Man City (A): Pre-match thoughts, team news & predicted XI’s

After a week full of takeover talk following Tuesday’s crushing Announcement from Mike Ashley, it would’ve been easy to forget that we have a game to play this weekend!

Despite all the off-field distractions, we must remember that there’s still a relegation battle to be won out on that pitch – however I suspect today’s trip to Manchester City won’t define whether we stay up or not this season!

Prior to last weekend’s entertaining defeat at Anfield, City had looked (and were) unbeatable in the league this season. Liverpool’s 4-3 win was the first time they’ve lost this season, and although that game highlighted the odd frailty (John Stones didn’t look great and Liverpool scored 4), this result will only make them a more frightening prospect to face today. They’ll be a wounded animal ready to get back on track and I fully expect them to come at us all guns blazing. A scary prospect..

How we approach this one will be interesting. The defensive display at St James’ in the reverse fixture just last month was brandished ‘the most negative first half performance I’ve ever seen’ by Gary Neville, yet we’ve seen time and time again this season that you’ll get hammered if you go toe to toe with this incredibly destructive Man City side.

It sounds negative and as if I’m resigned to our fate already, but I honestly go into this one with a damage limitation mindset to begin with. If we nicked an early goal and went in at the break in a decent position then you never know, we could just come away with a point, but my initial thoughts are just hoping it’s not a cricket score – which would be very harmful to our currently decent goal difference in the long run.

The Team

I fully expect Rafa to change his system and go with a side that might be best suited to containing City and hitting them on the counter.

I normally post this in the ‘predicted XI’ section of my previews, but here is the team I’d like to see Rafa play today:

NUFC XI (5-2-2-1): Darlow – Manquillo, Dummett, Clark, Lascelles, Yedlin – Diame, Merino – Murphy, Atsu – Joselu:

 In defence, five at the back looks negative, but Manquillo and Yedlin could take their chances to get forward on the break – with Dummett, Clark and Lascelles at centre-back providing a solid insurance blanket if one of them broke forward.

In midfield I’d go for big Mo and Merino. He’s been slated earlier on in the season, but Diame has probably been our best performer in midfield in over the past month. He’s put himself about, won tackles and broke up the play. Alongside him, I think I’d rather have Merino than Shelvey. We need to keep the ball and be clever with it when we get it. Merino has surprising skill and can run with the ball – I fancy him to be better defensively and more efficient on the break than Jonjo.

Up top, I’d like the pace of Atsu and Murphy either side of Joselu – who may be essential if we’re to hold the ball up top and win any knockdowns. Murphy and Atsu proved at Stoke that they can cause problems on the counter, however their final ball will have to be bang on tonight if we’re going to make us of the odd chance we’ll get on the break. Ritchie and Gayle will be in the running to start, but both looked badly out of sorts against Swansea.

It could be a totally different side, but this is what I’d like to see Rafa go with!

 

The Opposition

City’s plethora of attacking talent is devastating, with so many of their stars delivering this season.

De Bruyne and Silva will look to hurt us from central areas, with both possessing ridiculous vision and guile (as the former showed in the reverse fixture last month), whilst Sterling and Sane out wide likely to offer an ever present out ball and goal threat in behind (as Sterling showed with his goal at St James’).

Up top it’ll more than likely be Sergio Aguero – the man who has SEVEN goals in his last four games against NUFC..

For an inside look at our opponents from a Man City perspective, see this week’s ‘Opposition Opinion’ piece. A recommended read, sharing the thoughts of a City fan we’ve been speaking to before today’s game. CLICK HERE to read it.

 

Form

Newcastle – 15th (23 pts) – Last 5 in the league – Won: 2 / Drawn: 2 / Lost: 1 

Man City – 1st – (62 pts) – Last 5 in the league /  Won: 3 / Drawn: 1 / Lost: 1

Team News

 Dwight Gayle is facing a late fitness test after picking up a knock against Swansea, however Aleksandar Mitrovic is back in contention after recovering from a back injury.

Florian Lejeune is back in training but is rated doubtful with a foot injury. Jesus Gamez remains out.

For City, David Silva is expected to return after missing their 4-3 defeat at Liverpool last time out.

Vincent Kompany is out, while Fabian Delph is also set to miss out at left-back.

Predicted Line-ups

Newcastle XI – (4-2-3-1) – Darlow– Yedlin, Lascelles, Clark, Dummett – Merino, Diame – Ritchie, Perez, Atsu – Joselu

Man City XI – (4-3-3) – Ederson – Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Danillo – De Bruyne, Fernandinho, D. Silva – Sterling, Aguro, Sane.

Head-to-Heads

Our last league outings at the Etihad – 6-1, 5-1, 4-0 and 4-0 defeats. The last time we won at the Etihad was in a 2-0 League Cup win IN 2014 thanks to goals from Rolando Aarons and Moussa Sissoko.

 

Match Prediction

There’s been an argument recently that the only way to stop City is to give as good as you get, have a go and unsettle them. Burnley and Bristol City did that recently in patches and had real success at times (although both ended up losing!), so I do think that we should look to unsettle them at the back and not sit in quite as much as we did at St James’.

The key will still be to get men behind the ball and counter as quickly and effectively as possible, but I just don’t see either working well enough. This City side are ridiculously good and they’ll be a wounded animal that’s ready to strike back after losing their first league game of the season last time out.

The last four of our league trips to the Etihad have been emphatic, and I don’t see this one being any different unfortunately. Not because we’ll be woeful, but because I expect them to be so good.

Prediction:  Man City 4-1 Newcastle 

Howay the lads!

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

80 thoughts on “Man City (A): Pre-match thoughts, team news & predicted XI’s

  1. Righton needed goals just like us. What do they do? They go and break their transfer record. What do we do? We try for loan for a player who’s been injured for two years.

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  2. Good shout on the team I think, Olly. I would perhaps use Mbemba rather than Manquillo but otherwise that’s probably the best we could do with what we have. I’d put Mitro and Saivet on the bench too as I think Saivet could grab something from a set piece.

    I think we will still lose though and I’d go for 4-0. Cannot see us scoring. ☹️

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  3. Olly, I’m with you, I don’t care what the pundits say/think, we need to be ultra defensive and grab a point if possible. I really do feel goal difference will be key to survival this season and we shouldn’t be going for it just to appease bloody sky, their pundits and the millions watching. Sod em, I would like to know how much better they would do as manager with one hand tied behind their back in respect of playing personal .

    2.0 sadly, hopefully no more

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  4. Seen the following posted on eds and it does beg the question, why can we not compete with these teams. Where is all our money actually going.

    But just think about this :
    NUFC Capacity is 52338 & we usually fill it every home game. That represents ground receipts of just over £2M per home game.
    However the following are now considered bigger clubs because they can afford to buy higher priced players despite gate receipts of less than half ours :
    Stoke 27740
    West Brom 26850
    Palace 26074
    Huddersfield 24500
    Watford 21438
    Burnley 21401
    Swansea 20909

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  5. Premandup:
    Gate receipts are now a small percentage of income compared to TV money.

    I know mate but it’s still shocking that clubs with half our following can compete better in the transfer market. Teams like Brighton and Huddersfield have only just come up yet seem to have more cash available and this makes no sense.

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  6. Then there is tv cash, Huddersfield will have been shown live 5 times including upcoming games, Brighton 10 and Newcastle 15 .

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  7. Premandup:
    They are borrowing on the hope of staying up.

    Well Prem, £14.5m borrowed to secure a striker to possibly save them would seem a prudent bit of business when you consider the money at stake for securing PL status.

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  8. Does anyone actually know anything of this Brighton forward who’s getting so well lauded up here or is it just the £14.5m fee?!?!?!!

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  9. The obvious irony is that if Rafa had got the player he supposedly wanted, we still won’t have spent £15-20m but instead loaned a young lad from Chelsea – with no prospect of buying him.

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  10. Having been beat off Lpool, I fully expect City to resume normal service in style, especially in front of their own.
    I’m with Olly & Kim, I don’t give a **** what GNev and his band of merry ****** have to say about our tactics. We don’t have the forwards Lpool do (who does other than City themselves).
    Avoid a hiding, then see how we get on.

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  11. 68 mins – Brighton have been really unlucky. The score is not really a reflection of the game. Is there hope for us against City. Nah, don’t be silly.

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  12. Eric Sykes:
    68 mins – Brighton have been really unlucky. The score is not really a reflection of the game. Is there hope for us against City. Nah, don’t be silly.

    aye they have had nee luck,has took two super goals to beat them,nee shame on Hoots

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  13. My girlfiend is coming over to watch the game. She wants to, but I have warned her I might be in a bad mood 🙂 She’s not too bad to watch a game with, she even understands the offside rule unlike my ex-wife who I had to explain it to every week. I also had to explain to her why the commentators kept referring to what happened in 1904 or 1926. Because they have a yellow pad that they have filled up with FACTs that only have meaning to them and they feel the need to tell us instead of letting us watch the game in peace.

    My guess is my girlfriend will tell me Aguero is pretty good after he scores his 5th.

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  14. icedog: aye they have had nee luck,has took two super goals to beat them,nee shame on Hoots

    Just got worse Ice. Brighton chasing the game. I am not sure what we should do today except probably the opposite to what Neville and Carragher say. That putdown of Nev by Rafa was classic. Asking how many La Liga and European trophies Mr. Manc had won at Valencia.

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  15. Also, I think I will self medicate today. Waiting for shop to open so I can get a 12 pack. The score will dictate how many I will down. 1 per goal.

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  16. Sharpy17:
    Does anyone actually know anything of this Brighton forward who’s getting so well lauded up here or is it just the £14.5m fee?!?!?!!

    It’s not the player, Sharpy. It’s the intent. We’re relying on loans and we’ve had exactly the same financial boost as Brighton. Huddersfield are the same. Now we’re told we can’t compete with them. Very, very strange.

    As for borrowing to stay up. Who’s borrowing? Brighton are just spending the tv cash.

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  17. Stuart: I think a certain Fat Spurs fan would point to our higher payroll when saying Brighton and Huddersfield can afford to spend. You and I might point out that he will still have the same payroll if we are relegated and there is a blueprint of what happens next 14 miles away on the coast.

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  18. Also Eric, it’s worth noting our wage bill might be higher but so too is our turnover. In fact it dwarfs theirs.

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  19. Stuart79: It’s not the player, Sharpy. It’s the intent. We’re relying on loans and we’ve had exactly the same financial boost as Brighton. Huddersfield are the same. Now we’re told we can’t compete with them. Very, very strange.

    As for borrowing to stay up. Who’s borrowing? Brighton are just spending the tv cash.

    Stu – and we intend to strengthen this window. It may be loans but as I say, his first choice was the loan of Abraham’s. So Brighton are shelling out £14.5m on an unknown forward from Holland – Rafa is looking to loan players with PL experience.

    To go back to it though, we have a striker on our books who has barely kicked a ball yet. Would you take this unknown from Brighton or Mitrovic – Rafa has a resource that he’s not using.

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  20. These commentators are really getting on my tits now with their useless FACTS. It was explained that this is Shaun Dyche’s 100th PL game. Fair enough, he has a bit of PL experience now, good to know. But next breath it was that he is playing against a Jose Mourinho team and his first match was also against a Jose Mourinho team, Chelsea. Do I give two ***** about that? Is that a FACT I need to know and why don’t you just shut up and let me watch the game if you have only irrelevances to say?

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  21. Bloody Pardew’s WBA winning. But the good news is Palace are getting battered already. Although I’m not convinced they’ll even be in a relegation battle.

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  22. Sharpy17: Stu – and we intend to strengthen this window.It may be loans but as I say, his first choice was the loan of Abraham’s.So Brighton are shelling out £14.5m on an unknown forward from Holland – Rafa is looking to loan players with PL experience.

    To go back to it though, we have a striker on our books who has barely kicked a ball yet.Would you take this unknown from Brighton or Mitrovic – Rafa has a resource that he’s not using.

    Nobody else seems to fancy Mitro either or he’d be sold by now. Also it’s clear Rafa doesn’t trust him. What’s the point of playing him if you’re worried about him getting sent off every game and scores very little goals?

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  23. Stuart79: Nobody else seems to fancy Mitro either or he’d be sold by now. Also it’s clear Rafa doesn’t trust him. What’s the point of playing him if you’re worried about him getting sent off every game and scores very little goals?

    Stu – there have been plenty of loan enquiries for him. He’s getting paid £60k for doing nowt just now.
    He’s taking up a squad place & a good chunk of wages not playing just now. If the club are waiting for someone to buy him that’s a risk as as you say, there’s not much trust in him just now.
    They need to either decide to loan him out to free up a squad place & wages – which would allow someone to come in on loan. But while he’s there, I imagine the money men see him as a problem.
    They aren’t gonna want to spend money on a players loan fee, agent fee & player wages while still paying Mitro £60k – and Colback £35k without even a squad place.

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  24. I doubt West Brom will go down. It is Pards’ pattern to do well for 18 months and then for the players to realise he is full of (himself) *****. Hoping Stoke and Swans continue the way they are and one on the promoted teams will also go down. Hopefully, not us.

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  25. I just read a story that we have put in a bid of £16 million for Badou Ndiaye! Rejected. ? surprising!

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  26. Stoke 2-0. Everton putting in their worst performance since Big Sam arrived too. Just need Bournemouth to score and complete the day! And just as I type Everton score! Thank Fck!

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  27. Even if we get relegated it is still better than having that Big Fat Slug as manager. I saw a stat the other day that Everton have had one shot on target in their previous 5 games. Joselu has managed more than that and he only played twice.

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  28. And right on cue bleeding Bournemouth score.

    I’ve never been convinced the likes of Palace, Bournemouth, Stoke or West Ham will be in a relegation battle when it matters.

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  29. Stuart79:
    Stoke 2-0. Everton putting in their worst performance since Big Sam arrived too. Just need Bournemouth to score and complete the day! And just as I type Everton score! Thank Fck!

    So that’ll be 2 shots on target in 6 games 🙂

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  30. Stuart79:
    And right on cue bleeding Bournemouth score.

    I’ve never been convinced the likes of Palace, Bournemouth, Stoke or West Ham will be in a relegation battle when it matters.

    I think one of them will be. There’s always an outlier that you don’t expect.

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  31. No idea about the formation but Ritchie been left out along with Yedlin. Atsu playing and will he be playing up front like he did against Stoke? Looks like Rafa is going for the pace. City’s biggest weakness. If it can be called that.

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  32. I always find it strange when pundits call NUFC fans delusional. All they have to do is look on here. There is a bit of fear and trepidation but more so an acceptance of the inevitable.

    Then there will be the inevitable backlash from the Nevs and Carra and Paul Merson’s Giant Balloon Heed and The Man with a Tan Lawro, and Elephant seal Thomson and Och I’m lucky to have a job me like, Nicholas.

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  33. 22/1 in a two horse race is outrageous! I’ve put £100 on. We’ve got to cause an upset some game…

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  34. Stuart79:
    22/1 in a two horse race is outrageous! I’ve put £100 on. We’ve got to cause an upset some game…

    Just send me the C-note. 22-1 is about right when you have Shergar against the nag pulling the cart on Steptoe and Son.

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  35. Although it’s offside, that’s a perfect example of why we shouldn’t be committing men forward.

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  36. Southampton have bid £50m for two players. Before anybody says it’s the Van **** money – they only got a tiny bit up front from his sale.

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  37. I think it’s all about the goal difference now … it could mean 2-3 places at the end of the season with so many teams bunched together.

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  38. I’m convinced Darlows hands are made of rubber on springs. For Sharpy who is still convinced we don’t need a keeper – Darlow should have saved both or the goals.

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  39. It’s the hope that kills ya. Got back in this and we will get a kick right in the knackers I’m sure

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  40. Stuart79:
    I’m convinced Darlows hands are made of rubber on springs. For Sharpy who is still convinced we don’t need a keeper – Darlow should have saved both or the goals.

    Don’t recall saying that Stu. I did say that there are other positions more in need of improvement first ?

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  41. I’m so sick of being the fucking **** of jokes by smug **** commentators who just love to laugh and criticise us at every chance they get, and that fat ******* Ashley has provided them with all the material they need.

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  42. Dubai Toon:
    I’m so sick of being the fucking **** of jokes by smug **** commentators who just love to laugh and criticise us at every chance they get, and that fat ******* Ashley has provided them with all the material they need.
    mute them then. What else can we do.

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