Eddie Howe has been big on his rotation policy at Newcastle United this season but would be wise to ignore it for Sunday’s game against Nottingham Forest.
The Newcastle United squad is indeed looking much stronger than it did last season, which is a major departure from the options Howe had available the last time he had to balance a Champions League campaign with domestic duties.
As such, the Newcastle United manager has been able to make significant changes throughout the early part of the season. Injuries to Yoane Wissa and Tino Livramento weaken Newcastle’s hand somewhat but, generally, they are in a much stronger place.
Rotating is logical. Newcastle endured an injury crisis during the 2023/24 season and will have learned lessons since.
Sunday’s game against Nottingham Forest, however, is simply too big a game to start making changes.
Newcastle United find perfect formula for Nottingham Forest
Newcastle were excellent against Union Saint-Gilloise on Wednesday.
Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman continued their impressive defensive partnership, with Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn providing experience on the flanks.
Lewis Hall is still working his way back up to full fitness and while Burn doesn’t offer as much as him in an attacking sense, Newcastle’s defence is better with the 33-year-old in it.
Neither Thiaw nor Botman have been called up for international duty, so surely do not need a rest ahead of the break in domestic football.
The midfield trio of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton speaks for itself and, at last, the attacking line clicked in Brussels.
Anthony Elanga, Nick Woltemade and Anthony Gordon deserve another chance to build on that. Fluency will only come with familiarity.
If Newcastle don’t beat a Forest side verging on a crisis at St James’ Park, the mood will be very low heading into the break. Their best chance of doing that is to pick the same team who beat USG.
Eddie Howe’s cryptic answer on Newcastle United team news ahead of Nottingham Forest
Howe has confirmed that he will continue to rotate his Newcastle squad until Christmas, such is the packed nature of the schedule ahead.
Still, he didn’t go as far as to suggest just how deeply he would rotate. It’s hard to imagine there being sweeping changes after every game for the sake of it.
Clearly, he has to protect his players, but with an international break to come, it would seem strange to completely rip up the plans from Wednesday night.
Ahead of the game, Howe was asked if he was tempted to keep the same team from the USG game.
Rather cryptically, he said: “There’s a temptation to do lots of things but let’s see what I pick.”
Newcastle’s Premier League campaign is yet to get going. Continuity from Wednesday night’s showing would surely help it click into gear.
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