Marseille vs Newcastle – Match Preview
- Nov 25
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 26
Marseille and Newcastle meet at the Stade Vélodrome in a Champions League fixture loaded with tension, opportunity and contrasting momentum.
For both teams, this is a night that could define their European campaigns.
Marseille sit 2nd in their league and are top goalscorers with an impressive 33 goals scored and a GD of +21.
But, they enter the match under pressure in the CL with only 3pts and they need a win to stand any chance of going through to the next stage.
In contrast, Newcastle arrive in France 14th in the Prem but with confidence and a growing belief in their CL group qualification with three straight wins putting us in 6th place on 9pts.
Unlike our league form - Man City apart - our performances in the competition so far have been consistent with plenty of attacking flair, chances and goals.
Our only away win in 10 games came from the 3-0 victory at USG and another away win tonight will set us up for the vital league game at Everton who won 1-0 with ten men at Man U last night.
However, the Vélodrome’s famously fierce atmosphere will be at boiling point tonight and you can bet the Marseille crowd and team will set out to intimidate the Lads from the kick off.
In Mason Greenwood Marseille also have a ST who is capable of destroying any team on his day and we need to shackle him in the same manner as we did Haaland - do that and we have every chance of making it four CL wins on the trot.
Eddie Howe has Anthony Gordon available after injury and Dan Burn after suspension but Kieran Trippier is ruled out and it's still too early for Yoane Wissa.
After the huge 90+ minute effort that every player put in against City it wouldn't surprise me if Eddie rested one or two players and that might give opportunities to the likes of Elanga, Ramsey and Miley.
However, if Gordon plays does Eddie rest Harvey Barnes or play them both?
And will Burn play, and if so at LCB or LB?
With no winners in Eddie's Bingo against City see if you can second guess Eddie and correctly forecast the starting 11 against Marseille - get your entry in before 6pm.
I'm expecting another a high tempo all action performance from the Toon with Eddie stressing to the team that a repeat of the effort shown against City - combined with our undoubted quality - is the action plan for this game and the rest of this season.
After collecting my winnings from my 2-1 bet on the City game I'm splashing the cash again and my usual fiver is going on 2-0 to the Toon.
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I think last night’s clanger will be stretching Eddies’s loyalty to breaking point.
Pope was obviously directly to blame for the equaliser, which in turn seemed to destabilise the team, allowing Marseille to run riot and grab the winner while we were on the ropes.
Dropping your No1 keeper is a much bigger call than replacing an outfield player. If Pope starts at the weekend it’s last chance saloon surely.
I reckon 50/50 call in Eddie’s head atm.
How many more chances does Pope get, serious misjudgedment there like.
I feel as though calling for reinforcements is a bit of overkill. We can give Ramsdale a run, he's a top keeper. We will need to bring in better cover at fullback, but surely not urgently, you need to take the time to get that right, and Trippier and Burn are far from liabilities. We need Wissa back, and if Osula isn't considered quite there, then maybe he can go on loan or permanently in January, and perhaps someone Eddie is happier to use brought in then, and Elanga needs more minutes, and I think Eddie does need to rotate more.
I do quite like the idea behind Barnes and Gordon in tandem up top though. I can understand the thinking there, as a way of resting Wolt, who really mustn't be run into the ground. But then, you'd surely have to have gone with Livra and Hall as wing backs, on their more natural sides, and then you're flogging them, and also Bruno and Tonali, our two most important players, will now go into the Everton match on tired legs, which does not augur well.
Yeah, in hindsight, it's a bit hard to fathom 3 at the back, particularly with Murphy at right wing back and Livra at left, and also not rotating out a few more current first choices, with an eye on Everton, and play Elanga, Ramsey and Botman, who surely are considered capable.
I'd have gone further, with also Miley, Krafth and Ramsdale starting, in our usual 433.
Anyway, we battle on, with a bit of a limp now, which you might well think could have been avoided, and which you rarely get away with in the EPL.