If we can beat Huddersfield Town on Saturday at home, then we will be close to being home and dry in the Premier League and likely avoid relegation.
It would be a fantastic 3 points for us, but our players have to be at or near their best.
The Terriers have beaten us twice in our last three games and won 2-1 at St. James Park in August 2016.
Assuming we stay in the Premier League Rafa will need to strengthen the side significantly.
Hopefully, we can sign Martin Dubravka who has looked impressive in the Newcastle goal so far and seems to steady the defenders in front of him.
Martin Dubravka – brilliant in his debut against Red Devils
He will undoubtedly strengthen the side.
Since Sadio Haidara and Jesus Gamez will be released in the summer when their contracts run out, we expect Rafa to bring in at least one full-back to replace them.
Maybe a full-back who can play on either side would be a good acquisition, but left-back would be the priority since we have both Yedlin and Manquillo as natural right-backs.
Since Chancel Mbemba is almost sure to leave Newcastle this summer, Rafa will want to bring in another center-back.
And with Jonjo Shelvey currently being the only real creative midfield player in the team (Merino can grow into one), Rafa will want to sign a playmaker so we can be more creative as a team.
And up front, we could see two new strikers come in, and Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dwight Gayle will likely both leave the club – each for at least £15M hopefully.
We seem to have a lot of wingers at the moment, and if we can sign Kenedy permanently, Rafa will do that.
Otherwise, he could bring the likable lad back for another season on Tyneside – that would be a good move by Newcastle.
So based on this logic, we need the following positions filled with new players this summer:
Goalkeeper
Full-back
Center-back
Playmaker
Strikers (2)
Winger
Getting outstanding players in for those positions should make us a much better side next season.
We expect (at least) Mitrovic, Gayle, Mbemba, and Colback to leave the club this summer.
And hopefully, we will not be fighting relegation for the umpteenth time.
Did I mention we also need a new owner?
Comments welcome.
147 comments so far
Munster Mag
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:32 PM
Comment #41Bobby I could see an early goal to us but hopefully we will press them the way we did Southampton rather than go overboard on the defensive shape and control that is sometimes our undoing. Of course if we had a proper fast striker who cud do hold up play that would help. We certainly look more confident now. Diame has been a massive fillip for us and so too Lejeune and dummett.
Bobbybee
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:32 PM
Comment #42Munster, depends what you view as PL quality. Do you seriously think Gayle is PL? Lejeune and Merino were untested in the PL and those other helped take us down last time. Atsu couldn’t get into Chelsea’s first team either. As for internationals, depends on who you play for really. Hanley is international, but hardly PL quality.
The difference is unquestionably Rafa. I get you question his tactics at times and that’s fine by me, but the GD shows he was right to play it his way.
Established PL players aren’t the same as those who’ve had one season or been relegated imo.
Online Guy
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:32 PM
Comment #43Jib
I see you had a pop at me as you done your bit of name dropping saying
“I was at Chas Funeral..blah, blah , ”
“Shi eet I’m beginning to sound like Online Guy ”
Then Pain joins in very next post with that old chestnut of his alluding to me being Gay poster.
Then someone pulls Jib up on his name dropping and Jib states it’s OK…while using me in his initial post as an excuse for posting the name of a famous person..
OK for you Jib but not Me ? ..using me as your excuse for your name dropping.
By the way Chas was a mate of mine , and his wife …so you will know where we went afterwards
Jail for Ashley
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:37 PM
Comment #44Munster,
Our tactics against West Ham and Soton at home were no different to Bournemouth and Swansea, the difference was we kept scoring.
Online Guy
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:38 PM
Comment #45Jib
Were you the six feet four neanderthal in the blue Anorak with the G stamped on his forehead and the autograph book ?
Online Guy
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:39 PM
Comment #46Jib
Just chucking that rock back that you chucked at me out of the blue.
Munster Mag
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:39 PM
Comment #47Bobby u could argue Gayle maybe but he has been prem for last few seasons. And lejeune/Merino? U gotta be kidding me mate. Just cos a player hasn’t played prem doesn’t make him championship. Credit to rafa for buying them because I have criticised him for other purchases. Jail this is called looking at a problem broadly and debating it, not getting one’s knickers twisted and shouting at people . Bobby I think we can do Huddersfield and arsenal and more besides 🙂 . I actually can put up with Ashley for longer if he gives rafa 50mill and goes back to his distressed brands shop.
Jib
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:44 PM
Comment #48Online
I still have a pic of Miss Stringer
with her leg on the mantelpiece
know what I mean nudge nudge
😛
Munster Mag
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:44 PM
Comment #49Jail I don’t agree. I thought we retreated v both Swansea and Bournemouth. Certainly shelvey miss was decisive and yes a goal would have changed both but Swansea was a game of two halves. Didn’t they have a bucket of possession? Cud be wrong but I think so. I’m not hanging rafa for that but it cud be him or just the players, I don’t know. One thing I am enjoying is seeing dummett and Lejeune. That could be a solid back three if we want to fully bed that system down and allow us to chase strikers and wingers in the summer.
hibbit
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:47 PM
Comment #50Bobbybee @ 28
total agree with what your saying but most especially the early goal bit just seems to calm the the house down and the lads seem to play with that bit more composure.
3 weeks is is far to long between games
Munster Mag
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:48 PM
Comment #51But Bobby/Jail I think we can all see improvements. And the morale factor is huge and managers build that. Just to highlight too, rafa bring the pancreatic cancer sufferer in to see training. Utterly decent and classy.
Oldgit1
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:49 PM
Comment #52Just when you think the subject of football was back (thanks bobbybee) og posted 3 yes 3 on topic not related to football. Wish he would get over himself.
REMINDER this is a football blog
Jib
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:52 PM
Comment #53Futile wish old git
He’ll never get over hissel
hellodjo
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:54 PM
Comment #54I’d look at bringing Kieran Gibbs in at fullback from West Brom, we’d be very strong in that position with his addition.
Jail for Ashley
Mar 26, 2018 at 6:01 PM
Comment #55Jail for Ashley
Mar 26, 2018 at 5:37 PM
Comment #44
Munster,
Our tactics against West Ham and Soton at home were no different to Bournemouth and Swansea, the difference was we kept scoring.
Munster
”Jail this is called looking at a problem broadly and debating it, not getting one’s knickers twisted and shouting at people”
Eh, wtf you going on about???
Bobbybee
Mar 26, 2018 at 6:04 PM
Comment #56Munster, that’s my point exactly mate, re Lejeune and Merino. He got them for relative peanuts. Only one man to praise for that.
How many other overseas players have we brought in, only to see them flop? More importantly, what are they worth now? It’s all, 100% down to Rafa mate.
He knew our weaknesses and played to our strengths. I’m not sure how else he could’ve done it.
Gayle ain’t PL quality. Failed at Palace and sadly, failed this season. Not knocking his effort, just he hasn’t the ability. He’ll be out the door this summer along with Joselu.
Jail for Ashley
Mar 26, 2018 at 6:06 PM
Comment #57Munster,
We missed chance after chance against Bmouth and Swansea, do you think they got together at half time and said to themselves, this almost scoring tactic isn’t really working let’s just sit and defend the other 45. I doubt it very much, a very young team lets the missed chances get in to their heads, the opposition sense this and start to raise their game, had Gayles goal been rightly allowed and all those chances gone in we would have played them both off the park for the full 90.
Bobbybee
Mar 26, 2018 at 6:10 PM
Comment #58Damn, just enjoying that and my taxi service is in demand. Be nice chaps, catch ye all later.
lochinvar
Mar 26, 2018 at 6:20 PM
Comment #59West Ham are just a minor irritant to everyone these days.
Just like a wee piece of dried up chewing gum that sticks to the sole of your shoe – not nice but soon scraped off and binned.
AncientC
Mar 26, 2018 at 6:44 PM
Comment #60The squad isn’t a championship squad in my view, unless you consider the value of the players and wages paid is too much—as the overall value and wages of the squad is some distance from Championship level.
The club has been in the PL for 7 out of the last 8 years. It takes more than one season out of the top flight for a club to transform into Championship level—especially when you carry on paying bottom half PL wages and fees whilst out of the top flight for that one season.
Have to agree on Gayle. Disappointing record for goals this season from Gayle. Gayle is capable of better though. I am sure sooner or later, Gayle will have a good season in the PL if he gets to keep playing football at that level.
Munster Mag
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:06 PM
Comment #61Correct ancient c but some fans have been saying that this is a championship squad all season but it isn’t, not for a minute. If some team like derby or forest get up and barely strengthen, then that’s a championship squad. Our two most important players are on the verge of England call ups !
Munster Mag
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:17 PM
Comment #62Bobby, that’s exactly my point. I have credited rafa for getting them but they are not championship level and neither are shelvey lascelles Ritchie dummett etc. In fact u cud only argue that yedlin murphy ( not a regular on team) and Joselu ( awful buy ahead of mitro imo) are at that level. Perez isn’t championship level either and could play for a better team than nufc in Spain. If the team isn’t championship ( and they were considered the most talented set of championship players assembled in recent years by many journos and fans that I know of Leeds forest derby staff weds) then we can’t say that rafa is keeping a championship team in the prem. He is certainly improving the club all over etc , certainly no disagreement there and more power to him. And hopefully a better kitty from Fats.
posada
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:21 PM
Comment #63Administration and liquidation are two different things.
Administration gives you protection from persons owed money. As the name implies the day to day running of the company is handed over to an administrator, normally a firm of accountants.
The basic idea though is that the company continues to function.
I believe there are penalties for a football club going down this route. 12/20 points ?
One club waited until they were already down and then went into Admin. The authorities were not having that and the points deduction was applied to the following season.
Liquidation. Is the company broken up and cease to exist. Something like that.
Also, football clubs have a strange anomoly whereby the players have first dibs on any assets before other creditors. Their contracts are honoured before anything else.
A certain Mike Ashley found that hard to fathom apparently.
Not an expert. These things are complicated, but that is what I know off the top of my head.
ronaldo aarons
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:22 PM
Comment #64I really don’t like the labelling terms like ‘championship player’, ‘premier league squad’ etc. But I don’t think we were or are a ‘championship’ team. I’ve been an advocate of how well Rafa has done and explained when someone recently posted a good question, rob leenio I think, about how our achievements compare as in promotion season or staying up (hopefully confirmed soon).
Obviously how we rate players etc are very subjective but I think our team up to the forward line is good, young and improving. Our forward line of gayle, Joselu and lack of #10 cost us so much. Without this we find it harder to win games, draw games we should win, lose games we could draw etc.
Had we brought in a very good forward and seeing how the season has played out with everything being close points wise, we could have easily finished in the top 10. A demba ba level striker for example, from when he was here. If you don’t score enough goals, you lose games more often than not, which in turn makes the rest of the team look poor.
Oldgit1
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:24 PM
Comment #65@ Munster Mag I think it’s down to the media and so called experts that keep saying we are a championship side, is it because a lot of players bought last year were championship players. Don’t they know we have a world class manager and coach.
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:34 PM
Comment #66Munster still slating Rafa? This is a guy who reckons Perez can get into Man City’s starting XI, so if that’s not enough of a reason to disregard his wacky opinions then I don’t know what is.
Essex Geordie Bill
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:35 PM
Comment #67And this had been said a million times, with no exaggeration, most of the players are still very young in EPL terms and can only get better.
Essex Geordie Bill
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:37 PM
Comment #68Online
Have you thought of writing a book?
RobLeenio
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:37 PM
Comment #69It’s all semantics really. Champo, PL squad, team whatever. The team that came up was one that was assembled for one purpose – to win promotion. There were elements of the team that Rafa knew he would have to upgrade and he wasn’t able to so at that point his life became harder. Kane’s assault on Lejeune then made things even tougher. It’s to his massive credit that with little investment from the owner he will likely keep a team in the Prem that was never designed to play there.
Champo squad? Probably at the start of the season, albeit top half Champo. Now after 6 months playing and training together? Mid table Prem squad with the ability to push on with maybe 4 good additions
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:40 PM
Comment #70On the current topic, I don’t subscribe to the “Championship squad” mentality but we do have an immensely inexperienced squad lacking in any depth.
We have one of the ‘weakest’ squads in the PL do to be where we are at this stage of the season is a good position.
RobLeenio
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:47 PM
Comment #71Posada that’s interesting about the players wages. Bet the other creditors wouldn’t be happy with that
Jail for Ashley
Mar 26, 2018 at 7:55 PM
Comment #72Munster,
Who assembled and persuaded that all star team to drop a division. Loom who RDM bought with the same money. You can’t help yourself with the cheap digs (terrible buy). We know he was a terrible buy, stop harping on about it. You’re building yourself in to a position where you can properly slate him should we fail to beat Huddersfield.
JackBall
Mar 26, 2018 at 8:04 PM
Comment #73My take on the Championship v Premier League Squad.
If you look at the leagues and how teams do when they are promoted/relegated you see that the bottom 3-5 teams of the top league is not much better than the top 2-3 teams of the lower league. You go down, you loose a few of your top valued players and usually replace them with more affordable, and in our case, championship proven caliber. When you come back up, to avoid that bottom five, you must add a few Premier league caliber players. If you don’t, than call the team what you want – bottom Premier or top championship, but what you will not call the team is safe.
We didn’t add enough, so for short hand, many here, including me, call the team Championship quality. It is just semantics because within both leagues there is a wide gulf of class, and at the bottom of one and the top of the other, there is a bit of an overlap.
Munster Mag
Mar 26, 2018 at 8:05 PM
Comment #74Ruddy I never said that he did get in the city team. He is skill and touch are at a level where he could play with better players than nufc and not look out of place. I’m not saying he is the new de bruyne. I also think he could play in a less physical league at a higher level too.
JackBall
Mar 26, 2018 at 8:05 PM
Comment #75Rob,
I wrote mine before I read yours, but similar points, so sorry to rehash.
Munster Mag
Mar 26, 2018 at 8:07 PM
Comment #76And by the way in not slating rafa . Now stop making yourself look silly.
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 26, 2018 at 8:10 PM
Comment #77Munster I’m not the one making myself look silly mate. You’ve been on Rafa’s back all season.
As for Perez he wouldn’t get near their 16 man squad never mind their first team.
Munster Mag
Mar 26, 2018 at 8:11 PM
Comment #78Jail I’m not going to dig rafa or any other manager unless he uses shit tactics or subs. I reckon we will beat hudds and more besides and I think we can end up respectably high. And I totally agree about his persuasive abilities so I don’t know where u are going with that point.
Munster Mag
Mar 26, 2018 at 8:14 PM
Comment #79Ruddy I have praised him an awful lot too but don’t let that spoil you. Perez has the skills to play with better players and I think he could do it for teams say 4th to 8th in la liga and wudnt look out of place. If u dont agree fair enough.
Bobbybee
Mar 26, 2018 at 8:33 PM
Comment #80Maybe people misunderstand what I mean by Championship squad. I mean that on many occasions this season we’ve started or finished with the same team that came up from the Championship, which was in reality a squad Rafa put together to get us out of the Championship. Hence, Championship squad. Hope that clears it up. 🙂
In the past teams who’ve failed to improve their squad have gone straight back down. Now it’s even harder to compete with the same players because of the money available to those PL teams already established. For Rafa to do what he’s done with basically the same outfit is amazing. You need to strengthen or you struggle.
What he has done is improved every player to the point where they now look capable of beating established clubs.