Season 2011/2012 – Match 8

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (H)

Date: Monday 17th October 2011
Venue: St James’ Park
Kick-Off: 2am(AEST), 1:30am (SA), 1am (QLD), 12:30am (NT), 11pm (WA)
Referee: Lee Probert  (South Gloucestershire)
Australian TV: Live on Foxsports 1

Last 5 Form:

Match Stats:
All Time Head-To-Head: Newcastle 53 wins, Draws 31, Spurs 60 wins

Odds:
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Newcastle $2.95, Draw $3.12, Spurs $2.29

Did You Know?
Tottenham haven’t won on their last five league visits to St James’ Park.

Team News:
Newcastle - Demba Ba and Yohan Cabaye are fit despite reportedly suffering injuries on international duty and Haris Vuckic and Shola Ameobi should be available again. Danny Guthrie and Sammy Ameobi are doubts with respective groin and hamstring problems, while Mike Williamson is still sidelined.

Spurs - Vedran Corluka and Niko Kranjcar have been ruled out with foot and thigh injuries respectively. There are doubts over Emmanuel Adebayor (hamstring) and Sandro (calf).

Match Preview
The international break is finally over and the Premier League returns with Newcastle United taking on Tottenham Hotspur at St James’ Park in the Sunday afternoon (UK Time) kick-off tonight.

Fans arriving at St James’ Park will be greeted by more advertising with another sports direct sign erected, this time on the outside of the Milburn Stand facing Barrack Road. While this is hardly crime number one, the branding of the stadium as one big Mike Ashley advertisement is becoming an overkill and unnecessary.

Both teams are in red hot form with Spurs winning their last four after losing the opening two, while the Toon are still unbeaten and have won their last two games. On 15 points Newcastle are still 4th after Liverpool drew last night and Tottenham sit in 6th place on 12 points, but they do have a game in hand on the teams in the top 10.

This match has all the makings of a cracking contest. Having conceded just four goals in this season’s Premier League (fewest in the top flight) Newcastle are forging a reputation for being hard to beat. Alan Pardew has built his team from the back, and despite selling Jose Enrique, his back four and goalkeeper have looked extremely solid. However, they will put to its sternest test to date against a Spurs team containing the in-form Emmanuel Adebayor, Rafeal Van der Vaart, Jermaine Defoe and Luka Modrić.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew’s only major team selection decision will be whether to drop make-shift left-back Ryan Taylor and give a debut to summer signing Davide Santon who is now fully fit. To drop Ryan Taylor would be harsh, given his form, but there is a feeling it is only a matter of time before Taylor gets badly exposed and with the pacey Aaron Lennon likely to line up against him, this could be the time to do it.

My Starting XI:
Tim Krul
Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon
Cheik Tiote, Yohan Cabaye
Gabriel Obertan                                                           Jonas Gutierrez
Demba Ba Leon Best

Our first ever Premier League game was at home to Spurs in August 1993 and the cockneys spoilt the party that day with a 0-1 victory, but it has been up hill ever since for the Toon as our home record against Spurs in the Premier League years reads 10 wins, 4 draws and only 3 defeats.

The most of all was a 7-1 victory thanks to an attacking masterclass lead by Alan Shearer and Les Ferdinand back in December 1996. Take a deek at the highlights while you wait for the match tonight…


On a personally level I really don’t like Spurs, or the Spuds as we call them, I don’t know what it is about this cockney team that gives me that extra level of hate but they manage it very successfully. So lets hope the international break hasn’t affected us too much and we can continue this excellent start to the season.

HOWAY THE LADS!

Andrew McTernan – Row ‘S’ Army

Season 2010/2011 – Match 23

Date: Saturday 22nd January 2011
Kick-off: 3:00pm (GMT)
Venue: St James’ Park
Attendance: 51,010
Referee: Mark Halsey

Teams
Newcastle: Harper, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Barton, Guthrie (Perch 74), Nolan, Gutierrez, Best (Lovenkrands 65), Ameobi (Ranger 88).
Subs: Krul, Campbell, Xisco, Ferguson.

Goal: Coloccini 59

Tottenham: Cudicini, Hutton, Dawson, Gallas, Bale (Bassong 11), Lennon, Modric, Jenas (Crouch 71), Pienaar (Kranjcar 83), Van der Vaart, Defoe.
Subs: Pletikosa, Kaboul, Corluka, Sandro.

Goal: Lennon 90+1

Alan Pardew said after the game:

“For some reason we got exuberant, trying to score the second. I was crying out for a hurricane, something to stop the game. It was like basketball at the end. When you’re a hardened professional like myself, you just want it to be seen out. You need a little je ne sais quoi. If you’re a nailed-on good Premier League team then this would not have happened. We’ve come up against a Spurs side that in the first half looked like they were going to give us a really tough afternoon. They knocked the belief out of us with their movement and passing. And it wasn’t till half time when we sat them down and adjusted a couple of things and put a bit more belief in the players that we looked like what we can do, caused them all sorts of problems. We took the lead and if it wasn’t for exuberance at the end, trying to get a second and the crowd urging us on and all getting a little bit carried away, we would have a really big victory today. Unfortunately for us, its only a draw. It is disappointing for the players because we lost a late goal last week under different kind of circumstances in terms of we got really deep and was rash with a few clearances. But today, it was the opposite – we was too stretched and charging around looking for a second so somewhere in the middle there is a balance. We are going to put some work in in Portugal and I think maybe crank up our levels a little bit and to see games out. We looked tired at the end of both games and maybe that was a factor. I thought he (Coloccini) was the stand out player today, he was brilliant in everything he did. I’m pretty close to securing another player of our squad and that will be a big bonus for the club. So I’ve concentrated on that, if one becomes available I think can help then great but the squad players for me are doing terrific. There is a good feeling in the group and good strength.”

Match Report
Newcastle United conceded a last minute goal for the second week in row to drop two points and hand Tottenham Hotspur a late draw at St James’ Park.

Andrew McTernan – Row ‘S’ Army