Newcastle United (2) Vs SC Heerenveen (1) UEFA Cup 2nd Leg |
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Date:
Thursday 24th February 2005
Kick Off: 7.45pm GMT
Venue: St. James' Park
Ref: Dejan Delevic (Serbia and Montenegro)
Comp: UEFA Cup 3rd Round 2nd Leg |
| Match Preview
In Association With Toon
Ale |
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By
Ally Campbell
The last week, as I have mentioned earlier, was make or break for
the future of Graeme Souness and the 2004/2005 season for Newcastle
United. As we all know, it was a success. A 2-1 victory in Holland
last week has put us in a good situation for Thursday's game, but
its far from in the bag. The game last week saw an awful first half
peformance, echoed by chants of 'Sack the Board' and 'Souness is a
wanka' but we turned it around with two good goals in the second half.
Far from a vintage performance, but it was clear to everyone that
the substitution of Robert for Ameobi, reverting back to 4-4-2 and
the pushing forward of Kluivert worked perfectly for an impressive
final half hour.
Has Souness learnt a lesson? It would appear so. The same system was
used against Chelsea, and although we didn't play brilliantly the
team looked so much more balanced and threatening than it had done
under any 4-3-3 formation previously employed. This has all been backed
up following the radio phone in where Souness claims to be a 4-4-2
man and the most attack minded manager we've had! We've failed to
see it so far, but I'm quietly confident that we can buy the players
for an effective 4-4-2 system in the summer.
Back to the Heerenveen game then. This is still a massive game for
the club and its a good opportunity for some silverware. If we get
through we'll play either Sochaux or Olympiakos, we'd obviously rather
get Sochaux but we're perfectly capable of beating the Greeks. We've
got two away goals which are valuable, any scoreline without conceding
will put us through and that has to be the aim.
The past week saw both the best and worst of Titus Bramble. Against
Heerenveen he was awful and Souness has even publically said this,
yet against Chelsea he produced an immense defensive performance which
has earnt him praise from all quarters. The reason? A solid, reliable
defender alongside him. Jean-Alain Boumsong's and Jonathan Woodgate's
presence have seen the best of Bramble and long may it continue. I
fear that the return of O'Brien on Thursday will see Bramble return
to his dodgy play, but the confidence he will have gained on Sunday
should ease these fears.
As far as team news is concerned, Amdy Faye returns from suspension
but Lee Bowyer is banned after being sent off in the first leg. Boumsong
is cup-tied, but Shearer and Dyer (according to nufc.co.uk) will play.
Kluivert will continue upfront hoping to add to his impressive UEFA
Cup haul of 4 in 4 games, and 2 good performances in the past week.
A strong team looks to be on the cards and hopefully a strong performance
will put us into the last 16.
Incidentally, this game is a 7.45 kick-off and is beamed out on ITV2,
but tickets are still on sale so get yourselves along if you can!
More...
SC
Heerenveen Guide
Behind
Enemy Lines - The View From A Heerenveen Fan
Given |
Carr |
O'Brien |
Bramble |
Babayaro |
Dyer |
Jenas |
Faye |
Robert |
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Shearer
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Kluivert
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| NUFC Squad News &
Pre-Match Reaction |
Manager Graeme Souness on the match:
"If we think this game is over and we have done
the hard part then we are fools.
"That isn't the case by any stretch of the imagination. We had a good
result out there, but the tie is not over yet.
"They can cause us problems, they showed that last week, and we will
have to be careful.
"An early goal from then would make it game on, and we have to
make sure that doesn't happen.
"I've been involved in football long enough to know ties like this
can be tricky. We've got a decent advantage, but we have to see it
through now."
United squad:
Given, Caig, Carr, Babayaro, Taylor, Hughes, Bramble, Andy O'Brien,
Ramage, Butt, Dyer, Faye, Ambrose, Jenas, Milner, N'Zogbia, Robert,
Shearer, Ameobi, Kluivert.
| SC Heerenveen Squad News
& Pre-Match Reaction |
Striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar on the match:
"We dominated in Heerenveen against them for an hour.
"It's only because we didn't score the second goal, which we
deserved to score, that we lost because of their late goals.
"We are better in playing football but they beat us when it comes
to physical power.
"Now that our team is at full-strength again, we can match them."
Heerenveen squad:
Vandenbussche, Bakkati, Hansson, Breuer, Rzasa, Vayrynen, Hestad,
Huntelaar, Samaras, Prager, Rose, Bruggink, Sikora, Yildirim, Waterman,
Haarala, Wolfgang, Drost, Radomski, Seip.
 Dejan
Delevic
The Serbian refereed Milwall Vs Ferencvaros in the UEFA Cup earlier
this year and the 44 year old is a very experienced referee.
It won't be easy, but I think we'll win 2-0. A goal
in each half, one from Kluivert and one from Shearer. Howay the lads. |
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