Newcastle were woeful during Monday’s defeat to Aston Villa, and with Manchester City the visitors to Tyneside on Saturday, Steve Bruce has some thinking to do regarding team selection.
But if Bruce wants to have the best chance of beating Pep Guardiola’s side on Saturday, there are definite changes in personnel and system that he should make.
Sean Longstaff has completed his suspension following his red card, and his brother Matty has watched on from the bench in recent games, but Bruce must be bold, and restore both brothers to the starting lineup this weekend.
Now do not get me wrong, I am not suggesting Isaac Hayden should be left out, but a tweak in the system can accommodate both brothers, and the former Arsenal midfielder, while bringing the best out of Newcastle’s biggest threat.
Sean Longstaff in, Jonjo Shelvey out should be the easy decision
The easy decision should be recalling Sean Longstaff for the ever-disappointing Jonjo Shelvey, but the bold choice would be bringing Matty in as a third midfielder, and dropping Miguel Almiron to the bench.
By doing so, and keeping his five-man defence, Bruce can utilise DeAndre Yedlin and Jetro Willems further up the pitch when Newcastle have the ball, while having an extra body in the middle, to nullify the Man City midfield.
The biggest positive about the change, would be moving Newcastle’s biggest game-changer, Allan Saint-Maximin, into a free role between the midfield trio and Joelinton.
It would see the Frenchman on the ball much more, meaning he could have a bigger influence on the game.
It would also allow him to be closer to Joelinton, with the Brazilian able to benefit from having someone virtually alongside him, as opposed to him ploughing a lone furrow for large portions of the game.
Defensive formation should stay but players should be changed
While the defensive formation should remain, the personnel should not. For a huge game like Saturday’s, Bruce needs his best players on the pitch.
With that in mind, Fabian Schar should come back in, while in an ideal world, Florian Lejeune would be given a start. But with the Swiss international likely to be included, it would be something of a surprise if his French teammate was named too.
Which of the three centre-backs are left out, is anyone’s guess, with none of them covering themselves in glory on Monday.
But regardless of who plays at the back, it is further up the pitch where the big difference can be made, and bringing in the Longstaffs, while giving Almiron an overdue spell on the bench, would see Bruce maximise his chances of seeing Newcastle make it two in a row against Guardiola’s star-studded lineup.
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