When preparing for the Reading match preview i posted about 24 hours ago, I ran across what I felt was pretty reliable information regarding the status of injured Toon stars Tim Krul and Danny Simpson. This information indicated that both were to have returned to training this week and were in the frame for selection against Reading. It now looks like the picture is significantly different. Both Krul and Simpson are being ruled out for the match at the Madejski Stadium tomorrow. In the time-honored tradition of late-night American informercials: "But wait! There's more!"
Fabricio Coloccini looked to be back from his injury suffered while on international duty, playing 60 minutes against Manchester United in the [insert sponsor here] Cup on Wednesday. It seemed a logical time for him to come out of the match when he did, a gentle break-in during a match that just didn't matter much in the general scheme of things. It seems that his substitution was not scripted, however, as he is also being ruled out v. Reading. "But wait! There's more!" Althoughit is difficult to fathom, the same report (this link from the mail, but it's not the only place I've seen it) is suggesting that Yohan Cabaye may miss the match with a mouth problem. I don't really know what that means, or what kind of mouth problem would keep you out of a Premier League match... but it's out there. In light of this injury information, I am going to go ahead and put this new potential lineup out there:
Newcastle United (4-4-2): Harper | Perch, Williamson, S. Taylor, Santon | Ben Arfa, Tiote, Gosling*, Jonas | Cisse, Ba
*I would much rather see Amalfitano, but he seems to have fallen below Gosling in Pardew's estimation...
If Cabaye is in fact ruled out for Reading, it would be a significant dent in any hope of Newcastle achieving some measure of consistent performance in the league. While not terminal to the Mags' chances, it is far from helpful.