Monday 4 November 2013

10 Questions For Alan Pardew

"This win is for Mike Ashley and all our fans.  Trust me, he is a fan and I’m pleased for the club.  We are all Newcastle fans."  ...Alan Pardew


Would a real fan try to rename St James Park?
Over the last few months Alan Pardew seems to annoy me more and more every time he opens his mouth.  His latest comment to get me completely riled up (made after the Chelsea game) will no doubt have annoyed many other fans as well, and it's printed above.

Mike Ashley is a fan, is he, Alan?  If that's the case, here are a few questions which perhaps you could answer...

1)  Would a real fan trouser the £60 million TV money for himself, or would a real fan spend that £60 million on improving the squad?

2) Would a real fan sacrifice millions of pounds worth of potential advertising revenue by using marketing space at St James Park to promote his own company for free?

Sunday 20 October 2013

Things More Useful Than Joe Kinnear

Joe Kinnear: A modern day proverbial chocolate fire guard...


Joe Kinnear: The modern day
proverbial chocolate fire guard.
At the close of the transfer window many Newcastle fans were questioning the point of Joe Kinnear's role at the club*, and there were a few tweets doing the rounds on twitter using the hashtag #ThingsMoreUsefulThanJoeKinnear.

* Actually, long before the close of the transfer window fans were questioning the point of Joe Kinnear (and that's the polite way of describing fan reaction).

Some of these tweets brought a chuckle to my face, so I thought I would do a round up of the most amusing tweets (plus a few other examples) in a list of 'Things More Useful Than Joe Kinnear'...

1) #ThingsMoreUsefulThanJoeKinnear Alan Shearer's hairbrush. (@GeordieCulture)

2) #ThingsMoreUsefulThanJoeKinnear The 'g' in lasagne.

3) #ThingsMoreUsefulThanJoeKinnear The 'share this on facebook' button on any adult website.

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Everton V The Toon: Tips Round-Up

"...the inconsistency being shown was disturbing at one point." ...Alan Pardew


Alan Pardew would get few arguments that the inconsistency of Newcastle is disturbing.  He also talked about restoring a bit of pride in the second half, which we did, but it's also worth mentioning the following insightful comment from twitter, "That second half shouldn't fool anyone. That was as much about Everton switching off than any so-called comeback."

My tips followed a similar 'game of two halves' pattern as Monday's match with my Newcastle tips being a total washout and my general football tips making a reasonable overall profit.

This is the breakdown on how my general football tips got on...


General Football Tips:

Tottenham V Chelsea - Over/Under 2.5 Goals:
10 points on Under 2.5 Goals at 1.95 (Stan James) - WIN 20 points

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Everton V Newcastle United (30/09/13)

"If we want to be serious about being in the top ten or look to bigger things, or be a big team in the Premier League, we have to start to take the chances we have." ...Fabricio Coloccini


As you'd expect given our disappointing result against Hull on Saturday, my Newcastle tips were a total washout last week.  My general football tips performed quite well, however, as I correctly predicted QPR to beat Yeovil 1-0 and Swansea to beat Crystal Palace.

Last season the trend was for my general football tips to regularly outperform my Newcastle tips, and things have started off once again in that vein of form.  I don't know whether that means it's therefore wiser to keep your emotions out of your betting choices, or maybe it just means Newcastle are an unpredictable side who often lose the games we should be winning.

I've come to the conclusion that when Newcastle play, a lot depends on which side turns up on the day, and by that I'm not necessarily referring to who Pardew picks in his starting eleven.  We just don't seem to have any consistency, and our performance can vary quite considerably even throughout the ninety minutes.

Despite that unpredictability, however, I'm still going to try to pick out some winning Toon bets.  I'm skipping our League Cup tie against Leeds and instead making a few predictions for our match against Everton on Monday...

Friday 20 September 2013

Newcastle United V Hull City (21/09/13)

"This season will see the best of Hatem Ben Arfa, more consistency in every game, not just one good game, I want to play every game to a big level." ...Hatem Ben Arfa


Unfortunately from early October due to my circumstances I won't be able to get to any games for a few months.  I'm therefore going to make a final few sets of tips over the coming weeks before then taking a break for a while.

Here are my predictions for Saturday's match against Hull...

ToonTips:

Match Result:
20 points on Newcastle at 1.85 (Bet365)
On paper this looks like a comfortable victory.  However, although Hull lost their first two away matches of the season, those matches were against Chelsea and Man City, so we can't take anything for granted.  Nevertheless if we start with a similar line-up and approach as we had in the Villa game, then we've got to be confident of getting three points.

To Win To Nil:
10 points on Newcastle to win to nil at 3.2 (Coral)
Hull have found goals hard to come by so far this season, with just a single goal in each of their league home games and no goals yet on their travels in the league.

Thursday 12 September 2013

Aston Villa V Newcastle United (14/09/13)

A round-up of which bookies are offering the best prices for Villa V The Toon.


Here are details of where you can find the best odds for Saturday's game...

Match Betting:

Aston Villa - 2.15 (Bet Victor, Coral)
Draw - 3.4 (Bet Victor, Coral, BetFred, Stan James)
Newcastle - 3.8 (32Red)


The best odds in the First Goalscorer market are as follows...

Thursday 29 August 2013

Newcastle United V Fulham (31/08/13)

A round-up of which bookies are offering the best prices for The Toon V Fulham match.


It was hard to take many positives from the match against Morecambe, but if you look at things in terms of the bigger picture, then hopefully Mike Ashley must surely now realise how wrong he is if he thinks out current squad is good enough.

I generally don't take much interest in conspiracy theories, but a mate of mine raised the issue (only half-jokingly) that he wouldn't be surprised if Pardew actually picked his team last night specifically with the purpose in mind of opening Mike Ashley's eyes to reality.

If we look back at the Brighton game back in January then as well as the shockingly poor performance that day by our team made up largely of squad players, one of the other consequences of that match was that we subsequently went out and made a few signings.  Hopefully last night's performance will lead to a similar result with Mike Ashley finally realising what every Toon fan has known all summer.

I don't want to come across as too negative because if our first eleven are fit (and in form) then we can put out a strong team potentially capable of putting a good run of results together.  However, if we get another batch of injuries like last season, then last night should have hopefuly made it very clear to Ashley that if he fails to strengthen our squad then he's taking a big gamble again.

Moving onto Saturday's game, it's very hard to tip the Toon with any real confidence at the moment (other than perhaps for another nil nil draw), so once again I'm instead going to round-up the best prices which various bookies are offering on the Toon.

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Newcastle United V West Ham United (24/08/13)

A round-up of which bookies are offering the best prices for The Toon V West Ham match.


After the lack of summer signings and the performance away to Man City, it's hard to be overly confident about the forthcoming season.

Of course it's worth keeping things in perspective and remembering that we were playing one of the best three sides in the country away from home, but even allowing for this you have to ask which match Alan Pardew was watching when he remarked in his post match comments that "we gave a decent account of ourselves in the first half".

We're priced as favourites against West Ham, but it's hard to back us with any great deal of confidence, so once again I'm going to avoid making any predictions on the match.

Instead here's a round-up of which bookies are offering the best odds on various betting markets for The Toon V West Ham match...

Match Betting:

Newcastle - 2.3 (William Hill)
Draw - 3.4 (Coral, Bet Victor, SkyBet, Bet365, Totesport, BetFred, Sporting Bet, Paddy Power)
West Ham - 3.5 (Bet Victor)

Thursday 15 August 2013

Man City V Newcastle United (19/08/13)

A round-up of which bookies are offering the best prices.


We couldn't have been given a tougher opening fixture, and therefore even the biggest optimist would find it hard to confidently tip Newcastle away to Man City.

So instead here's a round-up of which bookies are offering the best odds on various betting markets for The Toon's opening fixture...

Match Betting:

Man City - 1.33 (Coral, Bet Victor, Paddy Power)
Draw - 5.5 (SkyBet, William Hill, Ladbrokes, Bet 365)
Newcastle United - 11.0 (SkyBet)

Thursday 1 August 2013

A Few Daft Novelty Bets...

How do the bookies rate the chances of the Yeti or aliens being discovered?


As there seems to be very little happening in the transfer market at the moment, I've been amusing myself by checking out some of the more unusual bets available from various bookies.

One which caught my eye is for 'the Yeti to be discovered before 2015' which is currently offered at 10.0 by Paddy Power.  Of course that's a fairly ridiculous bet so the odds of 10.0 might not be very tempting.

If you're therefore looking for a longer priced bet then how about a bet on aliens to be proven to exist?  That's available from Paddy Power at a slightly more generous 26.0, so the bookies apparently reckon that aliens are even less likely than Bigfoot to be discovered.

Thursday 25 July 2013

Reasons To Be Cheerful...

Miscellaneous Toon Bets For 2013/14


I think it's fair to say that so far this summer hasn't gone the way most of us would have liked, with the appointment of Joe Kinnear and the lack of signings being the two most obvious disappointments.

However, the optimist in me always wants to find reasons to be cheerful and so I've been looking at the odds involving the Toon for the coming season in various betting markets to see if we can take encouragement from the bookies' level of confidence in us.

I have to admit there aren't overwhelming reasons to be confident, but here are a few odds to take slight encouragement from...

1) Top North East Club

Despite Sunderland making several signings, every bookie offering odds on the 'Top North East Club' have us as favourites to finish above Sunderland.  That's SkyBet, William Hill, Paddy Power, Totesport, YouWin, BoyleSports, BetFred and Ladbrokes who all think we'll finish above Sunderland.

If you fancy a bet on Newcastle to be the Top North East Club then the best odds are currently offered by SkyBet who have us priced at 1.8.*

* Please note, SkyBet also include Hull in their 'Top North East Club' market.

Thursday 18 July 2013

Who Will Leave Newcastle First?

Pardew V Kinnear


You can bet on pretty much everything nowadays and Paddy Power were recently offering a market on who will be the first to leave Newcastle United, Alan Pardew or Joe Kinnear?

A recent poll on The Mag suggested that fans think Pardew will leave the club before Kinnear and the bookies seem to agree with the odds as follows:

Alan Pardew - 1.5
Joe Kinnear - 2.5

Joe Kinnear's appointment was initially greeted with silence from Alan Pardew, and when he did eventually comment, he wasn't exactly overwhelming in his support of Kinnear with Pardew declaring himself to be 'open-minded' about the appointment.  Given that Pardew generally toes the party line, that's a pretty damning criticism of Kinnear.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Maybe Graham Carr should take a look at Plateau United Feeders as we search for our next goal scorer?

With goal difference at stake, it was important to get as many goals as possible...


Police Machine FC only have themselves to blame for missing
out on promotion after such a disappointingly narrow victory.
Slightly off topic here, but this is a story which made me laugh so I thought I would mention it anyway.

In a lower division of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) two teams, Plateau United Feeders and Police Machine FC, were battling for promotion and as they were level on points it looked like it could all potentially come down to goal difference.  It was therefore vitally important to approach their final games with an attacking mentality and go looking for goals.

As it turned out both teams managed to get the big victories they were hoping for with the scores as follows:

Friday 5 July 2013

Premier League Match Bets Featuring The Toon

Newcastle United Versus...


SkyBet are currently offering a variety of Premier League match bets on which of two teams will finish higher in the Premier League next season and The Toon feature in four match bets.

Specifically, SkyBet offer prices for us against Everton, West Brom, the mackems and Southampton.  According to SkyBet, we're favourites against the mackems, West Brom and Southampton and only Everton are regarded as more likely to finish above us in the Premier League next season.

Here are the odds for each of the match bets:

Newcastle V the mackems
Newcastle - 1.4
the mackems - 3.0

Newcastle V Everton:
Newcastle - 2.63
Everton - 1.5

Thursday 27 June 2013

Month Of The First Premier League Managerial Departure

When will we see the first Premier League managerial casualty?


A couple of days ago I took a look at the 'First Premier League Manager To Leave His Position' betting market and rather worryingly for Alan Pardew he's currently the favourite with all bookies to be the first manager to either get the sack or resign.

A related betting market worth a look is 'Month of the 1st Premier League Managerial Departure' being offered by Stan James.  December 2013 is the favourite to see the first managerial casualty at odds of 2.75, closely followed by November 2013 at 2.88.

If you fancy a longer priced speculative bet then you can get 21.0 on August 2013 or 11.0 on September 2013.  You would expect most managers to last at least a little longer than that, but given the unpredictable and sometimes bizarre behaviour of Mike Ashley*, who knows what strange events the forthcoming season will throw up?

* That's the polite way of wording it!

The full list of odds are as follows:

Tuesday 25 June 2013

First Premier League Manager To Leave?

The bookies don't rate Alan Pardew's chances of staying in his job...


The internet has unquestionably brought many positive benefits to the world, but it has also brought with it some negatives.  For example, because of the internet, last week while I was enjoying myself on holiday in Magalluf, I was unfortunately still able to discover the depressing news of Joe Kinnear's return to Newcastle.

Joe Kinnear's appointment has led to various theories among fans as to why Mike Ashley would ever consider making such a ludicrous appointment.

Perhaps Ashley appointed Kinnear because of his alleged excellent record as a manager which Joe has been telling everyone about.  It's an excellent CV, and if not for the fact that it's a complete work of fiction then you would possibly be impressed.  So maybe Mike Ashley is the only football fan in the country who isn't aware of Joe Kinnear's problem with differentiating the truth and reality from the fictitious version of history he seems to have dreamt up for himself.

Thursday 30 May 2013

The Latest Transfer Odds

Transfer Rumours: Who Will Be The Ins and Outs At St. James Park?


We're only a couple of weeks into the close season and already the transfer rumour mill is into full swing with new potential transfers being reported every day.  A lot of the time the stories make no sense at all and you get the impression sometimes that the papers have just plucked a player out of one hat and then plucked a team out of the next hat when coming up with their stories.

I think sometimes a better guide to potential transfers are the odds being offered by the bookies, as obviously bookies have a lot more to lose than newspapers if they get it wrong.

The latest rumour in yesterday's papers was that Monaco are interested in Hatem Ben Arfa and according to SkyBet the current odds on a move for Ben Arfa are as follows:

Tuesday 21 May 2013

2012/13 Season Round-Up

"No football for three months!"


It's been a season to forget and one with very few positives, but despite the poor standard of football on offer this season, I still found myself yesterday morning thinking, "Ar, no!  No football for three months!"

Obviously the eternal optimist in me wants to hope that next season will be better, but for that to happen changes clearly need to be made.  I've gradually lost patience with Alan Pardew and his constant excuse making as the season has gone on, but I'm not necessarily as desperate to see him go as some fans are.  I just want him to start accepting responsibility when things go wrong.

Managers are susceptible to good and bad form, just like players, but if things are to improve then Pardew needs to recognise his mistakes.  He needs to be more ambitious.  He needs to realise that avoiding relegation isn't a success.  He needs to realise that all clubs suffer from injuries so the time to complain about a lack of depth in the squad is pre-season when you can do something about it, rather than halfway through the season when the damage is already done.

Thursday 16 May 2013

General Football Tips (19/05/13)

...And Odds For The Toon V Arsenal


So in the end it was Wigan who claimed the third and final relegation spot, and although the mackems would obviously have been our first choice, it's safe to say that few Newcastle fans will be disappointed to see Wigan making the drop.

The end of a season that most Toon fans will want to quickly forget sees us come up against an Arsenal side who need three points to ensure a Champions League spot.

SkyBet have the match priced as follows:

Newcastle - 6.0
Draw - 4.0
Arsenal - 1.53

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Latest Relegation Odds

An Entertaining Side Dish...


I mentioned a few weeks ago that "...misery for Sunderland can never be more than an entertaining side dish compared to the joy of a Toon victory."

That remains true, but now that we've guaranteed our Premier League survival it's nice to be able to relax and enjoy the 'entertaining side dish' of the battle for the final relegation spot.

Ladbrokes currently have the relegation battle priced as follows:

Wigan - 1/25
Sunderland - 14/1
Aston Villa - 25/1

Monday 13 May 2013

"I don't really care if Arsenal win 4-0." ...Alan Pardew


It was Pardew's "Thank God we are not in the Europa League again” comment which angered me the most.


Our second away win in the league all season owed as much to the mistakes of Jose Bosingwa and QPR's overall lack of quality as it did to our own performance, but at least we can 'celebrate' the fact that our Premier League survival is now guaranteed.

A Liverpool friend of mine commented that being involved in the relegation battle must have been 'exciting' which just shows how little he knows about being involved in a relegation battle.  'Exciting' has been a rarely used word when watching Pardew's tactics this season, and 'nervous' would be a far more appropriate word to describe the final run-in to of our season.

I have to admit that when fans were criticising Pardew earlier in the season that for a long time I personally thought the blame deserved to be pointed higher up and that it was our failure to strengthen the squad pre-season which was the real reason to blame for our current predicament.  However, Alan Pardew's constant excuse making has gradually worn down my patience more and more, and he really needs to start accepting responsibility for our shortcomings.  If Pardew had put as much effort into improving our results as he does into making excuses then we would probably have been challenging for Europe again rather than battling to avoid relegation.

Thursday 9 May 2013

General Football Tips (11-12/05/13)


...And Odds For QPR V The Toon


After Swansea's comeback against Wigan the other night, things are now looking slightly more comfortable.  SkyBet currently have us priced at a very skinny 1/20 to stay up, but I'll still feel a lot less nervous if we can beat QPR.

A week or so ago the possible permutations on how things would turn out at the bottom of the table were seemingly endless, but now the maths is suddenly looking a lot simpler.  If we get more points against QPR on Sunday than Wigan get against Arsenal on Tuesday then we're safe.  (Update: Chesea's win over Villa means if we beat QPR then we're definitely safe irrespective of how Wigan get on at Arsenal).

Hopefully this late season scare will serve as a wake up call to Ashley and Llambias for next season, but for now all that matters is the result against QPR.

Once again I'm avoiding making any tips on the Toon and just posting the odds for the most popular Toon betting markets, then following this up with a few general football tips...

Monday 6 May 2013

General Football Tips (04-06/05/13): Round-Up

One point won or two points dropped?


I think before the weekend if you'd offered us a draw then most fans would happily have taken a point.  However, Wigan's comeback against West Brom and Villa's win over Norwich, not to mention Cisse's 'goal' over the line which wasn't given meant there were mixed feelings on Saturday evening.

Frustratingly, the linesman Matthew Wilkes who fell over and didn't see Cisse's goal was the same linesman who, according to the FA, witnessed Callum NcManaman's potentially career threatening challenge on Haidara and decided it wasn't a foul.

SkyBet have us priced at 1/8 to stay up, so hopefully the players will show the same level of confidence going into our final two games.  For this and our final two matches I'm steering clear of bets on the Toon, but my general football tips made a slight profit this week.

Thursday 2 May 2013

General Football Tips (04-06/05/13)

All That Matters Is Survival...


I started this blog to test whether it's better to bet with your head or your heart and so far this season my general football tips have performed with a clear advantage over my Toon tips.  Our disappointing results have meant that at times I've been overly optimistic when backing The Toon.

On the other hand a few months ago my general football tips went on a run of seven successive profitable weeks and then followed this up more recently with another run of seven out of eight profitable weeks, so I would have to conclude that it's definitely wiser to bet with your head rather than your heart.

However, that's possibly in part down to the inconsistent season we've had and I suspect that Man United fans (and Reading and QPR fans if they were being objective) would probably have found their own teams' results easier to predict.

Tuesday 30 April 2013

The Toon V Liverpool: Round-Up

A Football Related 'Would You Rather?'


I asked a mackem once if he would rather Sunderland qualified for Europe or the Toon got relegated, and to my surprise he said he'd rather we got relegated.  I totally can't relate to that way of thinking because surely the success of your own team has to come first.

What sort of ambition does it show if you're so obsessed with your rivals that their failure means more to you than the success of your own team?  Yes, it's amusing when the mackems get beat, but misery for Sunderland can never be more than an entertaining side dish compared to the joy of a Toon victory.

So before the Villa/mackem match last night my priorities were all about Toon survival.  I was therefore (admittedly against my natural instincts) favouring a Sunderland win as I figured this would cement our chances of finishing above Villa, and as I say, our survival has to be the priority.

Thursday 25 April 2013

Newcastle United V Liverpool (27/04/13)

My Tips For The Toon V Liverpool


With four matches to go we currently have a six point cushion over third bottom Wigan (who have a game in hand), and with Villa three points below us and Stoke and the mackems level with us on points, three points against Liverpool would go a long way towards guaranteeing our Premier League status next season.

Here are my optimistic bets this week...

Toon Tips:

Match Result: 
30 points on Newcastle at 2.88
The bookies make Liverpool the slight favourites but their recent form has been average with three consecutive draws against Chelsea, Reading and West Ham.  They'll also be without Suarez who starts his ten match ban (even if Suarez decides to appeal, the automatic three match ban for violent conduct - which he's admitted - would start immediately), so it could possibly be a decent time to play Liverpool right now.  Until the mackem match our home league form was excellent, with four consecutive home wins in the league, so hopefully the derby match was just a blip.

All things considered I'm going to go for an optmistic bet on a Toon win and then back this up with a smaller more cautious bet on us in the Double Chance market.

Double Chance: 
20 points on Newcastle Or Draw at 1.53

Tuesday 23 April 2013

West Brom V The Toon: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For West Bromwich Albion V Newcastle United: Round-Up


Rather worryingly, Norwich, Stoke and the mackems all won this weekend which means that the cushion of teams between us and relegation is getting ever smaller.  Wigan or Villa still look the favourites to be the third team relegated, but three points against Liverpool on Saturday would certainly ease the nerves.

Here's how my tips got on...

Toon Tips:

Match Result: 
30 points on Draw at 3.4 - WIN 102 points
It was a game of two halves, with chances not taken in the first half ultimately proving costly as West Brom came out with far more purporse in the second half, and a Billy Jones equaliser in the 64th minute meant that in the end we went away with a point.

1st Goalscorer:
15 points on Papiss Cisse at 6.5 - LOSS

Thursday 18 April 2013

West Bromwich Albion V Newcastle United (21/04/13)

My Tips For West Brom V The Toon


Despite the result last weekend it's clear who the bookies rate as the better side, as at the time of writing Sunderland are currently a 7.5 shot to go down compared to The Toon's odds of 21.0.

The league table is looking very tight this year though, so we need to quickly move on from our performance against the mackems and start getting some points in the bag, hopefully starting with West Brom...

Toon Tips:

Match Result: 
30 points on Draw at 3.4
With only one league win on our travels all season, and no points from our last four league away matches, it's difficult to have too much optimism but if I'm looking for positives then West Brom have been inconsistent at home in recent matches.  All things considered I'm keeping my expectations in check and therefore going for the draw.

1st Goalscorer:
15 points on Papiss Cisse at 6.5
Papiss Cisse's recent goal scoring form remains decent with 3 goals from our last 4 games in all competitions and 5 from our last 8, and without a dodgy linesman against Sunderland it would have been even more.

Tuesday 16 April 2013

The Toon V The Mackems: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Newcastle United V Sunderland: Round-Up

 

I don't really have the motivation to talk about the match so I'll go straight onto the tips round-up and quickly sum up how my predictions got on...

. . . . . . . .

Toon Tips:

The only one of my Toon tips which came up, unfortunately not in the way I was hoping for, was:

Half With Most Goals: 
15 points on Second Half at 2.0 - WIN 30 points

Making an overall return of 30 points from 100 points and therefore an overall loss of 70 points.


General football tips:

My general football tips just sneaked a slight profit this week...

Stoke V Man United - Win To Nil:
20 points on Man United To Win To Nil at 2.63 - WIN 53 points
Man United have now won 7 of their last 8 league matches with a clean sheet.

Friday 12 April 2013

Newcastle United V Sunderland (14/04/13)

My Tips For The Toon V The Mackems


The disappointment of last night's Europa League exit is still present as I write this, but a positive second half performance meant that we went into the final few minutes with dreams of Cisse working his injury time magic once again, but unfortunately it wasn't to be.

Onto the mackems, and last week both my sets of tips made a profit, so hopefully that bodes well for my tips for Sunday's derby...

Toon Tips:

Match Result: 
30 points on Newcastle at 1.91
The form book can sometimes go out of the window for local derbies, but the Toon have won our last four league home matches, whereas the mackems haven't won in the league since 19th January (away to Wigan), so it's no surprise that the bookies have us as the odds on favourites.

To Score in 90 Minutes:
20 points on Papiss Cisse at 2.25
It's tempting to go for Shola the Mackem Slayer in this market, but the obvious concern with that bet is how long Shola will get on the field, so taking that into consideration I've decided to go for Papiss Cisse to continue his recent goal scoring form at St James Park.

Tuesday 9 April 2013

The Toon V Fulham: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Newcastle United V Fulham: Round-Up

 

What a finish! What a celebration!
Sometimes a photo says much more than words and the now famous photo by @TaylorsFistpump captures the moment perfectly.  What a finish!

Thanks to another injury time winner from Papiss Cisse we gained three more valuable points towards ensuring our Premership status, and Cisse's late strike also meant that my Toon tips returned a profit this week, as did my general football tips...

. . . . . . . .

Toon Tips:

Match Result:
20 points on Newcastle at 2.05
- WIN 41 points
Papiss Cisse hit an injury time winner for the third consecutive home match to ensure we continued our recent winning home form.

Winning Margin:
10 points on Newcastle By Exactly 1 Goal at 3.75
- WIN 38 points
That's now 7 of our 9 league victories at home this season which have been been won by a one goal margin.

Friday 5 April 2013

Newcastle United V Fulham (07/04/13)

My Tips For The Toon V Fulham


Over-confidence has been my undoing in recent weeks, but despite this I still feel there are reasons for genuine optimism against Fulham, so I'm going to go reasonably confident with my tips once again this week.

Toon Tips:

Match Result:
20 points on Newcastle at 2.05

Despite our recent poor results against Man City and Wigan, our home form is pretty decent with four wins and a draw from our last five home matches in all competitions.  We were also missing a few players against Man City who are now back in the squad, so all things considered I fancy our chances for the three points.

Winning Margin:
10 points on Newcastle By Exactly 1 Goal at 3.75

Of our eight league victories at home this season, six of them have been won by a one goal margin.

Tuesday 2 April 2013

Man City V The Toon: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Manchester City V Newcastle United: Round-Up

 

Before the Man City game I cautioned that I was betting with my heart rather than my head and unfortunately that proved to be the case.

On the positive side, according to Pardew we could have four or five players back from injury for Fulham on Sunday, or possibly even for Benfica on Thursday, so hopefully our recent blip is just a temporary measure.

Anyway, over-optimism meant a total wipe-out for my Toon tips this week and my general football tips didn't do too much better...

. . . . . . . .

General Football Tips:


Sunderland V Man United - Win To Nil:
20 points on Man United To Win To Nil at 2.75 - WIN 55 points
Man United have now won their last six league games to nil.

Wigan V Norwich - Match Result:
20 points on Draw at 3.6 - LOSS


Thursday 28 March 2013

Manchester City V Newcastle United (30/03/13)

My Tips For Man City V The Toon


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

This is one week where it's a clear case of betting with my heart rather than my head, as Man City are understandably the odds on favourites.  I'm not a Traitorelli though, so I'm obviously not going to bet against us!  Despite Man City's squad of world class players, we showed against Chelsea that on our day we can give anyone a good match, and the statistics do provide some reasons to be optimistic...

Double Chance:
20 points on Newcastle Or Draw at 3.1
As you'd expect the bookies price Man City as the odds on favourites, but their recent league form has been inconsistent with only 2 victories from their last 6 league matches.  In fact our recent league form actually slightly edges out Man City's with 9 points for the Toon from our last 6 games versus 8 points for Man City.  There is still an element of betting with my heart in this one, but Man City certainly haven't looked unbeatable in recent matches so I'm going to go for an optimistic bet on us to get something from the match.

Both Teams To Score:
20 points on Both Teams To Score - Yes at 1.8
7 of our last 8 league games have seen both teams get on the score sheet, so on the one hand this looks like an attractive bet.  However, it's worth also noting that when Man City win they tend to win without conceding (their last 9 victories in all competitions have been to nil).  Optimism has got the better of me though, so I'm going to bet on our run to continue rather than Man City's.

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Wigan V The Toon: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Wigan Athletic V Newcastle United: Round-Up

 

Almost as disgraceful as McManaman's horror tackle on Haidara have been the follow-up comments by Roberto Martinez and particularly Dave Whelan.  Despite their attempts to portray Callum McManaman as Mr Nice Guy the truth is totally different and in fact McManaman has a history of cowardly reckless tackles:

A similar wild tackle by Callum McManaman while playing for Wigan Reserves

Happier news just announced is that Steven Taylor has received a well deserved call up to the England squad, and from reading the tweets on twitter it's nice to see that fans of other clubs also seem to be pleased with Taylor's England inclusion.

Back to the day job...  I went for an optimistic set of Toon tips this week so our defeat to twelve man Wigan meant that my tips were a total wipe-out.  My general football tips didn't fare much better...

Man United V Reading - Win To Nil:
25 points on Man United To Win To Nil at 2.1 - WIN 53 points
For future reference, it's worth noting that Man United have now won their last five league matches to nil.

Thursday 14 March 2013

Wigan Athletic V Newcastle United (17/03/13)

My Tips For Wigan V The Toon


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

Once again I'm skipping our Europa League match against Anzhi Makhachkala and making my next set of tips for our league match on Sunday away to Wigan...

Match Result:
30 points on Newcastle at 2.9
Wigan have actually got a better away record than they have at home and have only won two of their home league matches all season so I was slightly surprised that the bookies make Wigan the slight favourites.  Admittedly, their result against Everton last weekend showed that they're capable of the occasional random unexpected win so they could be a potential banana skin, but our odds of 2.9 nevertheless still look attractive.

Double Chance:
25 points on Newcastle or Draw at 1.53

Wigan have drawn or lost 12 of their 14 home league games this season, so Newcastle to win or draw looks to be decent value at 1.53.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

The Toon V Stoke: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Newcastle United V Stoke City: Round-Up


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

Both my sets of tips made a small profit this week as once again I went for a confident set of Toon tips and although Stoke initially proved tricky to break down, we eventually came good.

Match Result:
30 points on Newcastle at 1.83 - WIN 55 points
We left it late but Papiss Cisse's injury time winner earned us the victory we deserved.

Goals:
20 points on Newcastle To Score 2+ Goals at 2.0
- WIN 40 points
We've now scored two or more goals in four of our last six league games, with nine goals coming in our last three league home games.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Newcastle United V Stoke City (10/03/13)

My Tips For The Toon V Stoke


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

As usual I'm skipping our Europa League match against Anzhi Makhachkala and making my next set of tips for our league match on Sunday against Stoke...

Match Result:
30 points on Newcastle at 1.83
The bookies make us the odds on favourites and when you consider that Stoke have won only one of their last nine league games you would have to agree. 

Goals:
20 points on Newcastle To Score 2+ Goals at 2.0

Since the arrival of the new additions to the squad in the transfer window, we've scored two or more goals in three of our last five league games, with seven goals coming in our last two league home games.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Swansea V The Toon: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Swansea City V Newcastle United: Round-Up


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

I went for a confident set of Toon tips this week, but unfortunately although we were the stronger side in the second half, Luke Moore's late winner combined with a couple of missed chances for the Toon meant my Newastle tips were a total wash-out this week.  My general football tips got back to winning ways though, sneaking a narrow profit...

Man United V Norwich - Win To Nil:
25 points on Man United To Win To Nil at 2.0 - WIN 50 points

Chelsea V West Brom - Double Chance:
20 points on West Brom or Draw at 2.88 - LOSS


Thursday 28 February 2013

Swansea City V Newcastle United (02/03/13)

My Tips For Swansea V The Toon


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

The bookies apparently aren't convinced by our recent improved form as they make Swansea the clear favourites for Saturday's match.  Not surprisingly therefore I'm going to go fairly optimistic with my tips this week...

Match Result:
20 points on Newcastle at 3.4
On their day Swansea are a strong side but they've shown inconsistency of late, winning three of their last eight league matches against our record of three league wins from four.  Odds of 3.4 for the Toon victory on Saturday therefore seem like a fair bet.

Goals:
20 points on Newcastle To Score 2+ Goals at 2.75

Since the transfer window we've found scoring goals a lot easier and have managed two or more goals in three of our last four league games.

Tuesday 26 February 2013

The Toon V Southampton: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Newcastle United V Southampton: Round-Up


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

A winning performance against Southampton ensured a profitable performance for my Toon tips this week...

Match Result:
30 points on Newcastle at 2.0 - WIN 60 points
Before this fixture Southampton had lost only one of their previous nine league matches, but despite their decent form we made it three wins from our last four league games.

Both Teams To Score:
20 points on Both Teams To Score - Yes at 1.62 - WIN 32 points
Both teams went into this fixture in consistent goal-scoring form and that trend continued with an open game producing six goals.

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Newcastle United V Southampton (24/02/13)

My Tips For The Toon V Southampton


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

Due to the uncertainty about the strength of team we'll put out against Metalist Kharkiv on Thursday, I'm therefore going to skip our Europa League game and make my next set of tips for the Southampton game on Sunday...

Match Result:
30 points on Newcastle at 2.0
Southampton go into this game in decent form having recently beaten Man City and only lost one of their last nine league games (to Man United).  Our recent form hasn't been too bad either though, so odds of evens for us to win seems like a fair bet. 

Winning Margin:
10 points on Newcastle By Exactly One Goal at 3.75
6 of our 7 league victories this season have been by a one goal margin, so taking into account Southampton's respectable form of late I'm going to go for a small bet on a narrow one goal victory for the Toon.

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Spurs V The Toon: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Tottenham Hotspur V Newcastle United: Round-Up


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

It was disappointing not to come away with anything from the Spurs game, but if you'd offered us six points from Villa, Chelsea and Tottenham I would have readily taken it.  And despite the defeat, our performance suggests we should hopefully be looking up the table from now on rather than down.

Anyway, when it comes to betting, on recent form it's looking like it's far wiser to bet with your head rather than your heart as the defeat at Spurs meant my Toon tips were a washout this week, while for the fifth week running my general football tips returned a profit:

Stoke V Reading - Match Result:
15 points on Reading at 4.2 - LOSS

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Tottenham Hotspur V Newcastle United (09/02/13)

My Tips For Spurs V The Toon


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

A 6-0 victory over Spurs on Saturday would see us move into the top half of the table (at least for a few hours), but perhaps that's being a little bit optimistic!  Here are my tips...

Match Result:
20 points on Draw at 4.0
Tottenham are unbeaten in their last nine league games, but they haven't been quite so dominant in recent matches with three of their last four league matches ending as draws.  Given our last two performances we look more than capable of giving Spurs a good match, and therefore the 4.0 on offer for another draw seems tempting.

1st Team To Score:
20 points on Newcastle at 2.63
We've started games well recently and scored first in 6 of our last 8 league games, so the 2.63 on offer looks like a reasonable bet.

Sunday 3 February 2013

The Toon V Chelsea: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Newcastle United V Chelsea: Round-Up


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

Although Sissoko grabbed the headlines, it was an excellent team performance against Chelsea which earned us a well deserved three points and we're now only three points off tenth place.  When you consider that a couple of days before the Chelsea match, Ladbrokes were offering odds of 8/1 for us to finish in the top half of the table, anyone who got on at 8/1 might therefore be feeling quietly confident with their bet right now.

Anyway, for the fourth week running my tips had mixed results as once again my general football tips outperformed my Toon tips...

Match Result:
30 points on Draw at 3.6 - LOSS
A few matches ago the biggest problem with tipping Newcastle was overconfidence.  Now suddenly things have gone the other way and I've been over-cautious with my predictions for our last two matches.

1st Team To Score:
20 points on Newcastle at 2.25 - WIN 45 points
Once again we were the first team on the score sheet which means we've now scored first in 6 of our last 8 league games.  On current form you would have to say we're worth keeping an eye on in this market for future matches.

Friday 1 February 2013

Newcastle United V Chelsea (02/02/13)

My Tips For The Toon V Chelsea


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

Chelsea will be a tricky test, but hopefully the win over Villa will help kick-start our season.  Here are my tips...

Match Result:
30 points on Draw at 3.6
On their day Chelsea are still a side to be feared, but they've been an inconsistent side under Benitez, and including cup competitions they have drawn four of their last five matches.

1st Team To Score:
20 points on Newcastle at 2.25
We've scored first in 5 of our last 7 league games.

Thursday 31 January 2013

Aston Villa V The Toon: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Aston Villa V Newcastle United: Round-Up


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

What a difference a couple of weeks can make.  Not long ago confidence levels seemed to be sinking fast with every match, but the flurry of transfer activity (and of course Cabaye's return from injury) means the future is suddenly looking cautiously brighter.

Despite our victory against Villa being our first win since our defeat of QPR back in December, we're actually now only six points off tenth place.  Ladbrokes currently have us at 8/1 to finish in the top half of the table and if we can repeat our first half performance against Villa on a consistent basis then it may be worth a small speculative bet.

Anyway, for the third week running my tips had mixed results as once again my general football tips outperformed my Toon tips...

Match Result:
20 points on Draw at 3.3 - LOSS

Goals from Cisse and Cabaye, and an all round impressive first half performance, helped us to our first away win of the season and ensured I was overly cautious with this bet.

1st Team To Score:
20 points on Newcastle at 2.0 - WIN 40 points
We've now scored first in 5 of our last 7 league games.


Sunday 27 January 2013

Aston Villa V Newcastle United (29/01/13)

My Tips For Aston Villa V The Toon


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

The new signings have given cause for fresh optimism for 'Le Toon', but at the same time it can sometimes take a few games for new players to settle in, so I'm going to go moderately cautious with my Toon tips this week...

Match Result:
20 points on Draw at 3.3
It's seven games since Villa last won in the league, with only two points to show from their last six league games, so Tuesday's match provides the perfect opportunity to end our own poor run of results.  Considering that both sides have had trouble winning matches recently however, I'm therefore going to cautiously go for the draw at odds of 3.3.

1st Team To Score:
20 points on Newcastle at 2.0
Despite our poor recent results, we've actually scored first in 4 of our last 6 league games.

Wednesday 23 January 2013

The Toon V Reading: Tips Round-Up

My Tips For Newcastle United V Reading: Round-Up


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

Once again my general football tips outperformed my Toon tips, so let's hope the new signings can bring a change of fortunes as at the moment you would have to say it's best to avoid betting on the Toon.  Here's how my tips performed...

Match Result:
20 points on Newcastle at 1.73 - LOSS
With twenty minutes to go we were heading for three points and my Toon tips were looking at a clean sweep as all five of my tips were on course to be winning bets.  Unfortunately though, Reading manager Brian McDermott won the battle of the substitutions and two goals from substitute Adam Le Fondre in the last twenty minutes saw us throw away the game.

Team Total Goals:
20 points on Newcastle To Score Exactly 1 Goal at 3.1 - WIN 62 points
We've now scored exactly one goal in 5 of our last 8 league games.

Thursday 17 January 2013

Newcastle United V Reading (19/01/13)

My Tips For The Toon V Reading


Every match I give myself 100 points to place a few hypothetical bets on Newcastle and 100 points to place a few general football bets using the odds available from SkyBet.com.  I then compare how the two sets of bets perform and analyse whether it's better to bet with your heart or your head.

On current form you would have to say that's it's probably wise to be cautious when betting on The Toon at the moment, but here are my tips for The Toon V Reading... 

Match Result:
20 points on Newcastle at 1.73
Despite being second bottom Reading have recently turned things around slightly with two victories from their last three league matches.  However, they remain without an away league victory this season and have lost 9 of their 11 away league matches so they obviously don't travel well.  Despite our own poor recent form therefore you have to fancy us for the victory at odds of 1.73.

Winning Margin:
20 points on Newcastle By Exactly 1 Goal at 3.75
Four of our five home league wins have been by a one goal margin, so this seems like a decent bet.