Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2012 19:26:52 GMT 1
This weekend The Toon return to St James' Park looking to complete the double over the West Midlands hound dogs of Wolves, minus Mick McCarthy. The ex Mackem Boss having received the bullet following the 5-1 hammering from their local rivals West Brom on their own patch.
Mind you as The Toon were also clobbered for five by a rampant Spuds side last time out there's plenty of reason not to believe this will be a walk over. Yes there's a massive gulf between the two sides with Wolves struggling to avoid relegation while The Mags dream of Europe, but that is probably even more reason to fear the worst.
Wolves will also have a new man Terry Connor in charge having failed to attract anyone else to take up the challenge of keeping them in the Premier League. Although for me it's difficult to see how he will stop the rot having been alongside Mackem Mick since the season started. That said I believe Wolves will pack the midfield and try to hit The Toon on the break as did The Baggies when they played us in December. Certainly with Fletcher and Doyle up front they have a hard working pair who could cause problems. Old boy Bassong is available after injury, with Karl Henry also in the frame for a return after completing his suspension. Arsenal loanee Emmanuel Frimpong will not take part after rupturing knee ligaments and he has returned to the London Club.
Long term Newcastle injured Bestie, Saylor, Sylvain Marveaux, Sameobi and Nile Ranger are all out. Steve Harper is also unfit, but that just looks to me to be a sign of the times for the veteran stopper. The back four are unlikely to be changed.
On the plus side Mr T (Cheik Tiote) and Cabaye the Lad will both probably make a return to the starting line up in midfield for The Mags. Meaning that APee can select his strongest team possible for the first time since beating Manchester United at the start of January. Ryan Taylor is also back in contention following his injury absence and it will be interesting to see who the Manager goes with on the right hand side. Difficult to imagine anything other than a Demba duo up front.
Amazingly the Toons recent record over six games is that they have won four of them yet lost the other two (Fulham and Spurs) by five goals. Equally strange is that Wolves will also be happy to be playing away as they are unbeaten in their last four. Managing a draw at Arsenal, Tottenham and Bolton to go with the win they picked up at QPR.
Mind you they have not kept a clean sheet in 22 league games and you have to fancy our strikers against what is a pathetic defense.
This is a perfect opportunity to consolidate the push for Europe and despite the potential for an upset I just don't see it actually happening. The first goal may be the thing that turns it in The Toons favour so watch out for Jonas as he likes scoring against The Hound Dogs.
What do you think will happen?
CWL
Mind you as The Toon were also clobbered for five by a rampant Spuds side last time out there's plenty of reason not to believe this will be a walk over. Yes there's a massive gulf between the two sides with Wolves struggling to avoid relegation while The Mags dream of Europe, but that is probably even more reason to fear the worst.
Wolves will also have a new man Terry Connor in charge having failed to attract anyone else to take up the challenge of keeping them in the Premier League. Although for me it's difficult to see how he will stop the rot having been alongside Mackem Mick since the season started. That said I believe Wolves will pack the midfield and try to hit The Toon on the break as did The Baggies when they played us in December. Certainly with Fletcher and Doyle up front they have a hard working pair who could cause problems. Old boy Bassong is available after injury, with Karl Henry also in the frame for a return after completing his suspension. Arsenal loanee Emmanuel Frimpong will not take part after rupturing knee ligaments and he has returned to the London Club.
Long term Newcastle injured Bestie, Saylor, Sylvain Marveaux, Sameobi and Nile Ranger are all out. Steve Harper is also unfit, but that just looks to me to be a sign of the times for the veteran stopper. The back four are unlikely to be changed.
On the plus side Mr T (Cheik Tiote) and Cabaye the Lad will both probably make a return to the starting line up in midfield for The Mags. Meaning that APee can select his strongest team possible for the first time since beating Manchester United at the start of January. Ryan Taylor is also back in contention following his injury absence and it will be interesting to see who the Manager goes with on the right hand side. Difficult to imagine anything other than a Demba duo up front.
Amazingly the Toons recent record over six games is that they have won four of them yet lost the other two (Fulham and Spurs) by five goals. Equally strange is that Wolves will also be happy to be playing away as they are unbeaten in their last four. Managing a draw at Arsenal, Tottenham and Bolton to go with the win they picked up at QPR.
Mind you they have not kept a clean sheet in 22 league games and you have to fancy our strikers against what is a pathetic defense.
This is a perfect opportunity to consolidate the push for Europe and despite the potential for an upset I just don't see it actually happening. The first goal may be the thing that turns it in The Toons favour so watch out for Jonas as he likes scoring against The Hound Dogs.
What do you think will happen?
CWL
Could almost hear a pin drop at SJP broon!!! Probably disbelief at how often we gave the ball away!!! 
