Well the travel sickness has to end quickly. To stay up, we have to win 5 and draw 5, and this is a game we need to take at least a point from; and ideally three! The appointment of Pardew gives added spice to the fixture, whilst the possible absence of Carroll gives us hope. If he plays, I don't fancy our chances given the way we defended crosses into our box against Wolves. Tomkins also lost a number of aerial challenges on the edge of our box when Wolves went route one.
Newcastle's home record isn't brilliant, however, and a victory would, incredibly, see us climb above them in the table - subject to their result today at Wigan of course. Defeat, however, would see them pull clear of us again and confirm us as relegation favourites rather than contenders.
Grant faces some selection challenges again. Does he bring back Obinna? If so, in place of Cole or Stanislas? Does Noble start? If so in place of Kovac or Stanislas? I would make two changes personally, bringing in Obinna for Cole and Boa for Stanislas. That would be "negative" I accept but it would make us more compact and I fancy us to win 1-0 or 2-1 more than 5-3! It would also mean retaining Kovac at the expense of Noble which goes against the grain, but the Czech has stuck to his limited task well in recent games, breaking up attacks, filling spaces and releasing simple passes. I also fancy he is due a goal!
We need to go in to the game believing we can win it but with sufficient defensive insurance to avoid a rout. My fingers are firmly crossed in the hope that Carroll doesn't make it. The trouble is, the last time a Pardew team needed to beat West Ham, the score was 4-0, to Charlton. He will have the Toons tuned up for this one, be sure!
4 comments:
The last time a Pardew team needed to beat West Ham, the score was 4-0 to Charlton...... they went down and we stayed up. I'd take another 4-0 loss providing the final outcome of the season is also the same.
But if Newcastle beat us 4-0 they wouldn't go down would they? Charlton were rooted to the bottom when Pardew took over; Newcastle were in the top half of the table!
Despite no Carroll, this will still be a big test, especially for our defence. With Barton's crossing and Ameobi and/or Carroll, they will be very busy. Our holding mid has gotta track Nolan too.
I would keep Cole and probably bring in Obinna for Stan. I would Keep Kovac. He is very experienced too and his organising around set pieces and generally in play, i.e seeing that everyone is picked up or the structure of the side is being adhered to, is something that goes unnoticed. The best thing about him is his celebrations though. Always on his jacks and with the crowd....despite most of them thinking he's shite. I think he got booked for his celebration in the last game even though he wasnt even the one that scored! Legend.
Will Sidwell be available for this game?
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