Manchester City vs Newcastle Utd - 03/10/15

[TJR]

Match preview:
We head in to our 8th Premier League game of the season still looking for our first win of the campaign. The tough start continues with this game against last seasons runners up. Although we've started the season with disappointing results against Southampton, Swansea, Watford and maybe even Arsenal we can take some positives from our start in the form of the performances against the so called 'big teams' this season, Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea.

A clean sheet away to a Man Utd side who 7 games in top the table is something we can take inspiration from. As is the spirited defeat to Arsenal, a game where we defended very well with 10 men and only conceded because of a very unfortunate deflection. With a more competent referee that day no doubt we would have got at the very least the point we deserved. Then of course last weekend we drew 2-2 at home against the champions. With Ayoze Perez scoring a delightful goal that even Sergio Aguero would have been proud of. The emergence of Kevin Mbabu was another major plus point from that game.

Despite those 3 good performances against the 'big clubs' the league table doesn't make for nice reading. Only bitter rivals Sunderland are below us. Though the old cliche is that you shouldn't look at the table until at least 10 games have been played. So I won't post the table.

Man City have had a mixed opening to their campaign. After a blistering start winning their first 5 it all started to go wrong once Vincent Kompany got injured. Since then they've lost to West Ham and Tottenham with Sunderland the only team they've beaten in the Premier League without Kompany. On Wednesday night they beat our pre season opponents Borussia Monchengladbach 2-1 in their second Champions League game. The first was a defeat to Juventus.

With the recent form of both sides being somewhat erratic, the vast injury lists for both sides, the possibility of the 'continental hangover effect' from Man City's midweek run out in Germany and our good performances against the 'big sides' all taken into account there is cause for some slight geordie optimism heading into this fixture. Perhaps we can do what Juventus and West Ham have done and come back from the Etihad with a win in the bag.

Team news:

Newcastle United:

Gabby Obertan, Rolando Aarons, Sadio Haidara, Papiss Cisse, Karl Darlow, Stevie Taylor, Cheick Tiote, Paul Dummett, Manu Riviere and Curtis Good will all miss out through injury. Sylvain Marveaux is working towards a comeback and played for the reserves in the week however this game will come too soon for him. Siem De Jong and Jack Colback are doubtful.

Manchester City:

Vincent Kompany, Samir Nasri, Yaya Toure, Fabian Delph and Gael Clichy will al miss out through injury. Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfried Bony and Eliaquim Mangala are expected to return from injury.

Possible lineups and prediction:
Possible Newcastle United line up :

<krul>
<janmaat> <mbemba> <colo> <mbabu>
<sissoko> <anita> <gouffran> <wij>
<mitrovic> <ayoze>

Assuming the doubtful players, Colback and De Jong, don't make it I think we'll probably see something like this. At the time of writing (about 3.30 am) there are strong looking rumours doing the rounds on twitter that Gouffran has been told he is starting in CM.

The system with two up front worked against Chelsea. I expect McClaren to keep the system the same. I won't be happy if Perez and Mitrovic don't start together as they seem to have a good understanding and early indications suggest they are forming a good partnership. That midfield looks a bit unbalanced but injuries may force our hand.

Possible Manchester City line up :

Hart
Sagna - Otamendi - Mangala - Kolarov
Fernando - Fernandinho
De Bruyne - Silva - Sterling
Aguero

Man City have injury problems of their own. Though they've used their wealth to create a big squad to lessen the impact. Kompany however will still be a big loss. Zabaleta is fit though Sagna's good form is expected to see him retain the RB spot. We will have our work cut out dealing with Man City's front four.

Prediction :
Both sides have injury worries and haven't been on the best form of late. Man City also had a midweek fixture in the Champions League which they made hard work of but eventually got the desired result. We have done better against the bigger teams this season, putting in good displays against Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea. With our last trip down to Manchester bing that 0-0 draw at Old Trafford earlier in the season. I can see us causing a bit of an upset here. I'm being optimistic and predicting a 1-1 draw with Mitrovic getting his first goal for the club to cancel out a De Bruyne goal.

Referee:

Kevin Friend:

This fixture will be refereed by Kevin Friend. The 44 year old official from Bristol is a member of the Leicestershire and Rutland County Football Association.

Last season he took charge of two Toon games. Both were at St James' Park, a 1-1 draw against Stoke and a 3-1 loss against Spurs. This will be his fourth Newcastle away game, the previous three were all wins for us. 1-0 at Sheffield United in the Championship season, 2-1 at Cardiff back in 2013 and most recently an eventful afternoon at the KC Stadium back in 2014 where we won 4-1 but the result was overshadowed by Alan Pardew sticking the nut on Hull's David Meyler, forcing Friend to send Pardew to the sands.

A word from the gaffers:

Steve McClaren:

After seven games we are starting to get a little closer to our starting XI, our system of play and our style. We knew it would take time to bed in and get used to all the changes that are obviously happening here and we have suffered because of that.We are getting closer. We are progressing. Last week was encouraging, both on and off the pitch. Now I want to go to Man City and give a good performance, play good football with no fear and have a go. Pressure will always be there. There is a pressure to perform, to perform individually and to perform collectively to the standard that we want.

Manuel Pellegrini:

We have a tough game against Newcastle. They played very well against Chelsea and here in Manchester against United. We are not thinking of the top of the table at this moment as it is important to be at the top in May. We know we are going to have eight or nine players defending so we have to create the space. Vincent Kompany, Gael Clichy, Fabian Delph, Samir Nasri and Yaya Toure are injured. Kompany’s calf is still injured, so we will see if he is fit after the international break. It has not been a normal situation to have so many injuries – against Sunderland we had 11 injured, then it’s been seven or eight. I hope after this break, most of them will be fit. I never complain about the players who can’t play. I don’t think that one name can change the performance of this team. We also win a lot of games without Vincent. He’s an important player for us of course – we hope we will play again soon of course. We always expect to win at home but away also, we want to win everywhere. We have to play in the same way, in the same style.

Expert opinion:

Lawro:

Manchester City's last-gasp win over Borussia Monchengladbach was a great result but it does not hide the fact they got away with another poor defensive display. The wheels have come off a bit since their defeat by Juventus, when Vincent Kompany was injured. Considering City's vast resources, it is amazing that he is so badly missed. This strikes me as a good game for City to have, however, because Newcastle have got problems too.
The Magpies were much better in their draw against Chelsea but I think Steve McClaren is right to tell his side's fans that there is going to be more pain before things improve significantly. I predict Manchester City 2-0 Newcastle United.

Coverage:
TV:
There is no live TV coverage in the UK.
Highlights on MOTD, BBC1, 22:30.
Radio:
BBC Newcastle (North East Only)
BBC 5 Live (Nationwide)

HOWAY THE LADS!

[Colly]

Prediction: pain.

[bodacious benny]

No yaya or Kompany <notbad>

...and our result against Southampton wasn't disappointing, I was quite happy with a draw and how we played

[beatski]

Prediction: pain.

for their CBs when Mitrogoal destroys them

[Chappy]

Not expecting a result despite their dip in form.

[Heisen]

I think we'll lose valiantly. It's crucial we don't concede early - if we go 1-0 down within five minutes it'll be about 4-0.

[CheickyTiote]

Got a bad feeling about this game. We always get beaten comfortably by City, reckon it will be 3-0.

[The Deluded Pablo Diego Jose Francisco]

4-0 City

[LONDONTOON]

Don't see us getting destroyed,never really do under McClaren compared to Carver and Pardew.

2-0 to City

[Wedge Head Tiote]

Anyone watch that Mitrovic interview on SSN? Looks like he's in love with Perez

[Colly]

Anyone watch that Mitrovic interview on SSN? Looks like he's in love with Perez

Poor Perez.

[Ramone]

Krul; Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini (c), Mbabu; Sissoko, Anita, Gouffran, Wijnaldum; Perez, Mitrović.

[beatski]

Gouffran...

[Colly]

What do people watch these on nowadays? Not watched a stream in yonks.

Also, how low has Tiote's stock dropped?

[Lidl]

So I guess Gouff at cm is becoming a thing. He looked alright when he played there previously so I'll give him benefit of the doubt.

[Southern fairy]

Against Northampton though. Different kettle of fish

[Rampant Tone]

If we can keep it at 0-0 till half time I think we'll grow in confidence and only end up losing by a couple.

[TJR]

Interesting that Tiote is back but Gouffran is still starting out of position instead of him.

If Tiote has dropped that low in the pecking order why not just have reserve player with good potential on the bench for CM cover instead of him? As if Tiote isn't deemed good enough to play his own position over an out of position Gouffran then surely he isn't good enough to play at all.

[TJR]

Man City front four are looking strong. Probably going to be a tough afternoon for our defence.

[tweet][/tweet]

[Goat]

------------------Krul-----------------
Janmaat - Mbemba - Colo - Mbabu
Sissoko -- Wij -- Anita -- Gouffran
------------Perez -- Mitrovic---------

I'd imagine.