Newcastle travel to Oxford today, and despite the knowledge that FA Cup ties can often cause upsets, there seems to be a sense of optimism in the air.
After a good run in the League Cup and a first FA Cup victory in five years, most seem confident that Rafa Benitez can take his side on a good FA Cup run, as well as guiding them to promotion.
However, at the time of the injury to Dwight Gayle, Newcastle fans could be forgiven for thinking that all of these plans could be derailed.
This worry was put to bed in the very same game that Gayle suffered his injury, with Daryl Murphy coming on as a substitute and grabbing the winner against Brentford, in that game.
Since then, there has been a starring role from Yoan Gouffran, who gave a brilliant account of himself in the replay against Birmingham, and another goal for Murphy.
The question is, should it Murphy to lead the line again today? Should Gouffran be given another chance in his proffered position? Or should Aleksandar Mitrovic come in after injury?
For me, Mitrovic is the obvious answer. With Sammy Ameobi Cup-tied and Christian Atsu still at the African Cup Of Nations, Gouffran will be needed on the left hand side, while Daryl Murphy should be saved for the league.
Mitrovic deserves the chance to stake a claim for the starting spot, and I would expect him to get the chance today.
Apparently Wolves want Hanley Ice.
kimtoon(Quote)
Krul told he can leave Ajax. Can he come back then so we can ship off Selz?
Shamrock(Quote)
spot on mate
kimtoon(Quote)
Good to hear 🙂
Andy The Magpie(Quote)
aye mate saw that also,was just a thought if one c/h was to go i would prefer it was Hanley
icedog(Quote)
Pretty gutted at our loss at the weekend but as someone who has fallen vastly out of love with the FA Cup recently, seeing the likes of Lincoln and Wolves also pull off a shock at least from a neutral perspective was a silver lining for me.
For me the Championship and the FA Cup wasn’t a ‘one or the other’ gig as I explained in my last article but like Kim said, there’ll be hell to pay if we didn’t go up this season.
After QPR our next three games, against Derby (who looked good against an albeit Leicester side), Wolves (who look rejuvenated under Lambert) and Norwich (who are still a good side at home) will prove to be decisive. We then have Villa who by that point, may or may not be out of the race for a play-off spot.
Andy The Magpie(Quote)
Andy – they look like tough games but there again I’ve said that many times this season and been wrong. If it’s our A team we’ll do well. Couple of key injuries then I’m not so sure. Don’t bring Gayle back too soon Rafa.
Site is a lot better today Andy . .. almost normal.
georgio(Quote)
George Caulkin said on Twitter it’s Townsend or nothing and there’s hard work to be done on that deal. 😕 🙄
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart nothing’s happening at least till the summer. Even then it will be nearly when then new season starts to save money on wages. I’m a big fan of getting the player’s you want first then selling the deadwood.
Stem(Quote)
We still haven’t replaced Ian Cathro so what chance have we got of signing Townsend.
Stem(Quote)
To be honest it is eerily like previous situations. Coach leaves and not replaced and players not brought in when we need them to save money and for what? So we could get relegated with a nice balance sheet…
Stuart79(Quote)
All our windows are a carbon copy under this owner. The only reason early work was done last summer was because they knew they had to appease Rafa and get us back up and shift some big wages. Otherwise it’s pretty much always the same, spend all window chasing the impossible deal if in fact a bid or enquiry is even made. Or a couple of Carr specials which may or may not bare fruit. Don’t hold your breath lads and lasses, nowt happening here.
kimtoon(Quote)
Cheers, I juggled a few things around to make it load quicker.
Mitro had a stinker on Sat but I think we need to persevere with him against QPR, not confident Murphy has the pace to get in behind defenders like Mitro can.
Andy The Magpie(Quote)
Welcome to the Ashley school of transfer inactivity
Lesson 1- How to seriously **** off a top class manager
Lesson 2- How to get a top class manager to walk away leaving a nice vacancy for a previously rank manager to walk back into. Has Pards been re-employed yet?
“sceptical, moi ?”
kimtoon(Quote)
Andy, yep I’m having more joy on here too mate thanks.
kimtoon(Quote)
I know. Today will pass by quietly like yesterday, and tomorrow will be like today. I hope we will survive next month.
funrafa(Quote)
Ashley deserves staying at Champion’s league or even lower. He has no ambition for the club and no passion for footy whatsoever. I don’t know why he bought the club. He can buy real estate or shares to make $. Why mess around Newcastle!
funrafa(Quote)
Kim I really hope Rafa stay’s for 5 year’s but I got the feeling Pardew is coming back. Rafa know’s no-ones coming in. His known from the beginning. Carr is also not helping matter’s.
Stem(Quote)
I still reckon Townsend will happen.
Shamrock(Quote)
good point mate, think he thought it would be fun. Really surprised he’s not sold up by now tbh.
kimtoon(Quote)
Funrafa this was a cheaper way to advertise his business. Manu get 250-700 million from sponsorship deal’s for 4 years, well out of Ashley’s price range. So he buy’s us instead for 230 million and get’s free advertising forever.
Stem(Quote)
Aye mate, that’s my big worry too.
kimtoon(Quote)
That is so unfortunate for the club and the fans!
funrafa(Quote)
“According to the Chronicle, Crystal Palace want both their money back and a loan fee if they are to let Andros Townsend return to Newcastle United during the closing stages of the January transfer window. ”
Not gonna happen.
funrafa(Quote)
We’ll revisit this ?
Shamrock(Quote)
Funrafa I totally agree mate. I hope Stuart’s correct about a new owner in the summer .
Stem(Quote)
Don’t CP still owe us for Andros ?
I read they want more than they paid for him, bloody cheek, both their managers they’ve had don’t fancy him but they think he’s gone up in value 🙄 They are the desperate ones , they need players in to avoid the trap door.
kimtoon(Quote)
Shamrock even I would reject Palaces term’s mate. So they get 6 million, a loan fee and a free player. No way.
Stem(Quote)
Don’t believe everything you read. Just wait and see what unfolds.
Shamrock(Quote)
Sham – I’m with you mate, let’s wait & see. I haven’t seen anything anywhere that says Rafa is leaving either?!
Sharpy17(Quote)
diddly squat that’s what
kimtoon(Quote)
Got to love the optimism though guys 🙂
kimtoon(Quote)
Shamrock I don’t mate, not even the April fool’s one’s on Ed’s blog 😆
Stem(Quote)
Every day is April Fools on Ed’s! ?
Shamrock(Quote)
😆
kimtoon(Quote)
So George Caulkin now saying Rafa hasn’t been backed in the transfer window. Does this sound familiar?
Stuart79(Quote)
Basically Ashley has said if he’s putting more money on then it’s not being wasted on players. The guy doesn’t deserve a football club like our in afraid.
Stuart79(Quote)
So I take it the Gini and Sissy cash went on overheads or Gayle and Ritchie purchases
kimtoon(Quote)
just like jabba,he makes the club look a joke
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4173090/Newcastle-make-final-push-sign-Andros-Townsend.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
icedog(Quote)
Ice – to be fair I think that’s a load of bollocks. The same paper wrote that Palace wanted the money they paid for him back (£13m) – yet now they are claiming it’s a £15m price tag.
Truth is it’s been a pretty quiet window up until today & I reckon the papers are just writing any old *****.
Sharpy17(Quote)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3586704/Newcastle-s-relegation-cost-200m-Rafa-Benitez-host-staff-jobs-year-ll-reliant-misfits-mercenaries-Mike-Ashley.html
Ice – just found this piece from THE SAME journalist. He wrote just 6 month ago how badly relegation would impact the club – costing £150-200m.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Rafa has said this club have a job to do in the market,in other words get the job done,jabba just will not move and get the job done now that’s Rafa words not the rags,money has to be spent in today’s market,other ccc clubs are spending money,13/16 or whatever it is it’s not a lot in today’s football world if you want to move on
Icedog(Quote)
How a man like Ashley with the list of mistakes he’s made running this club can continue to make the same mistakes is beyond me. Not supporting Rafa is suicidal in my opinion. Ashley is hopeless. We probably will get promoted but then the whole circus starts again with Ashley making false promises through Charnley and then probably making a hash of it and losing Rafa in the process.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
The anger is already growing again Ashley. Is this what you think will produce a successful club? All the talk of bringing players in, including by Rafa, is being made to look like a complete farce again. The summer will be crucial. If Ashley and Charnley go missing it will be a disaster. We just don’t have the players to be competitive up there.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Ice – I hear what you’re saying mate, but we brought 12 players in the summer. We spent £55m of the £85m we generated in the summer.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – I think you’re being quite unbelievably naive and/or unforgiving on Jabba. When has anything ever come good when that man is involved? He left the club to its own devices in the summer and it went like clock work – all of a sudden he’s back involved and we haven’t signed anyone and probably the most reliable journo in George Caulkin is sayings Rafa lined up to very good players this window and he hasn’t been backed on any of them and they’re left trying to scrape together a deal for Townsend at th end of the window. It’s Ashley all over – it’s cheap!
Stuart79(Quote)
Does anyone actually know what Ashley has said?
Sharpy17(Quote)
I think we should just wait until the window closes before passing judgement. I will not be happy of nothing happens, just like most other people. But I wont make my mind up until all the facts are presented. The window Iis still open, so let’s wait until to.orrow night before getting all uppety.
Meanwhile on a side note. Why should Palace loan Townsend to us for free? If we decide we want him in the summer, then we will pay whatever Palace value him at, which is £13m. If we want him on loan now, there will be a loan fee for borrowing g him. Seems fair enough to me. Why should they give us a discount in the summer just because we paid the going rate for borrowing their player?
Shamrock(Quote)
I think Ashley wants the minimum cost to get back to PL. He thinks it is safe now so he won’t spend a penny more. And after that, he will be happy just to stay in PL, even at the bottom, as long as it can advertise his business. Rafa will leave in summer, because this simply is not what he wanted. You may say Ashley is saving the money for summer. I don’t think so. He does not have the ambition for the club.
funrafa(Quote)
There won’t be any discount rate for Townsend either now or in the summer. Palace are probably pretty confident of staying up under Allardyce so he’ll keep insisting on a good return for Andros. We did spend last summer but we still have dead wood in the squad and our position isn’t unassailable as it stands by any means. Do we want to go into the playoffs to go up Ashley? Spend now or regret it later. That’s the normal bollocks from Ashley, who sat there while Steve McMuffin turned the season into a disaster last year and left it too late for Rafa to save us. This man is an idiot. He just doesn’t have what it takes to be an owner.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
* Forgiving of Jabba
Stuart79(Quote)
Ive said a few times if and when. we up Rafa will walk,he’s trying to build a club for PL not just this season so what’s 13/16 mil it’s going to cost 100 mil to get the team out of the bottom half a dozen clubs so what’s a little now it just help to keep Rafa here
Icedog(Quote)
Exactly. Palace have named their reasonable price. Now it’s down to Ashley and Charnley to deliver. If they do, job done and we march on. If they don’t, Rafa and the fans will not be impressed. Simple. 11pm tomorrow is when we see what the reality of the situation is.
Shamrock(Quote)
Do you really need to hear what he said? Action, is way more convincing than words, my friend.
funrafa(Quote)
Sham – I can decide if that makes you unbelievably naive or rational mate ?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
The deal would have been done by now if Ashley wasn’t interfering in it. It comes down to whether he has the plums to say no to Rafa on deadline day. He’s an idiot so anything is possible.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Funrafa – would it be fair to say it was his action that got rid of McClaren when Carr & Charnley were ready to give him more time. That action resulted in us getting in one of the best managers in football.
I don’t like Ashley, but just coz I don’t see him as the devil sent to destroy the insults & accusations will fly – I’m a big boy & can live with that.
We are paying a manager big wages. We spent £55m despite being relegated and despite loosing £150-200m this season – I’m not sure that’s doing things on the cheap.
But there has to be a cut off point doesn’t there?.
I desperately want us to sign Townsend – I’m a big fan of his & think he’d be a great signing.
Let’s wait and see.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Oh so many times the form book has been true to form when it come so to Jabba. What have you seen since Jabba was back on the scene, Sharpy for you to think otherwise?
Stuart79(Quote)
spot on bud
icedog(Quote)
David Prutton:
“Even though there were changes, every time a team loses in the manner Newcastle did at Oxford in the FA Cup, it will still have an impact. It reflects on the club.”
“The next team they put out must right that wrong, that performance and that result. I think it’s going to be tough for Newcastle against QPR.”
“We’ve seen a lot of Ollie’s team, and the game against Burton, you’d have thought “they would take three points.””
“I think we’ll see a response from Newcastle with a change of personnel, but I think QPR are a tough task. Let’s go for a draw.”
Prutton Predicts: 1-1
funrafa(Quote)
Sharpy – Where the hell do you get the losses of £150m-£200m from? The bottom team in the PL receives £120m so with our usual income, transfer profit and parachute payments we won’t be losing anywhere near that amount! The problem is of course that when we go up we will go round in that usual circle of spending no money like last time so we can turn the accounts round.
All because Ashley can’t run a football club. He’s been more responsible than anyone for the two relegations and the loss of tens of millions of pounds! But it’s only us who suffer!
Oh and Ashley did not sack McClaren – Charnley did and that’s why it took so long and we dithered!
Stuart79(Quote)
Whether we end up with Townsend or not, I don’t believe Rafa has been backed and certainly not in the way it was sold to him. The reason we are where we are now (scrambling around trying to do a deal at the last minute on loan) is because he wasn’t backed. If he was, Townsend would have been here by now and permanently.
Stuart79(Quote)
ok I will shut up. We’ve already waited for 30 days. We don’t care waiting for one day more, just to prove you are wrong sharpy 😆
funrafa(Quote)
Wednesday win tie or loss, everything is possible. It would give me more confidence if Murphy is up front instead of Mitro.
funrafa(Quote)
or as KK said, its not what it said on the tin
icedog(Quote)
what a pity we made a complete **** of it against Oxford, smoggys up next, then hey ho you’re in the cup quarter final.
im with big al on this one, we should have went for it instead of putting out a bunch of reserve squad players
Delusional Jawdee(Quote)
Aye, Ice. The cracks are showing imo. Difference is, Rafa is far too professional to throw in the towel now. The end of the season when he’s achieved what he set out to do or the summer might well be a different matter.
Stuart79(Quote)
Wolves spend 13 mil on player from Benfica,now where do they get that money from they have been in the ccc a few yrs now and poor crowds,oh yes i see they are backing their manager silly me
icedog(Quote)
ime hoping stu ime hoping
icedog(Quote)
Well at least you’ll get some satisfaction then won’t you mate?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Palace signing a midfielder tomorrow for £13m. They will sell Andros. I just hope it’s to us and nobody else swoops in!
Shamrock(Quote)
it would serve jabba right
icedog(Quote)
only disappointment.
funrafa(Quote)
Well we will certainly share that.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Ice – just read a news report on the Townsend deal & CP want a £2m loan fee then £13m to buy – which is where the journalist gets the £15m from – perfectly plausible I suppose. I see that one coming off to be fair.
I think the hold up has maybe been the possibly of Mbemba going the other way on loan & the negotiations in that possible deal.
Sharpy17(Quote)