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Newcastle United Vs AZ Alkmaar Official match thread


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Newcastle v AZ Alkmaar

Uefa Cup last 16, first leg

Date: Thursday 8 March

Kick off: 1930 GMT

Venue: St James' Park

 

 

Newcastle have been boosted by the return of midfielder Emre (calf) and full-back Stephen Carr (thigh).

 

Damien Duff is in the squad after missing the goalless derby with Middlesbrough with a virus, but Oguchi Onyewu is ineligible.

 

Craig Moore (hamstring) is back in training but not yet ready to return against AZ Alkmaar.

 

Celestine Babayaro and Peter Ramage (both hamstring), Michael Owen (knee) and Shola Ameobi (hip) are still out.

 

Newcastle from: Given, Harper, Carr, Solano, Edgar, Taylor, Bramble, Huntington, Butt, Parker, Milner, Duff, Emre, Pattison, Troisi, Martins, Dyer, Sibierski, Luque, Carroll, LuaLua.

 

#

Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder:

"I'm delighted to have Stephen Carr and Emre back in the squad, whether they start the game or not.

 

"Emre is a big player. He's played in the Champions League and for Turkey too - that will count for a lot.

 

"It's the same with Stephen. He's played a lot of European football and it's nice to start getting the senior players back.

 

SCOUTING REPORT ON THE OPPOSITION

 

Who are they? This is the second coming of the club, which is now in its 40th year. AZ won the Eredivisie title in 1981 but things went downhill from there before they hit the heights again with promotion to the top flight in 1998. They are still awaiting a second title, but have stayed in the top flight ever since challenging the big boys of Dutch football.

 

Recent form: An attractive footballing outfit under the tutelage of former Barcelona and Holland coach Louis van Gaal, they have been in the Eredivise's top three all season and climbed into second with a 4-0 weekend win at Utrecht. They are now unbeaten in 11 games in all competitions and have not lost in this Uefa Cup campaign.

 

European record: In each of their guises as a top-class club they have enjoyed good runs in the Uefa Cup. In 1981 a team featuring Johnny Metgod reached the final, where they lost 5-4 on aggregate to Ipswich, and 14 years on they managed a place in the last four where they went down on away goals to Sporting Lisbon. More recently they lost to Real Betis in the first knock-out round 12 months ago, having drawn 0-0 with Middlesbrough in the group stages.

 

How did they get here? The Dutch system of European qualification is a bit different to England's so despite finishing second in the table they missed out on a place in the Champions League to Ajax in an end-of-season eliminator. So the Uefa Cup it was and they have done very well, winning four and drawing four. They saw off Kayserispor, of Turkey, to reach the group stages, where their most notable scalp was that of La Liga leaders Sevilla in Spain, before an away goals victory over Fenerbahce in the last round.

 

Ones to watch: They have the best attack in the competition and goal number 21 came courtesy of defender Barry Opdam, who scored four minutes from time against Fenerbahce to seal their progress to this stage. Former Rangers striker and AZ skipper Shota Arveladze has scored five of those goals, but when it comes to Eredivisie goal-getting he trails fellow striker Danny Koevermans, who has notched 19 times from 21 starts. That form has earned him a call up to Marco van Basten's national squad for the forthcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers along with defensive trio Opdam, Tim de Cler and Kew Jaliens and midfielder Demy de Zeeuw.

 

Did you know? Van Gaal started out his managerial career at AZ before joining Ajax where won the Uefa Cup in 1992 and the Champions League in 1995. He has faced Newcastle before as Barcelona coach but lost on his only visit to St James' Park in a 3-2 thriller in 1997 when Faustino Asprilla scored a hat-trick in a Magpies team that featured present-day keeper Shay Given.

 

They say: "There will be plenty of goals across the two matches, and we are superior in that aspect. But the key to the game will be in defence, and I have more confidence in AZ there too."

Louis van Gaal, AZ coach

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Not so sure about Carr, he has had some terrible games for us in the recent past, Emre will be a big boost though.

 

 

I reckon he'll start carr at left back, bad decision IMO

I agree, Nobby is more than capable of filling the role, and better if you ask me.

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TEAMS

 

NUFC: Shay Given, Stephen Carr, Nolberto Solano, Kieron Dyer, Oba Martins, Damien Duff, Scott Parker, Titus Bramble, Antoine Sibierski, Nicky Butt, Steven Taylor

Subs: Steve Harper, Emre, Albert Luque, Charles N'Zogbia, James Milner, Paul Huntington, Andy Carroll

 

AZ: Boy Waterman, Kew Jaliens, Barry Opdam, Tim De Cler, Nourdin Boukhari, Shota Arveladze, Maarten Martens, Danny Koevermans. Demy De Zeeuw, Gretar Steinsson, Julian Jenner

Subs: Job Bulters, Gijs Luirink, Simon Cziommer, Ryan Donk, Moussa Dembele, Ruud Vormer, Jeremain Lens

 

Referee: Massimo Busacca (Swi)

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Not so sure about Carr, he has had some terrible games for us in the recent past, Emre will be a big boost though.

 

 

I reckon he'll start carr at left back, bad decision IMO

I agree, Nobby is more than capable of filling the role, and better if you ask me.

Anyone is tbh.

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Well played Dyer, too many players would have tried to clip it over the top, did well to just slide it along the ground.

 

And I see MartEns is playing... would love to hear that commentator who kept pronouncing MartIns' name that way have a crakc at this.

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Well played Dyer, too many players would have tried to clip it over the top, did well to just slide it along the ground.

 

And I see MartEns is playing... would love to hear that commentator who kept pronouncing MartIns' name that way have a crakc at this.

 

:icon_lol:

 

Hes a bindipper what do you expect B)

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