Newcastle United travel to London this weekend as they face Crystal Palace at St James’ Park on Sunday afternoon, with the Magpies in desperate need of getting back on track after a couple of poor results.
Matthias Jaissle has some big decisions to make about his starting XI and questions are starting to rise about just how suitable he is to take Newcastle United into the next era.
With that being said, Sunday is a massive game, so join us as we take a look at a possible XI to take on the Eagles.
GK: Lukas Hornicek
Hornicek faced a lashing of criticism for his performance against Aston Villa, mainly as a result of questions about whether he could have done more to prevent Manzambi’s header from evading his grasp.
Even still, his position is in no jeopardy of being taken against Crystal Palace and I expect the Czech to get back to his best shot-stopping form at Selhurst Park.
RB: Lewis Miley
Amar Dedic was on the bench for the Aston Villa game following his injury but wasn’t deemed fit enough to start and wasn’t brought on.
Lewis Miley once again deputised with a solid performance, barring allowing Manzambi to drift off his shoulder for the goal.
There is undoubtedly a question as to whether the Bosnian should be brought back in here, but I do feel it would be harsh to drop Miley and he does offer a little more stability away from home.
CB: Dan Burn
Whether Dan Burn is fully fit or not is yet to be seen, with Matthias Jaissle having not yet done his pre-match press conference, but Sven Botman’s time in the XI is running decidedly thin - possibly more with the fanbase than the German himself.
Botman still looks nothing like the player he was before his injury problems and always appears a mere moment away from making a calamitous mistake.
With the current state of affairs, and the Magpies desperately needing a result, it feels to me that bringing the experience of Burn would be much more fruitful away from home.
CB: Malick Thiaw
Fans are also beginning to question Malick Thiaw for his defending and, whilst I do think a little bit more urgency from the big German would be beneficial, his statistics suggest the performances have still been serviceable, even in the past couple of games.
Thiaw is also beginning to show some progression in his ball-playing abilities, which are becoming closer every week to what the Magpies need to play Jaissle’s system - hopefully that will continue here.
LB: Lewis Hall
No need to justify this one.
Hall has continued to emerge as the Magpies top performer in almost every game and he’ll likely have Palace’s right-wing locked up on Sunday, it’s just whether the rest of the team can follow his lead…
CM: Nico Gonzalez
Gonzalez didn’t cover himself in glory for Villa’s goal, failing to put any pressure on the cross, but the Spaniard was largely left to man the entire midfield himself once again and it’s difficult to not feel sorry for him.
Hopefully Jaissle will tweak the system and give him a bit more support in this one, but I can’t help feeling like he may be left exposed once again.
CM: Sean Steur
Go back to the double pivot, the proper one which we played a bit earlier in the season, and get Steur in midfield alongside Nico. I think we are all asking for it.
Whether Jaissle does it or not is a different matter, but I can see a world where the Dutchman gets a start away from home.
Steur's technical ability is undeniable and, on paper, there looks to be some real substance behind him and Nico forming a duo that can excel in the vertical system Jaissle is insisting on playing.
CAM: Joelinton
I genuinely think there is a wide scope for putting Joelinton in the 10 and getting him using that powerful running, which made him so useful off the left, involved in build-up.
Using Joe here wouldn’t be conventional, but it would drop into a more protective midfield three when needed, which feels like the exact change Jaissle’s men could benefit from right now.
It may sacrifice something in the way of creativity, but it does leave scope for some handy rotations and Steur could quite easily pick up the slack in terms of getting the ball into those forward areas.
Perhaps I’m creating my own little fantasy world here, but I’d like to see it and it can’t do any harm, can it?
RW: Matias Fernandez-Pardo
Fernandez-Pardo hasn’t yet ignited his career in black and white, but it doesn’t feel like it’s too far away from happening.
The Belgian struggled against Villa, but then so did everybody, and I can’t help feeling as though his pace and energy off the right could be an excellent asset to combat Palace’s wing-backs.
ST: Will Osula
With Will Osula up top, you might have noticed I’ve suggested dropping Wissa. Whilst I can’t necessarily see it happening, he’s been so poor in the past couple of weeks I genuinely think it could be time for a change.
I believe Osula is far and away the best striker option we have, especially for Jaissle’s pressing system and, now that he’s fit, he has to come straight back in to the side.
Wissa hasn’t looked anything like scoring for the past few weeks and has even seemed very lazy compared to the player we were watching at the start of the season, that alone should be enough to start Osula.
LW: Harvey Barnes
Barnes won’t lose his spot, but there might be a question as to whether he plays off the left or right.
Toure didn’t set the world alight when he came on against Villa, but he did look lively if not for making the wrong decisions in the final third.
Even with that, I think the experience and ability to produce a moment of quality away from home, in a game we really need something out of, is probably the right route to take.
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