Newcastle v Manchester City – our thoughts

Ahead of tomorrow night’s match-up with City, we were quizzed by a few university sports journalism students on our thoughts on Newcastle and their chances.

After being asked a series of questions regarding Tuesday night, we figured we may as well place our answers here for you all to enjoy.

So here we go…

How are you feeling ahead of tomorrow’s game?

More confident than I thought I’d be. Our 3-0 win against Swansea certainly gives us some hope but we know it won’t be easy after the way the Citizens took apart Chelsea at the weekend.

After a much needed victory over Swansea City, how much confidence does this give the players ahead of tomorrow?

It will be huge. It’s our first win under Rafa and you got the feeling things were really starting to come together for the lads at St James’ Park. Without sounding hyberbolic, last week’s win could be the catalyst for something good.

How will the Magpies line-up? Who will play and in what formation?

I imagine it will be pretty similar to last Saturday. Rafa will stick with two holding midfielders to give the back four extra protection (Colback and Tiote maybe?) and after starting Mitrovic on the bench at the weekend, I imagine he will probably get a start on Tuesday night.

You haven’t beat Manchester City at home since 2005, why do you think it stretches back this far?

The money of Sheikh Mansour and incompetence of Mike Ashley. Next.

How do you think Newcastle should approach this?

Although we kept a clean sheet against Swansea, I still don’t have too much faith in our back four. We should start cautiously for the first 20 minutes then take the game to them – we have no other option!

Where will the key battles take place? Who should both sides be wary of?

The Man City back four looked very solid against PSG last week and I imagine Mitro will have his work cut out tomorrow night. And whilst I’ve been suitably impressed by youngster Jamaal Lascelles recently, marking Sergio Aguero will certainly be a good litmus test of how far he’s come should Benitez start him at centre back.

What are your score predictions?

As ever the optimistic Magpies, I’m going go for a 1-1 draw.

Where do you think both teams will finish this season? Do you think avoiding relegation is still possible, despite still having to play Liverpool and Spurs?

If I had a gun to my head, I’d still say we’re going down but of course hope I’m proved wrong. City will likely finish third.

314 thoughts on “Newcastle v Manchester City – our thoughts

  1. I cant see it mate. I give us a 20% on the Stuart-o-meter. Get something at Liverpool and we have a chance but lose and we are still behind Scum on points and goal difference with them having 2 games in hand. They WILL pick up points. I just think its too little too late. Scteve should have gone before that break, instead they dithered.

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  2. Shamrock: why don’t you take a couple more lapdancers to see Defoe and deplete his energy?

    I found it quite funny that Defoe’s Lapdancer’s husband said Defoe had broken his marriage twice. You can always trust those lapdancers. It is not like they sit on ***** for a living.

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  3. OK: my guess is that Kimtoon probably bought Purple Rain. However, Prince won his Oscar in 1985 against stiff competition from The Muppets Take Manhattan, but back then was when people bought singles, albums, tapes and CDs. There wasn’t any Pandora or streaming or iTunes.

    So how many of you have a Prince CD in the attic or cellar, or even a single featuring Sheena Easton?

    None of you. Ah… But he was great though wasn’t he?

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  4. So, if you did buy one of his singles back in 1985 you would have had the full Prince library.

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  5. Kimtoon: I hope you don’t think I am having a go at you, because I am not. I don’t mind Prince, I just didn’t think he was a music “legend” as some are saying over here. He made 39 albums so was quite prolific. If anybody but you can name any apart from Purple Rain I will be surprised. Still sad to see someone who was that creative pass on. I was joking about Status Quo above – Prince was much more varied than them.

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  6. This is still a Toon football blog right…?
    I bought Purple rain. Great song… I also have Led Zep, Bob Dylan, Metallica, Rolling Stones, bee gees, Ed Sheeran and Bay City Rollers in my collection so eclectic tastes. Who’s to say what is good or bad, all personal taste.

    But sad to see another star gone. Cannot believe how many have died this year!

    Anyone think we can get a result at Anfield? I’m not hopeful. Our record there is not good. Oh well. Just hope it’s not another dodgy ref decision that kills us.

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  7. Come on, Sham! Believe and it will happen! We will pick up 9 more points at least!

    Oh and Prince was ****!

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  8. STUART agree Prince was **** imo,then again Ime a country and western fan for my sins at least the songs mean something at times,never been into “pop” music,mind the Beatles broke the mould for a while

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  9. STUART don’t do women country singers,Don Williams,Johnny Cash,Willie Nelson,closest I got to pop was the Eagles

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  10. Poor jabba he’s lost a billion since Dec,only has two and a half billion left poor sod wish he would lose the toon

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  11. He might have to, Ice if he carries on losing money like this. Couple of hundred Mil could come in handy for him at the minute.

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  12. Well the weekends off to a great start, not. Garden/ builders have cancelled building my wall due to rain and Lew is home with a chest infection since Thursday and has thrown up his lunch along with all his meds 🙁 Oh and Hazel has moved back in as she’s left her fella!, I do hope the Toon get a result cause I’m beyond peed off.

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