After a much needed win over West Ham, a disappointing deadline day followed by the dreaded international break has seen us lose a little bit of momentum, but tomorrow’s trip to Swansea is now upon us, giving Benitez and the boys the perfect chance to put some much needed smiles back on the faces of the fans.
We may, however, be up against it without even kicking a ball, with it looking increasingly likely that Benitez will be forced to sit out the game, having failed to recover in time from an operation earlier in the week.
Benitez is a ‘busy’ manager, often directing his teams from the sidelines. It’s undeniable that his presence and tactical nous would be a big miss, but the players – who look set to be lead by Rafa’s trusted right hand man, Paco Moreno – will be ready to put in a performance on the back of our opening win of the season over West Ham.
Swansea, like us, are coming off the back of their first league win of the season, however Paul Clement’s side, unlike us, have a spring in their step from signings made since then. It’s a big game for us. Losing could be another unwanted reminder of how Ashley’s lack of investment will cost us. A win, however, would install some much needed positivity around the club, showing we can compete with our Premier League rivals on the pitch, despite enduring a summer that suggested we couldn’t off of it.
Hopefully Merino can put in another calm and composed performance, whilst Hayden’s combative style could be key in the potential midfield battle involving a certain Renato Sanches.
Atsu and Ritchie’s effectiveness on the counter will be vital to our threat going forward, but hopefully the pair can continue where they left off after lively performances against West Ham.
Given our tendency to sit deep and look to hit teams on the counter (especially away from home), there will also be a big emphasis on Joselu (who I expect to start) to hold up the ball and bring others into play when we instigate attacks. He did that very well against West Ham so here’s hoping for more of the same tomorrow.
The Opposition
Their capture of Portuguese sensation Renato Sanches is an incredible coup for the club, whilst the return of former marksman Wilfred Bony will have the fans in good spirits. Both are expected to be involved.
Tammy Abraham – who, at one stage, looked all set to join us over the summer – got off the mark for Swansea in their win at Palace last time out. He’s believed to have been quietly impressive during his brief time with them and will be one to keep an eye on.
Click here for a closer look into tomorrow’s opposition, as we’ve been speaking to Swansea fan Seab who gave us his thoughts on NUFC and some insight into his team’s season so far.
Form
Swansea (13th) – Played: 3 / Won: 1 / Drawn: 1 / Lost: 1
Newcastle (14th) – Played: 3 / Won: 1 / Drawn: 0 / Lost: 2
Team News
We look to be heading into this one in decent shape, with Florian Lejeune, DeAndre Yedlin and Dwight Gayle all in contention after missing out through injury.
Jonjo Shelvey is back from his ban, however Aleksandar Mitrovic will sit out the first of his 3-game suspension. Chancel Mbemba will miss out after suffering an injury on international duty.
For Swansea, new boy Renato Sanches looks set to make his debut, whilst fellow Deadline Day signing Wilfried Bony is also expected to be feature.
Jordan Ayew – who starred in their 2-0 win at Palace – has won his fitness race, but Kyle Bartley, Nathan Dyer and Ki Sung-yueng will be missing for the Swans.
Predicted Line-ups
Newcastle United XI – (4-2-3-1) – Elliot – Manquillo, Lascelles, Lejeune, Clark – Hayden, Merino – Ritchie, Perez , Atsu – Joselu
Swansea City XI – (3-5-2) – Fabianski; van der Hoorn, Mawson, Fernandez; Naughton, Clucas, Carroll, Sanches, Olsson; Ayew, Abraham
Head-to-Heads
Match Prediction
I expect a good atmosphere and them to play at a good tempo. We’ll have to be resolute and far more effective going forward than we were in our last away day at Huddersfield.
In Bony and Abraham they carry pretty potent threat up top. Starving them of service and stopping the likes of Renato Sanches could be key.
A repeat of the Huddersfield performance and I expect the outcome to be the same, but replicate the sort of energy and enthusiasm we showed against West Ham and i’m confident we’ll get a result.
Prediction: Swansea 1-1 Newcastle
Howay the lads!
Stu – I’m not in a job where bonuses are paid, so I can’t really say from a personal point of view.
However what I would say is, I have a big issue with players being offered bonuses for winning trophies though. I get it with the league title, but FA Cup and the other one (whatever they call it now) is only a handful of games.
Generally speaking, most players have bonuses for clean sheets, assists, goals scored and such like anyway – on top of wages that will see their next 5 generations right.
There has to be a personal & professional pride as well.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Agree sharpy, they are paid handsomely to do their job. A job which entails giving their best at all times in all games . It’s not commission based where you get a nominal wage topped up with bonuses for performances. Could understand it if wages were poor but they are not .
Ice, I hope his cake caught feckin fire mate . 👿
KIMTOON(Quote)
shame Rafa won’t make it but probably a wise decision to rest up at home.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Kim – I think it’s a good thing. Rest up & get better quicker. He gave his time up over the summer – but his health is different.
Plus, he gets to watch it on Sky – so he’ll get to appreciate the nonsense we have to put up with from these duckegg pundits!!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Watching the build up to the Burnley v Palace game and it’s ridiculous how much air time was given to De Boer being at risk of sacking. It’s 3 games in FFS!!. If he gets sacked then the bloke who brought him in should also get the bullet.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Much prefer Bein Sports to Sky
Icedog(Quote)
Of realistic signings we could have made this summer, I think Chris Woods is up there with the ones I’m most disappointed to have missed out on. I don’t know if we were actively looking at him – but we bloody should have been.
Sharpy17(Quote)
It’s palace we should be keeping an eye on. They won’t shirk at coming for Rafa. If they paid £3m for Pardew I doubt £6m will be too hard for them to stomach.
Stuart79(Quote)
You’re talking like they’re not human beings. People who earn a trillion a week would still be Human and still have the same emotions.
Bonuses are common practice in football. Bonuses for staying up, winning the league or a cup. So it’s not like it doesn’t happen everywhere else. So, under usual circumstances they’d expect a bonus. The club are playing hard ball with them. Why? We’ve been here before. The players are human and will feel like they’re being taken advantage of – regardless of how much they earn. That’s all it relavent when you consider the money the club will earn from staying up.
Bare this in mind; To stay up the club will earn circa £140m (TV, commercial revenue ect and PL money) yet they’re offering them a bonus of circa £400k. If we win the FA Cup the club will earn £1.8m yet Jabba is offering them circa £800k each! Don’t you smell something fishy?
Stuart79(Quote)
Chris Woods cost £15m! Why are you disappointed we didn’t get him? We aren’t in for players at that price.
Stuart79(Quote)
It’s basically like saying you’re disappointed we didn’t go for Neymar…
Stuart79(Quote)
Stuart – why would Rafa be interested in going to Palace exactly? Graveyard of managers . . .
georgio(Quote)
Stu – yeah and the point Kim & I are making is the fact that the players will feel like they are being taken advantage of that is wrong.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stu – coz £15m is a realistic fee for what our transfer remit should be. We’ve paid out £12m for Shelvey, Townsend, Gayle and Ritchie – so £15m for Woods isn’t unrealistic – so that’s why I’m disappointed.
I think he would fit the Rafa system perfectly.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stu – Neymar went for £200m – when have we ever came close to totalling that figure in an entire window?. So basically it’s not like saying that at all.
Sharpy17(Quote)
It was never at all likely we would spend £15m on one player this summer. So we had as much chance of signing Neymar as we had of signing Wood.
Stuart79(Quote)
That’s completely irrelevant because most humans are the same. Most footballers would feel the same regardless of their wages. It’s all relative.
Stuart79(Quote)
Am hearing Murphy might be getting. Start today..
Stuart79(Quote)
Newcastle XI vs Swansea: Elliot, Clark, Lascelles, Gamez, Manquillo, Hayden, Ritchie, Merino, Murphy, Perez, Joselu
Stuart79(Quote)
Murphy in for Atsu and Gamaz in too
KIMTOON(Quote)
Stu – we’ve paid similar fees in previous windows – so Woods was a realistic option had the club spent money – the fact they didn’t and we missed out is disappointing.
Neymar was never an option, and even if the club did spend – his fee would never be in our budget.
Sharpy17(Quote)
will be interesting to see how the pundits chat about us today, they must know Rafa will be watching. 😉
KIMTOON(Quote)
Stu – I don’t care, I don’t feel sorry for them or feel they are being taken advantage of. The poor sods in SD or other retail outlets who are on a minimum wage or nominal flat rate wage and get set ridiculous targets to hit for a fairly low bonus in comparison to the money they’ve made for the company – they are the ones I feel are getting taken advantage of.
Those who are struggling to pay the bills on a house to the same value of some of these players WEEKLY wage – that’s who I sympathise with.
Not someone being offered an additional £1m for winning the 5-6 games of a Cup run.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Pards is on sky today, doing Burnley v Palace, is he doing us too ?
KIMTOON(Quote)
wow how did Dann miss that 😯
KIMTOON(Quote)
Lee Ryder Retweeted
Liverpool FCVerified account @LFC · 3h3 hours ago
More
Replying to @NUFC @rafabenitezweb
We wish you a speedy recovery, Rafa.
Class tweet 😎
KIMTOON(Quote)
Interesting to see how good this Sanches fella is.
Stuart79(Quote)
He’s the second coming according to Merse & co 🙄
KIMTOON(Quote)
Well I hope our game is better than that one ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Surprises all round. Murphy and Gamez. Sanches starting. Very surprised. HTL!
georgio(Quote)
HWTL
KIMTOON(Quote)
Be interesting to see how Gamez handles the left back spot. Not sure why Atsu is dropped but happy to see Murphy get a start. We paid a lot for him, he needs to produce
I think Abrahams is the danger for us today. I bet he scores… I’m going 2-1 to us. ?
Dubai Toon(Quote)
That’s why sky keep showing us, lively fans away and at home
KIMTOON(Quote)
FK conceded already, way to go lads
KIMTOON(Quote)
Open game so far
Stuart79(Quote)
very open
KIMTOON(Quote)
Bleeding hell! Are we playing One tackle one yellow?
Stuart79(Quote)
Yellow for Hayden, that’s him on a tightrope all game now then. Ref doesn’t let much go does he
KIMTOON(Quote)
This Ref is mental.
shamrock(Quote)
I really dont rate Manquillo.
shamrock(Quote)
I’ve been more impressed with Gamez, Sham, when I’ve seen him.
Why isn’t Fer getting a yellow there?
Stuart79(Quote)
so Fer gets a talking to but no card
KIMTOON(Quote)
Yeah Gamez steady so far. Manquillo needs to be careful when he bear hugs Swansea players in our box…
shamrock(Quote)
That was a great throw by Gamez.
shamrock(Quote)
What a save that was
KIMTOON(Quote)
Alan Smith “Always a danger for Swansea that Newcastle might get back into the game.” Its 0-0!
Also how on earth has he saved that?!!!
Stuart79(Quote)
How did that not go in?!
shamrock(Quote)
Merino should be booked for that. Why didn’t he stay on his feet? He was through
Stuart79(Quote)
I cant stand diving.
shamrock(Quote)
was sure that was a pen but he dived, was through too silly sod
KIMTOON(Quote)
Manquillo is ****.
shamrock(Quote)
Loving Jersey loo up top like.
Perez has been anon so far again for me. Get him out and either put Shelvey in that midfield or get Gayle up with Jersey loo for me.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Good stop Rob
KIMTOON(Quote)
Didnt know Perez was playing!
Hayden mucked up there.
shamrock(Quote)
This is a proper game.
shamrock(Quote)
Hayden needs to get new studs in
Stuart79(Quote)
That was just an accident.
shamrock(Quote)
Yeah he is looking suspect today.
shamrock(Quote)
Haven’t the FA brought new rules in about retrospective diving?
Stuart79(Quote)
I know it was under consideration Stu. Dont know if its in yet but I support it.
shamrock(Quote)
This could go either way, we’ve had a good go so far
KIMTOON(Quote)
I think we will be on 10 men soon if we dont control ourselves a bit Kim.
shamrock(Quote)
Good game so far.
Stuart79(Quote)
Someone needs to sort out Ayew, been a bloody menace, hasn’t stopped running.
KIMTOON(Quote)
Perez did well just then.
Gamez, Joselu, Murphy and Ritchie playing well.
Manquillo and Hayden playing badly.
shamrock(Quote)
I’d be thinking if Shelvey for Hayden as he’s on a yellow and this ref is a bit inconsistent.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – I think it could only be reviewed if the decision was given or the player booked.
Coz the ref let it go they won’t review it – but he can pack that **** in!!.
I lost my **** coz you’re right, he had done the hard bit and got through. Had he stayed on his feet he had a shot on goal or could have squared it to Perez to tap in.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sham, Had we got a pen from that dive, Merino could be facing retrospective ban for diving now. As you say needs to get that out his game, luckily ref wasn’t sure so didn’t give it or red card him.
KIMTOON(Quote)
re the dive, merino was grabbed by the arm, so I think that’s why he wasn’t given a yellow for diving. Not a pen though. Silly, as someone said, he was through and then it’s an easy shot on goal. These twats on Bein drive me nuts… monkeys heed and Jason Mackateer are the guests… both ex mackems… alongside Keys and Grey, *** what a team to comment on a toon game.
Monkeys heed says Merino should’ve been sent off…
So far so good .. Is Perez on the pitch? I don’t think I heard his name once… get him off and Gayle on…
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Pundits mostly think Swansea were the better side first half
Erm nope
KIMTOON(Quote)
Sham – Manquillo kind of epitomises the issues with a paltry budget. You have to spread your wedge so thinly that you have to compromise in areas. He’s a compromise in my opinion who might get better, but might not.
Stuart79(Quote)
Nice to see some honesty from Mawson. Merino take note.
shamrock(Quote)
that yellow for the high boot, just makes the one on mbemba one even more frustrating now.
KIMTOON(Quote)
I suppose by the letter of the law Ritchie should have gone then.
Stuart79(Quote)
Yep.
shamrock(Quote)