Match Preview/Stats/Thread: Swansea City v Newcastle Utd
By Tyne-Talk
April 5 2012
Newcastle United travel to Wales tomorrow for a 4.30pm kick off at the Liberty Stadium. Newcastle go into the game having won three, drawn two and lost one of their last six games in all competitions, whilst Swansea host on the back of three wins and three defeats from their last six.
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew is without long term absentees, Steven Taylor (Achilles), Sylvain Marveaux (groin), Peter Lovenkrands (thigh), Leon Best (knee) and Sammy Ameobi (knee). Captain Fabricio Coloccini (hamstring) is also out whilst Danny Guthrie (calf) and Gabriel Obertan (match fitness) are a doubt ahead of the game.
With defensive injuries in mind, James Tavernier has been recalled from MK Dons and may start on the bench.
For Swansea, Kemy Agustien (ankle) is ruled out for the rest of the season but other than that Brendan Rogers has an injury free side, one of the very few in the Premier League to have such a healthy team at this time of the season.
Pardew said ahead of the game;
“Brendan is a good friend of mine and he's doing great. He plays an expansive game but of course that leaves them vulnerable.
If you can steal the ball like we did at West Brom, we can hurt them fast. That's what we need to do against Swansea.
The game might appear like it is being dominated by Swansea but I think we carry the greater threat. They beat Man City there and Arsenal. They've had a couple of big scalps at their place.
It's tough place to go and the atmosphere is terrific. They'll be looking forward to us coming to them."
Whenever someone asks me about Newcastle Utd I always remain unhopeful - and explain there can never be any expectations as we can then never be upset when they come to nothing, but can be very pleased if we get something.
However, I am starting to get my hopes up that this could be a VERY good season. Refused to let myself think we could make 4th but its becoming very real.
Still not even thinking about 4th...way too nervous!
I missed te match despite every intention of spending lunch at the pub because of a surprise meeting with IT consultants planned by my department head. After that, watching the highlights seriously brightened my day.
Pardew made astute use of the squad, and got a result. We let them mess around with the ball all day but they had few chances in the box. And then the assassin made no mistake. Reminds me of Manchester United of recent years.
This was a massive win, especially as we all knew that Swansea would have so much of the ball, and I thought the game plan was excellent
The games coming up look tricky, on paper you would say we should easy win the next 3, but then two of them are fighting for their lives so it is going to be hard. If we can get through the next 3 with maximum points then I would say it could be on
SMB's did us a sort of favour with the result today!
I have heard all season how wonderful Swansea are and how much they are like Barcelona, yesterday was the first time i watched them this season and to be honest i sat and wondered what all the hype was about, yes they had 3 times the amount of possession that we had but all they do is play lots of little 2 yard passes in their own half and the odd occasion they do get it into the box rather than shoot they pass it again!
Leon Brittain has the highest pass completion rate in europe, its no wonder even i could get the ball to the intended recipient if he was standing so close!
AP got his game plan spot on, despite the statistics we controlled the game in that we let them have as much of the ball as they want where we want them to have it, when they get to a certain area we then close them down and force them to take long rage shots which krul will lap up all day long ad then play counter attacking football that Man Utd and Arsenal have been so successful with!
Chris Coleman sat in the studio moaning about our unimaginative play but as the commentator said during the game is it more effective playing 30 passes to get it to the edge of the box or 1 to get it into the box and another touch to get it into the back of the net! I also loved it when he mentioned how good Neil Taylor was as an attacking fullback and how HBA struggled against him at times, i was wishing Rob lee would have slapped him in the face and reminded him of the number of times NT ended up on his backside after HBA had skipped past him!
I can see what the hype is about, but they need somebody other than Sigurdson to threaten opposition goals. They are kind of like Barca...without Messi, Villa, Sanchez or Pedrito. You do have to get directly at defenders and the goal at some point.
Agree with you about Neil Taylor, mental. It was amusing to see Benny put him, literally, on his ass with his dribbling.
It was a tiresome game to watch, credit to AP for the game plan and keeping them focused. It's easy to lose concentration and fall apart defending like that for the whole game.
Over here in American football when an offensive lineman flattens a defensive lineman they call it a "pancake" block. Since HBA has gotten a run of games he is certainly "pancaking" LB's quite often. You know he's good when everyone in the park knows he wants it on the left and he still gets it there.
I'm also going to give AP credit for trying to get Ba out of his slump of late. They rotated who was in the center for a good part of the game(hence why Cisse was clearing at LB ). Yes they all rotate and cover for each other, but there were periods where they would stay. At this point, I think Ba is just trying too hard and not letting things come to him. If Ba can get back into form and we get Colo and Tiote back they could run the table.
I'm a Chicago fan for all of my American teams, I know all too well not to have high expectations, especially since Michael and Scottie retired. Watching this team right now is a little scary because I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. When this season started all I could think about was "get to 40, just get to 40". To be within a shout of CL is almost too good to be true.
I'm still buzzing after this result. To be 3 points behind a champions league spot (it will be 2 points should Arsenal lose today), with six games to go is fantastic.
Alan Pardew got the tactics spot on. He allowed them to keep the possession but the majority of its was between the two boxes so we were hardly threatened by that. They are a neat side but they need to be more penetrative. Its all well and good playing 30 passes before you get to the final third but if you don't create anything major in the final third teams are not going to be bothered by that and that's what we did.
I thought everyone in the team played their part and its nice to see players like Gosling and Ferguson also getting a run out. He really is utilising the squad and that's good.
So happy to be a Newcastle supporter right now! Long may it continue!
Chesterfield, eh Matt? Nice! I was a north county urchin, though I haven't lived in the STL area since I was a teenager. At that time, I mainly visited west county for the malls where we would inevitably be followed around by security. Good times.
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