Coming quickly on the heels of the fantastic win against Sheffield United on Thursday is another critical match this Sunday. Newcastle will face Southampton at St James Park.
The Saints are coming off two home wins against Watford and Norwich City that has them out of the relegation zone and in 17th in the table just 4 points behind Newcastle.
Newcastle are on a decent run of their own with 4 somewhat unexpected points over the last two matches. However, this one will carry with it some expectations for sure. We need to be beating teams like Southampton at St James Park. Nothing else will do.
Steve Bruce kept with the side that drew against Manchester City for last night’s win at Sheffield United but for one glaring change. Andy Carroll made his first Newcastle start in 9 years and made a significant impact on the outcome.
It will be intriguing to see if Bruce stays with Carroll on Sunday or goes back to Joelinton. We have to believe he goes back to the 23-year-old Brazilian as he’ll be playing with fire starting Carroll twice in four days with his injury record.
We also expect Bruce to make a few slight tweaks in his team selection. We could see a change in the midfield with Sean Longstaff coming in for either Isaac Hayden or Jonjo Shelvey, but it will be really hard to drop either.
Fabian Schar has to get back into this team somehow. With three games in just over a week, that could be this Sunday against Southampton.
It’s all going right at the moment, but that can change in the blink of an eye. A win against Southampton is really the only acceptable outcome, so let’s hope Bruce and the lads can continue their climb up the table on Sunday.
What Will Be The Result Against Southampton On Sunday?
- Win (71%, 1,015 )
- Draw (19%, 277 )
- Loss (10%, 141 )
Total Voters: 1,433
Who Was The Man Of The Match At Sheffield United?
- Martin Dubravka (75%, 1,782 )
- Jonjo Shelvey (6%, 132 )
- Federico Fernandez (5%, 121 )
- A. Saint-Maximin (5%, 108 )
- Andy Carroll (3%, 68 )
- Ciaran Clark (2%, 59 )
- Javier Manquillo (2%, 56 )
- Isaac Hayden (1%, 28 )
- Miguel Almiron (1%, 12 )
- Joelinton (0%, 6 )
- Christian Atsu (0%, 6 )
- Jetro Willems (0%, 5 )
- Paul Dummett (0%, 5 )
Total Voters: 2,388
10 comments so far
Rotonda heights
Dec 6, 2019 at 11:45 AM
Comment #1Don’t know who out of catchy, over rated and Welsh embarrasses themselves the most. As trolls go they just don’t cut it. Sill obsessed with and obviously missing Rafa so much. Guys you really need to move on.
If you really want to make comparisons between bruce and Rafa over 3 months, rather than a 20 year career and ignore rafa not having Almiron for half a season or a 60M new strike partnership from the get go, you are just going to make yourselves look even more ignorant and foolish than I thought possible.
Under Bruce average 23% possesson, under rafa 32%, plus top scorers in the champo and 5th hghtest scorers in the 2nd half of last season. Rafa GD + 205. Bruce -139. What was that about don’t let facts get in the way.
You obviously all had a problem with rafa as an individual because all the things you complained about with Rafa you laud Bruce for. GO figure.
We’ll never know how well we could have kicked on this season with Rafa.
Why can’t you just enjoy the moment with Bruce rather than keep slagging off an elite manager with 13 major trophies who meant a lot to the city and the genuine fans. As a real fan myself I am enjoying the recent run of results, why can’t you do the same and STFU constantly whinging about Rafa.
G
Dec 6, 2019 at 11:48 AM
Comment #2I really want Steve Bruce to succeed at the Toon, but all the evidence I have seen suggests he won’t. Delighted if he proves me wrong, but to me, he’s still just another Pardew / MaClaren level appointment. If the remit of the team is purely to survive in the Prem, then so be it, however, I want my team to be ambitious and really go for games. With regard to the thread, I feel a lot more confident playing Soton at home than away. Always the away fixture I hate to see, as we very rarely do anything at St Mary’s or indeed the The Dell before it.
Bambams
Dec 6, 2019 at 11:56 AM
Comment #3This to me is one of our biggest games of the season so far, to take three points on Sunday will keep the run going, show last night was no fluke and takes points off a team who I think will be in and around the bottom five at the end of the season.
But with Newcastle it’s always ‘After the Lord Mayor’s show ‘ and we kick ourselves with a poor performance.
The overrated Frenchman
Dec 6, 2019 at 11:57 AM
Comment #4Rotunda heights, you won’t remember this I guess, but I kind of pinned your level of intelligence a few years back when you accused me of being a racist because I referred to Rafa as being Spanish. You don’t seem to have gotten any smarter.
Assassins Inc
Dec 6, 2019 at 11:57 AM
Comment #5I do so hope Bruce doesn’t win the FA Cup, it will be like a Rafa-Bruce war zone on here.
Comparing stats and who was this and who was that isn’t really fair on any Newcastle Manager under Ashley’s control.
Yes, if Rafa was still here with Miggy and 60 Million spent on strikers then we could be in the top 6, but we don’t have a crystal ball so we will never know.
Yes, Bruce isn’t Rafa, and Rafa isn’t KK, and KK isn’t Sir Bobby and the list goes on, for me as long as we are pointing in the right direction there is still a sliver of hope that someone will purchase us, that’s all I care about, the little sliver of hope that one day Ashley will be gone.
The overrated Frenchman
Dec 6, 2019 at 12:04 PM
Comment #6@#4 – that should be Rotonda Heights. (That’s actually a white trash enclave of Miami, just as a matter of interest)
Bills Son Is Back
Dec 6, 2019 at 12:04 PM
Comment #7Rotunda,
There you go again spouting about Rafa not having a £60M ‘strike force;’.
You mean the one that’s scored two goals between them and 99% of fans think is worse than Rondon and Perez?
Honestly. WHAT point are you trying to make??
G
Dec 6, 2019 at 12:21 PM
Comment #8Rather than talk about whom is the best manager, who’s the worst anybodys seen at the Toon? For me, it was either Souness or McClown, not that they’re win percentage looks that bad when you compare it to the likes of Ossie Ardiles, however, the football was dire as it gets. JFK was pretty grim too, Gordon Lee, Jim Smith, Richard Dinnis or Bill McGarry would take some beating mind.
JP...from The Rock
Dec 6, 2019 at 2:16 PM
Comment #9G- add Dalglish to that list
jon.c
Dec 6, 2019 at 3:06 PM
Comment #10For F–k sake forget Rafa he has gone and should be forgotten lets give support to S B