St James' Park Saturday 14th December 2013 3pm kick off Match officials: Referee: Mike Jones Assistants: G Beswick & M Scholes 4th official: Kevin Friend Form guide: Newcastle: Manchester United 0-1 Newcastle United Swansea 3-0 Newcastle United Newcastle United 2-1 West Brom Newcastle United 2-1 Norwich Tottenam 0-1 Newcastle United Newcastle United 2-0 Chelsea Southampton: Southampton 1-1 Manchester City Southampton 2-3 Aston Villa Chelsea 3-1 Southampton Arsenal 2-0 Southampton Southampton 4-1 Hull Stoke 1-1 Southampton Team news: Yohan Cabaye is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the win at Old Trafford. For Saints, Boruc and Wanyama are out while Clyne is a doubt. Schneiderlin looks set to return to the squad. I reckon Saints will nick this 2-1, with Saints taking advantage of the absent Cabaye. Osvaldo and Lallana to score after Newcastle go 1 up.
A Newcastle-supporting customer of mine said this morning that if Newcastle lose, he'll hang himself by his balls off the telephone post outside his house. With that vision in mind, I'm not sure I'll be too upset if we lose now. Vin
That implies that he thinks it is impossible for Newcastle to lose to Saints. They are in good form, but surely only worth risking a tenner and not your genitals. Any chance of a photo?
I think Debuchy may be missing for us too now. I see it ending with no more than one goal in it. Hopefully in our favour but I wouldn't go as far to say I'm confident. Both teams have some decent players and are having a good season to date.
Turned down 2 tickets for this one. If I were going I would be stoked. A win would be fantastic but wouldn't be surprised if we come away with nothing. Same team for me, maybe schneid in for Davis (he doesn't deserve to be dropped though).
He's clearly a lunatic, I hope you've reported him to the relevant authorities! Having said that, this is another one I'm expecting nothing from. Would certainly take a draw if offered.
I think whatever happens you're in for an exciting game. Almost every game this season has been worth watching and I suspect Saturday will not be an exception. One thing you certainly won't get from us is any bus parking. Every game is treated as an opportunity to win. Enjoy it. Vin
Instead, are you Newcastle Browned off..? [sorry]. I know it's crap but some people have guffawed at less, so I'll leave it there.
Real test this one. I believe our syle of play may well be the unlocking of Newcastle. Swansea beat them fairly comfortably and they play in a similar fashion to ourselves. My real concern though is Remy, i think he has the potential to be world class and his pace could cause us problems on the break. My prediction a fairly high scoring draw 3-3 but i wouldn't be too surprised if we won quite easily!!!
Think we'll lose, Newcastle are good and I never feel confident for away games. Would be happy with a point.
Without Cabaye they're not the same. Without Debuchy they are the same because he's not very good anyway. I think we'll have possession in this game but we'll need to not be wasteful.
I'd expect that we'll have the lion's share of possession, with Newcastle looking to get the ball to Remy early. Good game in which to leave one of the CMs back at all times, because I don't really relish the possibility of 2v2s at the back. Also a game in which Gazzaniga will need to be strong...Newcastle loves to shoot from distance, and we can't afford to have him mishandle any of them. I'll say 1-1 or 2-1 either way.
Can only assume you watched him on and off last season and in the first game of this season away at Man City. But not seen him play since. He's one of our best players, great engine, strong in the tackle and never say die attitude. Last season he was poor, but he came from a different country (halfway through the season) and in to a team fighting relegation. He's just a player that's taken 6 months to settle in. Don't think I'd swap him for another right back in the league bar maybe Zabaleta. Santon is a different story though, not bad going forward but very suspect defensively. So if you attack down our left that's where you'd get more joy.
French manager disagrees. Debuchy's first choice RB for them. I'm surprised at how Debuchy has turned it around for us, he was utter filth for us last season with the odd (2 or 3 at most) decent performance. Different player this season though. If he does play on Saturday he'll probably have a shocker after I've built him up so much
Well I can hardly say I've watched every Newcastle game, but I think I've watched three full ones this season (the City game was one). Perhaps I just keep catching him on bad days, but I keep finding myself frustrated by his positioning. Even in the Sunderland game in which he scored.
That was actually quite good! Haven't had a drop of the don in ages. I know the colloquial term is "dog" but when I was younger I couldn't understand the geordie people and thought it was known as "The Don". Made sense to me.
Cheers, I shall have to try out a bit more boom-boom groan humour. I honestly can't remember when I last drank Newcastle Brown Ale. I know I really enjoy it, but it would go down too quickly. When I used to go coarse night fishing, in my teens, to Stoneham Lakes or say, the River Itchen above Eastleigh with a mate, we always took several bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale as an alternative to our flask of coffee. The NBA always went first, which was right and proper because the coffee could wake you up later as the alcohol was making you nod off. We once took several bottles of Gold Label Barley Wine instead. The coffee didn't work..!