With the games coming thick and fast before the next long and boring two week International break due to start after the weekend of Saturday 5th November, Rafa will be giving his press conference later today for the game tomorrow night at Oakwell against Barnsley.
Newcastle will have an enormous 6,000 traveling fans attending that game – unbelievable.
Newcastle had Chancel Mbemba, Daryl Murphy and Matt Ritchie miss the game through injury and illness on Saturday and it looks like Matt could be fit for tomorrow night with Murphy having only an outside chance for the game.
Daryl Murphy – could start the game against former club Ipswich?
Matt had a virus and the doctor ruled him out of the game on Saturday, although Matt was keen to play.
Jamaal Lascelles was replaced by Grant Hanley after 60 minutes against Brentford after taking a knock, but he will be in contention for a starting place against Barnsley.
This is how Benitez responded when asked if any injuries were picked up in Saturday’s game:
“We had Lascelles as a knock.” “We had to take him off because he felt weak but nothing else.”
“Before the game we had Mbemba and Ritchie, who had a problem with the virus.”
“Ritchie was pushing me all the time – he wanted to play but we had a conversation with the doctor, and he said he couldn’t play.”
“But Ritchie was pushing me to play, which is a good sign.”
“Daryl Murphy is nearly there and this week he will be fine, although I’m not sure if he’ll be ready for Tuesday.”
Chancel Mbemba had a slight leg injury which kept him out of the game and we’re not sure what his status will be for tomorrow night.
It looks like Daryl Murphy’s calf injury is almost healed after he picked that up while on International duty with the Republic of Ireland.
Daryl could be fit to make his Championship debut for Newcastle against his old club Ipswich Town on Saturday afternoon at St. James’ Park, but he is not expected to travel to Oakwell tomorrow.
Our injury situation seems to have improved dramatically this season and we have very few injuries with even goalkeeper Rob Elliot now back in full training.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
12 comments so far
cyprus
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:06 AM
Comment #1Ibiza,
he probably peaks at this blog, or listens to the true Geordie ?
I’m sure players read this stuff once in a while. Wouldn’t you, if you knew you were being mentioned?
V,
You asked if I now when it will be considered that Gayle has a dip in form, in order to let Mitro in. Mate, I have no idea. I think (hope) Rafa isn’t playing favourites and is simply basing his selections on tactics and the opponent.
It’s so hard to get a regular goalscorer these days, so he probably doesn’t want to fxxx with the gayle-force current situation. Played 9, scored 9, is it? Not too bad that.
Ibizatoon
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:10 AM
Comment #2Cyprus…Is True Geordie still doing his thing? I kind of lost interest after a while.
Not sure I would look if it were me. I’d no doubt have a team that did though.
Ibizatoon
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:11 AM
Comment #3To be fair, Rafa’s probably just answering questions put to him, honestly, whereas before, the misdirected answers would make your head spin.
Vask
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:14 AM
Comment #4Not if you know but what you would set your threshold at, for instance 5 games without a goal then dropped to give someone a 5 game shot to someone else. I agree that it would be beneficial to use different types of striker for differing opponents, but then if you have an in form Gayle it might send him the wrong message. I suppose these intricacies are covered by the coaching team.
Jib
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:14 AM
Comment #5Ibiza
Rafa’s connect with the public comes mainly fron the local press .
He has excellent relations with Lee Ryder , Mark Douglas , Miles Starforth , and Luke Edwards.
He is always available for interview and never evasive.
He learned about the power of the local press in the UK and what a good ally they could be from his time at Liverpool.
A lesson some predecessors could have done with!
Ibizatoon
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:16 AM
Comment #6Jib (From previous)…I think you’re right.
It was always my gripe with the previous lot. If there’s nothing to hide, sing and dance about it. It was clear it was never about hiding secret tactics. It just created a divide.
Thankfully we now have Rafa.
WWSBRD
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:17 AM
Comment #7Jib
Also helps that he is allowed to have a relationship with the press unlike previous managers
WWSBRD
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:18 AM
Comment #8Also any word on what I slated Pedro for?
Ibizatoon
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:19 AM
Comment #9Jib…And from this thread!
Vask…Isn’t that one of the points of the rotation system though? It isn’t just about form from the previous game.
Jib
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:20 AM
Comment #10It would have been a bit naughty to bring off Gayle when he was on a hat-trick
Although Slavoljub Muslin did it to Mitro v Austria !
cyprus
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:21 AM
Comment #11JFA,
Forgot to respond, as I went out to do some work. You said he was deified because he brought a feel good factor to the club, at last. Can’t argue with that. I’m weary of ‘deification’, it’s dangerous I think. And the fans overdid it, maybe.
And, personally, being relegated left a nasty taste in my mouth. Still does. Some games (e.g. Sunderland, Norwich), we should have attacked, I felt.
Losing the first two brought the reality that this ain’t an easy league, there’s Champions’ League winners (old version) and ex- greats among us. It’s going to be long and hard to get out of this mess.
BUT: Rafa HAS brought the feel good factor; he has brought a winning mentality; his model is working; players seem to be on board. Hats off my man. In any case, I always liked his demeanor and approach. I felt for him when he was ‘attacked’ by fans, e.g. at Chelsea and Madrid. I felt much of it (the criticism) was undeserved.
ie. Both he and I are now in the same direction. Long may it last. He gets me promotion and some success, he can even have his statue 🙂
Vask
Oct 17, 2016 at 9:27 AM
Comment #12Yeah ibiza,
I thought the main point was to keep players fresh and competing. The rotation system that I have seen employed this season still has some stalwarts ie dummet, shelves, lascelles, Gayle when he has been available and until recently Ritchie. So that means players competing for these positions are most likely to become a little unsettled, especially when like at qpr Mitrovic and Perez had out standing games by all accounts but we’re then left out for subsequent games. We gave played a good range of teams playing different styles yet our stalwarts have started the majority, which suggests to me is that we aren’t selecting the players with different attributes to deal with different tactics.