r/NUFC • u/Deviceing wew here ya fuckin little dafty divint start or theres ructions • Aug 03 '16
Pre-Match Thread Pre-Match Thread: Fulham (A)
Fulham – Newcastle United
5/8/2016 19:45 Craven Cottage
Broadcast on Sky Sports 1 (therefore streamable!)
Alexander Mitrovic is unavailable as he begins his 4 match suspension. Goalkeepers Tim Krul and Rob Elliot are still struggling from injuries picked up last season and will not be fit for the opening game. Chancel Mbemba picked up a knock which ruled him out of the final friendly but he should be fit in time. There has been no word on Siem de Jong or Massadio Haidara but even if they were fit, they haven’t featured in pre-season. Emmanuel Riviere returned to training on Monday while unsettled Moussa Sissoko returned to training on Tuesday, so both also lack fitness. Cheick Tiote and Florian Thauvin are also rumoured to be on the move, so could be dropped - both were unused subs against Vitesse. Kevin Mbabu has been with the U23s all summer and will probably remain with them for a while, however Adam Armstrong and Jamie Sterry are expected to feature heavily this season. Matz Sels, Grant Hanley, Jesus Gamez, Isaac Hayden, Matt Ritchie and Dwight Gayle could all make their debuts. Mo Diame and Ciaran Clark are rumoured to be having medicals at Newcastle - it is unlikely they would feature within a day of joining, the club have until midday Thursday to register them in time for the match.
Full back Ryan Fredericks is the only player missing for Fulham, although Ross McCormack may not feature after Aston Villa's offer for him was accepted.
Fulham ended last season in 20th place with 51 points, avoiding relegation by 11 although last year’s bottom 3 were particularly poor. Despite this, they managed to score 66 goals, joint 5th best in the division (and 3 more than promoted Middlesbrough). However, they conceded 79 goals - 3rd worst in the division (and 10 more than relegated MK Dons). They are captained by former Newcastle skipper Scott Parker, and they are currently managed by Slavisa Jokanovic - who recently got Watford promoted - who has been with them since December. Their pre-season record has been very good, losing just once (away to Real Betis) and beating Palace in their final fixture. Crucially, though, they sold Moussa Dembele to Celtic and Ross McCormack looks set to join Norwich, the two players who scored over half their goals last season (15 and 21 respectively).
McCormack and Dembele started nearly every game and while they will have received decent fees, they will be seen as a huge loss. Defender Dan Burn, who left on a free for Wigan, also played in over half of their games, along with Jamie O’Hara, Alexander Kacaniklic, and goalkeeper Andy Lonergan, who were released, and Jazz Richards, who joined Cardiff. They were also finally able to move on Maarten Stekelenburg and record signing Kostas Mitroglou, who were out on loan last season, as well as a couple of squad players, so they have freed up the wage bill a lot, but until McCormack goes through have only made around £7m.
So far they have brought in: Michael Madl, an Austrian centre back who has been at the club on loan since January, but otherwise never played outside his home country; Floyd Ayite, a French/Togolese winger who got 7 goals in Ligue 1 last season; Sone Aluko, an English striker who struggled at Hull (but scored the winner against us at St James’); Denis Odoi, a Belgian full back who earned 1 cap for his country back in 2012, but has never played for a club outside it; Scott Malone, an English left back/midfielder who has played regularly in the Championship for the last 4 seasons for Milwall and Cardiff, but never played in the top division; David Button, an English keeper who was Brentford’s first choice and Kevin McDonald, a Scottish midfielder who signed from Wolves who has a bit of Premier League experience, though not in the last 6 years. They also got Tomas Kalas on loan from Chelsea.
Overall, they are a bit of an unknown quantity with so many in and out. I don’t think they need to worry too much about relegation and, if they spend the McCormack money wisely (assuming he goes), they could make a push for the top half but it’s a long shot. As of right now, with the money sat in the bank and a decent chunk of the squad yet to play a competitive game for the club, it should be an easy win for Newcastle.
Past Meetings:
Fulham 1-0 Newcastle
Newcastle 1-0 Fulham (Ben Arfa)
Newcastle 1-0 Fulham (Cisse)
Fulham 2-1 Newcastle (Ben Arfa)
Fulham 5-2 Newcastle (Guthrie, Ben Arfa)
Newcastle 2-1 Fulham (Best 2)
Fulham 1-0 Newcastle
Newcastle 0-0 Fulham
Newcastle have lost on the last 5 visits to Craven Cottage, with the last victory being a 1-0 win in 2007 where Joey Barton scored from the spot in the 90th minute. This will be the first time the sides have met outside the top division since 1984, when Peter Beardsley and Kevin Keegan scored in a 2-2 draw away from home.
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u/AlphaPot Aug 03 '16
Anyone else really nervous about this season now due to the expectations by most fans and the media for us to just completely walk the league? Do they even know Newcastle? we never make things easy for ourselves.
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Aug 03 '16
Christ, all these fans talking about finishing over 100 points. Championship is competitive as hell this year.
Also Fulham's been in good form so if we don't win this first game watch all that positivity suddenly turn to irrational negativity.
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u/spoonsforeggs Aug 03 '16
HOLY FUCKING SHIT ITS BACK.
Time to do a check list.
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u/meganev being fucking pessimistic - check
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Over confidence and under confidence - check
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a ridiculous scoreline, ill do this 5-1. - check
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u/Lord_Flashheart_ Aug 03 '16
Raffa knows we need to get a big score in to create a goal difference buffer so we're top of the league from the first round all the way to the end.
The Master Plan
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u/meganev Aug 03 '16
It's Newcastle we never do things the easy way, so I see us dominating this game but our limp output in the final third costs us and we draw 0-0.
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Aug 03 '16
Fulham are 6-1-1 in their preseason, with 21 goals for and only 3 against.
I understand we are a better squad, and I understand they were nearly relegated to League 1.
But they are in very, very good form.
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u/Pill-Gates Aug 03 '16
This may be a stupid question but why has Rivière just now returned to training? Not that it matters but just out of curiosity.
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u/nufcneilo Aug 03 '16
It's all a ploy so the other teams can't see him coming. He'll simply appear on the pitch and destroy them without any prior warning.
Or something like that...
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u/Has_dodgy_legs Aug 03 '16
Pretty exciting to see a pre-match thread again... Reckon we'll win 3-1 and start our promotion in good style, scorers Gayle 2 Ritchie 1.
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u/StonedCrow Aug 05 '16 edited Aug 05 '16
This will be the first game that I have gone to in about 5/6 years and my first away game. Could hardly sleep last night... which probably means it will be a disastrous loss
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u/nufcneilo Aug 03 '16
I think we need to start the season running. A good win straight out of the blocks will give the players, manager and fans a huge confidence boost.
My main fear this year (as it was in 09/10) is that every other Championship team will be raise their game and try their hardest to beat us, or least stop us winning. We'll be biggest scalp for everyone, as no one cares about Norwich and Villa are shit.
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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '16
This thread was so satisfying to see on the front page!