Newcastle vs United
We’re inviting some of our Twitter friends to share some of their ‘Pre and Post Match’ thoughts with us from now on. You can still enjoy my nonsensical, confusing punctuation buffets – below their proper good ones…
Iwan: (@Iwanlehnert)
Apprehensive. That’s as easily as I can describe it. Beating Cluj, despite being away from home, was expected and whilst they pressed for an equaliser late on, winning 2-1 was the least we could do. This is the actual post-Spurs test to really gauge how United want to respond after a bad result, and in some ways, the biggest of the season. Chelsea have been blazing an annoyingly effective trail this season, and we’re currently seven points away from the league summit before today’s game. Don’t get me wrong, this is not some panic-stricken plea for a response after Spurs finally got one over on us, but we were expected to win in Romania in midweek. A Sunday afternoon game at St James’ (point out my error and I’ll feed you to the topless Geordies) is an occasion and arguably a real test considering how hard Newcastle matches are becoming. Almost everyone bemoaned our inability to perform in the first half, and I’m still getting my head around starting three of our slowest players in midfield with Bale and Lennon so close; here’s a chance to prove that Ferguson can pick the right team and his players can start matches strongly and not concede first.
Chances of that panning out that way? Slim, my friend. Slim. It’s a worrying sight to see United have to keep coming from behind and it’s a bad habit that they need to get out of, and I don’t think the manager can do much more than he undoubtedly has done to get his team to start playing better quicker. They have to figure this out themselves and make sure we’re not relying on a Rooney pass to Van Persie in order to salvage a result. This is especially important because Newcastle will more than happily put us under the same amount of pressure that saw them hammer us 3-0 in January. If United are ready for it, and respond to it, then we’ll be ok. If we don’t, then Ba and Cisse will happily have their way with us.
Predictions: Expect at least one winger, a great atmosphere, and a performance by Newcastle that will warrant at least a point. Whomever leads the line today needs to be ruthless.
Brett:
Despite every sinew of my body expecting to feel apprehensive (I wrote this before Iwan sent his – so strange to use the same word) about this game – especially after last week – I feel surprisingly confident. I never EVER feel good before a Newcastle game at St. James’s (in the Prem). I don’t know what’s brought it on – it’s certainly not the team. I just have a good feeling, so I’m just gonna go with it.
Like I said, until there’s something new to say, I’m not going to keep repeating myself in these prediction posts. I hope De Gea starts, cus I think we have a better chance of winning with him in the team than with Lindegaard. That’s it.
Newcastle are looking better than a couple of weeks ago – thanks to Ba’s goals (That volley last week was a beaut! Come to think of it, so was the one against us last season *GULP*) and the return of Tiote to fitness. Cisse has started scoring in the cup competitions, but I just think they’re not they’re yet. Now is a good time to play them. I’m not mad. *who said that – Rainbow! Unicorn!*
Prediction: 1-4 Yes, you heard right. Titter ye not!
Goals: Rio, Evra, (O)RVP, Danny.
