The Week For Newcastle United 12
- mattlewis89
- 10 hours ago
- 5 min read
Newcastle United returned from the international break with another week of inconsistency on the pitch. We followed a brilliant victory at home to Manchester City by getting beat away at Marseille on Tuesday.
There is no shame in losing an away tie in the Champions League, especially against an established European side like Marseille but the frustrating part for me is the way it happened.
It never sits well with me to single out one player for the result. Anthony Gordon’s form remains inconsistent, Elanga remains non-existent and my stance of give him time is quickly running out and could also look at some poor performances elsewhere too, including with selection and substitution’s. For me though, Nick Pope is the reason we lost that game. Harvey Barnes had put us in the lead to continue his fine goalscoring form. I am a critic of Barnes at times, but he is currently playing well, scoring goals and that momentum should keep him in the team. The game was a great one for the neutral and both teams had chances. We had a massive chance to go in 2-0 up at half time but as I said it was a great game to watch and could have been anything.
Then seconds after the break, Pope came out of his goal like he was the monk from Mean Machine, Aubameyang took it past him with ease and scored with an impressive finish. Marseille was in front by the 50th minute and that’s how it finished.
This opinion is all hypothetical, but I don’t think that comeback happens without Nick Pope making that error. We may not have played well enough to win the game, but I had gone into half time thinking we were going to get at least a draw out of this. It was a moment of madness and got the home crowd even more involved in the game (Not that they needed an invitation) and once Marseille scored the second, they and their fans held all the cards and ultimately won the game.
I have said all season that I think Ramsdale will be our number one by May, but also when Nick Pope was making good saves and putting in performances would have been unfair to drop him but now the time must be right for Nick Pope to be replaced for the next run of games and our next five fixtures represent a perfect opportunity for this to happen.
We don’t know how Ramsdale will perform but if things go badly for him, we have the cup game against Fulham after those five fixtures and that break may also re-focus Nick Pope as well. For me it is an obvious time for Ramsdale to be given that chance.
Following the game there were a lot of issues with the Marseille police being excessive with our fans. I won’t comment on this too much other than to say if anyone was involved or affected by this, I wish you all the best and hope any impact it has had on our supporters is dealt with by the necessary authorities.
Welcome to Tanya Oxtoby
Tanya Oxtoby has been named as the new manager of Newcastle United Women and joins NUW with a lot of experience at various levels, most recently as the Northern Ireland manager for the last two years. She has also been assistant coach to Emma Hayes at Chelsea with a lot of success to show for it.
Her first game in charge will be at home to Southampton under the lights before another home game against Liverpool Feds in the FA Cup. Her first away game will be the long trip to Portsmouth on the weekend before Christmas.
It will be interesting to see how our new manager set’s the team up or whether their may be big changes within the line up. Also with January around the corner could we see any transfer activity as Oxtoby put’s her stamp onto the team.
The fact we are 4th in the league going into the November international break is incredible. The draws have frustrated some, but I still believe we are in a positive position going into December with the unpredictable nature of the WSL2. Our two League games following the international break are Birmingham and Charlton so if we want to be in the promotion conversation going into those two games we have to take points from our two South coast opponents in December.
I also want to recognise the great job that Claire Ditchburn and Peter Ramage did in interim charge. They steadied the ship, delivered a memorable day at St James Park, and handed us over to Oxtoby with us sitting just outside the playoff position. A job well done by the temporary squad and gives our new manager a platform to build upon.
The lasses are now in their international break which will be a good chance for our new manager to access the squad and get her ideas across. There are some players away on international duty including Charlote Wardlow (U23s), Jasimine McQuade (U23s) and Freya Gregory for Scotland, Aofie Mannion and Emily Murphy for the Republic of Ireland, Shania Hayles for Jamaica and Oona Sevenius for Finland.
During the League Cup match with Everton, Amelia Freeman made her first team debut following several inclusions in the squad over the season so far. She joined the club in the summer and has impressed in the U21s side.
Academy
The Under 18s are back in action following a lengthy break from league action. They play Derby County at home this weekend looking to continue to excellent league campaign that sees them sitting in 2nd only behind Manchester City.
For the Under 21s their next fixture comes in the National League cup where we have an excellent chance of reaching the Quarter Finals. 4 Points from our 2 remaining games would see us top the group and even 1 win would be enough if goal difference comes into play.
This Week’s Results 22nd-28th November
Saturday 22nd November Newcastle United 2 Manchester City 1 (Premier League)
Sunday 23rd November Newcastle United Women 1 Everton Women 3 (Women’s League Cup)
Tuesday 25th November Marseille Under 19s 2 Newcastle United U19s 1 (UFEA Youth league)
Tuesday 25th November Marseille 2 Newcastle United 1 (Champions League)
Fixtures 29th November-5th December
Saturday 29th November Newcastle United U18s Vs Derby County U18s (Premier League U18s)
Saturday 29th November Everton Vs Newcastle United (Premier League)
Tuesday 2nd December Scunthorpe United Vs Newcastle United U21s (National league Cup)
Tuesday 2nd December Newcastle United Vs Tottenham (Premier League)
Wednesday 3rd December Liverpool Women U21s Vs Newcastle United Women U21s (PGA Academy)
Selected Tables
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