After a strong finish in the 2011-2012 season that saw them 5th place in the Premiership and with a spot in the Europa League, this season saw the Magpies finish 5th from bottom in the Premiership table and without any silverware in the cabinet.

Lack of Strong New Additions

The club brought in two players who became regulars for the 1st team in  6.7M signing Vurnon Anita and 1M signing Gael Bigirimana but neither player had a tremendous effect on the club`s fortunes. The real weak point was still the defence and with only six clean sheets kept over the course of the season it`s clear that more money should have been spent on reinforcements.

This problem was compounded when Taylor, Simpson and other solid defenders were unavailable for some of the key games, including a big loss to Man United. Three defenders were indeed added to the squad, but their quality is still in question. Certainly they didn`t perform to the levels that were hoped for, but unfortunately that could be said for much of the Newcastle team.

Still, time will tell whether Mathieu Debuchy, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and Massadio Haidara will become staples of the Newcastle team. Of the three, Yangi-Mbiwa has looked the sharpest so far but it always takes time to settle into a new side.

The Crumbling Premiership Season

From 5th place to 16th place is a hell of a drop. While the season started well enough with a win at Spurs, it quickly took a nose-dive. Much of the blame has to lie with tactical decisions that seemed to play certain players out of their natural position on quite a frequent basis.

Moussa Sissoko and Yohan Cabaye often found themselves playing in each other`s natural position and at times Sissoko was forced to try playing as a winger   much to his obvious dismay. When the core team members from the previous (very successful) season are still intact, it can only be poor tactical decisions and perhaps some bad luck, that explains the drop in fortunes of Newcastle in the 2012-2013 season. Maulings from both Sunderland and then Liverpool towards the end of the season summed up their year in the Premiership.

Europa League & Cup Competition

In European action Newcastle eased through the qualifying round and managed to finish second in the group stages to Bordeaux, in a group that also contained Maritimo and Club Brugge.

This was followed by relatively easy wins against small Ukrainian side FC Metalist Kharkiv and Ruussian team FC Anzhi Makhachkala in the knockout stages. Ultimately the European adventure was cut short with a loss in the quarter-finals to eventual finalists Benfica.

In the domestic cups, Newcastle didn`t even have time to get excited, as they were beaten in their first FA Cup game by Brighton & Hove Albion in a huge upset and were ousted from the League Cup at the first opportunity by Man United.

Other Notable Happenings

The managerial future of the club was solidified when Alan Pardew was given a huge eight year contract extension. Of course, this being Premiership football, who knows if that means anything or not but it does show that for now at least the board are happy to stick with Pardew. Another season like this and they might be changing their tune however. The manager was also in the news for shoving a linesman in a Premiership game, which saw him receive a two match touchline ban.

Demba Ba left the club and agreed terms to move to Chelsea. After offers exceeding  7m were made it triggered a contract clause that allowed Ba to speak with other clubs. After a short period of confusion and disagreements the player eventually said goodbye to the club and headed to London to play for the Blues.

The Season Ahead

It`s clear just from looking at the statistics that Newcastle needs to seriously strengthen its squad. While a number of players were added to the side, it was a case of too little, too late. The key imports should have been made during the pre-season, allowing the new and improved Magpies time to hit their stride. Unfortunately a lack of stellar new players and a spate of injuries left the team exposed.

The rigors of European football also paid its price, stretching the side beyond its limits. Alan Pardew has to bring in some top talent and it would also help a great deal if he freshened up his tactics a little. Allow players to work from the positions where they are comfortable and promote fast, exciting football rather than endless set-pieces that go nowhere.

Fans of the club should stick by Alan Pardew and the team in the season ahead, even if it is a rough one. The constant changing of managers is not helpful to building teams that can have long-term success.

There is still a wealth of talent in the team and if there is one thing you can be sure of it`s that the Geordie fans will be loud and proud supporting the lads on the pitch like no-one else. Don`t forget to pick up the latest Newcastle United shirt so you don`t look out of date on the terraces.

Puma are once again supplying the official kit and you can even get the matching Puma football from sites like sportsballshop.co.uk. Let`s all hope that next season has a few more highs and a little less lows that the season gone. A little bit of silverware in that cabinet would calm a lot of restless fans nerves.

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I would prefer Pardew not once again stuck with 4-4-2 formation while playing away from home against a team playing with five in midfield and with our midfield containing two lightweights, Ferguson and Anita.

Newcastle need to be far more solid while playing against Stoke City, that means Cisse needs to left out with Ba playing up front on his own, according to sportsbook review here.

In my honest opinion, continuing to play 4-4-2 using Ba & Cisse up front is extremely unlikely to prove any more successful than it has this season to date.

I’d pack the midfield with the most experience possible given the injury situation. If Steven Taylor had been fit I’d have considered playing him, Williamson and Colo, with Colo sitting in front of the back four. Unfortunately, we don’t now have that luxury. So, I’d go for 4-5-1 with something like:

Krul
Simpson – Williamson – Colo – Santon
Tiote – Perch
Marveaux – Anita – Jonas
Ba

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We did had done most of the attacking last night, but was repeatedly fail to find the net where the visitors are often stretched us with their counter attacks which produce their equalising goal in the second-half.

The Magpies hardworking players are finally get the goal ten minutes before the break. Tim Krul’s long ball met Shola Ameobi who flick-on the ball to Ba and beat Jonas Olsson in the air, before moved behind him and fired the ball first time to past helpless Ben Foster.

Without the presence of Tiote who was red carded last week against the mackem, We were looking weak in midfield. Perchinho and Cabaye could not put their foot on the ball to control the game.

Tim Krul has some real work to do to keep us out from the Baggies on loan striker from Chelsea, Romelu Lukaku who has two chances to break clear. After the break and, the Baggies had one effort ruled out for an offside before Lukaku finally scored.

It was a poor defending by Simpson. He’s failed to closing down Zoltan Gera so he can nodding in a cross, but again I hate to say that Coloccini who has great game last week, found guilty for not keeping with Lukaku.

On a respond to their goal, Pardew bring in Papiss Cisse and Gabriel Obertan to try to safe the game. Sammy Amoebi later come in for a limping Ba.

Steve Clarke’s side maintained to sit back and occassionally going up to pressure us, and when the game was thought to be another disappointing draw, it is the younger and more strength Ameobi’s shoot in the the 93rd minute meet Cissé’s back to provide the winning goal.

Newcastle United:
Krul, Simpson (Obertan 60), Williamson, Coloccini, Santon, Ben Arfa, Perch, Cabaye, Jonas, Shola Ameobi (Cisse 60), Ba (Sammy Ameobi 73)

West Brom:
Foster; Tamas, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell; Mulumbu, Morrison; Odemwingie, Gera (Popov 87), Dorrans; Lukaku (Long 65)

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Yohan Cabaye gives the Magpies off to the perfect start in just three minutes of play and although the mackems and their helpers throwing everything they can in search for an equaliser, we held to our lead relatively comfortably.

It was until the 25th-minute before a disastrous moment happen when their 12th men, the referee Atkinson think that Tiote’s tackle was his chance to give a little joy to already sad mackems and produce a red for his challenge on mackem’s useless striker Fletcher.

And guess what, the 13th men who was act as the co-commentator for today’s match, their very own Matt Le Tissier immediately said that Tiote’s challenge was really deserved a straight red card.

What about Sebastien Larsson, a horrible cheating Scandinavian shite, he has got away with bloody hell of handballs in the box, not to mention he kicked Shola in the chest and didn’t get a single booking from the ref.

If it stays 11 vs 13 we would have absolutely put them down deep in a week full of misery. And even, with 10 vs 13 we were almost won it before O’Shea header hits Ba on the way past Krul, 5 minutes before the end of normal time.

In the post-game interview, Pardew told Sky Sports: ‘It was a magnificent effort. We said to the players before the game how important it was to the fans, we’ve now shown how important it is to us.

‘Playing an hour with 10 men, if we could have just seen it out it would have been one of the greatest victories ever here. But it’s a great point and I’m very proud of my players.’

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The Magpies have a superb record at the home of Sunderland over recent years and have lost just once there in the Premier League. Pardew tasted victory in this fixture last year, with a superb Ryan Taylor free-kick being enough to separate the two sides. When it comes to passionate derby matches that create an electric atmosphere, then there is no other place to look than the North East.

With Newcastle not getting off to a flying start in the Premier League, all three points will be just what Pardew is looking for in this one. Take the spoils, and it could be the start of a superb run for them and if football results go their way, Pardew’s men could end the weekend in the top eight.

“The derby games are electric games. I can’t wait for it. The games over there have so much electricity. I can’t really explain to people.” Said the Newcastle boss.

It does look as though the visitors have the squad with the extra quality to take the points in this one. Of course the man to mention at the moment is Demba Ba, who is the top goalscorer in the league at the moment and looks like sticking the ball in the back of the net whenever he touches the ball.

The players that Ba has behind him are key as well, especially Hatem Ben Arfa, who many will be suggesting is the key man in this fixture. The Frenchman’s pace, skill and eye for goal will scare the Black Cats, no doubt about it.

If Newcastle are at their best and can silence the home crowd with an early goal in this one, then you can expect them to come out on top.

Steven Fletcher is the man to stop for Sunderland as he has scored all of their goals in the league. However, with Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini both possibly returning to action, the Magpies defence will be a lot stronger and this pairing are good enough to stop Fletcher having another successful 90 minutes.

You can feel the excitement start to build for this superb North East derby and it is sure to live up to expectations.

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