BPL R34: Newcastle United FC at Portsmouth FC, 12 April [R]

[tigerdave]

We'll head to the South Coast this weekend to take on that damn dirty Harry Redknapp (I'm joking, mostly) and a Pompey side that hopefully will be more focused on the FA Cup since that's the best way to make sure they get into Europe as opposed to a late run-in since they're probably not going to overtake Everton.

I can't think of any injury concerns for us other than Emre, Given and Milner. For Pompey, they'll come off a midweek game but will have a rested Jermain Defoe, who's missing today's game with West Ham to go to his grandmother's funeral.

I'm going to take Travis' approach for this one. No scoreline prediction, at least not in writing. But analyze away, by all means.

[Russell1892]

I've voted NUFC win.. mainly because I'm enjoying actually feeling confident for the first time this season about the lads who dress like zebras. This is a great chance to get revenge for one of the worst performances of the Rhino-head era. Losing 4-1 at home was pathetic.. and to make it worse I paid £35 for the privilege of watching it... It was like paying to watch a loved one be autopsied.

Which reminds me Cacapa is also out for this one (not that he'd get anywhere near the squad - especially after being subbed out after 20 mins. last time).

Portsmouth are generally better away than at home (not surprised really their stadium is like a shed... I imagine they get changed in the car park). Defoe will be dangerous for them but our defense has grown in stature recently.. and with our "fearsome threesome" up front there'll be goals in this one. Nobody yet seems to have any idea how to deal with our new formation and long may it continue... confidence is high and another win would be a great set up for the derby against the village of the damned.

KTF.

[Punchline]

I'm going to say 3-1 Newcastle on this one. The confidence boost these past few weeks has really turned the whole club around. I think they're going to just keep rolling until Chelsea and Everton at the end of the season. Hell, they may even catch one of those two off guard.

[City Dave]

I doubt we can count on Pompey's FA Cup run hurting them against us on Saturday considering how far away the final is.

I really don't know how to call this one, so I guess I'll sit on the fence and predict a 2-2 draw.

[Russell1892]

It is a tough one to call... Portsmouth have gone to Spurs and lost, and beaten Villa at home. For all Pompey's talk about chasing Everton, I saw Tony Adams on MOTD2 the other day he said they'd set a target of 65 points and hoped that would be enough to overtake Everton (who are currently on 60) :confused:. Surely they know that their best chance of securing Uefa Cup football is winning the cup... which means somewhere in the back of their minds they know they can afford to take their foot off the gas in the league.

However, we've been playing mint recently and I'm not too worried about what the opposition is up to, despite their league position - on paper their team is worse than ours... its just that its taken all season for our team to match "on paper" expectations.

If Portsmouth play 5 at the back I'll know Harry's done his homework on our new formation...

[THOMA GOL]

e I E I E I Ooo!!!!

[JaredSS07]

Hilarious opening shot by Martins. Can you imagine if James ********ed that up?

[THOMA GOL]

David James has the appearance of a hobo

[colinh9]

It's funny just looking at David James.

Anyone find a quality feed for this? Everyone I've tried so far is iffy.

[THOMA GOL]

I started with TVU networks, but the quality was mediocre at best. So I went to Sopcast/ True Visions and it started off well, but it's not that great, but it's watchable.

[tigerdave]

The FSC feed is working just fine for me. :p

[tigerdave]

Outside of the one free kick the deliveries haven't been very good.

[NewcastleRBNY]

This game is kind of a regular back and forth. I wouldn't say either team is playing better than the other. I'll give Newcastle a little bit of an advantage just cuz they look more dangerous when they move forward but Portsmouth is getting more free kick chances in our half.

Our best chance to score is in the first half with the sun in James' face. Lets see what we can do.

[colinh9]

Yeah TVU only works for me 25% of the time. The SopCast feeds are all watchable but not all that great, just means I have to sit as close to the computer as possible!

Pretty tame so far but I think a goal could go either way.

[colinh9]

Damn Pompey fans won't shut up, I want to hear the toon army!

[THOMA GOL]

Damn Pompey fans won't shut up, I want to hear the toon army!

For real!! And for the sake of supporter culture, would someone tell Santy Claus and his sleigh bells that he's out of his territory?!?!?

[NewcastleRBNY]

Its like we are just giving up at the last 10-20 yards. There are a lot of long range shots, especially from Martins which I dont understand. Is Pompey's defense that tight or have we been working on something in the training? All of our goals as of late have been through some nice passing play inside the box and Im just not seeing that.

[JaredSS07]

That was a shit offside call. Horrible officials.

[colinh9]

If Steven Taylor put that in I would have taken off my pants and ran around campus.

[tigerdave]

We may have 20 minutes or so worth of sun to deal with in the second half, so we have to find a way to keep Pompey on the back foot and make sure Harps doesn't have much to do, just in case.