Preview: Charlton Vs NUFC
With internationals out of the way we can finally take up where we
left off at St. Andrews with a trip to The Valley on Sunday to face
a Charlton side who have only conceded 1 goal at home all season -
on the opening day. Prior to the start of this new campaign I tipped
the Addicks to challenge, like they did last season, for a UEFA Cup
spot and although they haven't looked the part yet, they are well
placed in the League and are a tidy, decent team moulded in the spirit
of their manager Alan Curbishley.
Armed with a war chest from the sale of Scott Parker Curbishley's
Summer spending saw him bring in Danish international Dennis Rommedahl,
former Liverpool man Danny Murphy and one-time Toon target Francis
Jeffers. Not surprisingly the striker is struggling to be fit for
the match. Regardless however, the London team will always represent
a tough nut to crack as we have found out in recent years with only
1 win in our previous 6 meetings.
Charlton will fancy this and with good reason. They have won 3 of
their 4 home fixtures this season, drawing the other one. Our last
win in the Capital come, funnily enough, in the month of October when
we beat Fulham 3-2 at Loftus Road back in 2003 and we will need all
the spirit and fight that we had in us that night to pick up the 3
points.
Without Patrick Kluivert (hamstring), Alan Shearer will rekindle his
relationship with Craig Bellamy once again you feel with James Milner
maybe getting his chance to shine with a first start under Souness
out wide on the right. With Jermaine Jenas proving a strong defensive
arm down the left, it's hard to see how Souness could drop him and
he isn't going to drop Nicky Butt and Lee Bowyer so it looks like
Laurent Robert will have to settle for a place on the bench once again.
Unless he pushes JJ to the right but you get the feeling the Scot
is itching to unleash Milner from the start. I guess we'll have to
wait and see.
Either way the midfield will have to be right as this is where Charlton
are at their strongest and where the game will most likely be played
out. Playing square pegs in round holes has worked so far, to an extent
and we do look stronger defensively but against teams like Charlton
we have by far the superior attack and that's where the focus of attention
should go because it's goals that win games and with 14 thus far,
only Arsenal have scored more than us. Another couple at The Valley
wouldn't go amiss and nor would 3 points. We are capable, can we do
it?
Likely
Lineup
Player
Watch For Them: Kevin Lisbie
Player
Watch For The Toon: Craig Bellamy
NUFC
Squad News & Pre-Match Reaction
Charlton
Squad News & Pre-Match Reaction
The
Referee
Last
6 Meetings Between The Sides
Head
To Head All-Time Record
Current
Form Of Both Sides: Last 10 Games (all competitions)
Prediction
And Newcastle's Deadliest Ever Striker Is...
Feature...
Over the years we have had some great strikers and goalscorers wearing
the Black & White shirt but one man stands out from all others
as the deadliest, most prolific Toon striker of all-time. A player
with an amazing scoring ratio, a player with an impressive tally of
hat-tricks and point winning goals.
Who is that player? Click here
to find out!
7 Years Ago Today
Des Hamilton made his debut for Newcastle United.
Hamilton, a highly rated central-midfielder was snapped up from Bradford
City for £1.375m by Kenny Dalglish in March 1997. His United
career got off to a bad start when the 5'11 England under-21 international
picked up an injury in a Pre-Season game against Juventus - a sign
of things to come for the Bradford born man. 7 months after signing
he finally made his debut and some debut it was too. Notching in a
2-0 win over Hull City in the 3rd round of the League Cup at St. James'
Park - Ian Rush grabbed the other goal.
The United team that day:
Hislop, Barton, Beresford (Watson), Peacock, Howey, Albert, Hamilton
(Brayson), Barnes, Rush, Tomasson, Ketsbaia.
Hamilton only went on to make 18 appearances in the Black & White
shirt, scoring just that 1 goal and was still a United player in 2001
before being released on a free transfer to Cardiff City after unsuccessful
loan spells with Sheff Utd, Huddersfield, Norwich, and Tranmere. He
was last spotted playing for Barnet in the Conference League. Another
great signing by Dalglish...
Other Toon debuts on this day:
Dennis Martin (11 appearances, 2 goals)
Ken Waugh (7 appearances, 0 goals) |
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