morty
Moderator
Staff member
Championship Fixture
14th February 2017, Kick Off: 7:45pm
Carrow Road
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Championship Fixture
14th February 2017, Kick Off: 7:45pm
Carrow Road
morty
Moderator
Staff member
If its a St Valentines day massacre, lets hope its in our favour! Massive game, hooge, a game that could define the rest of our season. Maybe a game to completely convince the stragglers that we're back to our best, and we're up for the fight.
News from the presser :-
Not much really, Alex playing cards close to his chest, says a few players have bumps and bruises, and could be late calls, but didn't name names.
I'm going to call a surprise Naismith return!
News from the presser :-
Not much really, Alex playing cards close to his chest, says a few players have bumps and bruises, and could be late calls, but didn't name names.
I'm going to call a surprise Naismith return!
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Fimbo
Member
Assuming all are fit, I would like to see the same team. I think Mulumbu did well enough to get another chance, defence picks itself and it would be hard to drop anyone else. I will feel slightly sorry for CJ if he doesn't get a game but still I do think Oliveira is just the more dangerous.
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GJP
Well-Known Member
Yup, I wouldn't change it either.
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RhythmicTheory
New Member
You can't play that many light weight midfielders against Newcastle central three, they will bully them all day long. I expect Howson to play behind the front 1 and be sat on shelvey again, I would like Tettey and mulumbu behind him.
Wouldn't be surprised if he starts with Nelson to as Newcastle will sit deep and compact like they do away generally, so no space for Cameron to run into.
Wouldn't be surprised if he starts with Nelson to as Newcastle will sit deep and compact like they do away generally, so no space for Cameron to run into.
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Fimbo
Member
Im not sure. I'm tempted to agree but then I think: should we really be so scared of Newcastle muscle that we go for braun over form for a home game. Josh has been quite solid in recent games - more so than Jacob who I do think has been a bit lightweight. Pritchard is little but so hard to drop after Saturday. Wildschut hasn't really shone yet and I find it hard to recommend him over Wes just because he is big. That said, I suspect An will be silly enough to ignore me and go for a heavier midfield. ??
Din
Well-Known Member
I'd want to bring Tettey back in for Mulumbu to be honest. I do think Mulumbu did pretty well but I also thought he was a little bit lightweight for a defensive midfielder, Tettey can be a bit of a headless chicken hence why he picks up so many yellow cards but he does have a lot more steel about him I feel. Apart from that though I'd like to see the same team. I imagine Pinto is one of those players who will be a late call seeing as he came off on Saturday. He's not the best defender in the world however the idea of him dropping out with either Martin or Whittaker starting at right back terrifies me. I was pleased to see Wes withdrawn early at the weekend as well, I was thinking when we went 4-0 up on the hour mark that we should be thinking ahead for this game, so glad that Neil did, same applies to Dijks as well who is clearly still low on fitness. On a side note, Dwight Gayle will be in the Newcastle squad for the first time since January after recovering from a hamstring injury. Superb.
We never seem to have dull games against Newcastle, going back to about 12 years ago where Safri smashed in goal of the decade before Dean Ashton scored the winning goal in injury time. There's also the 4-2 we had under Lambert in our first season back in the Prem, the 6-3 at St James' last season, Martin Olsson scoring in the 94th minute to win the reverse fixture 3-2 to keep us in the Premier League (
),and then the 4-3 earlier this season, where we were 3-2 going into the 93rd minute and somehow managed to lose the game. There's also the fact that us and Newcastle are the two highest scoring teams in the division. In other words this game is guaranteed to finish 0-0.
In all seriousness though I think we'll lose, but what an insane confidence boost it'd be if we got the win here. Even a point would be a decent result.
We never seem to have dull games against Newcastle, going back to about 12 years ago where Safri smashed in goal of the decade before Dean Ashton scored the winning goal in injury time. There's also the 4-2 we had under Lambert in our first season back in the Prem, the 6-3 at St James' last season, Martin Olsson scoring in the 94th minute to win the reverse fixture 3-2 to keep us in the Premier League (
),and then the 4-3 earlier this season, where we were 3-2 going into the 93rd minute and somehow managed to lose the game. There's also the fact that us and Newcastle are the two highest scoring teams in the division. In other words this game is guaranteed to finish 0-0. In all seriousness though I think we'll lose, but what an insane confidence boost it'd be if we got the win here. Even a point would be a decent result.
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Number 9
Well-Known Member
He won't play Wes and Pritchard together, probably Tettey and Mulumbu in front of the defence and push Howson forward with?
dj161
Well-Known Member
Whittaker in for Pinto, Jerome for Oliviera, Jacob for Josh, Yanic for Pritchard, Tettey for Mulumbu, wasnt expecting that many changes with the exception of Pinto missing out after he went of injured at the weekend, Oliviera not in the 18 a big surprise though
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GJP
Well-Known Member
Great effort from the lads.
Unfortunately second half went pretty much exactly how I expected it to.
Unfortunately second half went pretty much exactly how I expected it to.
dj161
Well-Known Member
cracking game, and a great advert for the championship, 2-2 a fair result in the end, thought both teams looked dreadful at the back, could easily of finished 5-5, Jerome and Ruddy were both immense
Din
Well-Known Member
If you'd offered me 2-2 after 30 seconds I undoubtedly would've taken it Can't fault the effort from the players today, just think Newcastle's quality shone through in the end. It was always going to be an enormous task to see the game out from 2-1. Man of the match for me was Jerome who was monumental, as was John Ruddy who pulled off 3 or 4 fantastic saves and undoubtedly kept us in the game. Dijks is an absolute monster. Had a terrific game and the amount of strength he has is ridiculous, a couple of times Ritchie tried to get in front of him and ended up on the floor. Tettey was very good I thought and Hoolahan also caused them problems for the first hour or so. Jacob Murphy had a good first half as well. I'll hold my hands up as well because Whittaker had a solid game too.
Don't want to be too negative, but I did feel Neil got the substitutions wrong. Pritchard for Wildschut fine, but by 65/70 minutes Jacob Murphy was absolutely spent, more so than anyone else in the side. He should've been subbed off for his brother really with 15/20 to go and I have no doubt had that happened we would've been more effective going forward. I don't know how tired Jerome was, but even a fatigued Jerome would've been better than Lafferty, who was absolutely appalling. He's 6'4 yet he doesn't even challenge for headers, and every half decent attacking move we had towards the end (which were admittedly few and far between) would always break down with him. Also, how many times over the past 3 years have we had a Russell Martin debate? I'm not even going to get into it, but Mitrovic bullied him today, and Klose wasn't much if any better.
Overall though I am pleased, couldn't ask for a lot more today. Great game of football as well. It's frustrating really that all the sides around us won today. Obviously we can't control that but should Sheffield Wednesday win their game in hand we'll be 7 points off them. Burton and Ipswich next 2 games, 6 points please.
Can't fault the effort from the players today, just think Newcastle's quality shone through in the end. It was always going to be an enormous task to see the game out from 2-1. Man of the match for me was Jerome who was monumental, as was John Ruddy who pulled off 3 or 4 fantastic saves and undoubtedly kept us in the game. Dijks is an absolute monster. Had a terrific game and the amount of strength he has is ridiculous, a couple of times Ritchie tried to get in front of him and ended up on the floor. Tettey was very good I thought and Hoolahan also caused them problems for the first hour or so. Jacob Murphy had a good first half as well. I'll hold my hands up as well because Whittaker had a solid game too.Don't want to be too negative, but I did feel Neil got the substitutions wrong. Pritchard for Wildschut fine, but by 65/70 minutes Jacob Murphy was absolutely spent, more so than anyone else in the side. He should've been subbed off for his brother really with 15/20 to go and I have no doubt had that happened we would've been more effective going forward. I don't know how tired Jerome was, but even a fatigued Jerome would've been better than Lafferty, who was absolutely appalling. He's 6'4 yet he doesn't even challenge for headers, and every half decent attacking move we had towards the end (which were admittedly few and far between) would always break down with him. Also, how many times over the past 3 years have we had a Russell Martin debate? I'm not even going to get into it, but Mitrovic bullied him today, and Klose wasn't much if any better.
Overall though I am pleased, couldn't ask for a lot more today. Great game of football as well. It's frustrating really that all the sides around us won today. Obviously we can't control that but should Sheffield Wednesday win their game in hand we'll be 7 points off them. Burton and Ipswich next 2 games, 6 points please.
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Fimbo
Member
Wow. That was exciting. Ruddy and the posts got us out of jail a few times so can't complain about a point. Thought Jerome was fabulous. Good games also for tettey and Murphy. Dijks looks a really decent replacement for olsson. Wildschut looked a bit schut but hopefully just needs a bit of time.
morty
Moderator
Staff member
Canaryboy
Well-Known Member
Mitrovic is a class player in fairness. Russell Martin may be a square peg in a round hole, but if Mitrovic plays to the best of his ability you wouldn't expect many Championship defenders to keep him in their pocket would you.
Lascelles didn't exactly have an enjoyable afternoon up against Cameron Jerome either did he? And he's been linked with a Chelsea move.
Lascelles didn't exactly have an enjoyable afternoon up against Cameron Jerome either did he? And he's been linked with a Chelsea move.
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GJP
Well-Known Member
Mitrovic is a good player, a handful. But he ain't no world beater.
Whatever league we're in next season we need a new first choice partnership in central defence.
Whatever league we're in next season we need a new first choice partnership in central defence.
Canaryboy
Well-Known Member
The only time I've seen Russell Martin look quality at centre back was when he was the sweeper / cover player in a 5 man defense, a couple of times. So with two proper centre backs in front of him with his job being to mop up behind them. Did a very good job there.
Got no business playing a 5 man defense in this league of course, but might as well if we ever have to face Aguero again.
Got no business playing a 5 man defense in this league of course, but might as well if we ever have to face Aguero again.
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