Barclays Premiership - Match 13
 

Season 2007-2008

NEWCASTLE UNITED

 v

LIVERPOOL
  Date: Saturday 24th November 2007
  Venue: St James' Park
  Kick Off: 11:45pm (AEST)
  Referee: Alan Wiley (Burntwood, Staffordshire)
  Australian Live TV: Foxsports 1
  Internet Live TV Coverage: Check http://www.football4less.com & http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/ closer to kick off.
  Weather Forecast: 7c
 

 
  Betting:
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Newcastle win Draw Liverpool  win
$3.70 $3.20 $2.00
   
  Squad:
  Given, Harper
Beye, Rozehnal, Edgar, Enrique
Milner, Geremi, Butt, Barton, Emre, N'Zogbia
Smith, Viduka, Martins, Ameobi
   
  Team News:
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- Peter Ramage (knee) is out for the rest of the season after getting inured at Middlesbrough.
- Celestine Babayaro (back) has now injured his back and we've no idea when he's back.
- Abdoulaye Faye (hamstring) is out after getting injured against the mackems.
- Michael Owen (thigh) is out for 4-6 weeks after getting injury on international duty.
- Damien Duff (ankle) is now back in training and should be ready for 1st team action in a couple of weeks.
- Stephen Carr (hamstring) is now back in training and should be ready for 1st team shortly. 
- Cacapa (knee) is out again.
- Steven Taylor (back) is out after picking up a back injury on international duty.
   
  Sam Allardyce pre-game comments:
  Talking about the Michael Owen injury:
"The injury to Michael gives other players a chance to sustain their position or to get into the team and stay in the team. I hope players take up that challenge and produce the sort of performances we know they can do. I've been very pleased with Oba in recent weeks. I hope that he can come in and start scoring the goals that Michael hasn't been recently to be perfectly honest. I'm looking for him to link up with Mark Viduka or Shola Ameobi when need be. We need to continue to score goals because that's what we're reasonably good at and, if we can tighten up as a team without possession, then we will start to win more games."

Talking about Joey Barton:
"In terms of performance Joey has not been reaching his standards or our standards for that matter. He's been frustrated by that which is understandable because he's such a driven and determined person. He's been in doing some extra sessions to catch up and I'm delighted he's been doing that.

It's sometimes the case that lads take a little bit longer to recover and I think it's the first time he's been out for this length of time. Perhaps he hasn't realised how much it's taken out of his whole body because it's not just a case of waiting for the metatarsal to repair. But hopefully he'll be up to speed as quickly as possible because December is looming and we'll need him at his best for what is our busiest period of the year."

Talking about his goalkeeper dilemma:
"I want selection headaches where you have to leave a player out who does not deserve to be. It's a big decision between Steve and Shay, but I like having these decisions to make. It's been far too easy for me to change the side this year whether it be injury, loss of form or suspension. The Shay Given and Steve Harper situation is one which I want all over the field. We need competition for places and we're lucky that we've got two good goalkeepers going for that one position at the moment."

Talking about facing Liverpool:
"It would be a massive bonus if we could beat them I've managed to do it at Bolton on home soil but never away. This time around they are a bigger and better squad than they have ever been under Rafa Benitez and it will be a difficult task. But I know that these big game bring out the best in players and I hope that's the case on Saturday. If we perform to our best than I believe we can win the game and, like I said, that would be a huge lift going into December."
   
  Match Stats:
 
 @ St James' Park
 All Time: Newcastle 29 wins Liverpool 20 wins Draws 23
 Premier League Only: Newcastle 6 wins Liverpool 4 wins Draws 4
   
   Last Season's Result
 
 Newcastle United 2-1 Liverpool
 Martins 26
 Solano 70(pen)		 Bellamy 6
 Match Report
   
 

My thoughts:
 

I ask you all the question, what has England ever done for us eh?

Serial offender Michael Owen is at it again, this time he's got injured kicking the ball. Seeing as though that is the fundamental part of the game, the omens aren't good. Added to Owen's usual injury, Steven Taylor has returned from captaining the U21s with a bad back. How naive of us, England have obviously had him representing the weightlifting U21s instead! We lend them our players in good faith (and for free I might add) and time after time they bring them back damaged. As far as I'm concerned this is just a total lack of respect. What are they doing to them, why can't they enjoy using them without something happening. If we were a library we would have struck England off our records years ago.

During the international break I'm sure we are all hoping Big Sam has used his time wisely to think about the teams tactics, like realising right footed player should play down the right, left footed player should play down the left and so on. No doubt he will have used all the latest sports science tools, like player trackers and advanced diet plans but I think I could have saved our manager some valuable time this last week.

With Liverpool having to play us in Newcastle, my plan would be to hire a couple of Scouse blokes to ring up all the Liverpool players, tell them that they intend to break into their homes this Saturday afternoon and hey presto, hardly any of the Liverpool players turn up and we win nee bother (if your lost read this thread). I've e-mailed Sam my plan so I wait with baited breathe if he takes my advice!

For us Viduka and Martins should start up front with a partnership which will have a few weeks to flourish before Martins heads off to African. This pairing certainly looked half decent at the start of the season, so losing Owen isn't the blow it once was. Viduka himself will be looking to get back amount the goals after his season has been interrupted with a niggling injury. The big Aussie is important to our plans and his presence upfront gives the team a lot better dimension.

I have no idea which Newcastle will turn up this Saturday but we are now at a stage in the season, where we must kick on with a decent run if we are to stand a chance of challenging the top 8. Liverpool at home certainly hasn't been mission impossible at home in the Premiership years, so we go into this game with some hope.
 
HOWAY THE LADS!!!
 
  Did you know?
- Michael Owen is Liverpool's 7th all time top goalscorer with 158 goals, at an average of 22.57 goals of per season.