Calamity At The Cottage!Venue: Craven Cottage, London. Date: Sat 21st Jan, 2011. Kick-Off: 3:00 pm. Referee: Lee Mason (Lancs).
If ever you want to see a textbook example of “a game of two halves”, get the DVD of this game. though personally, it’s a video horror show I’ll be steering clear of.
United went into this game sitting in sixth place on merit, and with a chance of leapfrogging Arsenal and moving into fifth. It was a nice sunny day down in London, the pitch looked in good condition and there was black and white in evidence everywhere – even down to Newcastle’s all black strip contrasting with Fulham in all white. What could possibly go wrong?
First Half
The opening pattern of the game was one we’ve become accustomed to this season, a scrappy first 15 mins with Newcastle gradually settling into our possession and passing game. A foul by Ben Arfa on Hangeland after 7 minutes was also a good sign that our latest right winger was going to put his foot in. Best optimistically put a ball through for Ameobi on 8 minutes expecting him to run after it – you’d think he’d know by now. The first bit of real excitement came with a Senderos mistake after 11 minutes when he almost put the ball into his own net. United were starting to exert some good pressure now and were definitely looking the more likely team to score. Ben Arfa hit a good left-foot shot from outside the area which the keeper just got to, diving to his left. (more…)
Spidermag returns to save us!A tale of absent friends made this cup tie somewhat less of an occasion than it could otherwise have been.
We knew that Demba Ba and Cheick Tiote wouldn’t feature in this game, but when Blackburn lined up without Yakubu and Samba – that was a bit of a bonus. Also missing was Paul Clement, the now ex-Blackburn Assistant Manager who clearly decided he’d had enough of the abuse from the Blackburn fans and joined Paris St Germain last week. Finally, there were the 20,000 or so United fans who didn’t turn up, for whatever reason.
Newcastle actually made four changes to the side that started against Manchester United in that glorious win (just wanted to mention it one more time!). Two were enforced of course, with some of our stars off to light up the African Cup of Nations. Abeid, Obertan, Ben Arfa and Best were brought into to the team with Shola Ameobi and Ryan Taylor returning to the bench.
Blackpudding Rovers fans: Up for t'cup on Satda!Newcastle United will begin life without striker Demba Ba and midfielder Cheick Tiote in the FA Cup third round clash with Blackburn Rovers. Both are off to represent their countries (Senegal and The Ivory Coast) in the African Cup Of Nations.
But would either of them have been selected anyway even if they had been available?
The third round of the FA Cup used to be something which was seen as a major event in the English football calendar. Not only did it throw up the exciting possibility of a big club being drawn against a minnow, but for the bigger clubs it represented the first step in what could just possibly be a money-spinning path to the FA Cup Final – a fantastic day out in the full glare of the media, with all of the pomp, ceremony, posh new suits and possible glory that it throws up.
Sadly, times are changing and the romance of the FA Cup is changing with it – perhaps even sliding the same way that the League Cup has gone. Money is king in the modern game and some clubs are taking a different approach to the competition. As a result, we have seen teams shying away from fielding their best line-ups for fear of the extra injury risk to key players. For Premier League clubs, the difference in TV pay-outs attached to end of season league positions means that the risks are assessed more keenly.
Teams fighting relegation are in a particularly challenging situation, and often take the view that league matches have to be the priority. Which brings us nicely to Blackburn Rovers.
The Silver Supremo and Dreamboat - My men of the match (apart from the Toon Army that is).Firstly, let me just start by saying Newcastle thoroughly deserved their win and it was a win by United more than a loss by Manchester.
They were never allowed to settle on the ball, from the off. Newcastle also took the game to them, showed no fear whatsoever, gave no respect and pressed on with their own game regardless of what Man U brought to the party.
It wasn’t as if they had a depleted team, or even squad. When you looked at the team sheets, you would be forgiven for feeling pretty apprehensive, if not a little queasy. That didn’t seem to bother the Lads one iota though as they showed their intension to play a quick passing game, pushing forward as often as possible. The recent overuse of the long ball game was quelled, but it was used to good effect to catch the visitors on the break. (more…)
Cabaye and Ba get a goal a piece.A goal from Demba Ba, a free kick from Yohan Cabaye and – to add to Man Utd’s misery – an own goal by Phil Jones sees Newcastle United take all three points at St James’ Park.
The match started at a lively pace and it was pretty much box-to-box stuff for the first half.
The first decent chance fell to us on about 4 minutes when Simpson put in an excellent cross along the ground to Demba Ba, who was right in front of goal. Unfortunately it was slightly behind him and he couldn’t gather it for a shot.
Just over a minute later, Cabaye tested Anders Lindegaard after Ba nodded the ball down to him just outside the box. Unfortunately it was straight at the keeper and turned out to be an easy save.
Man Utd came close after 14 minutes though when a Berbatov header took a deflection and bounced off the post.
After 19 minutes an accidental handball by Cabaye led to a Man United free kick in a dangerous area. Fortunately Rooney’s free kick deflected off Tiote for a corner, which itself came to nothing.
