This will be a very hard test. To play against a good team, away from home, just a few days after an emotional game against City will not be easy. I think we will see Jones and Nunez come back in as part of rotation. I think he would like to rest Robbo, but is Tsmikas fit? Maybe Quansah comes in and Gomez goes to left back. Kelleher Trent Quansah Virgil Gomez Gravenberch Jones Salah Szobo Gakpo Nunez
yeah - games thick and fast as they say. I think Szob goes to the bench and Jones comes in for him. Mac stays. But we need to do some midfield rotation for sure.
I watched their whole game vs CP (unusual for me to watch another team). this Guardian piece sums it up well: Eddie Howe is right to be concerned. Even though the Newcastle manager seemed hopeful the hip injury sustained by Alexander Isak at Crystal Palace may not be serious, his side’s lack of goals has become a major issue. While they were almost able to snatch a victory at Selhurst Park after profiting from Marc Guéhi’s own goal, they offered little else in attack and have managed only 14 goals in 13 Premier League matches. The return of Callum Wilson should help but Howe said he may have to work on his team’s confidence in front of goal before hosting the leaders, Liverpool, on Wednesday. “In football confidence is very fragile and is something we have to protect at all costs,” he said. “I back the players because we know they have the ability and we’ve got to try and get them in their best form. That’s always a delicate thing as well, you want them in form at the same time, and we haven’t had that this season.” ============================= to me, CP were by far the better side even though possession was basically 50/50 - 16 shots to 1, none on target (NU goal was a deflection). don't know how much the loss of Isak (22mins) hurt them, but interestingly they moved Gordon to CF (he accomplished nothing.) If the same NU show up on Wednesday I won't be the slightest bit concerned.
very few easy games at their place, although their form is bad - currently 11th, with 7 points from the last 18 available. Tsimi was on crutches at the game yesterday. surprising coz I thought he was doing some training last week? maybe just precautionary but not hopeful - we need him. good lineup. I'd like to see us get an early lead so we can get Endo on, and maybe even Morton. or even Nyoni?
We’re home to Accrington Stanley 3rd Rd. FA Cup. City so lucky, they’ve avoided Tamworth Rovers; feel sorry for Spurs having to face them.
He was playing in the Szoboszlai position before he got injured. I don't think he will start either of the games this week, but Girona next week is a good chance to give him (and others) an opportunity.
Harv's best games are when he plays the 10 position - for us or the England youth team. IIRC he played as a 10 in preseason this year and was excellent.
The 10 role really pushes towards attack, right? I just don't think he's a midfield starter - outside a spot here and there. Granted, that might happen in the next few weeks.
After we get through this week, the next two midweeks are games where we could field a heavily rotated squad. Our position in the Champions League table means we could see rotation for Girona. The week after that is league cup.
yep, the schedule really leans that way and Harv is back just in time (btw: where are you Fedo?) the Girona / CL situation is interesting. there is a lot of value in getting 1st/2nd spot in this round because those 2 teams are seeded from that point on (basically, it is a bit of a UEFA-invented Rubik's cube). so although the temptation is high to rotate a fair bit I really don't see Arne doing that and we'll see a blended starting 11 with power available on the bench. that said -- one game at a time of course
so I've read. but I'll believe it when I see him on the pitch having him back and contributing right now would be a huge boost.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot on Mohamed Salah's future and whether Sunday was his last home game against Manchester City: "Maybe Mo knows more about the 115 accusations for [Man City] not to be in the Premier League next season and I do expect them in the Premier League next season. "The boring answer is always the same. This is not the place for me to talk about Salah's contract and maybe already, I've said too much about the joke I just made. That will probably get the headlines. "It was a joke. I repeat, it was a joke."
Liverpool manager Arne Slot on whether he has to make smart decisions including makeshift defensive cover: "People will judge it on the results but we have to be creative, that's a better word to use. For the moment that we cannot use Trent [Alexander-Arnold], last weekend against City, we didn't use Trent for 90 minutes after his injury and that's probably going to be the same tomorrow and Saturday as well. "We have to be creative, playing Jarrell [Quansah] over there is not so creative, he is able to play there, but maybe for whatever reason, if we need Jarrell as a centre-back because one of the centre-backs can't continue the game, then we need to be even more creative."
Liverpool manager Arne Slot on potential recruitment in January: "We are having discussions every day, no matter if there's a window coming up or not. We always talk about the team, which players we like, which players are maybe not in the best place. "From the beginning of the season, I was so, so happy with the squad. That's not to say if there will be a chance in the market, this club will not look. This club has always shown it will work."
well I love it, just love it, when my wife wants to go window shopping. (note: the above is a 100% blatant lie)
things not going great at 'Newcastle [a bit long, this] https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...aces-in-a-newcastle-squad-that-has-gone-stale Something is wrong behind the scenes at St James’ Park this season and, albeit tacitly, Eddie Howe has admitted it. “We have had a lot of issues this summer and we continue to have them,” said Newcastle’s manager, somewhat cryptically, on Tuesday. “We’re not quite at our best. I’ve had several meetings with all the players to try and get them at their best levels to solve little issues we may have.” A big part of Howe’s problem is that three of his key players – Bruno Guimarães, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon – have frequently underwhelmed after arguably being unsettled by close-season rumours of interest from elsewhere. “Without talking about individuals you need your best players at their best levels,” said Howe, rather pointedly. Isak is expected to recover from a minor hip injury in time to start against Liverpool on Wednesday night but there are suggestions that the Sweden centre-forward is distracted by Newcastle’s perceived tardiness in offering him a new contract. Unfortunately for Howe, an apparent negotiating impasse failed to disrupt Mohamed Salah’s game during an autumn in which the Egyptian’s attacking excellence helped propel Liverpool to the top of the Premier League. Winter’s onset has emphasised Newcastle’s travails in front of goal – something highlighted during a disappointing recent home defeat against West Ham and an underwhelming draw at Crystal Palace. Small wonder a free-scoring right-winger is top of Howe’s January shopping list. If Newcastle could do with pulling off the transfer coup of the decade and signing Salah, the reality is that profitability and sustainability rules dictate the Saudi Arabian-owned club will almost certainly be shopping in a more modest market, with their chances of European qualification and domestic cup success dependent largely on Howe’s coaching and tactical acumen. If a strong case can be made for ditching the 4-3-3 that fails to accommodate Brazil’s Guimarães and Italy’s Sandro Tonali successfully, the manager remains wary of altering too much. “I’m constantly analysing the team to see if there are things we can tweak or change,” he said. “If anyone is thinking I’m sat there saying we are just going to do the same thing, week in week out, nothing could be further from the truth. But you have to be very careful that the changes benefit you and don’t hurt you even more. I’m living in that world. We’ve got to stick to the things that work and just try to tweak the things that aren’t.” A recurring problem against the West Hams and Palaces is that a Newcastle XI that has beaten Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham remains at its best when counterattacking supposedly technically superior opponents. Against more cautious, deeper-sitting rivals their ball retention and manipulation is simply not good enough to avoid forfeiting points and Howe evidently feels that, after two very quiet transfer windows, stylistic evolution demands new faces. “I think freshness is important in a squad – I won’t sit here and deny that,” he said. “There needs to be a certain element of trading in and out to keep the group dynamic new. “A new dynamic and a new team always has to form every season. Sometimes, the same squad can produce a staleness and a negative product. So I think we’re aware of that. But it’s about what we’re able to do rather than: ‘I want.’ ‘I want’ is clear. We haven’t had a huge turnover of players and that’s a slight concern.” It also dictates that, for the moment at least, Gordon will sometimes be expected to play on his less preferred right wing. “It’s not necessarily about what Anthony wants or what I want,” said Howe. “It’s about what the team needs. Players have to play where the team needs them. Good players can play in loads of different positions.” Perhaps but it remains true that Tino Livramento and Kieran Trippier are best at right-back and that, with Livramento having supplanted the suddenly ageing, injury prone and increasingly unsettled Trippier in Howe’s XI, Newcastle have lost their finest right-sided attacking outlet. They have also missed Trippier’s on- and perhaps off-field leadership in a season when the former England full-back is said to have been hurt by his replacement as team captain by Guimarães. The suspicion is that the sometimes overly intense Howe, without Trippier as his first lieutenant in the dressing room, is struggling to win quite as many hearts and minds as sometimes in the past. At a time when Howe’s relationship with his sporting director, Paul Mitchell, clearly remains uneasy this is not ideal. Given that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has spent more than £400m on players since Howe’s installation three years ago much may hinge on not merely Liverpool’s visit but league dates at Brentford and at home to Leicester and the pivotal-looking reunion with Brentford in the Carabao Cup quarter-final that follows. By then Newcastle’s best central defender, the immensely influential Sven Botman, could be back after the best part of a year sidelined by an anterior cruciate ligament rupture. “The squad we have is a very good squad,” Howe said. “It’s our job to do better with it. I’m confident in the players and I’m confident in our methods of work. I’ve got no doubts we’ll re-find our touch.” More immediately, he can only hope Salah misplaces his on Wednesday night.