out of them games we deserve to go down.
kimtoon(Quote)
I predict 5 wins – nee bother 🙂
georgio(Quote)
Interesting watching Inter losing at bottom of the table Verona. Good thing about Serie A is there is no set top 4 really if you take out Juventus. Inter really have lost their way, as have AC…
Shamrock(Quote)
Tell you what this is a cracking match. Verona go 3-1 up then the two teams have a bit of a scuffle as Inter decide they will have a fight to prove how big their balls are as they get outsmarted by the ‘little kid’ in the playground. Now Inter score for 3-2 and chasing the game with half hour to go. Good stuff. Luca Toni still going strong at 38!
Shamrock(Quote)
my bro is dead right, we have too many “homers” in the squad, who can only perform at home and disappear away from home…
Hopefully this will change if we stay up, better players and better tactics from the coach, plus our new foreign players have one more season in the Premier League under there belts, and will be better for it next season.
It really is a matter of survival at all costs this season …
Then the board can let loose with Cashleys check book and get in those defenders we have needed for the last 5 years.
Only then can we challenge for a top 8 finish, when everyone is on board and pulling in one direction..
Munich Mag(Quote)
Aussie – I’m so confident of a league victory I just thought I’d throw the odd match to let Bris catch up and make it interesting again. Plus, your missus asked me to go easy on you, and I just can’t say no to her 🙂
CC- Out of that home fixture list we have a better squad than all but Spurs, and even they sometimes come unstuck against us. But what can Schteve muster…
Newkie(Quote)
Really looking forward to the mass xleaeout in the summer and seeing which new faces come in. Obertan, Gouffy, Marv, Rivi, Anita, Cisse, Vuckic to go. Hopefully somebody comes in for Thauvin.
Maybe Tiote will be off though I don’t mind him staying. Problem is though, we need him availae all season and not half of it….
Will Sissoko go? Is let Heidara go too and De Jong.
Will Saylor finally go or be offered a new deal? Will Amstrong be given a place in the squad or take a loan into the Championship for more experience?
Once all that lot is cleared we will have a fair bit of space for decent incomings.
Thats if we stay up of course.
Potential squad:
Krul, Elliott, Darlow, Janmaat, Mbabu, Colo, Mbemba, Lascelles, Saylor, New top CB, Dummett, New LB, New RW x2, Tiote, Shelvey, Colback, Saivet, New top attacking CM, Aarons, Townsend, Mitro, Perez, Armstrong, New STR.
That’s 11 out with 6 quality signings coming in then squad rebuild complete. Achievable.
Shamrock(Quote)
Watched MotD. If anyone thinks Tiote’s goal should have stood, please give yourself a slap.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Just shows how coaches vary,Simpson deemed not good at m/u,deemed not good enough at toon,went down at qpr went to Leicester for 3mil now could be in championship winning side,apart from one almighty **** up he has played really well,I know at the toon balls played in behind him he was like a headless chicken,the coach at Leicester must have worked on that with him he’s now a much improved player
Icedog(Quote)
Overly – this is what I’ve been saying for Yeats. The reason I wanted rid of pardew was because he is a **** coach. He never improved a single player. In fact most went backwards under him.
A good coach can make a **** player to play beyond himself.
Players can always keep learning and improving.
Just not at the Toon.
Boots(Quote)
ICE
Different players suit different playing styles of course. Which is why signing players isn’t as simple as many fans seem to think. Simpson was always hard working but definitely isn’t top draw. Leicester are brimming with confidence and playing exceptionally well as a unit. He’s a solid right back but I don’t think he’ll be as good if his team is struggling or has blatant weaknesses.
Eddie Howe today was talking about the right mentality of players and both he and Wenger said that you can sign players who actually detract from the squad because they can cause disharmony. Players sitting on the bench can become bad eggs and disrupt the team spirit, especially if their mate is still playing in the first team.
All of which is a finger in the face of the know it alls on blogs who think signing 8 players would make all the difference…also shows why players like Ameobi and Taylor are good to have around. Pundits today saying that Terry should stay at Chelsea because he’s such a good role model. Seems obscene to pay a player £100kpw+ to be a backup player and club captain behind the scenes, but if it makes the difference between success and failure in a team game worth hundreds of millions…it’s worth it.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
BOOTS
Bullshit. Cabaye, Tiote and Debuchy all improve massively at our club. Cabaye and Debuchy got their big moves and then declined. Same with Enrique.
You can’t imagine a player at his absolute best and then blame the manager if he doesn’t stay there. Mourinho a **** coach for what happened at Chelsea this season? Ranieri suddenly good? Rodgers great at Swans and became useless at Liverpool? Moyes and Van Gaal both useless for overseeing the apparent decline of some previously fantastic Man Utd players?
Pardew did OK for us. Simple as that. He was no Robson or KK, but neither was he a Souness, JFK or Gullit.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Overley = icedog
Go figure
Boots(Quote)
SHAM
The problem with your squad idea is that it blocks young players coming through and makes it very tough to keep all of the players happy…
…actually no, the problem with your squad is that I can’t see Gini? Sissoko may or may not be sold…I think that will depend on the offer.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
Simpson was athletic and always tried his best but just didn’t have the footballing intelligence. If they win the league I think it’s more because of players like Vardy and Schmichael personally but credit to Simpson, he has been a steady Eddie for them.
DJG(Quote)
Yeah I’m not really sure Simmo is any different to when he was with us – average footballing skills and won’t get forward much, but he does his job well enough. Wasn’t it 5 goal line clearances for our fifth placed finish? And he never did anything daft and gave away penalties or got him sent off and cost us the match in that sense – how many of our defenders could learn from that?
I do appreciate the irony though where he was regularly slagged off by a number of posters for holding us back – look at us now, lots of money spent, lots of “better” players – and we’re still just as ****. Meanwhile Simmo is going to get a PL winners medal unlike any of our lot. Newcastle United eh 😆
Newkie(Quote)
Simpson’s stats were not as bad as many would have you believe. He was good at marshalling attackers out of danger. He did not tackle particularly well or attack for that matter, but he nullified most attacks that went down his side.
Premandup(Quote)
Players like Simmo are needed in a team like ours. It gets my goat that good pros like Willo, Colback, Shola and Elliot have been royally slated on blogs like this just because they’re not world class. There’s no chance we can keep 25 top players happy at our club right now. It’s hard enough for a CL club to do that when they’re going for 4 trophies every season!
And some fans have short memories. Our amazing years included fairly average players but good pros like Barton, Watson, Peacock, Batty, Kitson, Beresford, Hislop, Howey and others.
To give some comparisons:
Barton – Simpson
Howey – Taylor
Batty – Colback
Kitson – Shola
Hislop – Elliot
Get the idea?
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
TDS in that case we only need 5 signings as Gini is the quality attacking CM. I disagree about promising young players being blocked. My squad includes Armstrong, Mbabu and Aaron’s in the first choice 15 then youngsters get a chance when injuries strike etc as 25 is not a massive squad. In any case I am unaware of any other youngsters anywhere near ready to be a regular 1st teamer. players like Sterry need a loan next for regular footy.
Shamrock(Quote)
TDS. @ 281 I am totally unimpressed by the cogency of your argument. You are clearly someone who just shouts others down just like they do on Ed’s blog. I can accept other people’s opinions may be totally opposed to mine. I have no divine right to be right and in fact it is good that there are other opinions because it makes you think. Had you said why Tiote’s goal should not have stood I would have valued your views more.
Groucho(Quote)
GROUCHO@293 good comment about reet too mate
Icedog(Quote)
But Prem. I said we needed to, I didn’t say we could.
Stuart79(Quote)
So we have:
GK (3) – Krul, Elliot, Darlow
LB (2) – NEW, Dummett
RB (2) Janmaat, Mbabu
CB (5) – Mbemba, NEW, Colo, Taylor, Lascelles
CM (4) – Shelvey, Tiote, Saivet, Colback
AM/W (5) – Gini, Townsend, NEW, NEW, Aarons
ST (4) – Mitrovic, NEW, Perez, Armstrong
And sell Cisse, Sissoko, Haidara, SDJ, Obertain, Goofy, Marv, Anita, Rivi, Thauvin and Vuckic?
That’s a pretty big overhaul…
Questions…
1 – How would Colo feel about being benched? He’ll probably want to go back to Argentina instead
2 – If Colo is benched, how would Taylor and Lascelles feel about only making the bench if there’s an injury? Surely that stunts Lascelles development? He would need to go out on loan if he’s 5th choice surely?
3 – If we sign another big money striker, how does that affect the development of Perez and Armstrong? One on the bench and one not even in the squad? Armstrong would be better off on loan surely?
4 – If we play 1 up front, we don’t need 4 strikers surely?
5 – If we play 2 up front, we surely don’t need two more incoming attacking players? How would Gini, Townsend, Aarons (and possible Perez) fit into those 2 positions along with 2 new players?
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
GROUCHO
No need to get personal. I would have thought it was blatantly obvious why Tiote’s goal was correctly disallowed! In this case, I don’t even believe it’s a matter of opinion, it’s a matter of the offside law!
And if that was given AGAINST our club, everyone would be rightly up in arms!
Very simple. The goal cannot be given if there is a player in an offside position who is “preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or challenging an opponent for the ball”. In this case, it’s obvious that the ball was hit right at Foster, yet the 2 OFFSIDE Newcastle players obstructed Foster’s vision so he didn’t see the ball until the last second. Therefore the goal cannot be given. Please show me one intelligent football professional who thinks that the goal should have been given under the current rules and then maybe I’ll rethink my position.
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
<<<<<<<<<<<<< thought tiotes goal should of defo stood meself robbed of a right screamer he was
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
TAE
You just pulling my leg mate or didn’t you read what I wrote about the offside rule?
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
only way it should of been disallowed was if the rottweiler got a touch which he did not,the linesman did not even put his flag up til they started moaning about it
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)