Another week, another game where we’ll be fancying our chances, with us up against a Burnley side who’ve been uncharacteristically inconsistent this season.
That said, it looks like we’ll have to do it without a few key players, with Saint-Maximin ruled out of the festive period, man of the moment Jonjo Shelvey set to miss out with a calf knock and Miguel Almiron’s ‘tight hamstring’ meaning he’s unlikely to be risked.
I had a bad feeling about the Southampton game, but Bruce’s battlers proved me wrong with a brilliant second half comeback.
Here’s hoping they can dig deep once again here in difficult circumstances and bring another good result back to Tyneside.
Predicted XI
With Lascelles and Ritchie still missing, ASM out and Shelvey and Almiron unlikely to be risked, Steve Bruce will be forced into making several changes here.
‘Joelinton out wide?’ you may ask – but Bruce dropped another clear hint in his presser that the Brazilian may be used in a new role.
Not only is Carroll impressing up top, ASM and Almiron’s absence mean we’re woefully short in wide areas, so it seems highly likely that he and Atsu play either side of big Andy.
Gayle is an option, but where does he fit? He’s not a winger but isn’t a loan striker in this system?
In midfield, Shelvey surely won’t be risked – no matter how well he’s playing. Just look what happened to Saint-Maximin when Bruce last took a chance on someone’s fitness. With that in mind, a well rested and raring to go Sean Longstaff will likely come in to partner Isaac Hayden.
In defence, Willems’ sluggish performance vs Southampton suggested he may need a rest, but with Ritchie still out we don’t have an alternative. Bruce may be tempted to bring Yedlin back in and hand Manquillo a break, but the Spaniard’s solid displays in recent weeks mean he should keep his place unless he’s fatigued or carrying a knock.
With Clark and Lascelles ruled out, it seems fairly straight forward who Bruce will start at centre-back. Schar on the right-hand side, Fernandez in the centre and Dummett on the left, with Lejeune set to be on the bench for the first time this season?
Preferred NUFC XI – (4-4-2) – Dubravka – Manquillo, Schar, Fernandez, Dummett – Atsu, Hayden, S.Longstaff, Willems – Carroll, Joelinton.
The Opposition
Here’s a few key men to watch out for in Sean Dyche’s side:
Dwight McNeil – A player we’ve been linked with both over the summer and this week (if you believe The Guardian) and one who could really hurt us if we allow him space to get good balls into the box. Burnley’s big strikers rely on good service, and McNeil’s delivery from open play and set pieces is immaculate.
Ashley Barnes – A big unit and old fashioned centre forward who’ll back in and give you a real battle. Jamaal Lascelles normally gets the better of most Premier League strikers from a physical perspective, but I remember him struggling against Barnes when we played them last season.
Chris Wood – The former Leeds striker is another big striker who’s dangerous in the air, but his finishing is also underrated, with him getting into double figures in each of his last two seasons and starting this one with 6 goals in 14 so far.
Predicted Burnley XI (4-4-2): Pope – Lotwon, Tarkowski, Mee, Pieters – Brady, Cork, Westwood, McNeil – Barnes, Wood.
Team news
Where to start!
Saint-Maximin will miss out with a hamstring injury, Shelvey (calf) and Almiron (hamstring) seem unlikely to be risked, while Bruce has also confirmed that Clark and Ki won’t be fit for this one.
Lascelles (knee) and Ritchie (ankle) remain sidelined until the new year, however Florian Lejeune is set to return to our 18-man squad for the first time since rupturing his ACL in April.
Burnley have a few injury doubts of their own. Dychye is ‘hopeful’ Ashley Barnes, Jay Rodriguez, Ashley Westwood and Phil Bardsley will return, but Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Kevin Long and Charlie Taylor are all out.
Prediction
There’s been no in between with Burnley this season.
They lost 5-0 at Spurs last week, shipped 4 against Man City in their last home game and were hammered 3-0 by Sheffield Utd not so long ago, yet their last two wins have been convincing 3-0 victories, suggesting they either concede 3, 4 or 5 or win comfortably with a clean sheet.
Recently we’ve been doing quite the opposite and building some consistency, however the core of that side looks set to be broken up ahead of this one, meaning Bruce and his fringe players will have to step up here.
Burnley need to get back on track and may be smelling blood with our injury issues in mind.
I want to say we’ll take a point, but think we’ll come unstuck here.
Prediction: Burnley 2-1 Newcastle
Howay the lads!
Well, I am about as clueless on the Burnley game as Jeremy Corbyn in an election. I will do a Monotone MIke (Owen) and say a draw.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We’ll lose, got little to offer as it is but with are better players ruled out it looks grim, much like Labours long term prospects now that so called labour voters have turned.
Will he do right by the folk of the north and the midlands who turned so easily, i hope so for all our sakes. This was about so much more than brexit but a lot of folk just had tunnel vision sadly.
Now do right by the scots and give them their independence Boris, they didn’t vote to leave .
kimtoon(Quote)
I am still looking over my shoulder at relegation but with this many points this early we are probably safe. Brucie has gone on death spirals before though – at Sunderland and Villa.
There are a couple of interesting matches. Pearson has his 1st match at Anfield. Good luck with that one. And S’ton face West Ham. That could see Pelligrini sacked. I’d prefer a draw as I want both of them to struggle.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Kim – I think it’s unfair to blame the voters, and I’m sure for many of them it wasn’t so easy to turn.
Corbyn was the wrong leader – and Labours mandate was garbage.
I’m a labour voter and found it so difficult yesterday. In the end, I favoured the idea of a 2nd referendum – and just can’t stand Johnson. But I will honestly say, if it were someone else leading the Tory’s, I could have been persuaded to go with them.
This thought that voters should stay loyal to a party is madness – they don’t stay loyal to the voter and regularly prove that. A bit like a player turning up when there’s a new contract, the politicals give a **** at election time – the rest of the time they do what they like.
Labour have a lot of work to do to fix their party – but they’ve got 5 years now, coz if the conservatives don’t look after the swing voters, they’ll just as quickly move back.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Not from the SNP Sharpy. I think that ship has sailed and that is Labours only hope for a majority.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
The talking head pundits on TV are a bunch of pretenders. They must have seen this coming. The SNP sweep of Scotland was easy to call and it was also easy to then predict that Labour would not win. I knew it and I was only there for 2 weeks and try to avoid politics most of the time. Who wants to watch a jackass like Trump, or now Flouncy Boris!
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – I think the SNP votes were largely down to Brexit (actually lots of votes were cast with Brexit as the main focus, but we are talking Scotland). I don’t see Labour getting them back at all now.
Now the Tory’s have a choice, they either give them the chance to break away and stay in the EU, or they send some more money their way to make Brexit work for them too.
The forecasting polls actually suggest that if they had an independence referendum, there would be a majority to stay with us. But who knows on the day of the vote?! – and I’m sure Johnson could work his magic and f@ck that up.
I’m not too worried about the deal for leaving Europe, it’s Johnson climbing up Trumps ar$e that worries me most.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy, i actually don’t think Corbyn wanted to be leader, he strikes me as happier to be a protester .
He isn’t a guy i find easy to warm too tbh, but i think a lot of what’s been said about him is untrue.
If you watched him in the debates he never once stooped to name calling like the others did. He has tried to sort out anti semitism in the party to be fair to him but the Tories have that problem too as well as Islamophobia yet not as widely reported by the mainly right wing media.
I quite like Wes Streeting, he is young but more center than the corbynista lot are. Straight talking guy who is articulate and from what i can see a true labour man .
Like you i am really worried about Boris and Trumps relationship and what happens there, we need his hands off our NHS and they can say those papers are nonsense all they like but if there is nowt going on why so many meetings if all parts are off the table ?
At present 18% is already privatised started by Major continued by Blair and the tories for past 10 years, so i guess it will continue.
As long as i can still get care and meds for Lewis without going into debt in years to come i will be content- ish.
Want to see more jobs , social housing built, food banks gone and rejuvenation of run down high streets and areas long since forgotten now.
Not sure how much i will be able to follow todays game as Lew poorly, having a nap now so popped on here for a bit.
kimtoon(Quote)
It doesn’t happen very often does three straight wins and the odds are probably against it but somehow I have a sneaky feeling we’ll win this one.
The politics are breaking into football chat I see. Interesting. Best for all to get over it. Five more years of Tory misrule is coming our way.
georgio(Quote)
Kim
Corbyn DID want to be leader of the Labour party- – he would not have stood in the leadership election if he did not want to be leader.
sidekick(Quote)
I’d let Scotland have their independence referendum. In fact I’d go one further, I’d let the rest of the UK have a vote on it to. They’d **** it. The sooner we are shot of the SNP the better.
Stuart79(Quote)
so big AL has been conned out of 4 mil 🙄
icedog(Quote)
Watching Soccer Saturday and it’s on about Man Utd young players. Why is it they have have been able to bring though the likes of Beckham, Scholes, Neville, ****, Giggs, Rashford, Lindgard and no Mason Greenwood and we struggle to get one or two?
Stuart79(Quote)
standard of coaching mate,simples
icedog(Quote)
Well this will be a challenging game I think. Looks like Joelinton player wider and Carroll up front. Let’s see how that works.
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Agree mate plus it’s rare to get a clutch of such talent like that. Man u will never be what they were under Fergie for a very long time. Every big team has it’s high days and low days, it’s Liverpools turn again to be in the limelight , City are on the wane .
kimtoon(Quote)
Anyway back to us, gonna be tough today, a loss i reckon.
HWTL
kimtoon(Quote)
Good God this is boring. Two teams who are just lumping long balls up front. It’s like MOTD from 80’s
Stuart79(Quote)
Horrible first half. Dire footy… ?
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Yep, hard watch
kimtoon(Quote)
A young player who has reached the Liverpool level in the 2019 summer transfer period is continuing to receive the attention of no other CLUB.
In the 2019 summer transfer period, Liverpool was once known to recruit a young star for West Bromwich Albion, Rayhaan Tulloch. In the end the summer market was closed that European champions had no more specific moves, but not so the name Rayhaan Tulloch dropped “hot” when the winter transfer market was close to the opening day.
bongdaplus(Quote)
My cable TV is down and I am definitely not listening to John Anderson on Radio Newcastle who could make the 1966 WC Final sound depressing,
Still, it really does seem a bit of a bore from the comments on here.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
According to the Daily Mail, there are currently a series of Premier League and Championship teams interested in the promising striker of West Brom. The Rayhaan Tulloch was said to have caught the eyes of both Southampton, Aston Villa, Bournemouth and Newcastle United, while Leeds United, Stoke City and Wigan Athletic also offered an English U18. Even as the CLUB played in League One (3rd UK), Sunderland also counted the ability to borrow West Brom’s players in Jan.
lich thi dau euro(Quote)
ffs
kimtoon(Quote)
Liverpool have won 26 of their last 27 PL games. Has that ever happened before? I don’t think even Paisley’s teams did that and although the media would have a collective w@nk over Fergie’s Man U I am sure they never did.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Gayle on now, Jetro off
kimtoon(Quote)
Not a shot on target yet with Carroll and Gayle getting their chance today – so none of our forwards know where the opposition goal is.
If we don’t improve our front players, I predict we will get dragged into a relegation battle.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Now Gayle can’t finish either, deary me
kimtoon(Quote)
I would have scored that ffs!
Stuart79(Quote)
And that’s that.
kimtoon(Quote)
What a f.ucking shocker… that was terrible terrible football. Manquillo did quite well and Carroll tried hard but that was painful. ??????
Dubai Toon(Quote)
NEW THREAD
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2019/12/14/burnley-1-0-newcastle-toothless-toon-miss-big-guns-badly-in-terrible-game-at-turf-moor/
Missed big guns badly. But zero shots on target vs a beatable Burnley isn’t close to good enough.
Olly Hawkins(Quote)