After a disappointing result against Blackburn Rovers at the weekend, Rafa Benitez takes his Newcastle side to Premier League side Hull City tonight in the hope of progressing to the EFL Cup semi-finals.
Changes to the line-up are expected, especially in the wake of Saturday’s defeat. So just how should Newcastle line-up?
Ultimately that is a decision for Rafa Benitez, however, personally I would like to see the following:
GK: Matz Sels – Sels had a mixed bag at the start of the season, making a mistake in the Aston Villa game which saw him dropped. However, he was excellent in the 6-0 win over Preston and with this being an EFL Cup tie, it is likely that Sels will return to the Newcastle goal.
RB: DeAndre Yedlin – Usually, I would prefer to see Anita there, however his energy may be needed in midfield. Yedlin also links up well with Matt Ritchie and has recently played in the Premier League.
CB: Jamaal Lascelles- the captain was missed at the weekend and surely can’t miss out again.
CB: Ciaran Clark – He has had an excellent partnership with Lascelles this season and Chancel Mbemba did little to impress against Blackburn.
LB: Paul Dummett – Achraaf Lazaar doesn’t seem to have played enough to be considered for a game of this magnitude and Jesus Gamez is out injured. Dummett also gives balance to the side and has had a very good season this campaign.
RW: Matt Ritchie – He can’t really be left out and hopefully the enigmatic winger will be back to his best.
CM: Jonjo Shelvey – Blackburn’s deep defensive line negated his influence on Saturday, however Hull may leave far more gaps for Shelvey’s clever passing to exploit.
CM: Vurnon Anita – Anita offers energy and the ability to retain the ball, like Jack Colback. Colback was out injured at the weekend and may not be fully fit for today’s game.
LW: Yoan Gouffran – Gouffran offers balance to the side and scores goals. He is always an option for his team mates when in possession. While his hard work and tactical awareness helps his left back. Arguably Newcastle’s player of the season so far, Gouffran is unlikely to find himself on the substitutes bench again.
Ten: Mo Diame – The Senegalese playmaker is yet to show Newcastle fans his best football but after Ayoze Perez’s poor performance at the weekend and Diame’s two goals in the last round of the EFL Cup, it comes to reason that he will be back in the side against his former club.
ST: Dwight Gayle – His thirteen goals this season say everything. Newcastle will need Dwight Gayle if they are to dump a Premier League side out of the cup.
Yip. Bottom 5 PL club, or top 5 Championship club. Like Hull, Brighton, Swansea, S@@@erland, Reading. We are in that level of clubs unless we sign some real top players next summer IMO. It’s telling that we are so evenly matched to Hull, who are really struggling in the PL.
DJG(Quote)
Neets off Yedlin on
kimtoon(Quote)
Really hope this doesn’t go to pens… have a bad feeling if it’s penalties.
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Well we have had 27 shots! Gayle is certainly a brilliant Championship player but PL?
Stuart79(Quote)
I’ll take penalties now. Which is pathetic given i don’t rate our keeper and we’ve been a man up for half an hour…
Newkie(Quote)
Stu – you might have a point, but to be fair it’s not like all those 27 have fallen to Gayle like
Sharpy17(Quote)
****… well penalties it is then…
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Good luck, Newcastle!
funrafa(Quote)
Stuart79
If Gayle was as good as people say, he’d be playing for Palace in PL. Why was he behind 2-3 other strikers? ❗
DJG(Quote)
Pot luck now then…
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Gayle has had a bit of a mare in extra time. Diame needs to find some heart. We are not half way through the season yet and already we are dismissing the team as useless as a PL side, which is 9 months and 2 transfer windows away. Chill people! Rafa the Gaffer will have us ship shape when that level is required.
Shamrock(Quote)
Right come on lads!
Shamrock(Quote)
Ah well. Maybe next year?!
Shamrock(Quote)
Lol Shelvey. Good game.
Newkie(Quote)
**** pen Jonjo
kimtoon(Quote)
FFS we’ve only won once out of nine at penalties!
DJG(Quote)
We are absolutely ***** at crunch cup matches fair play.
Newkie(Quote)
pfft.
Shamrock(Quote)
Well I just knew it. Bye bye cup
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Gayle !!!!!! ***
kimtoon(Quote)
Team is a joke honestly. Let’s get back to the prem and do what we do best, struggle against relegation 😆
Newkie(Quote)
Atsu, well done
kimtoon(Quote)
Sels !!
kimtoon(Quote)
This is why we could live our whole lives and never win anything. Our players bottle it every time!
DJG(Quote)
Sels a goalkeeper, don’t make me laugh, what a waste pf time, another blunder by Benitiz
ash1001(Quote)
what a **** penalty gouffy. looked at that cornr for about 10 minutes then swept the ball there at snails pace!
Shamrock(Quote)
Were those the worst penalties ever or what? That was ****. As I said, if it went to pens we were out
Dubai Toon(Quote)
****!
Fans Should Own the Club(Quote)
Awful pen from Goofy and now everyones ****** for Friday too.
kimtoon(Quote)
Worst penalties ever!!!!
That was fucking dog ****!!!
Well worth throwing points against Bburn for that mind ???
Sharpy17(Quote)
No surprise in the shoot out. We have won only 1 of the last 9.
We lost that because we had 28 shots on goal and scored only one. We missed far too many good chances so deserved what we got.
On to Forest next.
Stuart79(Quote)
Gouffran, Anita, Dummett, Gayle.. (yes Gayle) good championship players, poor PL players. Big slap in the face and back down to reality tonight after that run of wins.
This team would have not beaten Man U, Liverpool or Arsenal over two games, who’re we kiddin. 😆
DJG(Quote)
Bit of a nonsensical comment that, Sharpy. No guarantee we would have won on Saturday with a different team. We created enough chances to have won tonight. Saturdays game has no relevance.
Stuart79(Quote)
Great effort. After pinning them back and scoring, we should of defended better for their goal…
Disappointed but let’s go on to win the league 😈
Gashley(Quote)
We’re so one dimensional only playing Gayle, teams are working us out and it’s hardly a surprise.
Taking Richie off when we were clearly heading towards pens as well, really poor decision by Rafa. Atsu should have come on for Anita who was having a mare. We’ll get back to the prem, but I haven’t seen much in any of Benitez’s signings to be too excited about our return personally.
Newkie(Quote)
Tonight will have knacked Hull and then another two games to play, I bet that’s the last thing they wanted. 😆
Ah well, could have been worse, imagine actually getting a ticket and walking back to Hull Paragon station at half ten in the freezing cold on a Tuesday night. lol Some of those nutters will be at work in the morning.
DJG(Quote)
Yeah Stu, if you don’t take your chances then you deserve what you get. It’s not all doom and gloom though. We just lost to a PL side away from home on penalties when we arguably outplayed them and on another day would have won comfortably. No point in comparing us to the PL sides today and getting downhearted about next season. A lot will change experience wise and personnel wise between now and then.
Shamrock(Quote)
Don’t worry lads, remember we’ve still got the FA cup to come, that’s the proper trophy, and we have a much better record in it!
Oh wait… 😆 😆
Newkie(Quote)
Forest will be a major struggle now mind. Watch the complete Toon Army meltdown if we lose. I do agree though, that we need to have more than one formation to keep the opposition guessing. I suppose he needs time to get the side used to his systems in n effective way though. You cant walk into a club and expect instant and consistent results from 2 or 3 different formations. It’s a bit like learning to walk before you can run. One step at a time…
Shamrock(Quote)
Three easy ties at home and we were punch drunk with thoughts of winning the League cup. 😛 I suppose that’s what happens when you’ve never been past the first round for about five years. 😆
DJG(Quote)
Not having a go at Rafa, but two big matches and he has got it wrong on both occasions, get rid of one problem by farming out Sels, get Elliot back into the setup – on the bench at least, or get Tim back. Not a Dummet lover but wish he had played tonight, as for Atsu well he’s never going to make it at any level – Sammi, Lua lua comes to mind, really nned to luck at the whole squad.
ash1001(Quote)
Stu – he rested players on Saturday focusing on tonight – how is that not relevant like?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Now the knives come out for Rafa.
Getting us into the last 8 of the league cup and top of the league, what a joke.
We have shown we’re not a great premiership team – despite not actually being one at all in the first place.
EXPOSED. RAFA OUT!!!!
funkyjesus(Quote)
The knives are out for nobody other than those who dare question Rafa it would seem like.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – Aye would have preferred we just stuck out the same side against Blackburn, but I guess it’s easy for me to say that now, given almost everyone was asking for the first team in the cup. We didn’t lose any points to our rivals thankfully!
Anyway, on the plus, Forest aren’t exactly world beaters and we have some rotation options to come in who will hopefully want to prove a point.
Who’s saying anything about getting Rafa out? 😯 Think it’s just shown we need more strength in the squad for the Prem and I don’t think there’s any fans disagreeing with that really. If our best players now are lads who can’t get into pretty **** poor Swansea and Palace sides then it’s obvious really, isn’t it?
Newkie(Quote)
Rafa said we don’t even bother practicing penalties. Well if the clubs record is one win in ten, maybe they’d better had, practice penalties! Football is just a game of the same scenarios, 90 minutes, 11 players, open play, set plays and a side show at the end called penalties. The Germans are world champions, why? Because they’ve mastered things like penalties. We are a total amateur outfit of a club if we can even score a penalty from three attempts out of four. Get on that training pitch tomorrow and practice!
DJG(Quote)
DJG – We don’t practice because we never think we’ll get anywhere with them 😆
Got to be something about the mentality of the club. The fact that our top goalscorer and our dead ball specialist had such poor attempts is pretty laughable. Goof I’m less surprised by, he’s scored some pearlers this year but we could have had two or three of those tonight from distance. Sadly when the pressure is actually on, as usual, we bottle.
Newkie(Quote)
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2016/11/30/championship-goalkeepers-whos-the-best-so-far/
New thread >>>>>>>
Shamrock(Quote)