Preview: West Ham Utd vs Newcastle Utd – 29/11/14

Click here to go to the discussion thread by Cal

This afternoon sees Newcastle travel to Upton Park to take on West Ham as we look to extend our winning streak to six games in the Premier League (seven including the cup) against one of the sides we leapfrogged with last week’s win over QPR.

Going into the match the teams are separated by a single point; Newcastle on 19 in fifth and West Ham on 18 in sixth. Both sides were in good form in October, both going undefeated and setting up winning streaks, however West Ham’s wins would stop with the change of month, and they conceded their first loss in six games last time out against Everton, while Newcastle’s win streak has continued through November and propelled us up the table.

Newcastle have only lost once in their last eight visits to Upton Park, that defeat coming in 08/09, our relegation season. The next time we played West Ham, after a season in the Championship, our two scorers were Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll, who now play for the Hammers and both returned from injury/the bench to play the full 90 minutes in their last match. This fixture last season saw us win 3-1, although our scorers, Yohan Cabaye and Loïc Rémy, are no longer at the club. Continue reading

West Ham Fans’ Thoughts on the Match

Click here to go to the discussion thread by Yacob

I headed over to the Knees Up Mother Brown forum to ask the questions for this weekend’s match. The questions were as follows:

1 – Where do you think you’ll finish this season? What about Newcastle?
2 – Now that you have a plethora of decent strikers, such as Sakho, Valencia, Zarate, what is Andy Carroll’s place in the team? Is he likely to be sold in January?
3 – What young players could make an impact?
4 – With the stands being so far from the pitch in the Olympic stadium, will it affect the atmosphere at home grounds?
5 – If you could have one football player, past or present, live in your spare room who would it be and why?
6 – Should Nolan still be captain with his reduced playing time?
7 – If your club was a biscuit, what biscuit would it be? And why would it be that biscuit?
8 – We’ve both had/have the misfortune of being managed by Fat Sam and Pardew but which of the two would you rather have, I know ideally it would be neither but if you had to choose between the two who would you go with?
9 – What are your thoughts on Newcastle United as an outsider?
10 – Scoreline prediction?

trick88

1 – Where do you think you’ll finish this season? What about Newcastle?
I realistically see us finishing around 8th place, Newcastle similar, 9th.

2 – Now that you have a plethora of decent strikers, such as Sakho, Valencia, Zarate, what is Andy Carroll’s place in the team? Is he likely to be sold in January?
Carroll won’t be sold in January, they will use him very often still and Valencia & Sakho on the side of him if anything

3 – What young players could make an impact?
Aaron Cresswell has a massive future ahead it seems, made a great start to his West Ham career.

4 – With the stands being so far from the pitch in the Olympic stadium, will it affect the atmosphere at home grounds?
I think so yes, there will still be sections with a bit of Atmosphere but it will die down quite a lot.

5 – If you could have one football player, past or present, live in your spare room who would it be and why?
I would say Gazza, hilarious character in his day

6 – Should Nolan still be captain with his reduced playing time?
Club captains are not always first choice so shouldn’t be changed imo.

7 – If your club was a biscuit, what biscuit would it be? And why would it be that biscuit?
We was owned by a biscuit company not long ago, that didn’t go so well.

8 – We’ve both had/have the misfortune of being managed by Fat Sam and Pardew but which of the two would you rather have, I know ideally it would be neither but if you had to choose between the two who would you go with?
Pardew, without hesitation. I enjoyed the Pardew years to be honest and took us to an FA Cup final

9 – What are your thoughts on Newcastle United as an outsider?
A club always underachieving of late probably due to the complete t*** of an owner.

10 – Scoreline prediction?
2-1 to us

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Preview: Newcastle Utd vs QPR – 22/11/14

Click here to go to the discussion thread by Yacob

This weekend sees the return of the Premier League after international break and Newcastle United have a home match against QPR as they seek to make it six competitive wins in a row, and their fifth successive victory in the league. Just over two months ago, Newcastle were preparing to face Hull City at St James’ Park and protests were planned against Alan Pardew. After going 2-0 down, many expected it to be the end for Pardew, as his side was failing to beat sides that they should be beating, however thanks to two late goals from Papiss Cisse, the manager kept his job and he hasn’t looked back since.

Newcastle have only lost once since that match, beating the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City over this great run of form. It will be interesting to see how they deal with QPR as it is arguably the first match they are going into as favourites since the Leicester match which started off this run of form. They are likely to have most of the possession, and they will have to show the cutting edge that they have shown in recent months. Pardew can’t rely on the counter attacking style that has been so successful over this run. His side will need to force the issue and it will be intriguing to see if they can create openings against an improving QPR side.

QPR have been good lately, with battling defeats against Liverpool and Chelsea, an impressive win at Aston Villa and a good draw at home to Manchester City. People will argue that they deserved more from the matches against Liverpool and Chelsea, and they could very easily have beaten Manchester City in their last fixture, leading the champions twice.They will come to Tyneside with lots of confidence and little pressure on them, they could very easily come away with three points on Saturday, especially when you take into consideration the defensive injuries that Newcastle have to deal with.

QPR have average facilities, a glamorous history and have plied their trade in the lower leagues for the majority of the last twenty years. They aspire to be an established Premier League club like Newcastle, but their financial control and transfer strategy is very bull in a china shop, which makes them a laughing stock to most Premier League clubs. Harry Redknapp is a good manager in this league, but even he is failing to make them consistent performers in the top flight and at the moment, he is one of managers who is under the most pressure.

The two sides play different systems. Newcastle are likely to use a variation of 4-3-3, with most of the play being directed down the wings, with full backs Daryl Janmaat and Massadio Haidara bombing on past Remy Cabella and Sammy Ameobi. Meanwhile QPR play with two strikers in Bobby Zamora and Charlie Austin with Sandro, Joey Barton and Leroy Fer providing bite in midfield. It will be interesting to see if QPR opt to keep with two strikers as Newcastle will have an extra man in midfield which could allow them to run the game, however with the home side’s injury problems at the back, it could prove to be an inspired move to start the match with two front men. Continue reading

QPR Fans’ Thoughts on the Match

Click here to go to the discussion thread by Yacob

This week I headed over to the We Are The Rangers Boys forum to ask the questions, the questions used were:

1 – Where do you think you’ll finish this season? What about Newcastle?
2 – Barton was well liked amongst the fans at Newcastle, his career at QPR seems to have been interesting to say the least, how have you taken to him?
3 – What young players could make an impact?
4 – How fair/harsh do you see The Football League’s stance on your FFP debts?
5 – If you could have one football player, past or present, live in your spare room who would it be and why?
6 – Would you rate your summer signings as more astute than last time you got promoted? Thoughts on the signing of Ferdinand?
7 – If your club was a biscuit, what biscuit would it be? And why would it be that biscuit?
8 – What are your thoughts on Harry Redknapp? Doing a good job?
9 – What are your thoughts on Newcastle United as an outsider?
10 – Scoreline prediction?

Ramsgate Hoop

1 – Where do you think you’ll finish this season? What about Newcastle?
I don’t like to predict for us, but I think we will fight bravely and successfully against relegation. Newcastle easy top 12

2 – Barton was well liked amongst the fans at Newcastle, his career at QPR seems to have been interesting to say the least, how have you taken to him?
Wish he would shut up some times, but the passion and dedication he showed last season won me over.

3 – What young players could make an impact?
Harriman – but we don’t really do youth

4 – How fair/harsh do you see The Football League’s stance on your FFP debts?
F*** em, the whole FFP thing is rubbish. How can you ever improve to challenge the elite if you are unable to spend money. Let them take their big clubs, f*** off to a super league and let the rest of us go back to enjoying football.

5 – If you could have one football player, past or present, live in your spare room who would it be and why?
Taarabt – He’d always have a few cakes

6 – Would you rate your summer signings as more astute than last time you got promoted? Thoughts on the signing of Ferdinand?
We are much better than last time we went up. I also understand the Rio signing, if it would have paid off it would have been a masterstroke. The issue would have been if we targeted the same for all our signings, which we didn’t.

7 – If your club was a biscuit, what biscuit would it be? And why would it be that biscuit?
Orio – Always expect so much, but it always leaves you disapointed.

8 – What are your thoughts on Harry Redknapp? Doing a good job?
Think the teams that went down last season show how difficult a league the Championship is, so feel he deserves a bit more credit. Finally seen some attacking play that he was known for at Tottenham. Dury still out if he’s the right man to keep us up though.

9 – What are your thoughts on Newcastle United as an outsider?
I like Newcastle and I quite like Pardew. This has changed for me in the past few years, since the relegation and promotion times really. It seemed to me that it dawned on the supporters that perhaps they need to build before challenging for titles.

10 – Scoreline prediction?
1-1

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Preview: West Brom vs Newcastle Utd – 09/11/14

Click here to go to the discussion thread by Cal

This Sunday sees Newcastle take on West Brom at the Hawthorns, with the Baggies’ boasting an impressive home record against the Magpies of late; the hosts winning thrice, drawing twice, and losing just once in the last six meetings, the most recent of which was a lacklustre 1-0 loss on New Year’s Day that signalled the beginning of the end of the good times for last season.

Both sides enter the game on 13 points from 10 games so far this season, with West Brom pipping the visitors to 11th thanks to superior goal difference (0 to -4), and a win could take the victor as high as 6th, provided that they overcome Manchester United’s +3 goal difference. There are two other matches kicking off at that same time which can come into play; Everton (10th, 13 pts) face Sunderland, while Tottenham (9th, 14 pts) go up against Stoke.

The parallels continue as both sides have earned 11 points from their last six games, putting them amongst the top six in-form sides at the moment, and before their respective revivals they propped up the table on just two points. However, the hosts did lose to lower league Bournemouth in the League Cup towards the end of October, while Newcastle defeated the reigning double champions.

The Baggies come into the match on the back of a single win, a 1-0 victory over Leicester, in contrast the visitors are on a four win streak, most recently beating Liverpool at home, and undefeated since the end of September.

Following this fixture is an international break, in which West Brom’s Burundian breakthrough Berahino, who has scored seven goals in nine league games this season, will be a part of the senior England squad for the first time.

In the ninth minute there will be a minute’s applause as part of the Justice for Jeff campaign for more research into the potential risks of heading the ball. The Jeff in question is former West Brom number nine Jeff Astle, whose death at 59 in 2002 was ruled as death by industrial injury after he spent his final years suffering from degenerative brain disease believed to be brought about by repeated minor trauma to the brain from heading heavy leather footballs. Continue reading