Fighting on multiple fronts – Newcastle United v Preston North End Preview

Andy The Magpie

We’re back at St James’ tonight as Rafa Benitez’s men go for the EFL Cup jugular against Preston North End. With our 1st spot in the Championship table getting more cemented by the week, a very winnable round of 16 match-up in the League Cup tonight could lead the Toon to fighting (and winning) on multiple fronts this season.

Elsewhere in the competition’s fixtures, Premier League big boys Liverpool and Spurs lock horns as well as Manchester rivals City and United. This essentially means, should we progress to the last 8 this evening, that two of these aforementioned four sides will already be avoided.

With the likes of Hull City, Leeds United and Bristol City also in the fray, a healthy dollop of lady luck in the quarter final draw could give us a very charterable path to the final at Wembley.

Dare we dream of a cup and league double? Very much so, but let’s get tonight out the way first and see where we’re at when the elusive last 8 draw is made.

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153 thoughts on “Fighting on multiple fronts – Newcastle United v Preston North End Preview”

  2. I doubt it will be this easy on Saturday considering this was their reserve team and they were down to ten men but it will be pretty difficult for them to have confidence that they can beat us after this.

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  6. Wow!!! That’s was emphatic!!!.

    I’m really pleased for Mitrovic & Diame. A brace a piece will do their confidence the world of good.

    That just shows how much we have improved our squad this summer and must send the likes of Ashley & Charnley a big message!!!. 10 changes and we can still turn a team over like that ?.

    Who’s next?! ?

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  7. 6-0. I’ll take that like. Well chuffed … hard to pick a MoM, so many of the ream played well. I think Ritchie or Mitro for me.

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  8. Great stuff Sharpy. Goals for Mitro and Diame is very reassuring, as is the defensive performance of the likes of Selz, Hanley etc. Proper depth. Lovely.

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  9. Shamrock:
    Great stuff Sharpy. Goals for Mitro and Diame is very reassuring, as is the defensive performance of the likes of Selz, Hanley etc. Proper depth. Lovely.

    Sham – we are moving the ball round so much move crisply and smoothly now – is that coz we have a poor opponent or is it life under Rafa?.
    I think a bit of concern creeping in was – are we over reliant on Gayle & Shelvey? – well I think tonight showed we’ve no need to be.
    That’s one of the best performances at SJP in a long time.

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  10. Yeah I know, but I have to say it. If that was Pards and we were 2-0 up at half time he would have sat on the lead and thrown a couple of defenders on. Rafa is usually safety first but knows when to open it up. A good night for the kids, what with the cheap tickets and all.

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  11. I really hope that Rafa pairs Mitro and Gayle on Saturday. A lot of us have wanted to see it because of Shelvey’s delivery, Gayle’s pace and Mitro’s ability to do those chest passes and head-ons.

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  12. Eric Sykes:
    I really hope that Rafa pairs Mitro and Gayle on Saturday. A lot of us have wanted to see it because of Shelvey’s delivery, Gayle’s pace and Mitro’s ability to do those chest passes and head-ons.

    Eric – he’ll have to try something different mate, coz I reckon they will go damage limitation at the weekend after tonight

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  13. Well I was very impressed tonight and their reserve team included the likes of recent Man U keeper Lindegaard. They made changes but so did we. It just shows how strong our squad is and must be giving headaches to Rafa after that. We are starting to play with a swagger and confidence that was unimaginable last year. This result must even make the Premier league clubs take notice. 😛

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  14. Mitro showed great composure for his 2nd goal and also when he put Diame through (the sitter Diame missed). Is this a sign that he is starting to think before he acts?

    Ritchie’s penalty was a better.

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  17. It’s sad we went down because I reckon this squad in the Prem would have finished about 15th this season.

    DJG:
    Well I was very impressed tonight and their reserve team included the likes of recent Man U keeper Lindegaard. They made changes but so did we. It just shows how strong our squad is and must be giving headaches to Rafa after that.We are starting to play with a swagger and confidence that was unimaginable last year.This result must even make the Premier league clubs take notice.?

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  18. Shamrock:
    Mitro showed great composure for his 2nd goal and also when he put Diame through (the sitter Diame missed). Is this a sign that he is starting to think before he acts?

    Ritchie’s penalty was a better.

    Sham – I was thinking that last night. His reaction to that goal was what you’d expect from him, but I wouldn’t want to take that away.
    I thought his pass to Diame was brilliant team play when you consider how many games he’s played this season and he’d be desperate to make his point.
    He and Ritchie had a mini ding dong over that pen as well if you saw. Usually you’d expect him to go off on one, but he accepted it (eventually) and was one of the first over to Ritchie when he scored.

    I was getting a little worried at his lack of game time & his semi disappearance, but it looks like Rafa may have been working on his mental side of the game – coz let’s be right, that has been the only thing holding him back.

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  19. It was a good game from Mitro last night especially his second. I’d like to see him start – but it would have to be at the expense of Gayle. Nice choice for Rafa.
    Hayden was superb too. Any news on Colback?

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  20. Sounds like Yedlin had another good game. Glad to see him settling in, but where’s Lazaar? I’ve already pretty much written off Gamez

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  21. ATM: we are better than Hull, Mackems, Swans, Bournmouth, Watford, Boro West Brom, Palace (yes, Troy) so I think we would stay up.

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  22. I’m not sure we can claim to be better than any PL side at the moment. We are not being tested at their level and have no proof we are any better than them. Bournemouth are doing well. I do think we will finish top 13 next season with a signing or two that being g a bit more quality to the squad. But that’s next season. For now we need to concentrate on the Championship…

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  23. Agree Shamrock. You and me are the only ones that thought we would walk this league anyway. Most said… it is gonna be a struggle, toughest league in the world, you have your Barnsleys and your Brightons and your Derbys…

    We will walk it. 100-105 points. Never less than 100!!!

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  24. That was a true Geordie smack-down. 6-0. A brilliant performance for the home supporters. It’s looking very good now but don’t get overconfident Eric and Shamrock! That’s what Rafa has got to fight against as well. He’s got huge competition for places in the starting 11 now. Can we get Gayle and Mitro on the pitch at the same time? Away from home that could be 4-4-1-1 I suppose or even 4-2-3-1. It will be interesting to see how Preston approach the next match as well. A much better team than they showed yesterday.

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  25. Watched the game live on TV yesterday and it was a brilliant 6-0 win for sure, with a lot to be happy about.
    At the same time we cuffed Preston reserves side, I’m not going overboard at all after that win, we’ve still got a long way to go.
    Better than Hull, Mackems, Swans, Bournmouth, Watford, Boro West Brom, Palace Eric Sykes ? I like your optimism mate 🙂 We’ll see where we are in the next round when we play a Premier League heavyweight, then we can crow.. We are way too reliant on Shelvey at the moment, and the majority of Premier League defenders would have a lumbering Mitro in there back pocket…. (still love the bloke though 🙂 )

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  30. We are a much better side under Rafa but I wouldn’t go overboard about getting over 100 points just yet. If Mitro and Perez score in the league along with Gayle we might be well nigh unstoppable but I haven’t seen it yet mates.

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  32. I don’t think we will match Hoots’ record. Will be happy enough with a top spot finish. Going to be an interesting draw. We are never in the latter rounds of the Cups!

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  33. City & Chelsea out – if we can avoid Arsenal & Liverpool from this draw we stand a good chance of a trip to Wembley in our promotion season … imagine that ???

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  34. A lot of people saying it was only Preston ‘reserves’. They made 9 changes. We made 7 changes. Should it not be even more impressive that our ‘reserves’ could pull off such a result?

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  39. Happy enough with Hull away like. Would have been happier at Home, but I reckon we can go there and get a result for sure.

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  41. Definitely better than facing West Ham, Man Too, Arsenal or S’oton. Gives us an idea in how far we have come these past few months as well.

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  42. We could have only had Leeds at home as a better draw, really. I wouldn’t have fancied Arsenal, Liverpool, Man U or S’ton away. We will have to beat two of them if we want to win the thing.

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  45. Very kind draw lads, I reckon this cup has a Toon v pool final written all over it what with the Rafa connection.

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  46. I wanted Leeds at home. My second choice was Hull at home but we’ve got a away tie. The last time we won away at Hull we won 3-0 with John Carver at the helm. We also had a terrible defence back then Williamson and Colocini, both well past it. So I have more hope now. Liverpool got the easy draw. We will get a big team in the semi’s.

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  50. bad scenes at the West ham game last night, still always likely with two sets of minging fans who hate one another like they do I suppose.

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  51. kimtoon:
    bad scenes at the West ham game last night, still always likely with two sets of minging fans who hate one another like they do I suppose.

    Kim – just been watching it on SSN this morning.
    Tony Gayle was saying they aren’t paying enough on policing the ground – putting the stewards in real danger last night.
    It’s a joke really. They get the stadium for nowt, they should have a few bob left over to keep fans safe like.
    Mind you, they were also saying the WH fans were fighting each other the other week.

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  54. kimtoon:
    Sharpy, West ham owners are skinflints, rubbish owners, rubbish team and rubbish fans imo.

    Too right Kim. Got it for virtually nowt but can’t fork out for decent security. It’s been going on since the start or the season. I’ve never heard 1 fan embracing the new stadium. It seemed a deal too good to be true. Now turning into a bad move

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  55. This may be a bit controversial but is the EFL (League) Cup actually worth winning? I know it is a day out at Wembley, but what is the status of this Cup? The prize money is 100,000 pounds, or one third of the amount a slow potato playing for Man U earns in a week.

    Recent(ish) winners have been:

    Swansea 2013
    Birmingham 2011
    Boro 2004 (under McClaren no less)
    Sheffield Wednesday 1991
    Luton Town 1988

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  56. I think Brum were relegated the same year they won the League Cup. And if McCleish and McClaren can win the thing, doesn’t that automatically make it a tin pot competition?

    Having said that, it is a slight step up from LDV Vans, Texaco Cup or Johnson Paints Trophies.

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  57. A cup is a cup mate, given how long we been starved of one I ain’t fussy where it comes from. 🙂

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  58. The EFL Trophy gets you into Europe, right? However, any Champions League teams seem to not be bothered. Look at the teams Man Cuty, Spurs and Arsenal put out. Can anyone even remember who won this thing last year? Did anybody on here watch the final?

    It has got to the point where the current big clubs don’t really care. Hell, Arsenal don’t even rate the FA Cup any more. Their fans think it is a wasted season if they win the FA Cup and finish second in the league. Only the CL and PL seem to matter any more apart from the route into Europe. That Rafa won the Europa League at Chelsea is an afterthought, an asterisk in his career there which still got him the sack.

    I suppose it all comes down to money in the end now.

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  61. We have not won a major trophy for 50+ years. Winning the EFL would mean a) people can’t use that stat against us any more, b) we would be back in Europe and c) it would break a hoodoo on the club and create a winners mentality, paving the way for more success. It would.also send a message that Rafa means business with us and we would attract slightly better players.

    I agree it does not hold the same status as other competitions, but it still counts and anybody that looks at the record books for 2016/2017 would see Newcastle United listed as one of the season’s Champions. That’s more than attractive to me! Long way to go before that’s a reality mind.

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  62. Sham: I agree with everything you say, even the stuff about getting into Europe. Remember Pards said that hurt us which he was right about as Ashley was not giving him any money to compete in another competition. I see also that you say we haven’t won anything major in more than 50 years. Be careful, I was once given a dressing down from Bris Vegas for discounting the Fairs Cup. I did so on the entry requirements rather than who we played in it. All you had to do to get in was hold a trade show in your city.

    The main thing that going after the league cup would show is a change in attitude. I think management actually said in one of their fans forums that the cups were not a priority and would not be targeted. In our current state and with most of the best managers in the world in the PL, a cup, any cup should be a priority. It will be our best way into Europe. There is so much money at the top of the PL that even Liverpool with their vast resources and pull couldn’t get into Europe through the league.

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  63. I also have an issue with branding. It is typical of the idiots at the league or FA to mess up something so simple. Call it the League Cup again, or get a sponsor again and name it after them. Don’t call it a stupid acronym that will get lost with all of the others and that hardly anybody will use. When I was looking for information on it I googled “league cup” because I couldn’t remember what it was called now.

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  66. Shamrock:
    Eric well said re; branding. It’s ridiculous!

    Indeed it is, it’s actually quite confusing now cause you have the EFL CUP and the EFL Trophy 🙄

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  68. Just to be in the quarter final of a domestic cup after years of futility is very encouraging to me. And Rafa has done it in his first full season. I would love a piece of new silverware in the trophy cabinet! 😀

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  69. Let’s give Hull a good thumping to wake them up! I know Rafa will field a strong side for that match. We’ve got the squad depth to do it now. I’m very disappointed with the way Murphy’s season is going. How did he get injured and how much longer will he be out?

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  70. G2: you’re a hard man to please. We score 6 without Murphy and still you want more. You will be wanting Haidara and Aarons to stay fit for the rest of the season next 🙂

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  71. That’s right Eric mate! Get those lads fit Rafa! We’ll need everyone fit to win both domestic cups and the league! 😆

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  73. Has anyone ever won both domestic cups in the same season? An interesting question for the stats fanatics out there.

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  75. I don’t think the double domestic cup has ever been done. Something new for Rafa to go for!!!

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