De jong absolutely needs to start. I don't think we need to play sissoko at lb as Norwich aren't quite as pacey ad Sunderland. I guess it all depends what happens with Redmond. Granted I would like to see sissoko at lb. What else can you do with gifted athletes who can't score? Move em to defense.
At least tell us what day we play!!! **** it, you know what, I dont care anymore, Saturday, Sunday etc, makes no difference. 2-0 Norwich
This my formation and tactics for the Norwich game.!! please log in to view this image The boys are ready and waiting at Calais, just a short hop to Norwich I think!!
This is a given supporting Newcastle isn't it? Anyone vaguely decent is always crocked at the most important time - remember the days of Souness, when we constantly had half the team out due to a player-maiming training ground? Mitro and De Jong just doesn't guarantee enough goals, much as we all love Mitro, his goal ratio just isn't high enough and De Jong can do the hold up play better. Cisse, as erratic as he is, can still get us a goal when we really need it. Yes his decline has been utterly mind boggling - going from banging them in like Andy Cole in his prime, to looking like a cross between Andreas Andersson and Guivarc'h...but STILL, he can get us a goal when we need it, and is more likely to do so that Mitro. Keeping Shelvey in my FF team, might even make him captain!
Hadn't realised how good our stats vs Norwich are. We're their dodgy team. Won 4 and drawn 2 in last 6 meetings. So...that bodes quite well doesn't it? Still, can't see us winning pretty. I say 2-1, go 2-0 up then squeeky bum time.
Benitez has been a staunch player of 4-2-3-1 for 15 years, I'm not convinced the 4-4-2 is suddenly going to appear. For me, as per Charlie's point above, this is why De Jong has to play. He's more likely to hover further forward essentially turning a 4-2-3-1 into a 4-4-2!! Cisse simply cannot play in 4-2-3-1. Something else to ponder, though - everyone doing well in the league has a strong DM.
Imperative we score first in this game then dont let them score. If we can do that I think we might win.
I quite like the look of Tash's line up but would play Woodman instead of Darlow despite the letter Rob Elliot sent me this week. Bring Cisse on if we need a goal towards end.
Dreamed about this match last night (which is worrying). Went 1-0 up, pegged back to 1-1. Mitrović bit someone in the back and didn't get sent off, they hand balled in the box and then Mitro scored the winning penalty (I assume winning, I woke up at thist point). My prediction then: 2-0 Norwich (Mitrović sent off).
But if you score more goals than the opposition in their net and the score is 4-2 to you at the moment the referee blows the final whistle at the end of the match you might win.
Cannot see us winning this, and fully expect to see both Sunderland and Norwich move away decisively today. We're too bad away from home, we cannot score because we both lack attacking flair/guile and our strikers are the worst finishers in the league. Marry this with a disgusting shambles of a defence and it's no wonder we are where we are and so many are predicting a loss. We thumped them at ours, I expect a different strategy from Norwich. If we lose, I hope we stop putting out the same useless players, and start putting out a team we can expect to see in the championship. Whatever the results, my concern is building for next year with the players who will be here, which is incidentally why I think throwing a Hail Mary on Rafa was the worst possible boardroom decision after tufty.
