LuaLua vows to stay grounded

9:00am Saturday 5th January 2013 in Sport By Andy Naylor

Kazenga LuaLua enjoys his recent goal against Millwall Kazenga LuaLua enjoys his recent goal against Millwall

Albion star Kazenga LuaLua has vowed not to celebrate if he scores against old club Newcastle in the FA Cup.

The flying left winger has been banned from turning somersaults by the Seagulls for fear of injury and will keep his new celebration under wraps out of respect to the Toon in today's third round showdown at The Amex (12.30).

LuaLua bagged Albion's last FA Cup goal, in the thrashing by Liverpool at Anfield in the fifth round last year.

He learnt his back-flipping celebration from older brother Lomana, a former Newcastle favourite.

LuaLua said: “I remember when we beat Charlton 4-0 away I did it and Gus (Poyet) was asked by the press if he minded me doing it but he said ‘As long as he’s scoring that's fine’. But when he bought me I wasn’t allowed to do it.

“I don’t think I’ll celebrate if I score because Newcastle are the team that gave me my professional contract so out of respect for the fans and the club as well I don’t think it’s the right thing if I celebrate. I have a nice celebration worked out but I won’t tell you what it is!”

Tennis-lover LuaLua wants to be a smash hit against Newcastle after missing Albion’s victory over them in the fourth round last year due to injury – and to make amends for the humiliating exit on Merseyside.

He said: “We went there to enjoy it but it turned out to be a bad day for us and we got beat 6-1. You learn from it and move on to the next game. It's the same as Newcastle but we're playing at home so hopefully we'll win.

"It's a bit different this season because they've got injuries, they're struggling and not winning so many games, and we've just started winning games."

Will Buckley, fresh from signing a new contract to June 2017, has given Albion a surprise boost by recovering from hamstring trouble and expects to be among the subs.

Boss Gus Poyet said: “Bucker is fit and in the squad”.

David will continue at right-back with fellow Spaniards Bruno and Inigo Calderon still injured, while Vicente has been training with the development group and will not be in contention for a place on the bench until Derby’s visit next Saturday.

Poyet has crowded midfield options, so Jake Forster-Caskey has not made the squad after returning from his loan spell with Oxford United.

Comments(19)

markymark03 says...
9:16am Sat 5 Jan 13

Heres hoping this will be a 'special' game for us!

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klemaniac says...
9:23am Sat 5 Jan 13

And more good news

"Albion have signed Latvian defender Vitalijs Maksimenko on a two-and-a-half year contract, which will run until the summer of 2015..".

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Guernsey c gull says...
9:28am Sat 5 Jan 13

My goodness everything in the seagulls garden is beginning to look very rosy !does anybody else get the feeling that we are building for an assault on the playoffs !

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golddene says...
10:11am Sat 5 Jan 13

Guernsey c gull wrote:
My goodness everything in the seagulls garden is beginning to look very rosy !does anybody else get the feeling that we are building for an assault on the playoffs !
Yes,yes i do.

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mikeygit says...
10:37am Sat 5 Jan 13

Don't get too excited about The Latvian--on Sky Gus has said he will not feature in the first team for a while, instead going into the development squad to train and 'learn the way we play'--maybe he will play in some games from April time if things work out?? So STILL the big signing we need to push us up into the Play Offs.
Watching todays game on TV, so will be a good day to see how the club and players look in a full game on TV and what the commentators have to say UTA!!!!!!

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VegasSeagull says...
10:46am Sat 5 Jan 13

Good morning fellow fans.

Don't get too carried away, nothing has really happened other than Buckley signing s new contract.
The Latvian lad is headed for the DS and as yet Ulloa has not signed so as of right now, we don't have any new players to start matches with.

I have to admit that like you, I am feeling good about the direction we are going in, not losing any of our gems as of yet is good news.

A win today would be fantastic.

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saraman says...
10:51am Sat 5 Jan 13

I'm not going to the game today. I have the dreaded bug. £26 for my ticket, £6 bus fee and £10 to upgrade for my son. What a bummer. Hope it looks as good on the TV. Albion 1, Toon 0 with Kaz scoring. Odds 66-1.

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Jonathan Mouette says...
10:55am Sat 5 Jan 13

I hope the KLL celebration is good 'cos if Kaz doesn't score today against his old reserve team I will be just a little (!) disappointed... C'mon Kaz, make it a good'un. I'm looking forward to hearing Pardew's excuses in the post match interview... I must admit he has some very legit ones available and I am very grateful we don't have the same injury list that he has... We don't have enough in the DS to fill the gaps he's got. Tough!!!

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VegasSeagull says...
11:07am Sat 5 Jan 13

I think it a pretty safe bet to say that neither side wants a rematch so I am expecting a result today, one way or the other.

Pardew couldn't put out his best side today even if he wanted to, so many injuries, but then neither can we.
I think the biggest test we will face today is their speed over the ground and their arial ability, something we don't yet have.

I wonder, is there a thought in the dark corners of Pardew's mind telling him that his team would be better off out of the cup. Considering their position in the prem table and all the injuries his squad has, do they really need extra games to play.

The starting lineups for both teams will be very interesting to see, maybe a pointer as to who wants the result the most.

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Alan G Skinner says...
11:14am Sat 5 Jan 13

The following in is no way a criticism. I think the club may have missed an opportunity today. This is a big FA Cup game against a top team in Newcastle. Due to a multitude of factors, an economy in turmoil, just after Christmas the game live on TV etc etc it looks like there will be 5000 empty seats for today's game, which is a crying shame. Perhaps this could have been anticipated and the club make more of the family offers, cheap family packages, offers to new fans etc etc. Not a criticism just an observation.

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VegasSeagull says...
11:31am Sat 5 Jan 13

The problem is Alan, how can the club know in advance that 5,000 seats would be empty.
Putting any package together to sell these seats would require plans to be made in advance of the fixture.

I get your point but I am just not sure that it is an opportunity missed, I see it more as an unknown that we couldn't plan for. It might be 5,000 empty seats but it might also have only been 2,000, how would one know.

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tug509 says...
11:41am Sat 5 Jan 13

Good morning all,the nsc says there are only about 800 tickets left,or have i read it wrong?. SEAGULLS

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Jonathan Mouette says...
11:48am Sat 5 Jan 13

Just seen the team on twitter - GUTTED!!!

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VegasSeagull says...
11:48am Sat 5 Jan 13

Good morning Tug, big day today mate.

I see that Mark Lawrenson is predicting a 1-1 draw with Newcastle to win the replay, I think he is wrong, one or the other will sew this up today.

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VegasSeagull says...
11:55am Sat 5 Jan 13

Jonathan Mouette wrote:
Just seen the team on twitter - GUTTED!!!
I can't say that I am, 'gutted,' but the Ankergren decision is somewhat surprising.

What is it about the eleven that has you gutted?

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Jonathan Mouette says...
12:00pm Sat 5 Jan 13

Have you looked at the bench...? Those 7 could beat the starting 11...!!!

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tug509 says...
12:09pm Sat 5 Jan 13

Hi Vegas ,well it was a good morning till i saw some of Gus` selection,i dont get it,Pardew has said in the Newcastle press how tough a game this is for them with the injuries they have,so Gus goes and hands them a lifeline.

Very bemused,i think they have a league game in midweek,so they will have one eye on that,we dont play again until next Saturday!!.

A good team for the first half might put us in a position at about 60 mins to ring the changes,on the tv for the world to see,and we dont take our chance. Never mind we will still win . UTA

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VegasSeagull says...
12:16pm Sat 5 Jan 13

Tug as I see it, and I am only thinking of the outfield, with David in defense it is not surprising that Barnes is starting as they worked well together at Ipswich.

Buckley, been out for a couple of weeks, so not, 'that,' surprising that he is on the bench.

Lua Lua, a impact sub, has been for most matches, so not a great surprise.

Dobbie on the bench, a place he has consistently kept warm, no great surprise.

CMS or Hoskins to start, not really a surprise, is it?

If we were playing Derby today, other than the keeper, how would the line up be that different, considering the injuries we have and have had. , ,

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VegasSeagull says...
2:44pm Sat 5 Jan 13

Jonathan Mouette wrote:
Just seen the team on twitter - GUTTED!!!
So are you still gutted?

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