[center]Newcastle United v Manchester City
Saturday 15th December 2012
12:45pm ko Live on Sky Sports 2
Referee: Andre Marriner (Reserve Taggart Acolyte: Phil Dowd)
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Something about losing the battle and winning the war…[/center]
Since Sunday I’ve felt ridiculously calm about the derby than I have previous games (I was not a happy person to be around after losing the League Cup Semi Final at Old Trafford). It was a devastating way to lose a game of football after putting so much hard work to recover from 2 nil down but we for the first time in a long time I came away from the game thinking more about the positives that I’d seen than the negatives.
The Positives
Silva - What more can be said about this man? Phenomenal. He was back to his best last week, the passing, the movement and effort he put in was first rate. If Isco is too much like Silva then we should break the bank. Dave is the best player in England.
Carlos Tevez/Sergio Aguero – The filth were afraid of Tevez, his energy and movement was excellent. Aguero showed signs of returning to form, he just needs a couple of goals to set him off.
Nastasic – 19 years old, first season in England, debut made in the Bernabeau and form that’s fuelling rumours that Joleon Lescott is on his way back to Everton. I’ll admit I wasn’t a fan after the first couple of outings but his composure in the derby meant Van Persie was virtually anonymous.
Zabaleta – Mr Manchester City. A Hero
The Return of Gael Clichy – The man needs to start reading my previews, if he’d have done that then he’d have known to block the cross for their second goal. He was unlucky to concede the free kick that lead to the winner, his desire to win the game probably got the better of him instead of hoofing it upfield, but to be fair he probably wouldn’t have still been on the field if Kompany hadn’t gone off injured meaning we had to effectively give up a substitute.
No more superstitions – I don’t know if I was the only one but I had about a half dozen superstitions on the go before home games. Not opening the programmes plastic wrapper, where I buy it from, how many I buy, what clothes I wear to the game, how I sit in my seat, say “We never score from corners” every time we win a corner
United were awful – That was quite possibly the worst United team I’ve ever seen. They were so open in midfield and defence on another day we’d have had a cricket score and I’ve never seen a side give the ball away as often as they did. If every other side in the Premier League didn’t just lie down and accept defeat they’d realise they are there to be beaten.
The negatives
The Defence – Whilst the back line that finished the game was missing Kompany, Lescott AND Richards, the 3 the mainstays from last season, we were a shambles for the first 2 goals and the disallowed one. PLEASE BLOCK THOSE CROSSES CITY!
Mario – I think Mario’s days may finally be numbered if someone can offer us a fee for him. The off the field antics are mostly lies to keep the red tops in business and personally I’m indifferent to them. My real concern is if Mario played every minute of 38 league games how many goals would he score? How many times would he play well?
Injuries & Suspensions – 1 more of each where we can ill afford to get. Obviously we can do nothing about the injuries but although we’ll raise a glass to Gareth Barry for telling Clattenberg what we all think of him, a Champion like him shouldn’t be drawing himself into rag territory. Rooney will always be allowed to ref games because unfortunately its Shrek who sells England shirts and not Gareth Barry.
The Aftermath – I’ll not go on about fan behaviour as we all know what happened. All I will add is that 47,000 angry people didn’t feel the need to run on the pitch or throw coins so to be branded as thugs and animals by all comers was disgraceful. Unfortunately it meant that the next couple of days became like the night of the long knives as police were quick to arrest the offenders and the media convict before trial. The biggest culprits in the witch hunt was Radio 5live the next morning which was so awful, thanks to a pissed up Paddy Crerrand, it made the Daily Mail look like the flag bearer for the balanced and reasoned argument.
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Free the Hastings One…[/center]
I think that the unbeaten league tags were monkeys on our back and we’ll be better off without them. Its pleasing to see that the media are congratulating the rags with winning the league by virtue of having a 6 point lead going in 2013. The Guardian said that United are ‘flying’ at the moment despite having recently shipped 3 in half an hour at Reading and lost at Norwich recently. The reality is the pressure is off us, we’ve nothing to lose now and we’ve got the money to invest come January.
[center]The world still continues to turn
[/center]So before a Sunderland team with more United youth graduates in it than the home team lies down at Old Trafford we’ll be entertaining the masses on Sky against the barcodes.
Naturally everyone will look back to that game last season when Yaya ran the game and Mancini pushed him further forward as the game went on. That game was a thrilling end to end affair between two teams who were really playing well at the time. I think it will be very different this time.
Last season Newcastle were the leagues surprise package with a well deserved 5th place finish as Mike Ashley’s stock the shelves high and sell it cheap Sports Direct policy as they cashed in on Jose Enrique and Kevin Nolan, also giving away Joey Barton, using the money to bring Cabaye, Ba, and later on Cisse. Those 3 added to Tiote, Gutierrez and Ben Arfa made Newcastle a formidable attacking threat.
In the summer they added Vurnon Anita from Ajax for £6m continuing the policy of buying good young foreigners abroad alive. However the policy has worked a little too well as Demba Ba and Check Tiote, both with low buyout clauses, are having their heads turned by the potential of lucrative moves elsewhere.
Newcastle currently live 14th in the league with 4 wins and 5 draws with 17 points from 15 games having scored just 17 this season and conceding 21.
At home they’ve won 4, drawn 1 and lost 3 of their 8 home games. They’ve beaten Spurs 2-1 on the opening day, Norwich 1-0, West Brom 2-1 and 10 man Wigan 3-0 in December. They’ve also lost at home to the Rags without a fight (3-0), Swanselona (2-1) and West Ham. Interestingly (or worryingly) they’ve lost 5 out of their last 6 league games.
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Lets include this in just because we can
Their team[/center]
In goal they’ve the emerging Tim Krul who was given a chance to start after Steve Harper was injured an never relinquished it turning into one of the best young keepers in the Premier League.
The back 4 is mostly an English affair as Ryan Taylor and Steven Taylor are injured long term. Captain Colocinni has also missed most of the season. This has neabt that Perch and Williamson have started the most games at centre half. Danny Simpson has played left back whilst former Inter youth graduate Davide Santon has started 19 games at left back.
The centre midfield pairing is likely to be Anita and the Ivorian Tiote as Cabeye is injured until Feb. Gutierrez will start on the wing with Marveaux on the other as Ben Arfa is also injured.
Up front Demba Ba has 10 goals from 18 starts whilst Papiss Cisse has just 4 from 20. Shola Ameobi will likely be on the bench.
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Not sure of the significance of this game…something about winning the league?
What about the Champions?[/center]
This could be an interesting team selection from Mancini.
From the Guardian:
Doubtful Clichy (ankle), Nasri (headache), Milner (hamstring), Kompany (groin) Kolarov (groin)
Injured Richards (knee, Jan), Guidetti (leg, unknown), Rodwell (hamstring, unknown)
Suspended Barry (one match)
If Clichy is fit to play then the back line picks itself with himself, Nastasic, a much improved Kolo Toure and Zabaleta. If he’s not fit then I imagine he would play 3 at the back, bringing in Joleon, unless he wants to risk playing Nastasic at left back a second time.
Midfield is more interesting without Milner, Rodwell, potentially Nasri or Barry. That would mean that Garcia would partner Yaya in midfield by default. Naturally Dave will start but would he select Scott Sinclair? I suspect he might but Maicon at right back and push Zabba into midfield to allow Yaya to push further forward and have Tevez and Silva as the outlets. That would leave Aguero up front alone needing to put in a BIG shift. As for Dzeko and Balotelli I don’t see him starting the former or playing the latter.
Prediction
I’ve felt really confident we’re going to win this all week so I’ve probably jinxed it already. Newcastle aren’t amazing at the back and they’ve a lot of key players missing. As always if we play to our best AND BLOCK THE CROSSES we’ll win the game.
May the African Cup of Nations be cancelled due to rain...
3-1 City
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