Opposition View: Newcastle United

It never seems to be dull up at Newcastle United and this summer was no different. Mike Ashley managed to lose one of the best managers in the world in Rafa Benitez, replacing him with the slightly less talented Steve Bruce.

As you can imagine, the reaction on Tyneside was one of despair. Benitez’s departure also led to many pundits to decree that the Toon Army were relegation certainties.

Things haven’t quite worked out like that so far. Newcastle have four points to their name and sit two places behind Brighton in the Premier League table. More impressively, they’ve already beaten Tottenham Hotspur away from home.

So what does this season actually hold for the Toon? Ahead of the Albion’s long trip north to St James’ Park, we caught up with Olly from NUFC Blog.co.uk to find out.

It’s obviously been a summer full of plenty of drama at St James’ Park. What did you make of Rafa the Gaffer’s departure?
I was devastated when the news broke that he would be leaving. He gave us fans hope that better times may be on the horizon, but Mike Ashley clearly had no interest in showing the ambition required to keep a world class manager.

Talk of him going to China for money is shortsighted. Yes the offer was huge, but he gave us every chance of keeping him – and don’t forget he stayed when we went down in 2016, so he hardly jumped ship when times got tough!

He didn’t just shore up our defence, improve us tactically and develop several ordinary individuals into capable Premier League players, but connected with the fans, the community and was the perfect flag bearer for our club. A few months later, it’s still heartbreaking and hugely frustrating to think what Mike Ashley threw away.

And what of Steve Bruce’s arrival? It seemed a bit of a left field appointment but perhaps that shouldn’t have been a surprise with Mike Ashley at the helm.
He’s a nice bloke and has plenty of experience, but history suggests he’s no longer a Premier League manager – and certainly not one who should be brought in as Rafa Benitez’s replacement!

I’ll give him a chance and just try to judge him based on his time at Newcastle and not let his past failings cloud my judgement, but it’s hard to be enthusiastic.

He seems to have the players on side which is positive, however fans are hugely underwhelmed by his appointment – not that we’re surprised given this is classic Mike Ashley.

Speaking of Ashley, are you any closer to seeing the back of him?

We were hopeful a Middle Eastern group (The Bin Zayed Group) were going to complete a deal over the summer, but that proved to be another red herring, with them all talk and little action in the end. That said, Mike Ashley’s alleged asking price of around £350m continues to price us out of a deal.

He may have spent a bit of money in the summer, but he doesn’t care about us or Newcastle, with him more interested in lining his own pockets than fulfilling our club’s potential.

Sounds cynical, but signings like Joelinton and Saint-Maximin have only been sanctioned as they’re talented young players who could make him plenty money if they shine in the Premier League. Rafa wanted Rondon but Ashley didn’t want to pay his £16.5m release clause. Why? Because he was ‘too old’ and lacked sell on value. He treats our club as a business and nothing more.

What are your hopes and expectations for Newcastle this season?

When Bruce replaced Benitez I was adamant we’d go down. Since then we’ve signed a few talented players and have kept a few more of our assets than I expected.

That being said, Perez and Rondon scored almost 60% of our goals last season so there’s big pressure on the likes of Almiron, Joelinton and Saint-Maximin to chip in – and that’s risky business given all three are still adapting to a new league, despite their clear potential.

For large parts of Rafa’s reign we had a top class manager but too many Championship players. Ironically, we now have a capable group of players but a Championship manager and fans who are well and truly dejected, making St James’ Park anything but a fortress now apathy has taken over.

I hope we can surprise people and have a solid season where the fear of relegation doesn’t take over every week, but I expect us to be in for another long, hard season. This is the most I’ve feared the drop since we were promoted a few years ago. I was hugely impressed by our 1-0 at Spurs, but it’s another season where staying up would be deemed a success.

Talk us through your summer transfer business. You’ve mentioned Joelinton and he looks a decent capture, how’s he settling in?

He’s looked very good recently, despite the fact he’s had few sighting of goal. He’s a real handful, holds the hall up well and often drops into false number 9 positions to pick up the ball and link the play. He looks visibly more confident after getting off the mark at Spurs last month, but the pressure is now on for him to score at St James’ Park and be the difference in games like this. We’ve paid £40m for potential not a proven goalscorer – which shows how crazy the market has become – but I’m confident he’ll come good.

Andy Carroll is back on Tyneside and in line to make his ‘second debut’ from the bench on Saturday if his ankle holds up in training this week. He’ll get some reception if and when he comes on. If there’s anyone who can out-jump Shane Duffy or Lewis Dunk, it’s him!

Allan Saint-Maximin is an enigmatic talent who signed from Nice for £16m, but I won’t dwell on him too much as he’ll miss out once again with a hamstring injury. He’s got pace to burn and real flair, we just need to get him fit.

Jetro Willems used to be a regular for the Dutch national team but his career has stagnated somewhat. He’s likely to start at left wing-back and is very attack minded, however the jury is still out on him from a defensive perspective. His goal at Liverpool showed what he has in the locker, mind! He has a big role to play in Ritchie’s absence.

Finally, Emil Krafth is a Swedish international right-back who came in on deadline day. He has been solid at times this season but doesn’t look too suited to a wing-back role and may even be dropped for this one after his stinker at Anfield last weekend.

We snuck a very lucky 1-0 win at St James’ last year with the return at the Amex finishing 1-1. What did you make of those two games?

I remember us being unlucky in the home leg, but also struggling to create a great deal, with Dunk and Duffy blocking or clearing just about every ball that came into your box. Glenn Murray’s injury felt like a turning point, but we just didn’t turn up.

As for the away leg at the Amex, I don’t think I’ve seen a more abject performance in that first half from you lads. We didn’t punish that nearly enough, however, and you sneaked a draw in the end. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jonjo Shelvey get as much time on the ball as he did that day!

What are this Newcastle sides strengths? And are there any glaring weaknesses that Graham Potter can exploit?
As a team, we’re strong at centre-back and pretty organised and tough to break down on our day, but we sometimes lose that solidity in ‘winnable’ home games like this, with fans keen to see us get on the front foot and go for the win.

Weaknesses so far have been our lack of goals. We’ve struggled to create chances for Joelinton and have managed four goals in five games so far.

Looking at individuals, Fabian Schar is a Rolls Royce defender who carries the ball out of the back brilliantly and creates countless attacks from deep. Isaac Hayden is a tough tackling midfielder who’s barely put a foot wrong in 2019 (watch him have a stinker here!) and Christian Atsu has been surprisingly good so far this season, looking lively and making use of his pace for once.

Joelinton is a handful and our link man in attack, but he needs more help from the likes of Miguel Almiron – a really live wire with so much enthusiasm and pace but little end product as of now.

Weaknesses? Krafth needs to be better at both ends if he keeps his place at right wing-back. Willems is good going forward but seems to switch off defensively from time to time.

Who do you think will win the league this year and who’s going down?
It’s so tough to call. I was backing Manchester City, but they’re in trouble now Laporte’s out for the season. Liverpool don’t look as good defensively this time around, but they may not need to be if Salah, Mane & Firmino stay fit! I’ll say Liverpool based on their early five point lead.

Picking three to go down is tough. Norwich were early favourites, but they’ll beat too many teams to go down if they continue in this vein. I see the season catching up with Sheffield United and expect them to go down despite a valiant effort. I then think it’ll be two of Newcastle, Aston Villa, Brighton, Southampton and Palace for the final two spots!

I’ll say Sheff United, Villa & Brighton – sorry!

Finally, a prediction for Saturday please?
I don’t think this one will be quite as low scoring as our recent meetings at St James’ Park. You seem to play a more expansive style under Graham Potter and I’d expect us to play a little bit more on the front foot in search of our first home win of the season. I’ll say a scoring draw. 2-2.

Thanks to Olly for answering our questions. You can check out his excellent writings on Newcastle at NUFC Blog.co.uk. Let’s just hope he’s got his relegation prediction wrong!