Newcastle United will look to avenge their 3-2 loss against Manchester United tomorrow when the two sides meet at St. James’ Park.
After playing Watford to a 1-1 draw over the weekend, Newcastle United have now turned their attention to tomorrow’s match against Manchester United. Newcastle played back-to-back away games last week, but they will now host the Red Devils at St. James’ Park.
The last match between these two teams kept both sets of supporters on the edge of their seats as Manchester United staged a late comeback to win 3-2 at Old Trafford. It will be interesting to see if Newcastle plays toe-to-toe with the Red Devils or if they will defend for most of the match.
Emulate Watford Performance
Newcastle put in a good performance against Watford at Vicarage Road and they were eight minutes away from returning to Tyneside with three points. Okay, the Magpies cannot exactly copy and paste their performance against Watford due to Manchester United’s quality, but they can emulate their game plan.
A few things need to happen in order for Newcastle to earn a much-needed positive result to begin the new year. Firstly, the Magpies’ back-line must be compact, mark players closely and make quick clearances from the penalty area. Secondly, Christian Atsu and Matt Ritchie must take over as playmakers if Jonjo Shelvey does not start. Finally, Salomon Rondon must be the main man up top and every midfielder must focus on feeding him the ball.
Manchester United do not have the best track record when it comes to playing on Tyneside, but they are playing amazing football at the moment under interim manager and former striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Red Devils have won their last three matches and they scored an impressive 12 goals in the process while only conceding three times.
This does not bode well for Newcastle as they are taking on a new look Manchester side that is full of confidence and enjoying their football as a team. One simple mistake from Newcastle is all Manchester United need to open the scoring so the Magpies must be vigilant and calm for the duration of this match.
The Magpies will be looking to add more cushion between themselves and the bottom three, especially since multiple relegation rivals won over the weekend. We shall see how Rafa Benitez approaches this match, but parking the bus would only invite problems for Newcastle. They should just take the risk and attack after testing the waters in the opening 30 minutes or so.