A game that suddenly seems very important, Liverpool face Newcastle in their second 12:45am kick off of the season. I spoke to the guys at @NUFCFansUTD to discuss this week’s opposition.
To start off, can you tell us about the main dangers Newcastle can pose to Liverpool on Saturday, and who you think the real danger-men for your side are?
Probably our main weapon will be pace. If Pardew selects a team capable of pressing and exploiting space, utilising the pace that we have and forcing Liverpool onto the back foot we might be on to a winner
What are your thoughts on Alan Pardew? Is he deserving of the managerial role at Newcastle?
Managers get judged on results and our form up until the second 45 minutes against Spurs has been horrendous. Performances have been abysmal, the team seemed to lack conviction, his selections and formation completely at odds with his rhetoric. Yes, we finished the 2011/12 season in 5th place and he picked up the manager of the season award, but those “heady” days seem a million miles away from what we have been watching both home and away since last Xmas. We could lump you with stats such as suffering more home defeats last season than any other Premier League team; managing to go 102 consecutive games without scoring from a corner; him being the first NUFC manager in the club’s history to lose 4 home games in a row without the team scoring a goal; losing as many Tyne-Wear derbies (3) as the last 22 Newcastle United managers combined; being the first ever Newcastle United manager to lose 6 consecutive Premier League matches. But he is still at the reigns and it looks like he will be for the foreseeable future, so as supporters we have to just get behind the team and hope that the last two results are the building blocks to some success on the pitch.
In terms of summer signings, many were impressed with the Newcastle business in the summer, particularly Daryl Janmaat and Remy Cabella. How did you think the window went?
Janmatt looks a decent buy but Cabella has been taken out of the firing line having looked rather fragile and not showing the sort of form that was expected of him. Whether the weight of the transfer fee or the pace and physicality of the Premier League has got to him, only time will tell. He is obviously a talent so naturally we hope that we see that talent blossoming sooner rather than later.
Tell us about Rolando Aarons, is the youngster worth the recent hype he’s received?
Hype is a strong word to use. Aarons is a young lad who has broken into the fringes of the first team and when selected has certainly taken his chance and brought something to the team that has been lacking recently and that is confidence and a freshness to our play. He is predominantly left sided yet his two goals have come from his right foot and his head. The worst thing we could do at this stage is pile pressure on him and talking him up too much. He is a young lad with bundles of talent. We all have high hopes for him.
Having seen an upturn in form recently, with 2 successive wins against Tottenham and Man City, do you feel that your side can really push on from here?
We hope so.
When looking at the current Liverpool squad, who do you feel poses your side the most threat on Saturday?
Sterling is a great player, bags of pace, skill in abundance, can play wide or at the top of a diamond formation and can score goals. He is obviously a danger. Henderson always puts in a shift and in Balotelli you have a gifted and talented player who on his day can turn a game. Last season Lallana put in a cameo role for Southampton when he came on as substitute at half time; Coutinho was outstanding against us last season and in Stevie Gerrard you have a player who always performs well when he comes up here. But for me, Sterling is certainly the one to watch.
Finally, can we get a score prediction from you?
This fixture always produces goals so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an abundance of them tomorrow. Naturally I hope that we take our new found form into the fixture and my heart puts this one down as a 2:1 Win for Newcastle; although we shouldn’t dismiss another of those epic 4:3’s either way!
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Big thanks to the guys at @NUFCFansUTD for that. My personal prediction is similar to the one already given, although the optimist in me reverses the scoreline so it is a 2-1 Liverpool win.
