This weekend see’s Newcastle United travel to Stamford Bridge looking to consolidate their position clear of the relegation zone. Chelsea have been unbreakable since Guus Hiddink came in though, so this will be no easy task.
Chelsea:
The Blues are fortunate to have a very clean bill of health, with only 3 players currently injured. However, the loss of Kurt Zouma for 6 months with an ACL knee injury is a big loss. Ramadel Falcao has done his groin in (he rarely plays these days so he must have done this some other….’ahem’….way…) whilst ex-Toon striker Loic Remy is likely to recover from a calf injury in time to challenge for a place in the match-day squad.
Newcastle United:
Unsurprisingly, Newcastle United is top of the treatment table league. Tim Krul (ACL knee) and Curtis Good (hip) remain out for the season but we can expect returns to the match day squad for Siem De Jong (eye) and Jack Colback (hamstring) whilst Daryl Janmaat has shaken off a thigh injury. This game comes too soon for Kevin Mbabu (thigh) and Vurnon Anita (hamstring), who are scheduled to return at the end of the month. Gabby Obertan (hamstring) and Massaido Haidara (knee) are out for at least a month still, whilst there is no news on Paul Dummett (hamstring) or Chancel Mbemba (ankle).
Shamrock’s Stats & Facts:
1) Chelsea are unbeaten in the league since Guus Hiddink took over from Jose Mourinho.
2) Newcastle have failed to score or take a single point in their last 3 visits to Stamford Bridge.
3) Chelsea have failed beat the Toon in the last 11 games between the sides when Newcastle have scored.
4) Guus Hiddink has only lost 1 of his 21 Premier League matches.
5) The Blues are on the longest current unbeaten run in the league, with 9.
6) Newcastle have taken more points off Chelsea (13) than any other team in the last 5 seasons.
7) The Magpies have only won twice on the road this season, losing the last 4 away games.
8) Chelsea have drawn their last 4 home games – against Watford, West Brom, Everton and Manchester United.
9) The most goals ever scored in this fixture was in the 1958/1959 season – Chelsea winning 6-5.
10) The Magpies have scored less goals on the road than any other team this season.
Referee:
Officiating this one is 50-year-old Roger East, who represents the Wiltshire County FA. Despite his age, he only took to being the man in the middle from the 2006/2007 season – being a linesman before that, including at the 2004 FA Cup Final. East was only promoted to the Premier League Select Group from the 2013/2014 season. He is a relatively steady referee with no history of contentious decisions of note. He has taken charge of 4 Newcastle games this season, including our 2 losses to Watford, our draw with Stoke and our last away victory at Tottenham Hotspur.
Final Thought:
Whilst Wijnaldum’s goals and our 2 recent league wins have been a big lift for us in our relegation battle, it has all been at home. If Newcastle is serious about staying up, then the players need to start performing away from home. We are the worst team in the league on the road and that is really not good enough. Whilst Chelsea are unbeaten in 10, they just cannot buy win at home at the moment. If our boys apply themselves with the kind of passion and fight they showed against West Brom, then I’d be quietly confident of coming away from Stamford Bridge with a point – that’s unless McClaren gets his tactics and selection completely wrong again like he did against Everton during our last away trip….
One big thing we have going for us is that our side seems to step up for the games broadcast on national television. This fixture is on Sky Sports – so fingers crossed!!
Chelsea V Newcastle United
Stamford Bridge
Saturday 13th February 2016
Kick Off: 17:30 Live on Sky Sports 1.
Troy: you also never replied about Pearson’s son and the Thai ownership having something to do with his firing? Did you do YOUR research?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Tick tock Troy 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I will do a reality check… It has been very upbeat on here considering how we played yesterday, the selections, the tactics, the subs, the capitulation in 17 minutes, the captain making excuses even though he was the worst player on the pitch, Aarons at left back, Steve retaining his job, Lee Ryder getting another free holiday to Spain…
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Let’s look at the last 3 games and shuffle the order. If it had been 1-0 West Brom win, followed by 2 of the 3 worst performances of the season at Everton and Chelsea I don’t think he would have survive. Same points, same scores, different order. Sack him FFS, don’t send him on holiday (sorry, boot camp).
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Pearson wanted more players;
Former Carlisle, Southampton and Hull boss Pearson has already made three signings this summer, and he was busy lining up more recruits until relations turned sour this week during discussions over plans for the new season.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Can somebody explain to me why the fans applauded our players after yesterdays game? Were they being ironic, have they been brainwashed or were they too dazzled by the brightness of the Grin Reaper’s teeth to notice how bad they played?
Shamrock(Quote)
We better not get Mr. Veneers as he is known then.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I don’t believe for a second our fans applauded the players after the game. Shirley Knot? 😯
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy @755: that doesn’t say WHY relations turned sour.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Reet off to bed. I’m like a mountain gorilla sleeping in the tree tops only I’m sleeping on top of the ladders, on the paint board. 😆
Keeping reaching for the first rung boys. 😆
Troy Stavers(Quote)
One last one. Just noticed your post. I’ve got sources. I’m in terms know;-) mum’s the word. 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy click on this link and scroll down to the video evidence of our fans applauding our team after losing 5-1 and generally showing no urgency or passion for their club…
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/chelsea-vs-newcastle-live-build-10864537
Shamrock(Quote)
Sham – I thought the same. What kind of message does that send to the manager, players and board? We should be letting them know how poor they are and certainly letting McClaren know how unhappy we are.
Stuart79(Quote)
To be fair you could still hear them out singing the Chelski lot even at 4-0, so it would be odd to do that then boo the lads off the pitch
Not sure whether it’s the right tack. Schteve keeps whinging for support from the fans – he’s had far too much in my opinion. There’s only so much influence the crowd can have – unfortunately – he has most of it and that’s why we’re *****. 😕
Newkie(Quote)
Newcastle showed no game plan, very little effort or fight and got dic&&d 5-1. Why would you applaud that?
Shamrock(Quote)
Blind faith is part and parcel of being a Newcastle fan. Why else would you end up supporting this shower of **** 😆
Newkie(Quote)
Nobody has mentioned Schteve’s substitutions. Down 3-0 with the defense having a collective nightmare and Aarons playing in an unfamiliar role and he takes off Wijnaldum. Tiote was being run ragged and stayed on. Coloccini was having his worst game of the season.
That was a strange sub given that Wijnaldum has been one of the few successes this season. I mean what was the point of taking him off?
The obvious changes were Colback for Aarons and Saivet for Tiote. That is assuming that he would never take off Captain Curly no matter how badly he is playing.
I suppose he could have subbed any of the 10 outfield players and it wouldn’t have mattered.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Ryder had written that Schteve was considering dropping Wijnaldum but I didn’t think he could be so stupid. Maybe I was wrong and I might have to give some credit to Lee. Whatever the case it was dumb, a mini Gullit Shearer moment. You don’t drop your best player.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
6 wins in 26 games and he still has a bleeding job!!!
Stuart79(Quote)
What the hell is Steve Black doing too? He’s another who has failed miserably.
Stuart79(Quote)
I know he came with a big reputation, but I have to agree Stu.
Shamrock(Quote)
By the way, I don’t think we will be the last team to get killed by Chelsea this season. We allowed very good players like Pedro, Willian and Hazard to find their form and confidence. I expected a loss but we rolled over and let them scratch our belly. Stoke will be different as you never know which team will turn up for them.
We all try to give managers a chance (except me with Carver who I was against from the beginning) but as Stuart just pointed out the record speaks for itself. Even if we stay up we need a clear out. I was clinging a bit to the fact that Schteve had success at Twente but he has failed at everything ever since so maybe that was the outlier and we are seeing McClaren’s normal.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Stuart: you have to ask Sharpy about “Blackie”. Apparently he’s a great bloke. Pity he is **** at his job.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Does a lot for charity. But so did Jimmy Savile.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
That was a bit below the belt.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I was trying to think of a precedent for Managers doing really well at one job and then **** everywhere else they went as Schteve seems to have done. Then it struck me like a lightning bolt. We have all the evidence of this at NUFC – Gullit, Dalgliesh, Souness.
Twente was the outlier. For some reason the planets aligned and he had one good season. The rest is the norm. He really is **** and it will never happen again.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
From Wikipedia about Boro’s 2005/06 season:
“The season stuttered as Boro progressed in both the FA Cup and UEFA Cup. This resulted in poor league form, and following a dismal 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa, a fan ran onto the pitch and threw his season ticket at Steve McClaren in sheer frustration at the lack of coordination the team seemed to have. He was given a standing ovation from the crowd. No one picked up the season ticket.”
Eric Sykes(Quote)
What is McClaren talking about here? Clutching at straws:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mcclaren-hints-players-dropped-newcastle-10890033?
For whatever reason – new players, injuries, change in formation and tactics – we have not had a consistent line up all season away from home. Now McClaren is saying we may need to change. We already did. We had Elliot, Taylor, Aarons, Tiote, Shelvey and Townsend playing. Does Schteve think we cannot read a team sheet. That is a completely different set of players to earlier in the season with the same result.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The players look complete emotional wrecks away from home. Like rabbit’s in headlights! That’s b;ackie’s area of expertise I believe and we look more brittle now than we every have done.
The truth of the matter is that we have a coaching team that has proved nothing and the players are probably just thinking “what the hell are you talking about?”
Stuart79(Quote)
Little bit of reality for us.
4 out of our next 6 games are away from home or 5 out of our next 7 if you prefer to look at it like that. How many points can we expect then? Baring in mind one of them home games is against Sunderland.
Oh dear!
Stuart79(Quote)
I didn’t want this to happen – I didn’t want to mistrust another manager. I really wanted Schteve to succeed and show that Charnley had a clue. After 10 games I was ready to sack him but changed my mind and thought he deserved more time.
Well, now he is changing his tune every week about what is going wrong, just like the last two did. He said we set up too defense minded for Everton and then too attack minded for Chelsea and now it is that he selected the wrong players. Yes, HE SELECTED THE WRONG PLAYERS because now he said he will have to change personnel for away games. Don’t drop the weakest link though Schteve, drop your best player. YCMIU.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
When the first goal went in on Saturday McClaren ran down the tunnel. No, he hadn’t gone for a tab or a pie or a whiskey. Graeme Lesaux on US TV said there is a TV monitor in there and he probably went to look at that. Didn’t help much and judging by the amount of coaching coming from the sidelines as the game progressed, that TV was probably tuned to Emerdale.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Funny like that Black every club he’s been has gone down QPR was his last one the blokes a jinks
The only good news I could find this morning was the Bleacher report,it’s saying jabba is thinking of replacing SM,hope they are bloody right
Icedog(Quote)
A few years ago we could have had a hope that Ashley would wake up one day and just think “Sod it, I am going to sack the lot of em!” but he doesn’t seem to be too bothered these days does he…?
I’d take Llambias back – it’s that bad!
Stuart79(Quote)
New thread… >>>>>>>
Shamrock(Quote)