Rafa Benitez has just named his team for the 3rd round of the FL Cup tonight against Wolves after they surprisingly beat us 2-0 on Saturday to end our six game winning streak in all competitions and he gives starting berths to Yedlin, Lazaar and Murphy – with the last two making their debuts and all starting for the first time for Newcastle.
Newcastle: Darlow; Yedlin Hanley Clark Lazaar; Shelvey Colback; Ritchie Diame Gouffran; Murphy
Subs; Woodman, Dummett, Lascelles, Hayden, Atsu, Perez, Mitrovic
So we make that 8 changes Rafa has made from the side that lost to Wolves – and he is making a statement there – the performance on Saturday was simply not good enough and we need to be much better tonight.
It’s a massive opportunity for all the players starting the game tonight and Jonjo Shelvey gets another chance after his very poor showing on Saturday and he’s made the captain.
There’s Rafa’s man-management in action and he’s showing massive faith in the former Swansea play-maker.
Four in five fans think we can win this game tonight.
217 comments so far
Ibizatoon
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:43 PM
Comment #201Time for some steak.
Enjoy your evening, one and all.
Average_Contents
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:44 PM
Comment #202Good win tonight. Looks like the squad reacted positively to the weekend loss.
Ibiza
Have you got the make and model of the Jeep you were in, I’d like to make a complaint regarding the seat belts.
Markaccus
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:44 PM
Comment #203BandB
I think Gouffran is probably a prefered choice too, at the moment.
Markaccus
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:45 PM
Comment #204Take care, Ibiza. Enjoy the steak.
Ibizatoon
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:45 PM
Comment #205AC…Thanks for your warm wishes. Love you too.
Lilongwe Geordie
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:45 PM
Comment #206Darlow wasn’t mentioned much on the radio. Solid take from a corner and an error of judgement when coming to win a ball that he got away with.
Doubt he will start on Saturday, Sels will be back in.
Toon Tang
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:45 PM
Comment #207Chelsea flying at it in ET
BandB
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:50 PM
Comment #208Lil’
I’d be very surprised if Rafa didn’t think Mitrovic was his best striker, with by far the most potential. It’s how he gets the best out of a kid thrown into in hideously malfunctioning corporate body last season and finding himself suddenly not an automatic first choice striker in lower division now he’s available.
My hunch is that Rafa will give every opportunity for Mitrovic and Perez to flower, believing them both to be international quality players. But “every opportunity” may mean biding his time.
Average_Contents
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:50 PM
Comment #209Ibiza
You know it lol.
Glad your ok really. I’d miss….not much in all honesty 😉
Now, chew that steak correctly, we wouldn’t want you choking to death after surviving a car crash. That’d be silly.
Bit shocked. Hope all is well mate 🙂
BandB
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:52 PM
Comment #210After the disappointing news that, despite the best efforts of all concerned, survived, it has been a decent day.
JamesToon
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:54 PM
Comment #211solid win. Onto villa, really hope we put those d***heads in their place.
I’d go:
Sels
Yedlin Mbemba Lascelles Dummett
Shelvey Hayden
Ritchie Gayle Gouffran
Mitrovic
JamesToon
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:56 PM
Comment #212Who would people like in the cup? I wouldn’t mind a prem team tbh as it would be an interesting test to see how far off we are from their level? At the same time would love an easy draw as a cup run would be nice
Lilongwe Geordie
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:56 PM
Comment #213BandB,
Yeah, Mitro did well last season in my opinion given his age and everything else going on at the club. 9 goals and 6 assists isn’t a bad return.
I agree that he and Perez have the most potential as a pairing in this set up, I would expect Rafa to also think this. He may well bide his time with giving them plenty of match time together, but I thought it was a shame he didn’t let them continue on Sat given how well they played and linked at QPR.
Plenty of games and some opposition will require different approaches, I’m sure we will see the Mitro/Perez combo again soon.
Lilongwe Geordie
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:59 PM
Comment #214James,
I think Murphy might start.
In the cup, I wouldn’t mind a Prem side in a home draw. Sunderland, Stoke, West Ham, Saints, Palace, Bournemouth, Hull would all be interesting draws for us.
jimmysmith
Sep 20, 2016 at 10:02 PM
Comment #215Murphy deserved his game, and Gayle has scored goals so Rafa can hardly marginalise either for the returning Mitro, who still may well start at Villa. We would probably need one to emerge as the go to and dominant striker if we were to guarantee promotion and I’d agree the one with the greatest capacity is Mitrovic. It does look though that our best bet is one of the big men up top, with Diame and Perez in the hole, leaving Gayle with a more uncertain role.
The overrated Frenchman
Sep 20, 2016 at 10:03 PM
Comment #216I agree it seems that Benitez doesn’t like Mitrovic. There was probably some truth in the speculation that the club was looking to sell him before the start of the season. He probably should have been, we are not going to get much out of him the way he is being managed.
Lilongwe Geordie
Sep 20, 2016 at 10:06 PM
Comment #217Jimmy,
I think Goofy’s emergence has made this more difficult. Gayle spoke of Rafa talking to him about playing wide when he signed. But Goofy’s performances have made him difficult to leave out. Maybe Gayle will drop into the number 10 at some point in the next few weeks with one of Mitro or Murphy. I think that would require a more solid bas in midfield, and could well come about if Tiote is brought back into the fold.