Match thread - Stoke v NUFC

[Toondes]

Premier League:
Stoke City (a)



The Magpies begin their 2018 fixture programme by facing the Potters at what is now known as the bet365 Stadium on Monday January 1st.

It's a 3pm start and all 3,200 places allocated to Newcastle have been sold.

United are bidding to avoid a fifth successive loss at this venue and what would be a fourth 0-1 reverse there in as many visits.

More positively, a third away win of the season would wrap up a second double, following on from our 2-1 victory at Gallowgate back in September.

NUFC: Aleksandar Mitrovic, Florian Lejeune and Jesus Gamez will be missing due to injury while it's expected that Karl Darlow will retain his place in goal.

There's a first return to his former home for Joselu, who scored four PL goals in 22 outings for Stoke (10 starts). He currently has three for us after 19 PL games (17 starts).

SCFC: Kurt Zouma will return after being ineligible to play against his parent club Chelsea on Saturday, while Erik Pieters could also be in contention.

Xherdan Shaqiri, Joe Allen, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Peter Crouch were also taken out of the firing line at Stamford Bridge ahead of our visit.

Ryan Shawcross, Glen Johnson and Bruno Martins Indi remain sidelined.

The Potters have won just twice in their last 11 PL outings, beating West Brom 3-1 and Swansea 2-1 at home. Their only clean sheet in 10 home PL fixtures came during a 1-0 victory over Arsenal in August.

Chelsea, Bournemouth, Liverpool and West Ham have all left here with maximum points, while 2-2 draws were played with both Leicester and Man United.

Referee: Chris Kavanagh - last seen taking charge of Newcastle's 0-3 home loss to Watford, he presided over last season's wins at Preston and Brentford.

UK TV: None

Overseas TV:
Astro SuperSport Malaysia 2
beIN Sports Connect New Zealand
beIN Sports MENA HD 6
beIN Connect Turkey
beIN Sports Turkey 2 +HD
Canal+ Sports online (Poland)
DIRECTV Sports Caribbean
DIRECTV Sports South America
Flow Sports App
Hotstar (India)
NBC Premier League (USA)
Optus Sport (Australia)
Sky HD (Mexico)
Sport 3 Israel
SportsNavi Live (Japan)
SPS HD (Mongolia)
TSN 5 +HD (Canada)
Watch ESPN Brazil

UK Radio: tbc if any

Local Radio: Live on BBC Radio Newcastle

Travel: There's no metro service today

Stats:

Potters v Magpies @ Britannia:
2015/16 lost 0-1
2014/15 lost 0-1
2013/14 lost 0-1
2012/13 lost 1-2 Cisse
2011/12 won 3-1 Ba 3
2010/11 lost 0-4
2008/09 drew 1-1 Carroll
2007/08 drew 0-0 (FAC)

First footing: NUFC 01.01 post-war record:

1946 Sheffield Wednesday (a) won 2-0
1947 Nottingham Forest (h) won 3-0
1948 West Bromwich Albion (h) won 3-1
1949 Preston North End (a) lost 1-2
1953 West Bromwich Albion (h) lost 3-5
1954 Blackpool (h) won 2-1
1955 Sheffield United (a) lost 2-6
1957 Birmingham City (h) won 3-2
1966 Aston Villa (a) lost 2-4
1969 Real Zaragoza (a) lost 2-3
1972 Wolves (a) lost 0-2
1973 Leicester City (h) drew 2-2
1974 Arsenal (a) won 1-0
1980 mackems (h) won 3-1
1983 Carlisle United (h) drew 2-2
1985 mackems (h) won 3-1
1986 Everton (h) drew 2-2
1987 Manchester United (a) lost 1-4
1988 Nottingham Forest (a) won 2-0
1990 Wolves (h) lost 1-4
1991 Oldham Athletic (a) drew 1-1
1992 Southend United (a) lost 0-4
1994 Manchester City (h) won 2-0
1997 Leeds United (h) won 3-0
2003 Liverpool (h) won 1-0
2005 Birmingham City (h) won 2-1
2007 Manchester United (h)
2014 West Bromwich Albion (a) lost 0-1
2015 Burnley (h) drew 3-3

Upcoming PL fixtures:

Monday 1 January 2018
Brighton & Hove Albion v Bournemouth (12.30pm) Sky
Burnley v Liverpool (3pm)
Leicester City v Huddersfield Town (3pm)
Stoke City v Newcastle (3pm)
Everton v Manchester United (5.30pm) Sky

Tuesday 2 January 2018
Southampton v Crystal Palace (7.45pm)
Swansea City v Spurs(7.45pm) Sky
West Ham v West Bromwich Albion (7.45pm)
Manchester City v Watford (8pm)

Wednesday 3 January 2018
Arsenal v Chelsea (7.45pm) Sky

Thursday 4 January 2018
Spurs v West Ham (8pm) Sky

[originallad]

What? We're playing again already? Well that's my New Year's Day ruined then.

[bodacious benny]

This will be such a s*** match

[Slim999]

A win against Stoke would be a great start to 2018 esp with Swansea at home coming - it would hopefully put us right in the mood to win that.

Stoke are going to be going for it.... good chance for us to play like we did at West Ham and catch them on the break.

Suggest Rafa plays the same team as vs hammers with a good attacking intent.

[Slim999]

Prediction 1-2 to Newcastke (Gayle / Atsu)

[Hjl]

We need to win games like this to stay up, so we will probably lose.

[originallad]

I see games like these as 'must not lose' rather than 'must win'. Anything against the big boys is a bonus. Not losing and an occasional win against the likes of West Ham, Brighton and Stoke should hopefully see us to 40 points. Although after our abject performance against Brighton I'm not confident of getting anything from today.

[bodacious benny]

Off out for a massive breakfast then going to the match

[MitroMania]

Much better performance is required and we generally tend to play a little better away from home but cannot afford to have another lacklustre 442 shitshow. Gayle up top, perez behind and go for it

[MitroMania]

Don't understand why Rafa is so protected by certain fans. No matter what players he has, he is paid to mange the team. Play your best XI, set up to attack or at least threaten the opposition and try and win games. The fact is that he doesn't do that. The players he has are irrelevant, he simply doesn't play football with any sort of attacking intent which just invites teams onto us. Shelvey and Merino are the best passers of the ball we have, yet he plays one or the other and then proceeds to have the centre backs ignore the midfield and hoof it downfield to Atsu or Gayle.

He's alienated players, Saivet has his best performance for us and doesn't make the bench for the next 2 games yet Diame is clearly a terrible player yet continues to make the 18 every week. I for one am glad Mitro has the balls to speak out, the guy has done nothing to Rafa and must be watching Joselu thinking what the **** is going on here. We have no attacking threat up top yet his pettyness and some could say arrogance refuses to include Mitrovic. Arrons hardly features, meaning he can;t get a run of games to establish any form... don't know what he was expecting him produce vs City of all opponents.

I wouldn't trust him with the money from the takeover because lets be honest, this is the same man responsible for Manquillo, Hanley, Joselu and Lazaar. Yes there have been better players signed but the fact of the matter is he spends money on utter crap players, who he then insists on playing no matter how little they contribute to the team. How he still plays Joselu after scoring 2 (i think) goals all season is a joke. He's paid to manage the team and get us playing and scoring and winning games, which he is failing miserably at. If we at least had a go in games and lost we could say we were unlucky. We're not, we do nothing all game and then get fed the same **** line "the players are working hard".

Big performance required today, from my point of view he needs to start producing and fast because he should be under way more pressure than he is from outside right now

[Micky Quim]

I'm expecting a pretty sure game. A 1 nil away win would be a nice start to the year though

[Micky Quim]

I'm expecting a pretty dire game. A 1 nil away win would be a nice start to the year though

[overseasTOON]

This is a must win game which means we'll be set up not lose and have no attacking intent.

Bored of these tactics.

[ColbacksFlamingBarnet]

I'd love to see a 4-5-1, gayle as the man up top, shelvey, merino, atsu, ritchie and hayden or saivet on. f*** knows how it would work but at least there's no joselu. Or play Atsu up top. Or something. Anything that means more attack. Please.

[Chappy]

I'm not confident after that showing against Brighton. 1-0 loss with teams around us picking up points.

[hoofball]

Hopefully we see a performance that's more in keeping with West Ham away than any of our other last 10 games or so.
We pressed West Ham high and counter attacked with real endeavour that day. Why we don't do the same week in week out is beyond me. You'd have thought that this would have showed Rafa that perhaps a little more attacking intent is the way forward? It appears not.

I think setting a team up week-in, week-out 'not to lose' is just mentally draining and after months of being marinated in such negative tactics it's all the players can do. They are now terrified of conceding because they know that if they do they're really playing for a draw at best, as the odds of scoring two are slim.

Something happened away at West Ham, either by accident or design, but we need to find that again today. Any more negative defensive football against Stoke today and I think the tide will really turn on Rafa.

[Jaiston]

Newcastle on a Monday.

Burnley 1 Newcastle 0 – 30 October 2017
Ipswich 3 Newcastle 1 – 17 April 2017
Blackburn 1 Newcastle 0 – 2 January 2017
Leicester 1 Newcastle 0 – 14 March 2016
West Brom 1 Newcastle 0 – 28 December 2015
West Ham 2 Newcastle 0 – 14 September 2015
Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0 – 13 April 2015
Stoke 1 Newcastle 0 – 29 September 2014
Arsenal 3 Newcastle 0 – 28 April 2014
Everton 3 Newcastle 2 – 30 September 2013
Man City 4 Newcastle 0 – 19 August 2013
Fulham 2 Newcastle 1 – 10 December 2012
Everton 2 Newcastle 2 – 17 September 2012
Arsenal 2 Newcastle 1 – 12 March 2012
Bolton 0 Newcastle 2 – 26 December 2011

[Don Sholeone]

3 points today, I can feel it

[Mbemba You're a Womble]

Joselu is going to score on his return

[Crouching Shola Hidden Talent]

Newcastle on a Monday.

Burnley 1 Newcastle 0 – 30 October 2017
Ipswich 3 Newcastle 1 – 17 April 2017
Blackburn 1 Newcastle 0 – 2 January 2017
Leicester 1 Newcastle 0 – 14 March 2016
West Brom 1 Newcastle 0 – 28 December 2015
West Ham 2 Newcastle 0 – 14 September 2015
Liverpool 2 Newcastle 0 – 13 April 2015
Stoke 1 Newcastle 0 – 29 September 2014
Arsenal 3 Newcastle 0 – 28 April 2014
Everton 3 Newcastle 2 – 30 September 2013
Man City 4 Newcastle 0 – 19 August 2013
Fulham 2 Newcastle 1 – 10 December 2012
Everton 2 Newcastle 2 – 17 September 2012
Arsenal 2 Newcastle 1 – 12 March 2012
Bolton 0 Newcastle 2 – 26 December 2011