Another disappointing defeat at the hands of Championship Nottingham Forest on Wednesday ended our hopes of a morale boosting league cup run this season. Newcastle do return to action tomorrow at St. James’ Park for a rare but traditional 3pm kick off.
We have had a week of negative press, more unfounded transfer rumours and members of the media all having a say on NUFC. It is important we get a result to get off the mark and dispel some of the negativity on and off the field at the moment. Newcastle fans will deliver another great atmosphere as usual, which will hopefully make all the difference in a game between two sides who have started the season poorly.
Newcastle team news
Midfielder Jonjo Shelvey is still suspended after his red card against Spurs. Former Stoke striker Joselu could make his first start for Newcastle; Rafa has a big call to make on whether it is he or Dwight Gayle who leads the line. Mitrovic scored a good goal in midweek but just doesn’t appear to be in the manager’s plans.
Aarons is a slight doubt for Saturday after going off with cramp in midweek but could well start after an impressive showing. He will be vying with Atsu and Ritchie to start and it will be interesting to see if he persists with Perez in the number 10 role.
In defence, Dummett remains out and it looks too early for Lejeune to come back yet too. Yedlin may return, which would be a boost, but it is likely to be the same back four that played in the defeat to Huddersfield.
Rafa may opt to go with the same side as our last league game, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see an unchanged side; giving the current crop another chance to impress before new recruits hopefully arrive before the end of August.
Predicted Newcastle XI: Elliott, Mbemba, Clark, Lascelles, Manquillo, Merino, Hayden, Perez, Ritchie, Atsu, Gayle.
West Ham team news
Record signing Marko Arnautovic continues his three-match suspension for a straight red at St Mary’s for an elbow.
Key players such as Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta and Michail Antonio were rested midweek and are expected to return to Slaven Bilic’s side. Youngster Declan Rice may continue in the middle of the park while the Irons try and bring in a new midfielder, with former NUFC target William Carvalho linked.
Saturday will come too soon for Winston Reid, who is now targeting a return after the international break. Manuel Lanzini and Andy Carroll are fitness doubts, despite the pair resuming full training. Expect another mixed resorption for big Andy if he does come off the bench.
West Ham XI: Hart, Hart; Zabaleta, Fonte, Ogbonna; Antonio, Noble, Rice, Obiang, Cresswell; Ayew, Hernandez.
Danger man
Javier Hernandez is a proven Premier League striker after a successful spell at Manchester United and again underlined his quality with a brace at St. Mary’s last time out during the Hammers 3-2 defeat to Southampton. Newcastle need to watch him carefully to get anything out the game.
Previous results
In the last 13 meetings at St James’ Park between Newcastle and West Ham, the Hammers have won just once.
That victory, a 1-0 success in November 2012, was ensured by Kevin Nolan who of course was a former toon skipper.
Newcastle’s Premier League home record against the Hammers since 2000 is seven wins, five draws and that sole defeat.
Prediction
It’s a tough one to call and already feels like an important game this season. Both sides are winless and won’t want to lose. Newcastle need some positivity and momentum and any sort of result will hopefully get things going again. I am in danger of going with my heart and not my head here but I think it may end in a draw.
1-1
What is your prediction?
Howay the lads!
That’s what Ime hearing true ??
Icedog(Quote)
I hope he will have the chance to spend the money, instead of creating another profit for Ashley.
funrafa(Quote)
Could be an interesting couple of days ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Ice, Wouldn’t surprise me mate but he is surely worth £20m in this market. After all if he gets them promoted with his goals that’s dead cheap at £15m.
Just one question, do we have his replacement lined up, if not no way he should be sold.
kimtoon(Quote)
Pete GravesVerified account
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Sky Sources: Slaven Bilic to remain #WHUFC boss for time being after talks. Latest on @SkySportsNews
kimtoon(Quote)
Is anyone expecting anymore signings? I’m not. For the last 5/6/7 years of PL football we have consistently failed in transfer windows and never actually got what we needed.
Stuart79(Quote)
Well if Gayle goes we have to replace . Also ice said his medical mate was called in for 11 am today so something must be about to happen.
kimtoon(Quote)
Don’t count on it Kim. Nothing’s ever straightforward at the toon.
georgio(Quote)
looks like Hanley off to Norwich ime pleased he will never be PL standard imo
icedog(Quote)
hmm, very true mate.
kimtoon(Quote)
good more stock cleared hopefully.
kimtoon(Quote)
Luke EdwardsVerified account
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My morning conversations about #nufc recruitment have not filled me with sense of anticipation. Expect very little to happen at this stage
🙁
kimtoon(Quote)
I’m wit Stuart – not expecting anything before Thurs. Anyone heard anything on Mitro. Apparently the FA have to present charges before the end of play today if anything’s going to happen. Hope not. It was a bit ugly but we’ve seen far worse already this season from Kane, Mounie and the kid who kicked Mbemba in the head.
georgio(Quote)
So Coutinho’s back problem is caused by emotional stress !, if that’s the case, state my body is in I must be on the verge of a mental break down. 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – No surprise in what Luke Edwards is saying. This is NUFC.
Stuart79(Quote)
If we can shift some of the dead wood then that would a positive step in the right direction, regardless of incomings. It keeps the squad feeling relevant and fresh (to an extent).
shamrock(Quote)
RAFA does not want Remy,and wont go for Ings as he doubts his fitness,well me mate went in so maybe something,but hasnt text me so dont know nowt 😐
icedog(Quote)
So, we need a left back and Gibbs is going to WBA for just £7m! Anyone else think we’ve missed out there?
Stuart79(Quote)
Watford had deal sorted,but broke down because of his wage demands,so cannot see jabba paying what hes worth
icedog(Quote)
Hanley fee agreed. Sky Sports saying we’re prepared to sell Gayle if we get a replacement. That means he’s staying.
Stuart79(Quote)
NUFC Gallowgate Retweeted
Daily Star Newcastle @DS_Newcastle · 2h2 hours ago
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Newcastle demand £18m from Leeds United for star striker Dwight Gayle
kimtoon(Quote)
Hanley’s gone apparently.
£5m for Gibbs? That’s hard to believe after we were quoted£14m. Now we’re after Origi and the Argie LB. Maybe it won’t be so quiet on Thursday . . . FA reviewing Mitro incident. Arghh!
georgio(Quote)
40 mil for Drinkwater you got to b taking the water man
icedog(Quote)
its since been said that they will take what they paid for him.that hamstring must be bad or hes fairly in the huff
icedog(Quote)
Why not sell Gayle to Leeds, Wolves or Hull with goals and promotion clauses ie. if Gayle scores 15+ goals and they get promoted then they owe NUFC an extra 2 million.
Norwich still have parachute payments so they are flush for cash compared to a lot of the other teams. I knew if a few teams had a bad start they would get desperate and we have a few players who can do a job in The Championship.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
They interviewed Klopp on US TV after the Arsenal match and Origi came up. Klopp said he is brilliant in training but that he has so many other good and experienced forwards that it is hard to find a place for him.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If he gets a team promoted he’s worth £18-20m all day long imo, we should not be selling him off cheap and no fecking instalments either.
More to the point who’s gonna replace him, what can you get at short notice?
kimtoon(Quote)
Klopp’s a good judge of a player so I wouldn’t mind Origi. I doubt any team will guarantee starts. Maybe if it was like 10 over the course of the season with a financial penalty that wasn’t too high? That was supposed to be the stumbling block with Abrhams.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Gayle is a guarantee of goals in the Championship. If we could get someone more reliable I’d sell him but I just wouldn’t trust NUFC to get a replacement in such a short space of time.
The later stages of this window has the ingredients to be an absolute disaster.
Stuart79(Quote)
Disaster Stuart? It looks like we will be able to shift most of the players we don’t want. Mitro has been available all summer at the right price and Gayle’s attitude now seems to be a problem. Of the first team players, it looks like only one of these two is available and only if we have a replacement lined up.
We will probably get Kenedy on loan and one other. I think these last few days will probably be madness but not disastrous.
With the International Break Rafa will be able to devote his full attention to transfers and I am sure his contact book is bigger than our just appointed Chief Scout. I expect to see the surprise signing Rafa has alluded to recently.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It will be funny if Sissoko ends up getting a second 11th hour transfer, just please not to us.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
If you want to sell a player and make some decent money, you dont want to be telling the press the guy is lazy and untalented. I’d take what he says with a pinch of salt.
shamrock(Quote)
Lucas Perez is still at Arsenal and still available.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
It was a question out of the blue, in the post-match interview so I think he answered from his gut.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
NBC Sports are having a Sky type 3 hours transfer deadline day special. It shows how much “soccer” has caught on over here.
It is a far cry from when I first got here. I remember watching World Cup games and they would cut to commercial during the game, probably for 3 minutes twice a half. You would end up missing goals.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I dont..he has a squad of players and knows who he wants to keep. He also knows what questions are likely to be asked during the closing stages of a transfer window. This kind of answer keeps the price high and also serves as a boost to the player, so his head does not drop if he does not get a move away and ends up being called upon at some point.
shamrock(Quote)
Eric – The disaster will be when Rafa has cleared the decks yet the club fanny on and haggle with clubs and run out of time to bring any players in. It happens most times with NUFC…
Stuart79(Quote)
That is infuriating. Must have driven you mad.
shamrock(Quote)
I remember Andy Carroll and Brian Ruiz so I know what you are saying.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Well, if we don’t build up our hopes we don’t get disappointed . This is NUFC under Jabba, I think we all know how the window ends by now.
The only glimmer of hope is Rafa and what rabbit he could pull out the hat.
kimtoon(Quote)
NUFC Index
@NUFC_Index
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Representative of Nicolas Tagliafico, said he sees the sale of the captain of Independiente to #NUFC as “complex”
course it is 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
That’s code for they don’t want to pay enough, they don’t want to pay the player enough, they’ve got to sell half their squad first and then the Sun and moon need to align.
Stuart79(Quote)
NUFC 360
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Henri Saivet is set to stay at #NUFC past this window, according to @MsiDouglas.
kimtoon(Quote)
Mark Douglas Retweeted
The ChronicleVerified account @ChronicleNUFC · 9m9 minutes ago
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#NUFC’s bid to sign Nicolas Tagliafico described as ‘complex’ by player’s representative. It’s looking unlikely.
that’s the toon we know and love.
next !
kimtoon(Quote)
NUFC 360
@NUFC360
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He does not see the deal progress, he’s told Argentinian radio “Muy Independiente.” -Difficulty with work permit? #NUFC
Said this the other day, shame.
kimtoon(Quote)
Mitro charged
kimtoon(Quote)
Mitro charged for “violent act” on Saturday. That will be 3 games he misses. I’m not sure we can afford to sell any strikers at this rate!
Stuart79(Quote)
yes, I am still dreaming on this one.
funrafa(Quote)
Why don’t some of these clubs use the crazy transfer fees to their advantage:
1. Liverpool. Sell Coutinho to Barca and use the money to get BOTH Van Dyk and Lemar or Draxler. Then their squad will be even more bloated and they can loan Origi to us.
2. Sell Alexis to Man City for 20 mil plus Sterling who is a good fit for Arsenal and as we saw on Sunday that Sanchez has his bags packed. Then they will have an even more bloated squad and **** can sell us Perez for 10 mil.
How much better will Alexis make Man City anyway when they already have Aguero and Jesus?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Funrafa, I fear you are setting yourself up for a big disappointment .
kimtoon(Quote)
We knew Mitro would be banned. Are we sure the Ref didn’t see it?
Anyway, that will give us a chance to see if Joselu is any good and if he can work with Ayoze. It seemed to give him a kick up the **** or maybe he just worked better in tandem? Sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of the parts where strikers are concerned. Sometimes strikers just have a feel for another’s game. I can think of a few going back to Keegan and Toshack.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
mate sent home at 4.30 nothing doing gear broke back down,nightshift now,hasnt been told to turn in tomorrow yet so god knows whats going on,hes always on call so we can only hope,told him off for not texting,ime the dummy cannot have mobils switched on in that dept 😳
icedog(Quote)
Phil Hay
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Word from Germany is that Lasogga will join #lufc. Season-long loan. Has gone back to Hamburg this evening to get affairs in order.
so Leeds won’t be signing Gayle then.
kimtoon(Quote)
Thanks Kim for your reminder. I said I am “dreaming” for a miracle, not even “hoping”.
funrafa(Quote)
If we can’t find a decent replacement I would rather keep Gayle than making profits for Ashley.
funrafa(Quote)
OK, a lot of football websites* do running summaries of all PL transfers so far. I added a few up, and I am only doing gross spend here as there seems to be an assumption that everybody else is spending like a drunken sailor and we are not. And I know a lot of other teams started with better squads.
First NUFC, I added it all up including 9 million for Merino. This is because there is a 2.7 million loan fee followed by 6 million after a certain number of games.
GROSS SPEND then:
NUFC – 44 million
Arsenal – 46 mil
Bournemouth – 30 mil
Brighton – 35 mil
Burnley – 29 mil
Palace – 8 mil
Huddersfield – 44 mil
Liverpool – 45 mil
Southampton – 31 mil
Stoke – 25 mil
Swans – 26 mil
Spurs – 28 mil
West Brom – 28 mil
West Ham – 39 mil
* I got the numbers from Football365.com
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Wolves just sold a forward to Hull – is that to make way for an incoming forward I wonder?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – Wolves seem to be shopping in a different supermarket these days. I’m surprised they’ve not gone for Mbappe
Stuart79(Quote)
Of course all of this can change in the next couple of days, but so far there hasn’t been outrageous spending by the majority of clubs. The other thing is that a lot of the spending is churn where the PL clubs are selling to each other, so the money gets recycled.
When you consider the lowest club will get more than 100 mil for TV money alone it doesn’t look quite so crazy. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is nuts but sort of understandable when you see what you lose if you get relegated.
I didn’t include the financial juggernaut Man U or the ones run by Oligarchs and Sheikhs. They are the ones creating these headline numbers when in reality most teams are spending for 5 or 6 what they spunk on 1.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Checked on Uncle Ed’s because he keeps a running total of NUFC spend. He has us down for 37 million, but he missed the 6 mil payable to Dortmund when Moreno is paid up. So in reality he has us down for 43 million gross spend.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think it’s the wages that’s caught us out. That’s staggering in itself. We’re always paying wages that are 3 years out of date. That’s why our wage to turnover ratio is always amongst the lowest in the PL (when we’re in it!)
Clubs like Bournemouth paying Defoe £120k a week don’t help…
By the way, reports are doing the round that we’re talking to Fulham about Gayle.
Stuart79(Quote)
Although I don’t envy Rafa trying to replace Gayle if he’s sold. Any selling club will know we’re desperate if we’ve just sold a striker and Mitro banned for three games. Wonder what they’ll do with the price then… 😕
Stuart79(Quote)
I really cannot see that Stu,how come we cannot move some players on because other clubs cannot match the money they are getting at the toon
Icedog(Quote)
NUFC 360 @NUFC360 · 19m19 minutes ago
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NUFC 360 Retweeted RMC Sport
#NUFC have accepted a bid of €16m from Fulham for Dwight Gayle.
kimtoon(Quote)
Ice – Must of the players we need to move on aren’t good enough for the PL so Championship clubs are looking at them and probably can’t afford the wages we paid them.
Stuart79(Quote)
Are they reliable Kimtoon? Good move for Fulham as Gayle will probably get them promoted. They also know the going rates now as they want(ed) 25 mil for Cairney.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric
apparently not mate
Lee RyderVerified account
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Just to confirm. There has been NO official bid from Fulham for Dwight Gayle tonight.
kimtoon(Quote)
NUFC 360 @NUFC360 · 43m43 minutes ago
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Plenty of info in this Gayle story from Guardian. They write #NUFC could reduce his price to close to £10M, due to his “mental issues”.
fucking press, that’ll help sell him then 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
Kimtoon: you have Guardian writer Louise (Mackem) Taylor driving down the price in one corner and Lee (I will tell you about the transfer AFTER it happens “exclusively”) Ryder in the other. The equivalent of dumb and dumber if you ask me.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
You know that clubs can accept verbal bid without it being official. Look at the De Gea fiasco. It was all sorted but they needed a fax to make it official. The fax was late and it couldn’t go through.
Who uses faxes anymore FFS? I am sure things could progress without it being an “official” bid via fax. Not saying this is happening with Gayle, I am just saying unless things have changed the clubs fax “official” bids.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Things have probably moved on and the “paper” confirmation may be an e-mail now – welcome to 2001 🙂 They did used to do it like that. A club would send a fax to issue a bid or the selling club would ask for it in writing, via fax.
I only know this because of the De Gea Real Madrid f-up.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
With this speed, even we sell Gayle we won’t be able to buy a decent replacement before the deadline. What is the point?
funrafa(Quote)
indeed mate
kimtoon(Quote)
??? oh my, it must be getting close to the window closing. Everyone lapping up whatever the press & social media have to offer
???
Sharpy17(Quote)
To be fair, Sharpy the local media tend to have a reasonable handle on things when it comes to transfers. I know Eric will have my eyes out but it’s true.
Personally I feel we will let Hanley, Lazaar and Krul go to add to Rivière and De Jong and might bring in Kenedy. All in all it will be another **** PL window where were shopping 3 years behind the rest of the league.
Stuart79(Quote)