Preston North End v Newcastle United: Pre-match ramblings

Andy The Magpie

This weekend, Rafa’s Magpies make the three hour journey down the M6 to take on a Preston North End side no doubt wounded from their 6-0 Cupset midweek. In what was firmly expected to be a much tighter game, a vibrant Newcastle side put 10 man Preston to the sword to book an EFL last 8 match-up against Hull City.

And now, with a rematch looming, I feel the dynamics of Saturday’s contest will be completely different to that of Tuesday’s win for four reasons:

  1. Home advantage for Preston (the obvious one)
  2. The size of Deepdale’s pitch
  3. Complacency
  4. Selection headaches abound

It hasn’t been long since the last time NUFC had a cup/league double header – against Wolves last month in fact, where both sides claimed one scalp a-piece. We were a mess, if truth be told in our first game against Wolves but dramatically improved in the midweek outing to progress further in the EFL Cup.

This time around we were stunning in our first match against Preston North End, so will our second match-up be ill fated in a reversal of what happened against Wolves?

The main conduit that will help Rafa’s men pick up all three points on Saturday will without doubt be the ability to switch up our style of play to suit a smaller pitch such as Deepdale’s. Looking back to midweek, playing a 10 men side on a pitch the size of SJP is small fry for the likes of Jonjo Shelvey who can zip the ball around with ease. So the question is, what do we do when faced with cramped conditions against a side desperate for redemption? The answer – fight fire, with fire.

With many of Newcastle’s slow starters of the season i.e. Perez and Diame now starting to find their feet also, Rafa certainly has some tough decisions to make this evening. But I feel this match is made for our more guttural midfield and attacking fighters. Whilst not expected to start, target man Daryl Murphy may be a savvy inclusion in Benitez’s squad should he wish to bring him on to see the game out with 20 minutes to go.

As good as Clark has been this season, I’d favour the slightly more physical Mbemba to line up along side our skipper. Elsewhere I feel the front two picks themselves with both Mitrovic and Gayle being partial to plenty of goals recently.

Preferred line-up (4-4-2)

GK: Darlow

CB: Mbemba

CB: Lascelles

LB: Dummet

RB: Yedlin

CM: Shelvey

CM: Diame

RM: Ritchie

LM: Atsu

CF: Mitrovic

CF: Gayle

 

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259 thoughts on “Preston North End v Newcastle United: Pre-match ramblings”

  1. Thanks Andy, Yes they won’t want a repeat of Tuesday night and will make plenty of changes to ensure that’s not the case. Can’t see Rafa going with two up front away from home and I’m expecting Gayle to start up front with Darlow returning in goal. Sel’s actually did alright on Tuesday , apparently he pulled off a couple of fine saves, so I’m pleased for the lad. Diame and Mitro both will of gained confidence too from a couple of good displays on Tuesday. Rafa has a selection headache doesn’t he, rather him than me. I reckon a tight win for us, there will be no repeat of Tuesday ,I’m certain of that much.

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  2. there seems to be a lot of talk about the small pitch at deepdale making it harder for us on saturday but Newcastle’s pitch & PNE’s pitch are virtually the same size

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  3. JOHN AGAR:
    there seems to be a lot of talk about the small pitch at deepdale making it harder for us on saturday but Newcastle’s pitch & PNE’s pitch are virtually the same size

    didnt know that,not something we look at normally

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  4. JOHN AGAR:
    there seems to be a lot of talk about the small pitch at deepdale making it harder for us on saturday but Newcastle’s pitch & PNE’s pitch are virtually the same size

    welcome to the blog,dont think ive saw you comment before??

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  5. Don’t think the size of pitch will make much difference, it’s players attitude that will make the real difference. If they go into it thinking it’ll be a breeze after Tuesday they’ll get a rude awakening.

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  10. Cheers Ice for the injury update. Rafa has played every game that I can think of with a holding midfielder (could be wrong) so I doubt he would set up like AMF says. This is the perfrect opportunity to play Mitro and either Perez or Diame in the hole. It would not be strictly 4-4-2 but sort of is. My team:

    Darlow

    Anita Lascelles Clark Dummett

    Ritchie Shelvey Hayden Gouffy

    Diame Mitro

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  11. For once we don’t have a mid-week game so I don’t think Rafa will be as likely to rest players like Shelvey, Ritchie and Dummett. Who knows though, as Rafa’s team are very hard to predict.

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  12. I am not assuming that we will beat Hull, but I will speculate on who we might face if we do. It will most likely be Arsenal, Liverpool or Man U. It seems very strange to say but of those you would probably want Man U as Jose doesn’t seem to have figured out his best team or where to play some of them. They have also spunked a lot of money on players that don’t seem to fit/were not as good as advertised.

    We get all of the Juventus games and I could never figure out Pogba. He seemed a very good player to me but never looked world class. People say he is young but at 23 he should be the finished article as he plays midfield. Some defenders develop later but what you see is what you get with a midfielder who has played regularly since he was 18.

    With Juve he would show flashes of brilliance but not enough to justify his price tag. He would also disappear from games for half an hour and you wouldn’t know he was on the pitch. Contrast that with the likes of Ronaldo, Messi and Suarez. You might say he is not in their class but that is my point, he is not in their league and yet is the most expensive player ever.

    I think he is supposed to be box to box but he doesn’t really track back and I could name 20 PL players who are better at tackling. I think he will turn out to be closer to Charlie Adam than Steven Gerrard. Hopefully I am right 🙂 I am not going full on Rooney and saying he holds back the team, I am just saying I think he was overhyped and I said that before they bought him.

    PS: I think Juve got a replacement who is better in Pjanic.

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  13. Well it’s Brighton V Norwich tomorrow so points to be lost so.ewhere and Huddersfield have a tricky away tie to Fulham, so if all goes well and the lads don’t get over confident then we could end the day potentially 4 or 5 points clear if Norwich win or draw and Fulham hold Huddersfield.

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  14. Sorry to go on about Man U but I see many more of their games than ours now that we are in the Championship. I like to watch them suffer.

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  15. And reading their whiny little ***** fans on the comments page of the Guardian etc is so much fun after so many years of self-important, sanctimonious, self-congratulatory drivel from the glory hunters.

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  16. Eric Sykes:
    And reading their whiny little ***** fans on the comments page of the Guardian etc is so much fun after so many years of self-important, sanctimonious, self-congratulatory drivel from the glory hunters.

    are you saying your more of a meat pie type of guy rarther than a prawn cocktail lol

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  17. it will be tough.

    Hoping Mitro and Diame to start with Gayle being out
    I’d like to see Perez start as he’s in a decent run of form but not sure who he’d replace.

    I’m going for a 1-1

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  19. Eric you have the team spot on in my opinion…

    Darlow
    Anita Lascelles Clark Dummett
    Ritchie Shelvey Hayden Gouffy
    Diame
    Mitro

    0-1 away win for the toon in a really hard fought game. The manager will have them really fired up, they’ll come out flying at us…. we’ll weather the early storm and pick them off… Ritchie with the goal.

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  20. Yep, that line up looks good to me too. Possibly Yedlin in at RB but Rafa is a big fan of Anita so he will probably start so yeah I think you’ve got it spot on! Gouffy to come in due to his defensive qualities, Mo preferred to Perez away from home. Narrow away win for the toon!

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  21. Said on the last thread that if the Mackems lose against Arsenal it would be the worst start ever to a Premier League season.

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  28. Prem agree, better the goal difference the better, worth that extra point at the end of what could be a tight contest come may.

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  30. I don’t want to gloat at Sunderland until we have arrived back in the PL and consolidated our position. If Sunderland happen to be struggling in the Championship by that point then great, but at the moment they have a better recent record than us and we can hardly laugh whilst we sit a division beneath them. Next season though… ?

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  31. Can’t agree with you on the Mackems Sham. 2 points from 9 games is worth gloating about especially with their antics over the past few years with the uber-gloating about the derbies and the fly by at SJP etc.

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  32. Shamrock, spot on. We batter Preston reserves and beat Brentford, and sneak a win at home against the mighty Norwich. The current makkem team would beat us anyway, we still have a lot to do.

    The crowing starts when we’re back amongst the big boys and Rafa has again done his magic in the transfer market.

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  33. They are as stable as bloody jelly lads, c’mon we would beat them easily cause we are the team with confidence right now.

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  37. Mackems 1 down and have looked abject. Their plight is summed up by the return of an 87 year old John O’shea. Isn’t Kevin Phillips a free agent? Not really crowing about our position at all, just satisfied that the Mackems are getting their just desserts.

    I am worried about the Collymore article and another by Craig Hope in The Mail that are suggesting the job is already done at NUFC. I still think we will be champions but we have a knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory so it always sets off alarm bells when someone bigs up NUFC. Hopefully a win today will settle my nerves. 2-0 to the Toon.

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  38. Pickford has been the Mackems’ best player which sums up their season so far just like Elliot being our player of the season summed up McClaren’s reign.

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  39. Thing is , even if we fail to go up it doesn’t alter the fact that , that lot are effin awful and do not deserve their PL status imo.

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  40. I read a Mail article yesterday saying Mourinho is miserable living out of a suitcase in Manchester. They also mentioned that everywhere he goes he is constantly being asked for selfies. That would get old very quickly for me. Lucky he and most footballers are narcissists then.

    Can you imagine walking down the road and being stopped by street urchins every 5 yards? Last time I was in Manchester that’s all that seemed to be about in the City Centre. It was like Eldon Square on a Saturday afternoon x10.

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  43. Scum level in a game that should be out of sight really. Now, can they hang on for a point or more.

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  44. Oh well. They now have the record of the worst start to a PL season. They just gave a stat here that Sunderland have been ahead in PL games for a total of 46 minutes this season.

    4-1 goes from bad to worse 😛

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  45. Another stat. Since Sunderland got promoted they have failed to reach 40 points in 6 of their 9 seasons in the PL. It is appropriate that it is Halloween because I am watching the living dead.

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  48. Christ what a **** display from the Scum, does anyone really think we couldn’t beat that shower! If we can’t compete with that then we may as well give up now.

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  49. kimtoon:
    Christ what a **** display from the Scum, does anyone really think we couldn’t beat that shower! If we can’t compete with that then we may as well give up now.

    i agree Kim but we know how derbys go at times,i hate them normally 😐

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  50. icedog:
    would have liked to see Atsu fitted in somewhere because of his pace but Rafa knows best

    Agree.

    Has Yedlin unseated Anita in Rafa’s mind? That’s two starts this week for him

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  51. Sunderland are now 196 million in debt. They just converted 70 million to a 8.5% loan with an American Insurance Company. That’s about double their dead beat supporters would pay on a mortgage. Their wages were 77 mil last year which is 76% of turnover, 2nd in the PL. They are in trouble when they go down because almost all of their money comes from TV and the parachute payments will not save them as they have nobody to sell. At least we got money for the flatter-to-deceive players.

    A Chinese investor would first have to pay off their debt then be left with a **** squad being paid a fortune. Without immediate promotion to the PL they are indeed the walking dead. I can see them doing a Leeds or Portsmouth and Ellis Short surely cannot have infinite patience. He would have to double down to have any chance of saving them.

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  55. Eric, there is no limit on the amount of gloating which can be dished out mate 🙂 Give it large !
    My issue was with everyone getting all hormonally aroused cos we have cuffed some bog average championship teams and maybe getting a bit ahead of ourselves. “Deluded” I think the rest of the non-Geordie nation world call it 🙂

    Arsenal at home and only 44k turn up at the Stadium of Plight. The rot has set in. Gannin doooooooooooooooooooooooooooon ! (That gloat was for you Eric :- )

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  58. Despite the midweek cuffing Preston have beaten Champs top teams and are no diddy’s. A draw today and we improve our position at the top.

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  59. Munich Mag:
    Despite the midweek cuffing Preston have beaten Champs top teams and are no diddy’s. A draw today and we improve our position at the top.

    Agree MM

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  60. Certainly sounds like it’s not very easy today. Suspect PNE have some early motivation due to last weeks hammering. 0-0 at half time will do and then hopefully our quality will show.

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  63. absolutely **** first half apparently. Yet we are “better than Swansea, Palace, Makkems, West Brom etc….”.
    There again, apart from the top say 6-8 big money clubs, maybe there are a lot of **** teams in the Prem ?

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  67. MM: I never said I didn’t have B&W coloured glasses. Also, my glass is usually half full except when it comes to the useless managers we have had recently. Rafa excepted of course.

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  69. The makkems might be doink, and breaking all records on the doinkness front, but no matter how well we do this season we won’t overtake them in the league table 🙂

    Life without Rafa…phew, doesn’t bear thinking about. There again Harry Redknapp or some anonymous Frenchman or Spaniard may have gotten us up at the first attempt.
    If Rafa doesn’t manage it at the first attempt, with the players and the resources he has available, he should retire or manage Tow Law club or summat 🙂

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  71. Making hard work of it today like & it’s not coz Preston are sitting back either.
    Hopefully the 2nd half will see improvement

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  72. I love the old classics, such as “what’s the difference between 5under1and and a triangle” 🙂

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  74. Prestons form hasn’t actually been bad at all, they beat Hudders 3.1, beat Norwich 1.0 beat Villa 2.0 beat Wigan 1.0 and beat Bournemouth in the league cup and drew 2.2 with Brighton

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  75. Munich Mag:
    I love the old classics, such as “what’s the difference between 5under1and and a triangle”

    a triangle has 3 points is a classic as you say mate

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