Number 1 - Comments

Aye that was quite funny. But its also fairly winnable for them, or at least more winnable than games against Premier League teams.

Leicester away is a bit uninspiring. I'd say its a winnable tie but so was Cardiff at home last year, and we lost that.

Dover v Crystal Palace and WBA v Gateshead are interesting ties. I'm also looking forward to seeing if Liverpool's defence can cope with Akinfenwa.

If anything, Hutton's headbutt was the most red card-able offence in that sequence. I don't get what the ref was doing there.

Ticket to see U2 on October 25th at the O2 Arena in London.

Sadly the show is not that they'd turn up free at your house if you had an Apple device, like they did with that album. But I'm still surprised standing for them is cheaper than Foo Fighters.

Fuck me Newcastle won against Chelsea at home again, with the 3rd choice keeper and a red to boot. Blimey.

He really doesn't fucking help himself.

The actual game sounded a bit less entertaining than that tbh.

So, apparently, we're going to be giving Jak Alnwick his Premier League debut tonight, and be playing our only 3 fit defenders alongside a debutant.

I thought the hiring of a new fitness coach was meant to control our injury problem.

Missed the game but sounded like we were dreadful in the snippets I caught. I suppose our injury list was always going to catch up with us eventually.

Having only just seen it, that Gaston Ramirez red card is a dodgy call.

Fuck me how did Newcastle get to 4th and so quickly?

Form is looking excellent atm though, even with insane injury problems.

Ryan Taylor subbed off in tears on his first league start in over two years with a possible recurrence of his injuries. That's fucking horrible, and not least given he was our best player so far.

I skip the analysis on MOTD anyway, but at least they have a screen presence that doesn't want to make you vomit, and no commercial breaks or Andy Townsend.

Always thought Whelan was a bellend.

Meanwhile, Sheffield United have retracted their offer to Ched Evans to use their training facilities.

Forgot I still had this going. Its been a busy 2 weeks.

I'll re-start updates in a day or two. But I'll note down one nothing game. We finished 2012 with a 0-0 draw at home to West Ham United, which was frustrating as a win would've seen us end the calendar year as the Premier League leaders after Manchester City also failed to win.

Could be interesting if they follow through: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/15/fifa-uefa-world-cup-germany-football

As you may know, the FIFA Investigatory Committee came with its report today and said that Qatar and Russia did nothing wrong, but England and Australia did wrong, and England apparently "damaged FIFA's image". As if it had an image to tarnish.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30031405

Just now, Michael Garcia, who helmed the investigation, said he does not agree with this version of events and is appealing it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30037729

This is going to rumble on and on. And at this rate, Qatar is still probably going to host it despite being a baking hot city built on the backs of thousands of slaves. Terrific.

Interstellar

Looked awesome and good performances, but my god, the last 20 minutes did their best to ruin the film.

Considering we currently have the league's worst injury numbers I'd say we're definitely doing better than the ability would suggest.

It is true though that a lot of the league's big names are doing worse than their player reputations suggests they should. Liverpool and Spurs in particular have been woeful.

What the fuck was Tim Howard doing?

Not the best game but an excellent result for NUFC. Good finish too for Ayoze.

So we'll be in at least 8th during the international break, and with the most injured players in the league. Excellent.

What exactly was the second one disallowed for? Surely the punishment for Hart would've been the concession.

Not that it matters given MCFC have been shite before and after that.

Fuck me Burnley won a game.

At long last. Annoying thing is he played better when he was homesick last season than he has done after I gave him a month's leave during pre-season, although that might probably be why he took long to get going.

My goal was qualifying for the Champions League again. I didn't anticipate we'd be in the title running even at this point of the season, and I'm looking forward to trying to keep up a title chase, no matter how weird it seems to be for me to say this given how shit I have been at this in FM down the years.

Lewis Holtby's late winning goal helped Newcastle come from behind to defeat relegation threatened Hull.

The struggling Tigers had taken the lead against their high-flying guests through Matt Jarvis' goal inside the opening four minutes.

But Hull's hopes of upsetting the form book were undone when Luis Suarez equalised just after half-time, before Holtby's strike in the final minutes got Newcastle the three points on Humberside.

Defeat was harsh on the hosts, but ultimately, Newcastle had the bigger resources about them to claim victory in this tight affair, and with it, they return to keeping up the chase on champions Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.

The Magpies had arrived after the trip down the Eastern coast of England with a spring in their step after their Tyne-Wear Derby win, and eyeing up victory. Hull haven't won a game since beating Wolves on September 22nd, and have suffered a number of thrashings in that period - including a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal in their last game.

Despite the evidence not being in their favour, Hull nevertheless begun brightly, and had the lead inside four minutes. A poor pass out wide by Stijn Schaars was picked off by Bernard Mendy, who duly motored down the right hand flank for the Tigers. His cross was missed by visiting full-back Billy Jones, but not by Jarvis, who controlled the ball before finishing beyond Tim Krul.

It was a crisp finish by the winger, who was toasting his nice finish as the Tigers had the advantage in this encounter.

Newcastle did not look like getting back into proceedings early on, and struggled to create much. Their first chance took 17 minutes to formulate, although when it fell, it was a good opportunity, with Boaz Myhill making a fine stop to deny Joey Barton's strike from distance.

Moussa Dembele and James Milner were then unable to direct efforts onto the target, before Newcastle's injury problems claimed another victim, as Dembele left the field injured.

Like his teammate Hatem Ben Arfa had done in Newcastle's previous game, the Belgian striker twisted his ankle following a collision, and will face three weeks out.

Ze'ev Haimovich almost made things worse for the visitors, but the Hull defender could only direct his header over the goal.

Tim Krul was then called upon to keep Newcastle in the contest, with the Dutch goalkeeper denying a sweeping free-kick from his compatriot Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.

The value of that save was almost shown from Newcastle's first attack of the second half, but Suarez couldn't keep his strike down after Holtby's pass had set him away.

The Uruguayan didn't have to wait long for another opportunity. A throw-in was flicked on by Barton to Schaars, who advanced before deploying a cross. The presumed target was Gabriel Obertan, but Suarez reached it first and tucked the ball into the bottom corner.

Suarez's third goal of the league season, and his second in as many games, as the striker looks to win back a first team place after spending the first stages of the season out of the first 11.

Newcastle almost got a second goal minutes later, but after jumping high to win the header, Obertan could only find the away allocation.

Vennegoor of Hesselink was close to finding Hull a second goal of their own, but he was well wide of the mark with his striker after he had done so well initially to create space.

Equally wayward was Mendy, and with substitutes, bookings and niggly fouls becoming the order of the day, it looked as if the game might slip towards a stalemate conclusion.

Then, with eight minutes of the encounter remaining, it was the visitors who found the game's third goal.

A poor clearance by Brian Easton was intercepted by Obertan, who advanced and sent in a cross. The delivery was half-cleared back to the right hand side, and Billy Jones' delivery was perfectly poised for Holtby, who glanced a header into the top corner.

A first goal since August for the German, who had been a big money signing in the summer from Schalke, and will be hopeful of netting more goals in the Premier League now he has ended his duck.

Hull struggled to create but created a superb chance with 92 minutes of the clock, when Lateef Elford-Alliyu evaded Newcastle defenders and hit a powerful drive that Krul did superbly well to keep out of his goal.

The young substitute was Hull's busiest player in their desperate scramble to rescue a share of the points, but his second attempt was also denied by Krul, and a third attempt flew wide of the mark.

Hull had no more responses in them, and they sunk to yet another Premier League defeat. The Tigers are facing up to a disappointing campaign in the Premier League, and look set to continue their status as a yo-yo club unless they rectify their problems quickly.

Newcastle will be pleased. They failed to convince for vast swathes of this encounter, but despite largely playing ugly, they added another win to their extensive run of victories, and the Magpies will take another win as they continue to attempt to fight their way into contention for the top spot of the Premier League table.

Hull: Myhill - Shannon (Cleverley 53), Haimovich, Zayatte, Easton - Mendy, Marney, Doyle, Jarvis (McShane 62) - Vennegoor of Hesselink (Elford-Alliyu 67), Fagas
Subs not used: Heimann, Riga, Jenner, Etherington
Booked: Doyle

Scorer: Jarvis (4)

Newcastle: Krul - Billy Jones, Vertonghen, Bassong, Jose Enrique - Barton (Simpson 89), Schaars - Obertan, Suarez, Milner (Donaldson 73) - Dembele (Holtby 33)
Subs not used: Begovic, Edgar, Smith, Ameobi
Booked: Schaars

Scorer: Suarez (52), Holtby (84)

Referee: Howard Webb
Attendance: 20,123

Moussa Dembele and Luis Suarez proved the difference as Newcastle overcame injuries to see off neighbours Sunderland.

The Newcastle strikers scored a goal in each half as the Magpies continued to give chase of Manchester City in the race for the Barclays Premier League title. But it wasn't plain sailing for the Magpies, with Hatem Ben Arfa and Lars Bender both suffering injuries that ended their contests early.

Despite the damages, Newcastle fans will still be delighted at registering victory over the hated rivals, and continuing a sequence where they have lost just two of the last 18 clashes between these two clubs.

Newcastle had certainly entered the contest as pre-match favourites. The Magpies' long unbeaten run and attempts at wresting their first league title since 1927 have seen them become one of the season's surprise packages, and they were confident of continuing it with another victory here.

The early tempo however was lacking, with niggly injuries and bookings overtaking any real chance creation. Both sides had the odd moment of attacking their opponent's goals, but didn't look breaking on through to the scoresheet.

The first real chance of any merit took 20 minutes in creation, but Newcastle made the most of it. A ball out wide by Ben Arfa picked out Jose Enrique, who swept down the left hand flank of the pitch before releasing Dembele. The Belgian striker evaded his markers, eyed up the target, and found the bottom corner.

A crisp finish from Dembele, as he continues his fine form in his second season at St. James' Park, and gave his team the advantage.

Newcastle almost got a second goal within seconds, with the ball landing for Ben Arfa, only for the French attacking midfielder walloped his effort over the top of the goal.

Sunderland's first chance came moments later and did find the back of the net, when Fraizer Campbell rose highest to turn home a cross. But much to the visitor's anger, the goal was chalked off after the Black Cats' top scorer was ruled offside - a decision TV replays later showed to be narrowly correct.

Newcastle almost rubbed salt into the wounds, but Craig Gordon was equal to Joey Barton's fairly tame long ranger.

Andy Reid then hit the side netting with a tame effort of his own in a game that was beginning to liven up after the tepid opening stages.

But Newcastle's momentum took a blow when they lost a key player, with Ben Arfa taken off after a robust tackle from Lee Cattermole. The Magpies later confirmed he will be out for three weeks with a twisted ankle, which is better than the broken leg he suffered in January, but still a blow for the club.

Sunderland felt they should have been awarded a penalty in first half stoppage time when Lars Bender challenged Darren Bent, but despite Reid leading vociferous protestations, the referee awarded a corner, which Sunderland duly wasted.

The visitors made two changes at half-time and performed some decent early running, but it was Newcastle with the first concrete opportunity of the second half, with Newcastle sub Suarez going on a blistering run before hitting a powerful drive that Gordon did extremely well to deny.

Newcastle then removed Bender from the field with an injury, although the team later confirmed he will be back before the end of 2012, but their momentum was not harmed as they netted a second strike.

Substitute Stijn Schaars received a pass up from the back and laid it off for Barton, who sprayed an accurate ball towards Suarez. The Uruguayan motored away from the visitor's defence before calmly slotting home.

A very nice goal from the Uruguayan, who will now be hoping this can start some goalscoring form that has proven to be elusive in the first part of the campaign.

Sunderland's best chance of the entire game fell on 71 minutes, as a long range bolt from Bent was acrobatically tipped into the crowd by the previously untroubled Tim Krul.

Cattermole and Schaars then blasted free-kicks over at each end, before Suarez saw a long range bolt just skim the top of the crossbar on its way into touch.

Suarez then curled another one other within minutes, as Newcastle probed for number three.

Within quick succession, Jan Vertonghen and substitute Shola Ameobi were presented opportunities to do so, but neither could make them count.

Gordon then made a bold stop to deny Suarez with 92 minutes on the clock, before the Scottish goalkeeper made an equally impressive save to deny Dembele.

But in the end, Newcastle had their win, and they will be pleased to both get back to winning ways after consecutive draws, and to get a deserved victory over their neighbours. The club will now hope this will kick off a run of wins over Christmas period to get them back near the top.

This was a disappointing day for Sunderland, who despite claims of a penalty and a wrong offside, struggled to show desire for the three points, and they slink back down south with nothing.

Newcastle: Krul - Billy Jones, Vertonghen, Bassong, Jose Enrique - Barton, Bender (Schaars 60) - Milner, Ben Arfa (Suarez 45), Holtby (Ameobi 77) - Dembele
Subs not used: Begovic, Ariaudo, Obertan, Donaldson
Booked: Jose Enrique

Scorer: Dembele (20), Suarez (64)

Sunderland: Gordon - Sememberas, Situ (Turner 45), Berntzen, McCartney (N'Daw 51) - Malbranque, Cana, Cattermole, Reid (Armero 45) - Bent, Campbell
Subs not used: Waterman, Fritz, Dubarbier, Kenwyne Jones
Booked: Berntzen, Cana, Cattermole

Referee: Andre Marriner
Attendance: 56,387

Great news that Jonas has been discharged from hospital and been given an all-clear. Apparently he could be back training with the first team within a month, which would be very nice to see.

In slightly disappointing news, Obertan could be out until March. Shame. He was coming into form too.