The African Cup of Nations

I just thought I'd check the dates of the African Cup of Nations to see when we will be without Tiote and Ba. They will both be massive losses for Newcastle and they will miss four matches including three away games. Here are the games they will miss...

Fulham (a)
Blackburn (a)
Aston Villa (h)
Spurs (a)

However they could be back for the Spurs game if they get knocked out early. You would anticipate losing away to Spurs anyway so If they were to miss any games it would be away to the big boys that you expect to lose anyway. You would like to think that we will beat Villa at home without these two but, for me, the Blackburn game is the big loss. That is a game we would expect to win, but may struggle without two of our star players.

Do you think it matters who we play during this time? If so, are you happy with the games they are missing compared to what they could have missed?

 

I should also add that between the Fulham and Blackburn game the FA Cup 4th Round will take place.

 

I suppose one positive is that it is during/after the January transfer window so ideally we could get another striker in time for Fulham or one of the later games.
I don't know what the odds of that are though...

 

That's a good point. My main worry is centre mid. Gosling isn't fancied and I don't feel comfortable with Smith or Guthrie playing centre mid!

 

And it sucks that it's these games, where we could maybe get 9 or 10 points out of, that they are missing.
Why can't the ACN be when we have that run of the two Manchester teams and Chelsea!

 

-------------------Krul------------------
--Simpson --- Saylor --- Colo --- Santon
Marveaux --- Cabaye --- Gosling --- Jonas
-----------------Ben Arfa----------------
-------------------Best------------------

Considering that we can draft Ben Arfa in to possibly make the attack even stronger, the only real person we'll be missing is Tiote, so let's hope that Gosling, Guthrie or another defensive-minded CM can slot in with Cabaye.

Plus, as we'll have Ben Arfa in there to essentially make it a 3 man centre midfield, it should bode very well in the Away games where we need that extra midfield support.

 

That's what I was hoping for. Fulham is a difficult place to go to at the best of times. However, at full strength, we could have got something out of it!

 

I fancy Cote D'Ivoire to win the ACN, so I think we may be without Tiote for a while

 

Although the players will be a miss it does give a chance to some of the other squad members. Possibly give Abeid a chance in the CM you never know players like this might slot straight in.

Also with AP looking to strengthen his strike force, hopefully they have learnt from the last window and get their target on board early in the transfer window.

 

He might be in it yet. Playing for Algeria!

 

The first three are reasonably easy fixtures and games we should be winning. Think Gosling could do with going on loan until January, give him the run of games he won't get while with us behind Beauty & The Beast.

 

Indeed massive losses so as soon as the window opens in January we really need to strengthen the squad with some quality signings.

 

If Tiote does keep up his love for yellow cards we may get lucky and he can serve his suspension while at ACN, might as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Tiote could kill 200 birds with 1 stone if he wanted to though

 

Tiote only has 2 yellows so far this season, not bad considering Perch was already serving a ban for 5 yellows by this time last year

 

I think we might need to purchase another holding midfielder in January - even a loan deal while god is playing for Ivory Coast

 

Tiote has definitely cleaned his act up a bit I reckon.

 

Agreed. He seems like he is getting forward more too - probably because we have Cabaye who can track back. Hasn't he got 2 assists this season so far?

 

Yeah he's calmed it down alot, just if he HAD to be suspended would be good for it to be when hes away saving further disruption

 

Marveaux Ben Arfa Cabaye Jonas <--- Cabaye does a holding role?

 

It's gonna be tough.

I'd play this -

----------------Best---------------

--Marv--------------------------HBA------

------Jonas----Cabaye----Raylor----

Santon--Taylor-------Colo-----Simpson

-------------Krul-----------------

Raylor has creative and defensive qualities, as well as Jonas.

I'm not comfortable with Gosling starting in a PL game. He's shown nothing promising, and a decent friendly match vs an MLS team isn't proof enough.

I'd personally rather we went out an bought a CM or a loaned one during the Jan transfer window, how does everyone feel about Mikel from Chelski?