This looks to be the Newcastle United team v Manchester United on Sunday | OneFootball

Icon: The Mag

The Mag

·27 March 2023

This looks to be the Newcastle United team v Manchester United on Sunday

Article image:This looks to be the Newcastle United team v Manchester United on Sunday

We thought this would be a good time to ask a few questions once again of Newcastle United fans, some of those who are regular / irregular contributors to The Mag.

We are set to head out of this international break and the final eight weeks of the 2022/23 Premier League season lie ahead, 12 matches that will decide our fate.


OneFootball Videos


Next up answering some questions is Jonathan Drape-Comyn.

Predict the Eddie Howe Newcastle United team v Manchester United (assuming Krafth and Almiron the only ones missing).

Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Bruno, Longstaff, Willock, Joelinton, ASM, Isak

If NUFC qualify this season for Champions League, your suggested three realistic signings?

I’m not going jump on the Maddison bandwagon. He’s a good player who would obviously improve us but I’m not convinced he is either exactly what he need, or the world class talent that everyone makes out. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t say no to him! That would be daft.

There are also players I would love to have don the B and W stripes next season but I just think they are either out of our league, or the club won’t be willing to pay their transfer fee/wages. The likes of Declan Rice, Victor Osimhen, Khvicha Kvaratskhela and Jude Bellingham. They are pipedreams!

So maybe more realistically, my three would be Alexis MacAllister, Fikayo Tomori and Kieran Tierney. All three would go straight into the team. They are all winners, all young, all affordable (I think!?).

If Tierney could stay fit then it’s a no brainer. MacAllister I think is supremely underrated and would represent great value for money. Tomori and Botman could be a dream centre back pairing for the next 5 or 6 years.

Who are the three most improved players (in order) that Eddie Howe inherited when he came in?

1. Joelinton is the most obvious one for me.

He’s gone from being one of the Premier League’s all-time biggest wastes of money, to a key player in a Newcastle team battling for the top four and playing in a Cup Final.

Plus, I read last week that he could be close to a Brazil call up in the very near future. Nothing short of remarkable.

2. Fabian Schar is second for me.

I wouldn’t go as far to say Howe has really improved him as a player, but bringing Schar back into the team, has improved the side massively.

He does look far more comfortable playing next to a decent centre half in Botman too. They are a great centre back partnership.

Howe just finally has him looking like the well accomplished international footballer we know he is.

3. A bit of a rogue one, and maybe quite topical at the moment, but how Eddie Howe has found a really useful place in this side for Jacob Murphy is staggering.

He has been poor almost the entirety of his career at Newcastle. Plus, very underwhelming spells at Sheffield Wednesday and WBA.

Murphy has looked decent coming off the bench this season and has warranted a starting place in the starting line up as of late.

For a player, who in terms of ability, is Championship level at best, again…remarkable.

I could have said Almiron or Longstaff here too but I don’t think they have actually improved that much at all under Howe.

Almiron has been a star in front of goal but I don’t think his actual performances have been that different to the player we saw before. Longstaff, maybe quite similar to Schar, in the sense Howe has brought him back into the team. I think Longstaff benefits massively from how Howe likes to set his team up.

What do you predict the Premier League top six to be in order at the end of this season?

ArsenalMan CityMan UNewcastleLiverpoolSpurs

If this was a week or two ago, then I probably would have had Newcastle 6th here, but Liverpool don’t look like kicking on following their 7-0 win against Man U.

If Spurs had replaced Conte with Poch or Nagelsmann then I would have feared that bounce back effect. However, I think Spurs will remain inconsistent until the end of the season. That gives us a great opportunity to finish 4th.

I do fear if it goes to the last day of the season, away to Chelsea, we might not have enough though.

Your thoughts looking back on the Carabao Cup final (team selection, ticketing, your experience going to it/watching from home, how they played, anything you want to talk about)?

Obviously he got the team selection wrong. My partner, who has very little interest in football, said to me the day after the game, ‘why would you not play your best player that you spend millions and millions on if it is your biggest ever game?’

It’s hard to argue with that! Then again, I am not really qualified to tell Howe how to pick his team, he’s earned the right for all fans to just trust him at this stage.

Ticketing was a joke and I say that as someone who was always going to get a ticket. The system was thought up by people who created it in a way to benefit themselves.

I am not saying that I have/had the perfect solution, but the fact that a loyal season ticket holder who hadn’t missed a game at home for years and years, could miss out to someone without a season ticket, was just wrong for me.

I also think the club needs to be more transparent on how many tickets are given away to corporate or family / friends. It may not change but transparency would be appreciated.

The day itself? Absolutely brilliant… that was until the actual football started of course.

When NUFC matches chosen for TV, your marks out of ten on each option?

Friday night: 7/10 (got the whole weekend ahead of you after)

12.30pm Saturday: 7/10 (got the whole day ahead of you after)

5.30pm Saturday: 2/10 (takes up too much of the day and trains are a nightmare)

2pm Sunday: 6/10 (ok, I guess!)

4.30pm Sunday: 6/10 (ok, I guess!)

Monday night: 1/10 (Rubbish. No point)

3pm Saturday: 10/10

Firstly, I still don’t think that any state should be allowed to own a football club. That goes for Man City, Newcastle or Man U, if that does happen.

However, moving past that, I think the owners have been fantastic since they took over. They have engaged with fans, invested in the playing squad, as well as club infrastructure and continually communicated professionally.

You make your own luck in sport, and they are doing their utmost to bring success to the club, which at the end of the day, is all you can ask for.

View publisher imprint