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Saturday evening in the North East against the Premier League's most recent sportwashing project. It’s pretty obvious what their new owners were hoping to do, and the Premier League and the FA allowed it. Of course they did. We as a country are governed by the sort of people who would sell their arse (and anyone else’s) if it made them a quick buck. They have improved a lot from last year it's true, but they've also better from a couple of teams being a lot worse than last year. Us included. It’s our last fixture before the Champions League rolls into town for the knockout stages, and the later kick-off is less of an issue seeing as we play the home leg against Real Madrid first, so preparation and especially recovery will be less of an issue than they might otherwise have been had we had to travel to Spain first. Still, we go into the game with a chance to show that the Everton game was the start of us finally getting our shit together, and at least try to ask questions of the sides above us in the table at present. So what is required at St James’ Park? Audacity. Urgency. Fire. Work-rate. Intelligence. Electricity. Determination. Effervescence. Relentlessness. Speed. Energy. Heart. Energy x2. Nerve. Productivity. Energy x3. Tactical nous. I don’t ask for much. Last season’s correspondence fixture was a hard-fought affair, with a Saturday lunchtime kick-off prior to a Champions League away game in Spain. Jürgen picked the likes of Naby to start, and it was he who gave us the lead early on with some nifty footwork in the box to round the goalkeeper and fire past the Newcastle bodies on the goalline. We'd won the ball back at the start of that move thanks to a thundering challenge from Big Game James on Schar that won the ball, and of which the commentators and pundits were quacking about as a foul despite the footage clearly showing that the ball had been played first. We had other chances to extend our lead as we nullified Newcastle for the most part. 1-0 it finished, then. Not vintage stuff but 3 points in the bag as we hunted a league title and prepared for a Champions League semi-final second leg at Villarreal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l83fziKTxUw We’ve had some incredible results at Newcastle during the Premier League era, dishing out a hiding on more than a few occasions, but as these match thread pieces veer towards an older era, I’m going back to a game in mid-November 1975. Sir Bob Paisley was beginning to find his feet after a tricky first season in charge following the resignation of a club legend. The players would spark this season and match the stars of the 1972/73 campaign, pipping QPR to the league title and winning a second UEFA Cup by defeating Club Brugge. The game against the Geordies was somewhat routine, with the Reds coming from 1-0 down to win it 2-1 late on. Geoff Nulty opened the scoring for the hosts. Brian Hall grabbed the equaliser shortly before half time, and North East native Ray Kennedy grabbed the winner 2 minutes from the end. It was exactly the sort of game where you aren’t quite at your best but you keep going and grinding your opponents down. That’s what ultimately wins league titles. I couldn’t find any footage so here’s a match report from The Guardian. Al Pacino was on a roll in the mid-70s, and the film topping the box office in November 1975 is one of his best. Directed by Sidney Lumet and co-starring John Cazale, Dog Day Afternoon is an absolute triumph of casting, acting and storytelling. It’s basically about a bank heist gone wrong, and the situation only gets worse as the would-be bank robbers are effectively cornered in the bank and reduced to taking people hostage and making increasingly desperate demands. It’s also a perfect example of how a media frenzy can feed events and contribute to them spiralling out of control. Lumet visited this theme again the following year when he directed Network. Dog Day Afternoon also includes a memorable moment when Cazale ad-libs a reply to try and make the notoriously intense Pacino break character and start laughing. He almost gets there! Newcastle away is not an easy game to call, as Eddie Howe has brought about an upturn in fortunes and seen the Geordies challenging for a top 4 place whereas upon his arrival they were one of the favourites for the drop. As a boyhood blooshite fan, maybe they ought to have gone for him instead after sacking Rafa! Anyway, I’d expect Jürgen to ensure that his players are fully focused on the immediate job at hand, so motivation, preparation and application should not be an issue. 'Should' being the operative word. Let's show that we are over the malaise and put on a performance. Go out there, put a shift in and grab the 3 points.
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