Season 2006-2007

NEWCASTLE UNITED

 v

CHARLTON A

Harper, Srnicek,
Taylor, Moore, Bramble, Ramage, Babayaro,
Solano, Milner, Parker, Emre, N'Zogbia, Duff, Pattison,
Ameobi, Martins, Rossi, Sibierski, Luque

- Michael Owen (knee), as we know, is out till next year with the injury he picked up at the World Cup.
- Shay Given (abdomen) is unlikely to fit until 26^th November.
- Kieron Dyer (eye) had a 'freak accident' in training on Friday and will be out for 2 weeks.
- Olivier Bernard (fitness) has played a few reserves games now but is taking an awful long time to get 100% match fit.
- Oba Martins (groin) is a doubt and will have a late fitness test.
- Shola Amoebi (hip) was rested midweek against Portsmouth and will have a late fitness test.
- Antoine Sibierski (toe) is very doutbful and will probably miss out.
- Emre (back) is doutbful and will have a late fitness test.
- Nicky Butt (groin) is a doubt after picking up the injury against Portsmouth.

My thoughts:

After the much needed moral boasting win against Portsmouth in midweek, the Toon Army can go in this game with a little bit of confidence restored.

The amount of injuries now being picked up is starting to cause great concern, especially with number of games around the corner. Kieron Dyer having a 'freak accident' in training on Friday basically sums up our and his luck.

The main talking point for this game is who will play upfront alongside Giuseppe Rossi (this has been reflected by a dedicated thread on our forum http://www.aussiemags.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=455) with Martins, Amoebi and Sibierski all doubts. The name Albert Luque has been aired and certainly is a possibility but I think that would be a last resort for Roeder if none of the other strikers pass their fitness tests. If Luque does start however, it would be interesting to see what his attitude and work rate were like, given that you can't imagine he'll get many more chances to start a 1st team game. Personally I think either Martins or Shola will pass their test and will be able to start.

A Saturday evening kick off of 5:15pm(BST) gives the fans a great opportunity for some decent pre-match drinking. My advise would be to still meet at your usual time for a 3pm(BST) kick off and enjoy the extra two hours supping on some beers. This would get a lot of the fans fired up, away game style, and really boast the atmosphere inside the ground. We all sadly know however, that these days it takes a game against a big club or a couple of early Toon goals to get St James' Park loud these days.

The kick-off time on the eastern side of Australia for this game is a bit of a killer, so I'm going to use my Foxtel IQ to tape the match and then watch it on Sunday morning when I get up. Obviously I'll have to keep my phone switched off in case Dave or somebody else from back home, decides to txt me with the score.

With two home league games against Charlton and then Sheff Utd coming up, nothing more than 6 points needs to be picked up. These games are must wins for us, if we aren't going to be involved in a relegation battle this season.

I'm feeling confident about this game, no doubt naively like but so what...
 

HOWAY THE LADS!!!