Newcastle United welcome Aston Villa to St James’ Park tomorrow as the Magpies look to bounce back after the massively disappointing 4-1 defeat against Coventry on Monday night.
It feels like a big game for Matthias Jaissle and the squad, with a result feeling like it’s rather important in the grand scheme of the season.
With that being said, Jaissle has some big decisions to make about his starting XI. Here’s how we think he might lineup against Villa.
GK: Lukas Hornicek
Hornicek didn’t have his greatest performance against Coventry but that won’t see him lose his spot here.
I’ve seen a lot of discourse questioning whether the Czech is up to the task, which I think is absolute nonsense given where we’d be if he wasn’t between the sticks - It’s not his fault he keeps getting hung out to dry.
RB: Lewis Miley
Dedic’s cameo on Monday didn’t exactly fill me with confidence that he should come straight back in at right-back, with his statue-like defending for the fourth goal particularly concerning.
Miley had a very solid game there up to the point he came off and I genuinely think there’s an argument as to not only whether his best position is at right-back, but whether he is Newcastle’s best right-back full stop.
I’d keep him in here simply because he has done nothing to warrant being dropped.
CB: Sven Botman
Dan Burn is still slowly being nursed back to full fitness and, while I’d love to put Fabian Schar in here, I can’t see Jaissle using the Swiss on his less favoured side just to drop Botman.
The Dutchman scored on Monday but once again didn’t look comfortable on the ball and it always felt like he was one dodgy touch away from making a calamitous mistake.
Newcastle fans are beginning to lose patience with Botman, but I can’t see a world where he is dropped here.
CB: Malick Thiaw
The other half of the troublesome duo at centre-back will most likely also keep his place.
Thiaw has probably been the less obviously nervy of the two, but there have been some decidedly dubious moments of defending, including his passive role in Coventry’s third goal on Monday.
Again, I wouldn’t mind seeing Schar come into the XI, but I don’t expect it to happen.
LB: Lewis Hall
Wonder how he’s feeling about that new contract now after the past few weeks?
Seriously though, while he wasn’t at his best on Monday and did initially give the ball away that led to Coventry’s third, Hall was still one of the only players who came out with a little bit of pride and his combination with Barnes down the left still looks like the best source of creativity at present.
CM: Nico Gonzalez
Gonzalez was poor against Coventry but in fairness to him it largely wasn’t his fault.
He was hung out to dry almost every time the ball was turned over and was a man on an island for most of the game. It was hard not to feel a little sorry for him, to be honest.
Gonzalez will start again here and the key will be to actually give him some help both in and out of possession.
CM: Joelinton
Joelinton didn’t have the greatest of cameos on Monday, but I think Jaissle’s comments may suggest he is in for a start here.
The Magpies need more structure and a bit of impetus heading into an important home game; Joelinton is the perfect profile to give them exactly that.
He might not offer as much on the ball as some other options, but I think him and Nico could actually have a decent balance as a pairing and do well against Villa.
LW: Harvey Barnes
I actually thought Barnes was one of our better performers against Coventry, not that that means much.
Him and Hall have a good understanding down the left flank and It would seem silly to drop Barnes, especially given his direct competition, Bazoumana Toure, is set to be out injured for the game.
CAM: Yoane Wissa
I think Jaissle will stick with the same setup he used on Saturday, especially given his comments about Fernandez-Pardo.
Wissa hasn’t looked particularly comfortable in the 10 over the last few games and this could well be Joe Willock instead, but I think Jaissle will continue to use Wissa with the double pivot behind him providing a bit more licence to cheat defensively.
RW: Jacob Murphy
I don’t really want to talk about it… It just will be him won’t it?
Toure looked lively at least when he came on off the right on Monday, but the Ivorian did get injured and I don’t feel like Jaissle trusts him to start quite yet.
With that being said, it’ll be Murphy again - to absolutely everyone’s dismay.
ST: Matias Fernandez-Pardo
For all of his shortcomings in front of goal, I actually thought it was a much more positive performance from the Belgian.
He worked hard, got into a lot of good areas and would have had a couple of goals on a different day. I just really hope he gets a goal sooner rather than later because there is clearly a player in there, he just needs a little confidence.
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