Game of the Weekend: Sunderland vs Newcastle United Preview
I found it hard to pick my game of the weekend as there wasn’t a stand-out fixture from the weekend’s action. Although there is a decent game at Old Trafford I’m going to plum for the Tyne and Wear derby for this weekend’s game.
Roy Keane’s Black Cats are a well drilled side who will give you 90 minutes every game and come off knowing that they could do no more. That’s the reason I feel they will survive this season.
The main problem for Keano is that the side don’t carve out too many clear-cut chances in away games, as Roy himself testified after the City game. Their home form is decent for a newly-promoted side though. The undoubted high-point at the Stadium of Light being the 1-0 defeat of Tottenham, but also decent performances in the 2-1 versus Reading and the unfortunate 1-1 draw against Fulham.
Another north-east derby this season saw Sunderland earn their draw at Middlesbrough in spectacular fashion through Liam Miller. This also proved to be one of the most topsy-turvy games of the season, brilliant box-to-box action rounded off by 4 great goals. I think though that maybe a key factor in the derby at the weekend though could be the return of Carlos Edwards to the right wing. His skill with delivery is excellent, and it could prove to be the missing part of the attacking jigsaw for Sunderland, for this season at least, as he could provide the consistently quality balls for his compatriot Jones to nod in.
Also I would look out for Michael Chopra, a boyhood Magpie and former player, who the Mackems are becoming to welcome as their own after a few good performances.
Key Player: I would say if he plays, Carlos Edwards, but more than likely it will be Kenwyne Jones. His role as target man tomorrow will be put to the test well and truly tomorrow against the Newcastle centre-halves. I think that if he is on form, its going to be tough for Newcastle.
Probable Team: Gordon, Nosworthy, Harte, McShane, Higginbotham, Edwards, Wallace, Etuhu, Leadbitter, Jones, Chopra
The question posed from last week is what went wrong? Pretty much everything really. Their lack of pace at centre-half was exposed; their lack of any sort of midfield also. A 4-1 at home to any side is a disgrace, but for a side like Portsmouth (all respect to Harry Redknapp and his team of course) who Newcastle would expect to beat with 50000 Geordies behind them is horrendous.
Newcastle are a club in crisis though. Pure and simple. Since Sir Bobby Robson left a few years back the club has never been the same. Graeme Souness did his Liverpool bit with Newcastle, shredding up the side too quickly and not buying where he ought to have done. Glenn Roeder had a couple of good results, but overall he wasn’t the right man. Now we have Big Sam, and it looks like nothing has changed in fairness, apart from the fact that the standard of football has plummeted to the depths of the Souness era.
I have never thought that Allardyce was the right man for the job; Martin O’Neill should’ve been given the job as soon as Souness was sacked. Look at the good that he is doing with Aston Villa now (the 4-1 at home to United aside). He has changed very little throughout the squad and still done well, which is a testament to his ability certainly as the majority of players there wouldn’t exactly make the Player of the Year nominations (Gareth Barry and Ashley Young aside of course, both have been magnificent this season).
The old adage goes that football matches are won and lost in midfield, and Allardyce certainly has a decent midfield. Emre, Barton, Butt, Geremi, Faye, all good players. The probable partnership in the defence will be Cacapa and Steven Taylor, who will have their work cut out with Kenwyne Jones. I think though that Taylor is a better defender than Jones is a forward though, he is just out of form. It’s going to be an interesting battle, that’s for sure. I would also expect Allardyce to revert to his favoured 4-3-3 formation, with the talismanic Mark Viduka returning to be the central lynchpin with Michael Owen and James Milner running off.
Key Player: Has to be Joey Barton if he plays. Okay, he hasn’t played too much this season but on his day he is by far one of Newcastle’s best players. He will need to dictate play, use his spectacular array of passing and if possible, his barn-storming right foot, if Newcastle are to triumph here.
Probable Team: Harper, Rozehnal, Jose Enrique, Cacapa, Taylor, Faye, Barton, Butt, Owen Viduka, Milner
To Sum Up…
This is a really tough one to call, just because it’s a derby. Personally I think that Newcastle have the better midfield on paper, but Sunderland’s attack could prove too strong for the ailing defence of the Magpies, which is why I’m going to give Sunderland a slight edge on Newcastle for this one.
My Score: Sunderland 2-1 Newcastle United
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Discussion - 6 Responses
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Shaun, I agree with you on all your main points: the North East derby is the stand out game this weekend; Kenwyne Jones is likely to be the key man; and Sunderland to win 2:1. But look out for the sub plots and a little twist.
News reports say that Andy (Andrew) Cole will figure, probably as a substitute. What’s the betting that Cole will come on and hit the winner against his old club? If he doesn’t, Michael Chopra probably will. It’s known as the “loop” (law of the old player) effect; a former striker always returns to score against his old club. (Well may be not “always” but often enough to make Newcastle very wary of their former players come Saturday). Roy Keane seems to have held Andy Cole back for this clash. A clever bit of psychology by Keane or just perfect timing in terms of Cole’s fitness? Cole and Chopra will be well up for this one. Newcastle beware.
Sunderland will win because of the Roy Keane factor - their players will desire it just that little bit more than Newcastle’s. I see Sunderland’s fortunes improving after this game. They will not go down.
Defeat for Newcastle will be a bitter pill for their fans to swallow, but Allardyce will survive it. Newcastle will finish the season mid-table, which would be a reasonable return on the back of last season’s poor performance. The Premier League is a very tough league. Magpie fans have unrealistic expectations of what Allardyce should be able to achieve in his first season. The message to them is: “Get real” and be patient. Remember Manchester United. It took SAF 4 years to turn United around. Newcastle are a bigger basket case now than United were in the mid-eighties. The last domestic trophy won by Newcastle is more than 50 years ago, and that was just the FA cup. Geordies, GIVE ALLARDYCE TIME.
Shaun, I think you underestimate the fantastic work Allardyce did at Bolton. If he can take Bolton, a team yo-yoing between the EPL and the Championship, to a regular top eight finish then he can certainly achieve the same at Newcastle, and more, if given time.
Allardyce can make Newcastle a top six or top seven side. To displace Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal from the top four spots will be a very, very tough call, whether you are Martin O’Neill, Sven Goran Ericksson, Juande Ramos or Sam Allardyce.
You highlight the nature of the problem by even talking about the Champions League and Newcastle in the same breath. Newcastle’s real competitors at this stage of its evolution are not Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea. Newcastle must look to challenge in the second tier - the group of clubs who will be jockeying for positions in the top ten: Everton, Spurs, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, West Ham. Each of those sides have serious financial backing and managers who range from the excellent to the very good.
You’ve got to try to become one of the best of the rest first, before you start dreaming about the Champions League. How about regular finishes in the top six, making it to domestic cup finals, winning one or two of them? That should be the plan for Newcastle over the next 3 to 5 years. If they get lucky one year and make into the top four, then fantastic. But there should be no expectation that you are going to do it. What is required is not a flash in the pan for just one season, but sustainable progress over a number of years. Remember the old parable about the man who built on sand when he should have taken his time and built on rock, or the aphorism about not running before you can walk.
Look at the progress of sides like Seville. They started off by getting into the top six in La Liga, then winning a competition like the EUFA cup. This bred confidence. The side then started to perform even better domestically and last season pushed both Barcelona and Madrid for the title down to the last day of the season and also qualified for the Champions League. It takes time. I think it foolish for Toon fans to be talking of the Champions League now; it will only lead to heartache and once more end in tears.
nice post Frankie .. Newcastle fans unfortunately have very high ambitions from their club
Unfortunately, I think that the problem with Newcastle is Sam Allardyce. I have watched every Newcastle game this season and we have not played quality passing football throughout the majority of a game once.
Our current squad, with players like emre, milner, owen etc is built to play passing football, not to pump long balls into the box all day. However I think that allardyce will do well enough to be given the time to build a squad to play that way. But that way can never get us into the champions league, so in 5 or however many years when the board gets impatient because we aren’t progressing towards champions league football and they fire allardyce, we will have to go through another long rebuilding process, as his team won’t be able to play good football (look at what happened to sammy lee and bolton when they tried to play decent football with the team big sam constructed).
Big Sam has done excellent work in the transfer market and can achieve our short term goals but I think he will be destructive to the long term goals of the club unless he changes his ways and stops playing long ball football.
My one major criticism of Allardyce is taking a chance on Joey Barton. Barton’s a very troubled personality. We know his history. He was at it again at the Stadium of Light using his studs in what looked like an attempt to de-sack the balls of a Sunderland player. The FA are likely to punish Barton heavily, again.
If you are trying to build a strong team spirit, full of players from all over the world, Joey Barton with his history of assaults on his own team mates (black and white), never mind the opposition, would not be top of my wish-list. Which reasonably good player would want Barton as a team-mate? He is certainly not flavour of the month with the England squad.
Allardyce has been able to revive the flagging or troubled careers of guys like Nicolas Anelka, Youri Djorkaeff, Ivan Campo, Fernando Hierro, Jay-Jay Okocha and Fredi Bobic but those guys were seveal leagues above Barton in class and temperament. Barton is a serious liability.