Hello, there! Before anything I say, I promise I’m gonna post more often now 🙂
International break is over and we lost a big 4-0 to Liverpool at Anfield. On a positive side, we are still sitting in 5th position and today’s game is a real important one in many ways.
We are playing Newcastle United at Home. Eddie Howe has taken over as manager for a struggling Magpies who have not won a single game out of 12 they have played. There are sitting at bottom with 6 points in as many draws.
On paper, we should win this comfortably. We are against the bottom team (literally), playing at home and everyone is fit except Xhaka – who we don’t really miss much. We have won 16 out of last 17 Premier League games against Newcastle United, and have not lost at home against them since 2010.
However, it’s a game that will show the character of our players and the fight they are willing to show. After a not-so-surprising loss again Liverpool, young guns like Tavares and Lokonga need to pick themselves up, and regain their confidence. Mistakes are expected from a young side and this game will show how much it has been corrected in training ground and in the mind!
Twitter was filled with ‘bring back Tierney’ after that loss, however if you ask me I would stick to Tavares. He had a bad game against the mightiest and he should regain that confidence. I would prefer not to touch the playing XI and let them grow in their win and losses.
A bit of a worry for us has been our inability to score. In the 12 games we have played, we have scored only 13 goals and have conceded 17. For reference, Crystal Palace, Everton and Leicester (and some more teams) has scored more goals than us. Expecting a 1-0 win in every game is not really an awesome strategy. Auba has been poor and missing penalty these days! I understand we are short of a CF and we will hopefully get someone in the upcoming transfer windows but it’s important we grab whatever chances we get. Auba needs to up his game, score more an show us why he was competing and winning golden boot with an inferior squad.
Hope? A 4-0 win will do. I will keep a short one for today. Game will be played at 12.30 BST (6 PM for my Indian readers). I will see you in the comment section during match.
Last but not the least, we will see Willock again. We all love you. I hope fans in the stadium will enjoy his game as much, with an expectation that he don’t score 😉
