Newcastle United Vs Aston Villa |
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Date:
Saturday 2nd April 2005
Kick Off: 3.00pm BST
Venue: St. James' Park
Ref: Barry Knight (Orpington)
Comp: Premiership |
| Match Preview
In Association With Toon
Ale |
|
By
Ally
It's been a strange couple of weeks for Newcastle United, a decent
1-1 draw with Portsmouth ended our winning run but we still remain
undefeated since the Arsenal game earlier in the year. The players
not on international duty flew to Dubai again for another 'bonding'
session, and two international fixtures have taken the spotlight away
from Newcastle for once. Well, all until today that is with the news
that Alan Shearer is to stay on next season! Its all overshadowed
the build-up to this league game as we look to regain our form of
February and March.
Our Cup exploits have arguably put the league to the bottom of our
priorities, but the fact we are 9 points away from 5th with a game
in hand means that we need to ensure our league form doesn't suffer.
Villa are level on points with us, and a win on Saturday will start
to put us in the top half of the table rather than the bottom. I've
spent far too long analysing page 2/2 on Ceefax this season!
Villa have been on a poor run of form of late, and away from home
they've lost six of their last eight, and whilst our home form has
been far from good this year it's an excellent opportunity to put
another three points on the board. Villa impressed me last season
and at the start of this year I thought they were going to establish
themselves as a top 10 club, but they've faltered and have faded away.
Arguably their best player, Nobby Solano is highly likely to miss
this match following international duty. This is mixed news for Newcastle
fans, we'd have all loved to have given him a great ovation on his
return, but from a footballing point of view it's great news. We know
more than anyone how he can create something out of nothing, so a
big attacking threat is out of their side. Its quite ironic how after
all the trouble he had with Sir Bobby Robson regarding international
duty he misses his SJP return because of it!
Back to NUFC, we survived the international period without picking
up any more injuries which is great news. Titus Bramble remains injured
so its highly likely that Andy O'Brien will partner Jean-Alain Boumsong.
I saw Steven Taylor play at centre-half for England Under-21s the
other night and thought he was excellent, but Souness knows that as
much as we do and he'll get his chance soon, don't worry about that.
Souness has commented that Babayaro has worked really hard to recover
from his knee injury so we should see him return at left-back. At
home, especially, we've missed his attacking presence and it'll be
good to see both him and Carr bombing down the flanks.
As far as midfield is concerned, we played the Portsmouth game with
Butt and Faye in central midfield, but at home against a team like
Villa I think its an almost certainty that Lee Bowyer will return
in the middle. He's on good form and we'll hope to see more of his
runs into the box as he looks to add to his goal tally.
Amdy Faye has been Souness' recent preference in central midfield,
but I can see Nicky Butt being given the nod in this game. He's had
the benefit of training with Souness in Dubai over the last week and
as far as his fitness is concerned I'm sure he'll have benefited greatly.
Faye on the other hand has been playing in Africa for Senegal and
is likely to be tired and jet lagged. Don't be surprised if he's rested
for this one.
I also expect Kieron Dyer to return to the right side of midfield.
He's done a good job up front and has scored a couple of goals, but
Kluivert is another one who will have benefited from the Dubai trip
and I think we'll see him return up front. He's been short on fitness
all year so hopefully now he's trim, fit and ready to impress.
It won't be an easy game and Villa will probably try and sit back
and beat us on the counter attack, but if we can retain the form we
had a couple of weeks ago we should see three points on Saturday.
More...
Behind Enemy Lines: The View From An Aston Villa Fan
Given |
Carr |
Boumsong |
O'Brien |
Babayaro |
Dyer |
Butt |
Bowyer |
Robert |
| |
Shearer |
Kluivert |
|
Shearer vs. Mellberg - Shearer is suddenly the centre
of attention again with his decision to stay on next season, and he'll
be refreshed and ready to go in this game. Even if he is staying next
season he'd still love 9 more goals this year to get the club record.
Mellberg is a good defender but he is prone to the odd mistake as
we saw in the Birmingham Derby 2 weeks ago. I think Shearer will end
up on top and he'll score a goal as well.
Vassell vs. Boumsong - Vassell has just returned
from injury and I imagine he'll play this game. It will be an interesting
battle as both are very quick players and Boumsong will need to be
on his toes for the whole match to ensure the Villa man doesn't creep
away from him.
Robert vs. De La Cruz - Cruelly nicknamed 'Useless
De La Cruz' by the Villa fans, he's not had a good season and O'Leary
has gone on record saying that if he had another option at right back
he'd give him a rest, but he simply doesn't. Robert is integral to
a good attacking performance from the team and a pacy performance
from the winger should put him on top in this contest.
Former Mackems Thomas Sorensen, Gavin McCann
and the odious little turd that is Lee Hendrie. Sorensen
of course is partial to saving a few penalties from Big Al and McCann
saw red last season when tempers boiled over. Where as Hendrie, well,
he's a little turd end of. Give em' hell lads and lasses.
| NUFC Squad News &
Pre-Match Reaction |
Shay Given on the match:
"That
was a bad day at the office as no keeper wants to concede four goals
in any match.
"And as far as my yellow card was concerned I'm afraid I lost
it a bit but these things happen in football.
"But the most important thing tomorrow is not putting the record straight
or any revenge but the three points.
"We were disappointed at not winning at Portsmouth but let's not forget
that we are still unbeaten in 12 matches and we want to keep that
run going."
United squad:
Given, Harper, Carr, Hughes, Babayaro, Boumsong, O'Brien, Taylor,
Dyer, Robert, Faye, Bowyer, Butt, Jenas, Milner, Ambrose, N'Zogbia,
Shearer, Kluivert.
Shay Given may be rested having failed to fully shake off his hip
injury, although he is fit enough to play. Titus Bramble is still
out injured. Kieron Dyer has a slight nock picked up while on England
duty but should be fit to play against Villa. Celestine Babayaro has
isn't fully 100% fit and is still having trouble with his knee. Darren
Ambrose played the full 90 minutes of United's 1-1 reserve match with
Man Utd the other night and is fit enough to take a place on the bench.
Aaron Hughes has a groin strain but is expected to be fit enough to
feature.
| Aston Villa Squad News
& Pre-Match Reaction |
David O'Leary on the match:
"I don't think Graeme's squad can take their foot off the gas against
Villa. He's got a squad of hungry players because they know they may
have the chance of playing in a European final or an FA Cup final.
"That will give the players a good edge everyone who plays will want
to play well to stay involved. They're a big team with big ammunition
and I think they're starting to kick on now. They're on a good run.
"They're having a good run in the UEFA Cup but I don't think that's
the strongest competition this season. The games they've played, you
expected them to win.
"The big test for them is against Manchester United in the FA Cup
semi-final, because they're one of the big boys.
"With the squad Graeme Souness has got, you would expect them to win
the games they've been playing against those teams.
"They've played a clutch of beatable teams, but we'll see how good
his team are in the FA Cup semi-final."
O'Leary on what turned out to be Sir Bobby's final game in charge
of United, Villa's 4-2 win over the Toon back in August:
"It was a good game and we scored goals but we've badly lacked goals
from our forwards all season.
"I had dinner with Sir Bobby Robson the other night again and I don't
know whether his sacking was down to a combination of results, but
he built up a fantastic squad at Newcastle.
"They're a big spending club who don't mind spending money. So I'm
sure they're disappointed at where they are in the league.
"They had a bad start and had a hard job regaining momentum."
Villa Squad:
Sorensen, Postma, De La Cruz, Mellberg, Laursen, Samuel, Davis, Hendrie,
Solano, Berson, Barry, L.Moore, Cole, Vassell, Angel, Hitzlsperger,
Ridgewell, Delaney.
Darius Vassell, Juan Pablo Angel, Mark Delaney and Carlton Cole have
all been passed fit for this match and former Toon player Nolberto
Solano may well feature at some stage but is unlikely to start the
game, having flew back from international duty earlier this morning
(Friday).
 Barry
Knight
The Orpington official has refereed 5 Toon games to date
and our record with Knight in charge isn't the greatest. We've won
just two of those 5 games, a 3-1 home win over Southampton in 2002
in which he gave us a penalty and a 3-0 win over Villa at SJP in 2001.
He sent off Gary Speed in that game which was later rescinded. He
also showed the red card to Andy O'Brien in last season's 0-0 draw
at Villa Park so expect the unexpected.
| Last Season (at St. James'
Park) |
NUFC 1-1 Villa (Premiership: 1st November 2003)
Perennial Toon thorn Dion Dublin put the visitors 1-0 up after just
11 minutes as United attempted to recover from getting dumped out
of the League Cup by fellow Midlanders West Brom a few days previous.
Sir Bobby's men were slow out of the traps however and as half-time
approached Villa we comfortable with their lead, sitting deep as Newcastle
struggled to find their passing range.
But a Laurent Robert goal on the stroke of half-time offered plenty
of hope for the second-half and after the break United pretty much
dominated without ever looking fully convincing. With 20 minutes left
to go former Mackem Gavin McCann got his marching orders for an awful
tackle from behind, much to the derision of the home crowd who cheered
the midfielder off with shouts of "There's only one sad Mackem
bastard". Marvelous.
Another decision went in our favour when ref Matt Messias pointed
to the spot but that other ex-Mackem Thomas Sorensen did what he did
for them, saving Alan Shearer's spot-kick and at 1-1 that's how the
scores stayed as the week ended on our sour note.
Teams...
United: Given, Hughes, Bramble, Caldwell, Bernard,
Bowyer, Jenas, Speed, Robert, Shearer, Ameobi. Subs not used: Solano,
Harper, Ambrose, Lua Lua, Dabizas.
Villa: Sorensen, Delaney, Dublin, Johnsen, Samuel,
De la Cruz (Moore 51), McCann (sent off 70), Barry, Hitzlsperger,
Whittingham, Angel (Allback 63). Subs not used: Postma, Ridgewell,
Kinsella.
Attendance: 51,975
Referee: Matt Messias
| Last 5 Meetings (at St. James'
Park - all competitions) |
| Date |
Score |
Comp |
Toon Scorers |
| 1/11/2003 |
Drew 1-1 |
Premiership |
Robert |
| 21/4/2003 |
Drew 1-1 |
Premiership |
Solano |
| 3/11/2001 |
Won 3-0 |
Premiership |
Bellamy (2), Shearer |
| 19/5/2001 |
Won 3-0 |
Premiership |
Glass, Cort, Delaney (og) |
| 7/1/2001 |
Drew 1-1 |
FA Cup R3 |
Solano |
| |
Newcastle United wins |
Draws |
Aston
Villa Wins |
| League |
59 |
28 |
46 |
| FA Cup |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| Total |
61 |
29 |
50 |
| Form Guide (League &
Cups) |
| Newcastle |
Aston
Villa |
| Opposition |
V |
Result |
Opposition |
V |
Result |
| Portsmouth |
A |
D 1-1 |
Birmingham City |
A |
L 2-0 |
| Olympiakos |
H |
W 4-0 |
Middlesbrough |
H |
W 2-0 |
| Tottenham Hotspur |
H |
W 1-0 |
Everton |
H |
L 3-1 |
| Olympiakos |
A |
W 3-1 |
Portsmouth |
A |
W 2-1 |
| Liverpool |
H |
W 1-0 |
Arsenal |
H |
L 3-1 |
| Bolton |
H |
W 2-1 |
Fulham |
A |
D 1-1 |
| Heerenveen |
H |
W 2-1 |
Manchester United |
A |
L 3-1 |
| Chelsea |
H |
W 1-0 |
Norwich City |
H |
W 3-0 |
| Heerenveen |
A |
W 2-1 |
Sheffield United |
A |
L 3-1 |
| Charlton Athletic |
H |
D 1-1 |
Crystal Palace |
A |
L 2-0 |
| *Last
10 matches in all competitions. Keys: V
= Venue L = Loss W
= Win D = Draw |
I think Villa will sit back and try to win this game on the counter
attack with their quick attackers such as Hendrie and Vassell, but
I think we'll be too much for them. They're on a poor run of form,
we're on good form, and I can see a 3-1 victory emerging
from this one. Come on lads! |
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