Predictions v Newcastle United

Some injuries, some doubts but also some considerable options for us ahead of this one.

v Newcastle United

St James' Park

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11).

A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-2-3-1 / 4-5-1:

____________________Alvarez____________________

 

 

Doku______________________________________Silva

____________________________Foden_____________

___________Kovacic_____________________________

 

_____________________Rodri_____________________

Gvardiol__________________________________Walker

_____________Ake______________Dias_____________

 

 

____________________Ederson_____________________

Subs: Ortega, Gomez, Lewis, Phillips, De Bruyne, Nunes, Bobb, Grealish & Hamilton.

Ederson in net.

With our defensive options a little limited, it practically picks itself with Josko, Nathan, Ruben & Kyle.

There was no mention in Pep’s pre-match press conference about Rodri being back home following the loss of his Grandma / any possible funeral date (if it’s not already taken place) and, so, I’m assuming the Spanish defensive midfielder will start just ahead of our back line.

Unlike the defence, there ARE plenty of alternatives in the midfield / wing department and I’m prepared to be quite wrong here. I’m going for Jeremy, Mateo, Phil & Bernardo.

Julian ‘up front’ is one certainty I can’t see getting wrong.

Stefan is our reserve keeper and we only have two recognised defenders on the bench in the form of Sergio & Rico; neither of which are central defenders. Kalvin is still with us and should find himself sat amongst ‘our 9’ as opposed to Newcastle’s; Kevin & Matheus join the England man as central midfielders waiting to come on. Oscar, Jack & Micah could be 3 wingers / forwards on the side.

Where I could be wrong is in both the midfield department as well as on the bench.

Pep told us yesterday that Kevin was ready to start a game and I’m in no position to say that he’s wrong. However, I’m just going with my ‘gut instinct’ and feel that our manager will decide to ‘keep his powder dry’ with regards to our Belgium maestro. If I’m correct, we could see a second half introduction if the game suits / it feels right to do so.

Also, Jack had caught the bug that’s been going around the camp recently but was due to return to training on Friday afternoon. Whether he did or not, I just don’t know, and that’s why I’ve put him on the bench at least.

Finally, we could see two keepers on the bench and no youth outfield players whatsoever OR Guardiola may decide that 3-attacking wide men is too many in reserve; so we could see, instead, a defensive midfielder or a defender being plucked from the EDS to join today’s squad.

We’ll know soon enough…

Notable absences:

-       John Stones – Still out injured with an ankle problem, we were informed yesterday afternoon. There was no information about a return timescale nor whether John was back training to any degree.

-       Manuel Akanji – Injured and out for a few weeks following a heavy challenge against Huddersfield.

-       Erling Haaland – The 6’ 4” striker has now stopped training and won’t be available until at least the end of January with the same foot-bone issue; although our January schedule is light and, so, he shouldn’t miss too many more games IF he does-indeed return before February.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Erm…nearly. I think I’d be tempted to put Bernardo in midfield with Phil instead of Mateo, despite the Croatian having an excellent game last Sunday, and put Oscar on the right flank.

Result? Our hosts have been – and still are – suffering with SO many injuries, as a lot of Premier League sides have been this season for whatever reason(s). Is that the basis of why The Magpies appear to have ‘hit the barriers’ in recent weeks? I don’t know if there is an additional cause but they’re most definitely ‘out of form’. They’re even below Manyoo in the table for flip’s sake!

However, underestimate these, especially on their ‘own patch’, at your peril. I thought we did just that the last time we took a trip up to the North East and we suffered a little; although the final outcome could have been worse.

It was a crackin’ game back in August 2022 and a share of the spoils was fair, in my opinion, which would sum it up just fine, I think.

However, a bit more detail would be to say that I thought we didn’t do enough to try ‘n’ take a hold of the game once we’d scored the opener to quieten the home crowd. Once we’d let ‘em back in and, furthermore, grab the momentum; they absolutely tore us to pieces at times. They had the better of the first half for sure.

Although I was a little jolted when they then grabbed a third to make it 3-1 early in the second half, I was also strangely - and instantly - confident that we’d fight back and I was proud of the attitude from our lads when they did so.

But we were far too naïve, tactics-wise, when-deploying our 2-7-1 formation, as was popular at the time with our manager; away from home against a side who were well known for having pacy, counter-attacking wingers. Just stupid.

So, even though some of their personnel will have changed and some of their same players might be unavailable due to injury; we have that game for our manager to look back on and we should use that as a ‘lesson learned’. We have been warned.

As for us here & now, we’re in fairly good shape personnel wise, despite a few key players missing, and we’re hitting some form. Additionally, I read a piece yesterday that told the story of our 5 Captains arranging a meeting with the whole squad recently to talk about ironing out certain issues that was causing us to drop points and concede goals in the second half of November / first half of December. It wasn’t a ‘finger pointing’ exercise, by all accounts; just a frank discussion about how they could ‘tighten up’ / improve generally. Good stuff... 👍

It'll be tough and they might breach our defences but all things considered, I’m going for a City win.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:

Prediction: Win

Result: Drew

(There was no pre-match blog-posting for that game due to being away on holiday)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Cold but dry again, at least. Being so high up in the away end won’t help City fans as a north-easterly breeze is likely to make 3 or 4C feel more like 0 to -2C and I think we might see a few players choosing to wear gloves this evening (5:30pm KO GMT). It could be worse this time of the year as the country is bracing itself for its first significant snow this winter; forecasted to hit most northerly areas in midweek.

Solidarity