Pre Match: Rotherham – Could a Surprise Inclusion Be Possible?

Newcastle go into this game off the back of two wins, two wins that have seemingly ended the  bad run of form that the club previously found itself on.

Another huge boost in the midweek win over Birmingham was the return of Jonjo Shelvey, who was arguably the best player on the pitch.

Shelvey was partnered by Cheick Tiote in that game, in what was possibly the Ivorian’s final game for Newcastle.

It is likely that Shelvey will play again this weekend and is likely to be partnered by one of Jack Colback or Isaac Hayden.

However, it is not there where the surprise inclusion may come. It is in front of them.

Ayoze Perez has not done badly this season, despite what people may think. His goal return is reasonably good and he tries his best to create.

However, with Rotherham struggling, this could be an ideal opportunity to make a change.

Dan Barlaser played exceptionally well against Birmingham. He wanted to the ball throughout and was comfortable receiving it anywhere on the pitch, an incredible quality for a player so young.

Perhaps Barlaser could get his chance in the league this weekend.

209 thoughts on “Pre Match: Rotherham – Could a Surprise Inclusion Be Possible?

  1. Tough first half but once we scored we were always going to win.

    Reading losing and Barnsley currently winning means a big day so far for us.

    And what a couple of minutes Lloris has just had. Oh dear! 😳

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  2. Well Leeds and Reading both lost points today so good for us. Huddersfield back into third. ?

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  3. A real good win,mind to be honest if we cannot beat them at home we would be in trouble in the players mind they needed that

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  4. pleased Rafa didnt go for this guy
    Ross McCormack Bruce is having a lot of trouble with him,he keeps missing training

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  5. I think Rafa hit the nail on the head for me when he said we are heading in the right direction again.

    Steve Mc said £8m would buy Tom Ince right leg …. if so, what price do you put on Shelveys right foot?.

    We play a totally different style of football with Shelvey in the side and to see our attacking players running onto passes is a much better brand of football to watch.

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  6. Sharpy17:
    I think Rafa hit the nail on the head for me when he said we are heading in the right direction again.

    Steve Mc said £8m would buy Tom Ince right leg …. if so, what price do you put on Shelveys right foot?.

    We play a totally different style of football with Shelvey in the side and to see our attacking players running onto passes is a much better brand of football to watch.

    Totally agree mate, without him we are one dimensional imo. Got to say I am so impressed with Murphy 3 in 3 and has a superb attitude, patiently waiting for his time to come around .

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  7. kimtoon: Totally agree mate, without him we are one dimensional imo. Got to say I am so impressed with Murphy 3 in 3 and has a superb attitude, patiently waiting for his time to come around .

    Kim – yeah I suppose I need to hold my hands up on Murphy like. I really questioned that purchase – just felt £5m for his age wasn’t a good buy … I was wrong. The lad is doing a great job and actually £5m could end up being peanuts if his goals contribute to us getting promoted.
    Yedlin looked great offensively today as well.

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  8. Brighton’s catch-up game is at home to Cardiff, they will probably win that but after that they are away to Huddersfield. So either 2nd or 3rd will drop points then. We just need to go on another good run now. I think it will get quite comfortable to be honest, even after our ‘blip’ we are still 9 points above 3rd. :mrgreen: Brighton were quite lucky to win actually, I thought Forestieri would bury the penalty.

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  9. I was at the match today and I think the way Rafa plays is to squeeze the life out of teams and play searching diagonal passes that have them stretched out of position, this tired out Rotherham and they couldn’t hack it despite have a week to prepare and some of our team played on Wednesday. He tried it in the first game when we lost, but then we were ineffective and had no end product, just going side to side. I think we have gradually perfected it over the season though and he knew today there was no Gayle, so Ritchie and Gouffran were tasked with stretching the life out of Rotherham and Shelvey played the long diagonal, raking passes to them. It was great to watch at times and we looked dangerous on the counter. It was actually a bit 4-4-2 at times today, with Murphy and Perez upfront. Much more effective and we need to go for it at home, teams will grow in confidence otherwise. I thought Rafa got it spot on today.

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  10. DJG:
    I was at the match today and I think the way Rafa plays is to squeeze the life out of teams and play searching diagonal passes that have them stretched out of position, this tired out Rotherham and they couldn’t hack it despite have a week to prepare and some of our team played on Wednesday. He tried it in the first game when we lost, but then we were ineffective and had no end product, just going side to side. I think we have gradually perfected it over the season though and he knew today there was no Gayle, so Ritchie and Gouffran were tasked with stretching the life out of Rotherham and Shelvey played the long diagonal, raking passes to them. It was great to watch at times and we looked dangerous on the counter. It was actually a bit 4-4-2 at times today, with Murphy and Perez upfront. Much more effective and we need to go for it at home, teams will grow in confidence otherwise. I thought Rafa got it spot on today.

    Thanks good to hear mate, good review of game, you are our eyes this season 🙂

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  11. DJG:
    I was at the match today and I think the way Rafa plays is to squeeze the life out of teams and play searching diagonal passes that have them stretched out of position, this tired out Rotherham and they couldn’t hack it despite have a week to prepare and some of our team played on Wednesday. He tried it in the first game when we lost, but then we were ineffective and had no end product, just going side to side. I think we have gradually perfected it over the season though and he knew today there was no Gayle, so Ritchie and Gouffran were tasked with stretching the life out of Rotherham and Shelvey played the long diagonal, raking passes to them. It was great to watch at times and we looked dangerous on the counter. It was actually a bit 4-4-2 at times today, with Murphy and Perez upfront. Much more effective and we need to go for it at home, teams will grow in confidence otherwise. I thought Rafa got it spot on today.

    Thanks man! I always enjoy your review.

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  12. I’m surprised nobody has mentioned our 3rd goal was put in off Perez’s elbow. Watched it 5 times on ch5 and it doesn’t touch his head ?

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  13. Gashley:
    I’m surprised nobody has mentioned our 3rd goal was put in off Perez’s elbow. Watched it 5 times on ch5 and it doesn’t touch his head

    It could go in off his **** for all I care mate 😆

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  14. DJG,
    Good call on the tactics.. However, I think Rafa has employed those tactics because of lower teams parking the bus and shutting down the middle of the park, not so much to wear teams out.
    Spraying long balls about is not traditionally the best way to do things, however against negative teams it can really pull them out of position.

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  15. http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/868423525?-11058:809:0

    So whilst Palace bought Townsend for £13m, they were allowed to pay in instalments.
    The next £3m is due to be paid to us next month – to which we are suggesting that be used as a loan fee instead and we take Townsend back – then come the end of the season take him permanently.

    Seems a perfectly reasonable & sensible suggestion to me like.

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  16. Aussie:
    DJG,
    Good call on the tactics..However, I think Rafa has employed those tactics because of lower teams parking the bus and shutting down the middle of the park, not so much to wear teams out.
    Sprayinglong balls about is not traditionally the best way to do things, however against negative teams it can really pull them out of position.

    They aren’t long balls, they are long range passes ?

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  17. Sharpy17:
    http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/868423525?-11058:809:0

    So whilst Palace bought Townsend for £13m, they were allowed to pay in instalments.
    The next £3m is due to be paid to us next month – to which we are suggesting that be used as a loan fee instead and we take Townsend back – then come the end of the season take him permanently.

    Seems a perfectly reasonable & sensible suggestion to me like.

    You got that spot on mate

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  18. Why are these very cash rich clubs in the Premier League allowed to pay in instalments ?, bloody hell there has been a ton of cash divvyed out to the PL teams and they want to pay £13m in £3m instalments , it’s not like he’s cost £30m for gods sake.

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  19. kimtoon:
    Why are these very cash rich clubs in the Premier League allowed to pay in instalments ?, bloody hell there has been a ton of cash divvyed out to the PL teams and they want to pay £13m in £3m instalments , it’s not like he’s cost £30m for gods sake.

    Crazy mate,how often do they pay the 3mil he’s been gone 6 months?? at 3mil a month that 18 mil in my mind and yet they are still paying,it doesn’t say if that was the last payment or what,but do think it’s a done deal now and will be here this week,I was told medical was provisional booked Thursday/Fri so must have been some problems over payments/loan fee

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  20. Read somewhere that payment for Sissoko was in instalments of 5 million. Don’t know how true this is. I agree with all the money sloshing around in the Premier League instalments of relatively small amounts seem ridiculous. Is it like hire-purchase where the buyer pays more than the selling price? NUFC pay up front so presumably they can negotiate a lower price.

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  21. Icedog: Crazy mate,how often do they pay the 3mil he’s been gone 6 months?? at 3mil a month that 18 mil in my mind and yet they are still paying,it doesn’t say if that was the last payment or what,but do think it’s a done deal now and will be here this week,I was told medical was provisional booked Thursday/Fri so must have been some problems over payments/loan fee

    Ice – I think it’s more likely Palace are having issues with the person they are bringing in.
    I reckon the Townsend deal is as good as done, but they won’t let him leave until they have their deals sorted. Last thing Sam can do at the moment is leave himself short – they are having a stinker at the moment.

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  22. I’m confident the Townsend deal will happen this week – it’s any other deals I’m left wondering about?!
    Will there be another? – a forward (do we need one as a priority). A midfielder? Will Rafa stick with what he has – move Diame back, or switch Anita to midfield and use Sterry as back up to Yedlin. If needed does he consider moving Gouffran more centrally having brought Townsend in?.

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  23. Well the toon must have money to spend on the right players (jabba type) as they have had a 25 mil bid turned down for two Eastern Europe kids (19), club have had bids from L/Pool and M/U turned down earlier

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  24. Why is it so far fetched? – isn’t it what we did with Perez, Mitrovic and to a certain extent Darlow & Lascelles

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  25. Stuart like the comment about superman saving the world mate.
    We tried but couldn’t get them over the line routine.

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  26. Sharpy I have never known the club to spend 25 million. Lascalles and Darlow cost 7 million. Perez cost 1.5 million, big difference in money. This is Mike Ashley we are talking about.

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  27. One of the player’s want’s to play for Barcelona the best team in the world. I can’t see it happening. Townsend is more realistic.

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  28. It’s a hard one to swallow ice mate. Ashley spending 25M for two youngsters from Europe. I don’t think so, whether Rafa wants them in or not. I would be happy with Townsend now and several very good players in the summer. I don’t think Ashley will be able to say no too often to Rafa come summer if he wants to keep Rafa as manager. And that’s what he better be planning to do or all of this has been for nothing. I don’t trust either Charnley or Ashley to get it right without Rafa. Charnley will just do what he’s told whether it’s good for the club or not. Ashley without Rafa would just try to show how clever he is by buying youngsters who may or not make it and holding on for hypothetical re-sale value. It just doesn’t work often enough. You need very good experienced players at the core of the team.

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  29. Coric and Benkovic do sound interesting though. I can’t see it happening if such big clubs are after them. Even with Rafa’s name to impress them, they will either stay where they are or move somewhere big. I like the ambition of it but not likely to happen. I know Mitrovic cost us quite a bit but that was before we were relegated so Ashley was willing to take a chance. And Mitrovic hasn’t exactly been outstanding or increased his sell-on value.

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  30. Stem:
    Sharpy I have never known the club to spend 25 million.Lascalles and Darlow cost 7 million.Perez cost 1.5 million, big difference in money.This is Mike Ashley we are talking about.

    Stem – I seem to remember us tracking the likes of Bony and Ali though and ending our interest because we thought the fee was too high – Bony was bought for £12m and sold for about £25m. Ali was bought for around £5m and probably worth 10 times that in today’s market.

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  31. Mitro’s current market value is 12M euros according to transfer markt by the way. Probably fairly accurate.

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  32. Dele Alli transfer markt value 20M euros and climbing rapidly. We never had a chance to get him any more than we really had a chance to sign Luca Modric. Those were just ridiculous attempts by Ashley more to make us think he had real ambition.

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  33. Stem:
    Sharpy I have never known the club to spend 25 million.Lascalles and Darlow cost 7 million.Perez cost 1.5 million, big difference in money.This is Mike Ashley we are talking about.

    Stem – didn’t we spend around £25m on Shelvey and Townsend this time last year?
    We spend around £25m on Gayle and Ritchie in the summer.

    This report is saying £25m on 2 young players – £12.5m a piece. That’s a similar fee we paid for Mitrovic to be fair.

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  34. I’ll tell you what, Sharpy, I’ll have a pint of what you’ve had!

    You’re right we spent about £25m this time last year but we had it in the bank and we were in the PL. In reality I can’t see us paying £25m for two players while in the Championship after spending £50m in the summer.

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  35. Oh and Jabba has just had to lend the club money AGAIN which is the reason he’s back in town. He wants to know it’s spent well so it won’t be for transfers – it’ll be for running costs.

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  36. Stuart79:
    I’ll tell you what, Sharpy, I’ll have a pint of what you’ve had!

    You’re right we spent about £25m this time last year but we had it in the bank and we were in the PL. In reality I can’t see us paying £25m for two players while in the Championship after spending £50m in the summer.

    Stu – this has come from reports in Croatia mate, I’m not the one claiming it. I’m simply saying it’s not an unrealistic suggestion that we could have made the bid. £25m on 2 players (£12.5m each) would be within our transfer policy. If it was suggesting we bid £25m on 1 player I’d be saying bollocks to that.

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  37. Stuart79:
    Hope Ryan Mason makes a recovery from his fractured skull. Terrible news.

    Stu – aye, apparently has a bleed on the brain too. Nasty stuff, hope he’s ok

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  38. Just about all clubs pay in installments but Ashley decided NUFC would try to get a discount by paying up front. The big problem with installments is if you get relegated, as you do not have the income to pay off your debts. To a lesser extent this is true of not qualifying for the Champions League as that is quite a big payday and attracts better funded namebrand advertisers. We are near certs to get promoted so I would think Ashley could afford to take a bit of a risk on Townsend and McCarthy. That would give us a squad that is ALMOST premier league ready. I said almost.

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  39. Our Shelveyless blip is over. It is quite clear now that he runs the team. He has always had the skill but was said to lack motivation. That seems to have changed in the summer when he got a personal trainer and nutritionist. I think not being an automatic starter in an average Swansea team and then Rafa benching him for a few games was a wake up call.

    I would like to have another very good midfielder in case Shelvey is injured. He could compete with Hayden if Shelvey is out. He wouldn’t displace Shelvey because I think it has been proved now that Jonjo is essential, even when we are without our 20 goal striker. What I am saying is that any upgrade in midfield would want to play and we know it will not be at Shelvey’s expense now. However, with Hayden and whoever a new player might be it could mean we do not struggle as much in Shelvey’s absence.

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  40. Now I am not counting chickens or anything but I just checked a couple of odds. I know the bookies sometimes get it wrong (Leicester) but they are generally in the business to make money.

    NUFC odds to get promoted range from 20 to one ON to 50 to one ON.

    Sunderland to get relegated is currently 6 to one ON.

    I doubt any Mackems will be flying planes over SJP come May.

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  41. Again I am not counting chickens but GlosMag put up a link that said a computer simulation used at the BBC has us as 99% certain for promotion.

    My quick calculation of the points we will get if we continue at the present pace is 99.

    The bookies have us at odds where any sane person would never take the bet.

    Mitro is back and Gayle’s injury was not as bad as first feared.

    Now, can we have a bit less talk of falling skies as we are exactly where I thought we would be at the start of the season. The only difference is Brighton are doing as well as they are so may push us to see who are Champions. I am not worried about them and don’t really see that as much of a trophy anyway. We are pulling away from 3rd place and that is all that matters.

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  42. The strange thing is that the Mackems are only 1 point off 4th bottom, ignoring goal difference. The bookies have the 4th botton side, Palace, at 11/8 for relegation and Mackems at 6/1 ON. The other teams with nearly the same points total as the Mackems are close to evens for relegation.

    There must have been some big bets on a Sunderland relegation to have such a disparity. Maybe it is Moyes acting like it is inevitable. That cannot inspire much confidence in the team. It was like Schteve saying the right words in his last few weeks but looking like a sad puppy. The body language said it all but in Moyes’s case he is even talking like it is a done deal.

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  43. Sharpy: he looks bloody good for 72. Maybe shagging all of those younger birds was good for him 🙂

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  44. Alright, I think it is about 50/50 we will get Townsend for the following reasons:

    1. Fat Sam wants money for his own players, probably defenders. If they accept a loan they will save the next 3 million installment which is obviously like getting 3 mil.

    2. There don’t seem to be teams queuing up to buy Andros.

    3. Palace are not a rich club. What people are forgetting is that Andros is probably their 2nd highest paid player after Benteke and on a long term contract and that wingers are more expensive in wages than most defenders. If the Toad doesn’t rate him he can get an expensive contract off the books and use these wages to attract other players.

    4. The Yanks paid 100 milllion for a 3rd of the club but I don’t think they put much cash in. They need to stay in the PL to be self funding and will not be happy with one of their biggest investments in terms of fee and wages sitting on the bench. Likewise Fat Sam runs things his way so the best thing is for Andros to leave.

    5. Rafa seems to like things done his way as well but it doesn’t seem like he plays favourites like Fat Sam and Pards, or even Pochettino. I think Townsend may have realised this and will be pushing for a move.

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  45. I just thought of something that is crazy. If Andros moves for a 3rd time in a year that will be 3 Agents fees. There was the 12 mil we paid, then Palace paid 13 mil and lets say he costs 10 mil to buy back. That is 35 million in total fees and if his Agent gets 10% that is 3.5 million pounds. Not bad work if you can get it 🙂

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  46. I am beginning to think the Townsend loan is for bookkeeping reasons. Ashley doesn’t want to pay up front because he would have to dip into his own pocket. However, Palace would save 3 million by loaning to us and any other club would pay in installments so they wouldn’t see much more money up front. Rather, they would get an obligation from NUFC to pay down the line which it is what is being reported NUFC are suggesting saying they will pay the balance in the summer. That is actually a better deal and I think it is because Ashley doesn’t want to front the money but also doesn’t want to go back on his policy of paying up front. He gets his cake and eats it too, and we all know that Ashley really needs more cake.

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  47. Eric – By the looks of things we have no money to spend on transfers because Ashley has had to put £33m into the club as yet another loan. He didn’t put that in to spend on players as he’s never done that. It’s to cover running costs and if that’s the case it’s pretty clear there’ll be no money for permanent transfers.

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  48. That Mason injury is awful, poor guy, hope he recovers ok.

    5live were saying on Saturday that no team with the points tally that we and Brighton have at this stage of the season have failed to get promoted. Basically it’s ours to **** up now. It’s very good that Brighton are playing so good too as it will be pushing our lads and stop them from resting on their laurels .

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