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Newcastle Star To Get Chance At Old Trafford On Saturday?

8:57 am, Thursday, December 5th, 2013 by Dr. Ed Harrison · 39 Comments

Newcastle were without both Papiss Cisse and Hatem Ben Arfa for last night’s game with Swansea, which we lost 3-0, and both were out sick.

ben arfa trapping ball

Hatem Ben Arfa – fit for Saturday

Alan Pardew has talked about losing two of his stars before last night’s surprise 3-0 defeat at the Liberty Stadium:

“We lost Papiss before the game, and we lost Hatem to a virus,” “We didn’t have those two options, which would have been nice.”

“We didn’t play as well as we did in that run, and all of those factors have given us this result.” “The team’s done brilliant. Let’s be honest. But we didn’t have the rub of the green.”

“Papiss, we’re going to have to wait and see.” “He couldn’t get his boot on. He was a bit uncomfortable. We’ll see how he goes.”

“Hatem will be no problem. He was up and about, though he was at home.” “We checked with him, and he was a lot better. Two more days, and he should be OK.”

“It’s a tough game at Old Trafford.” “They got beat, so there’ll be extra motivation for both teams.”

That’s an accurate portrayal of the game last night by Pardew – that we didn’t play well and we didn’t have the rub of the green, which we did have at places like White Hart Lane – so we really cannot complain too much – 12 points from the last five games is still an excellent return.

But now the challenge is to get something out of the game on Saturday at Old Trafford and Pardew will need to make some changes – and maybe that’s why he gave big Mike Williamson a break in the second half , when the capable Yanga-Mbiwa came on.

We need Newcastle to be somewhere near their best form on Saturday,  if we are to get a result – and we must be more aggressive than we were last night at the Liberty Stadium – fortune always favors the brave.

We weren’t too brave last night in our approach to the game, and we didn’t get the breaks.

But Pardew will ring in some changes for Saturday, and we could see Ben Arfa get a start at Old Trafford, and if we see that, then  we expect the Frenchman to work his socks off for the side.

That’s the only way he can keep a first team starting position at Newcastle – and he knows it.

Comments welcome.

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Tags: Fitness · Hatem Ben Arfa · Injuries · Newcastle News · Papiss Cisse


39 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Hatem's better than Messi // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:02 AM

    Pardew will sort it out … lol

  • 2 jayphoto // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:02 AM

    There is absolutely zero chance of Hatem starting at old trafford!

  • 3 Hatem's better than Messi // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:06 AM


    I’d be surprised too, but if Pardew has this game down as a probable loss on paper and decides to roll the dice with his team selection …

  • 4 Santon03 // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:13 AM

    Regarding Jonjo action, he would have been off if Debuchy wasn’t honest, if Debuchy acted like Suarez crying in pain rolling on floor.

    As next game, if Campbell is fit then I would prefer to have him on the bench rather than Obertan.

  • 5 Hatem's better than Messi // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:13 AM

    It would have been handy to have Vukic on the bench last night. (Anyone with an outside chance of actually finding the net would have been good).

    Fantastic to have a bench full of fullbacks when you are chasing the game.

    Did Cisse hurt his foot on the coach or in the dressing room?
    Pardew really doesn’t use the squad well.
    His substitutions are terrible.

    Shame the only thing Pardew took from Mourinho is the non-stop scribbling in his little “I love José” notepad.

  • 6 croftus5678 // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:17 AM

    elliott should start this game same with hairdryer and mbiwa (not colo) midfield i would be happy with and maybe arfa as impact sub (not the bald monkey) and shola remy up front with cisse coming on for shola in second half.

    there defence aint great but there counters are good so a closing down fast game is needed imo.

  • 7 Rotonda heights // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:20 AM

    Pardew is better than Allardyce, Pulis and Hughes.

    However, last night sadly told me everything why Pardew has never achieved anything in the game apart from 1 top 6th finish in 15 years and more importantly why sadly he probably never will.

    A good coach needs to be positive and look to win every single game. Pardew is an ultra cautious and defensive manager and I don’t think he has the tools or knows how to change that mindset.

    Yes we may have had a couple of dubious penalty decision not go our way but Webb didn’t give Swansea 3 goals or make Colo and Willo try and play offside or not select any game changers on the subs bench.

    Laudrup blew a massive hole in Pardew’s endless Europa league and injury excuses. Completely shorn of their strike force before and during the game and having played 3 matches in 6 days they still score 3 goals. How often do we score 3 goals? We looked more tired than they did! Not surprising as we chase shadows and make it difficult for ourselves.

    When in good positions Pardew just can not seem to stop pressing the self-destruct button making unnecessarily daft decisions, not least the bizarre subs.

    In a week when he self proclaims to be a good manager and mentions himself in the same breath as SBR he shoots himself in the foot yet again. Does he never learn?

  • 8 Hatem's better than Messi // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:23 AM

    Ferguson saw Pardew coming with the Obertan transfer …

    Hook, line and sinker …
    We can’t transfer him or Pardew will have to admit he was a mistake … and we all know Pardew never admits to any mistakes it’s always someone else’s fault.

    How much a week is Obertan on?
    20K? Anything over minimum wage is criminal.

  • 9 Hatem's better than Messi // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:26 AM


    Agree with you that Pardew is better than those guys.
    But he’s not good enough for NUFC and never has been.

    I am clueless as to how he messes up so often with the squad he has.

  • 10 Hatem's better than Messi // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:28 AM

    I hate to think of Pardew sitting in the NUFC manager’s seat under Sir Bobby’s portrait.

    Not in the same league.
    A completely different class of person.

    Sir Bobby was nobodies puppet.

  • 11 jimmysmith // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:29 AM

    Apropos the previous thread, if the fellas name was Alfred Van Fingobasson, he’d be worth a punt. That Dutch league does produce some top strikers with “Van” in the surname. Robin Van Persie, Ruud Van Nistelroy, Johan Van Cruyff, et al …….unfortunately the rest have been a pile of shite!

  • 12 Black and White with an army lol // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:30 AM

    i think we will get slaughtered against Man United, a couple of weeks ago i maybe would of thought we could get a result against them but looking at previous displays we only had 2 good games that we actual deserve to get good results with and that’s against Chelsea & Liverpool.

    other team though we played against we hung on and manage to get the results but not the performance we were hoping for and i only fear that as long as Pardew keeps his defensive approach to games you will always wonder why our top players are wanting to move on.

  • 13 Rotonda heights // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:31 AM


    Would love to have seen what a Martinez / Laudrup / Wenger/ Rodgers type manger could do with our squad.

    Positive, attacking passing football with flair for 90 mins.

  • 14 Hatem's better than Messi // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:34 AM


    Same here.
    We need a new manager much more desperately than any other position (bar owner).

    Shame we did’t get Martinez before he went to Everton.

  • 15 Black and White with an army lol // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:34 AM

    i said it once and no doubt i’ll keep saying it, Pardew is the weak link at Newcastle

  • 16 Black and White with an army lol // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:36 AM

    Rotonda heights

    if only mate, i would love to have any1 of those at Newcastle.

    i would even rather have a new manager than any signings this season.

  • 17 Our Toon // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:37 AM

    Morning all!!

    Bitterly disappointed by last night’s showing. This was the best time to play Swansea, Michu and Bony injured and then Vasquez getting injured they truly ran out of Strikers. They used a makeshift CF and it worked wonders for them, Pards has been harping on for weeks now that this squad is his strongest, well look at the options yesterday with 2 players out!! The tactics were the biggest disappointment, letting Swansea dictate so much of the ball and then lumping it forward when we got possession was a disgrace, I said we can sit back against the likes of Chelsea and Spurs but tactics were shocking as we will get caught out, we had a lot of luck playing in them games and in the Norwich game, hung on in WBA game. Handball or not Remy really should have buried the chance, if any of those pen shouts we had been given against us I would have been livid, they were borderline at best and without my toontinted glasses on I think they weren’t pens

    Colo came in for some unwarranted stick yesterday, a case of oh well we are losing lets blame the usual scapegoats (Santon, Colo) Haidara was caught out to many times in that 2nd half, yes he has pace to get back but left Dyer to his vices at times. The goals came from mistakes by other players and not Colo / Santon yet these players got blamed for how the game turned out. Take a step back & look at where goals have recently come from. Norwich game was Colo’s fault!! WBA Williamson left Shane Long free in the box meaning Debuchy had to cover for him, Brunt then scored because mistake 1 was Williamson and 2nd mistake was Sissoko who let Brunt run off him

    1st goal good header clear then Gouff (Who has been fantastic) made a big mistake by back heading the ball, he didn’t know what was behind him (mistake 1) cross came from Debuchy’s side (watch the replays) instead of closing the cross down he stands 10 yards away with his hands behind his back (Mistake 2) the final error was compounded by Tim Krul…knock it out for a corner son but criminal to flap it back in the box (final and biggest mistake)

    2nd goal we got caught out on the counter attack and were shocking at getting back, but Williamson played Shelvey onside and then didn’t have the pace to get back as he stepped up to late (big mistake by Willo) 3rd goal, Krul should have done better but where were the midfielders? None of these goals represent errors by Santon or Colo but yet that’s all everyone twisted about yesterday. I’ve heard Willo and MYM struck up a good partnership etc. we were very fortunate to keep clean sheets in the 2 games they played in, don’t forget we conceded more chances with them 2 as a pairing, the difference was poor finishing.

    Any half decent manager would have realised that we are being overrun in midfield in that first half, I know it may have annoyed Shola but surely the most logical thing to do is to get Anita on (20min Sub) and solidify the midfield as we were being all over the place. This rubbish tactic of letting the other team monopolise the ball and then hit them on counter only works if we have pace in the team, last night was like watching us last season. We have been threatening to play like this for the past 4 games we have won (we’ve only turned up for first half’s) yesterday we just didn’t turn up but doing that would mean swallowing his pride by admitting he got it wrong

  • 18 jimmysmith // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:40 AM

    Not to mention Dennis Van Bergkamp, and of course our very own Patrick Van Kluivert. What a treat it was to see him refusing to give premiership defenders a moments peace while wearing a toon top.

  • 19 Santon03 // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:40 AM

    the manner we concede first 2 goals are pure bad luck, the 3rd one maybe Krull could have done better probably he saw it late.

  • 20 ToonDarnSarf // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:42 AM


    I really don’t think there were many chances but there were certainly more than you say. Ameobi had a couple of decent chances that I remember, one screwed wide and one weak to the ‘keeper’s left. Remy had a header that he sent over the bar too. Then there was Obertan wasting an opportunity when we were 3 on 2. It’s obviously unfortunate that we lost our 2 best attacking alternatives in Cisse and HBA. I wonder why Haidara and MYM came on rather than Sammy…and where’s Marv when we need an attacking player?

    Did Willo and Santon go off because they were injured? Or tired? If it’s the latter, then they shouldn’t have started.

    I don’t think Swansea created many good opportunities either to be honest. Don’t forget, the goals were a mistake from Krul on a cross/shot, a really unlucky OG after Krul had made a good stop and a smashing hit when our players were tired and had pretty much given up the game.

  • 21 Transfer Sage // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:42 AM


    I never though much of martinez at wigan, thought he was very average and poor organising a defence. He has done great with everton though.

    He has also signed some good players as well, something he failed to do at wigan…possibly due to money/attraction of that club. But still poor record for buying there.

  • 22 Hatem's better than Messi // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:42 AM

    Laudrup is the only one we would have an outside chance with.
    Even then it’s unlikely as he is already in the “shop window” and being noticed.

    Steve Clark … at least he has some NUFC credentials.
    Does the job in a professional if dour way.
    I think he’d get us playing more consistently.

  • 23 Rotonda heights // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:42 AM

    Our toon


  • 24 jimmysmith // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:43 AM

    They may have gone off because they were rubbish!

  • 25 Black and White with an army lol // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:43 AM

    Our Toon

    nicely put mate, i can guarantee if a new manager came through he would set us up on a 4-3-1-2 formation and wouldn’t even look at the 4-4-2, 4-3-3 & 4-2-3-1 because we simply have not got any wingers to full fill these duty’s.

  • 26 ToonDarnSarf // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:44 AM


    They’ve changed the rules for penalties recently I believe. The arm has to be in an unnatural position and/or moved toward the ball. If I remember rightly, his right arm was well out but his left was only partially sticking out. I’d need to see it again to be convinced, but I still think that only gets given about 40% of the time so sadly it just comes down to (bad) luck.

  • 27 toonarmydownsouth // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:45 AM

    After watching the extended highlights of the game i thinks it’s safe to say Webb had an absolute fcuking shocker

    The handball, absolutely stonewall penalty, keepers beat and he has stopped the ball going in the net, that’s not only a pen it’s a red card

    Ashley Williams for me was a 50/50 you see them given but see the waved on so yeah feel like it should be given but can see why it wasn’t

    Shelvey, no contest, straight red no excuse missing that

    But these things happen in football, from the clips and txt commentary it just sounds like we didn’t turn up
    It’s a bad result against a team who have been poor at home and have a congested fixture list, but it’s still a good run to have 4 wins and one loss in 5 games so it’s harsh to hammer pardew/the squad too much
    For me the big test will be to see what kind of reaction we show against Manure, it’s a game were not expected to get much from so we should be able to play with a bit more free license and I fully expect to see a more committed performance
    We need to not let this result de-rail the form/consistency and the confidence we’ve seen in recent weeks

    It’s always been a big question mark over Pardews ability to react and change things quickly
    What kind of reaction we see from Pardew will tell us more about where we are than the Swansea result imo

  • 28 Rotonda heights // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:45 AM

    Positive, attacking passing football with flair for 90 mins.

    It’s almost like it’s a crime to ask for that.

  • 29 Black and White with an army lol // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:45 AM

    any thoughts guys, if MA sacked Pardew and wanted Laudrup to take the hot seat at Newcastle, would he come?

  • 30 Transfer Sage // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:48 AM


    I don’t think we were massivley outplayed, agree the first was kruls fault and think he could have done better with the third, was close to him. The second was also bad luck.

    But I do think we didn’t have many good chances, think the remy header was the only one you’d say should have been a goal, the others were reasonable chances just not great.

    i’m not pretending the recent results means i want to keep pardew, but they have given me faith that we can still do ok with him.

    I’m not saying this due to the result, but if we got pardew to upgrade houghton (official reason) then do you think we will upgrade pardew when the time comes? or if we plateau?

  • 31 Hatem's better than Messi // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:48 AM

    I haven’t seen a replay and the stream I watched was very stop/start.

    I thought we hacked someone down just before the handball.

    Not that it matters … Webb has some shockers.
    Pardew is a poor manager.

    The two combined led to a 3-0 loss and said bye-bye to any momentum we had.

  • 32 Jamiemac // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:48 AM

    Comment of the day
    “If you’re not a neggar, you’re delusional”

    You must lead a very very miserable life

  • 33 Santon03 // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:49 AM

    It maybe bad subs, but looking at it different way probably he knew the game already lost and he tried to save some players energy for next game and tried these players (obertan and haidara) to see what they can do under pressure.

    Personally, I’m not that upset with the lost. Swans is a good side and it’s away game. It’s just bad luck, Howard Webb or not. I hope we can get something against MU, but I wouldn’t be too upset if we lost that one as well, as long as the score is still respectable one.

  • 34 70TWO // Dec 5, 2013 at 9:53 AM

    In the first half I counted 5 players in our back line and we looked like we could get a goal on the break, with a little bit more energy and a surer touch. The midfield was being run ragged but their pass and move was not troubling us. In the second half I was struggling to see Shola even more and the high defensive line is not Willos game. I can’t blame either Cabaye or Tiote , but the midfield was too stretched when we had to chase the game.
    I think we need 28 points before xmas, so Pardew needs to get his man management back on track and make this result a blip. A tired and defeated squad on Saturday will need a creative lift. Watching Suarez and Hazard made me wonder how HBAs fortunes maybe different.

  • 35 Sav // Dec 5, 2013 at 10:46 AM

    toonarmydownsouth. – What right have you to come on here spouting common sense? Get on the ‘everything’s black-and-white’ doom and gloom bandwagon like everyone else and call for Pardew’s sacking. Just because he is surely Nov.manager of the month shouldn’t stop us turning on him by the 5th December.

  • 36 wynsleap // Dec 5, 2013 at 11:39 AM

    Although I am no great supporter of Pardew (he is adequate no more or less), last nights result wasn’t down to bad tactics or poor performance it was mainly down to bad luck and a shocking performance from Howard Webb who gives us NOWT when he referees our games. (Am I right in thinking he disallowed Viduka’s valid goal which effectively condemned us to the Championship recently?)
    For all Swansea’s ‘tippy tappy, play it around’ game which may look effective it doesn’t achieve much unless they get the breaks. (Why aren’t they top if they are so excellent?) Their second goal was so laughably fortunate and for the third, Shelvey won’t swing his foot like that and score a similar goal if he plays for the next ten years.
    Apart from that he shouldn’t have been on the field but did you really expect Webb to do that – against US?
    Every tackle or ball played broke their way and it was just one of those nights unfortunately.
    And what of the players? If Obertan had a brain he’d be dangerous. Please – no more chances for this fella, Pardew.
    Finally to Ameobi and Cabaye – it’s obvious Shola’s run of form is over. Looked like he was treading water last night. Cabaye? He needs to start dominating games from midfield (and stop being anonymous) or his pending/proposed departure won’t be the great disaster many think it will be.

  • 37 TheToonKing // Dec 5, 2013 at 12:15 PM

    No way is HBA starting against Manure…no way.

  • 38 Ancientcoptic // Dec 5, 2013 at 12:39 PM

    ”But we didn’t have the rub of the green.”

    These things will happen when a team does not want to control the ball.

    It was not that long ago Pardew said, ”it is not enough to win, we need to win playing good football.” What on earth happened to that?

    Ameobi was played against a side that plays Spanish style football, you can only laugh… it is like putting a stock car in a formula 1 race.

  • 39 Jinky Jim // Dec 5, 2013 at 7:38 PM

    Great News ! can’t wait to see Stroller and Oberated cast there spell at old trafford.

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