Newcastle United vs. Chelsea: 11/05/25 @ 12:00 (TNT Sports)

[Steve Charlton]

Willock offered no protection for Tino yesterday who seemed to be more on the left with Barnes and it was Barnes who was chasing back.Tino was also stepping into the Joelinton position a few times goin forward

 

Alarmingly undisciplined display from Willock.Start him and its gonna be a shite day

[KingArthur]

11 hours ago, alexf said:

This is going to be a much harder game than I think most anticipated awhile ago. 

 

Chelsea even when playing poorly kept getting results and they seem to be coming into some form at the perfect time. 

 

They also have fast athletic players that can cause us problems. 

 

We need one of those top Howe era games where everyone is firing to get over the line here. 

 

Unfortunately however we seems to be running out of steam slightly and Joelinton will be a big miss for this, not just his physicality but his mentality. 

 

Really hope the lads have one more huge performance in them. Wish it was a night game, could do with a hostile environment for Chelsea players. 

Their speed on the transition is soooo bad for us. Especially without Joelinton. Willock against Palmer? aaaargh

[ExiledGeordie]

44 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

Hope Gordon comes in for Murphy, can see AG being right up for this. 

Yeah we need his character in this one, it’ll be proper feisty. 

[SUPERTOON]

47 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

Hope Gordon comes in for Murphy, can see AG being right up for this. 

Barnes or Gordon doesn’t work on the RW though. We are a better side with Murphy out there.

[Conjo]

With our midfield 3 it should be possible to man mark certain players at all times of the game. There's not many players I'd stick one of our players on at all times, but Palmer is one of them. Been screaming at the screen more than once when he's found space between our lines and seemingly nobody catching him until its too late.

 

The other player I can think of is Rodri. He's always where the ball is somehow, so why not ensure we always have a player where the ball will end up too?

[alexf]

I think that's diminishing why these players are so good. They find the space. You don't think 100's of managers probably put someone on Messi and said man mark him, only for him to inevitably find space and score again and again?

[The Prophet]

56 minutes ago, t00nt00n313 said:

Chelsea are picking up good form and we're struggling to win against teams that aren't in the bottom half.

 

That said if we do manage to get a win I could see that giving us the confidence to do well in our final two games.

 

We've also beaten Arsenal (twice), Chelsea, Forest, Villa and Bretford at home, along with draws against Liverpool and City. There's a big distinction in the home and away fork when it comes to top half teams.

[Begbie]

14 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Barnes or Gordon doesn’t work on the RW though. We are a better side with Murphy out there.

Agree with you there. When Murphy has a bad game you can see it early on, so wish we would just swap him out after 10-15 min in some of the games this season

[TRon]

1 hour ago, Steve Charlton said:

Willock offered no protection for Tino yesterday who seemed to be more on the left with Barnes and it was Barnes who was chasing back.Tino was also stepping into the Joelinton position a few times goin forward

 

Alarmingly undisciplined display from Willock.Start him and its gonna be a shite day

 

Who would you start instead?

[Yorkie]

1 hour ago, SUPERTOON said:

Barnes or Gordon doesn’t work on the RW though. We are a better side with Murphy out there.

 

I don't think B.I.G. has ever been given a fair crack. Barnes is settled in the team and in a good rhythm now which hopefully provides a fairer test of that front three. It's no slight on Murphy; he's been instrumental for us this season - but I think the attack could use a bit of freshening up, particularly with Isak struggling to get in games atm. 

[Steve Charlton]

34 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Who would you start instead?

Would have to be Miley,Looks big enough to use his body like Big Joe on the pitch now. Willock might be faster is but it didnt help much yesterday

 

We cant afford Palmer space,Massive holes there yesterday for him to exploit

[duo]

Could do worse than playing 3 at the back so playing two CM - bring Botman in

 

 

Edited 10 hours ago by duo

[RodneyCisse]

8 minutes ago, duo said:

Could do worse than playing 3 at the back so playing two CM - bring Botman in

 

 

 

That would allow Schar the freedom to push up… dare I say… into midfield more…

[TRon]

59 minutes ago, Steve Charlton said:

Would have to be Miley,Looks big enough to use his body like Big Joe on the pitch now. Willock might be faster is but it didnt help much yesterday

 

We cant afford Palmer space,Massive holes there yesterday for him to exploit

 

Does Miley play on the left of CM? You were saying that you wanted more cover for Tino in that post but Miley plays more centrally as far as I am aware, and not sure he would have the pace to cover for Tino even if he did switch out wide left.

[The Prophet]

I've deliberately not crunched the numbers too much.  A very big if, but if Palace beat Forest and Bournemouth beat Villa, would a draw do here?

[jack j]

13 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

I've deliberately not crunched the numbers too much.  A very big if, but if Palace beat Forest and Bournemouth beat Villa, would a draw do here?

Add in Forest beating Leicester next Sunday to what you've said and it would leave it as

 

Us 64 ( Arsenal a Everton h)

Chelsea 64 (man utd h Forest a

Forest 63 (West ham a chelsea h)

Villa 60 (spurs h man u a)

 

So to answer your question I'd take it providing them other results go the way you said

 

 

Edited 9 hours ago by jack j

[Steve Charlton]

12 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Does Miley play on the left of CM? You were saying that you wanted more cover for Tino in that post but Miley plays more centrally as far as I am aware, and not sure he would have the pace to cover for Tino even if he did switch out wide left.

Think he played there in the cup v Bromley

 

Willock was nowhere in sight in the lcm position a few times yesterday

[Tsunami]

I wouldn’t start Willock for this and I’d bring Gordon in for Barnes. Horses for courses, we need Murphy’s tracking back, Gordon’s energy and extra pace, Miley is a better fit against Chelsea. We need to snuff Palmer out, Joelinton will be a miss.

 

[TRon]

32 minutes ago, Steve Charlton said:

Think he played there in the cup v Bromley

 

Willock was nowhere in sight in the lcm position a few times yesterday

 

How do you judge that as LCM covers quite a lot of ground anywhere in the centre to LW to LB?

[Elma]

I'd definitely consider three at the back here. I'd do something similar to the Arsenal home game in the LC semi.

 

As mentioned above, Schär stepping out of the three with Bruno and Tonali holding.

 

Bypass the midfield if we have to (like the LC final) and let the front three do their thing. I'd bring Gordon back in, probably for Barnes.

 

Let's hope for an Eddie masterclass.

[Steve Charlton]

34 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

How do you judge that as LCM covers quite a lot of ground anywhere in the centre to LW to LB?

 
Joelinton covers it all and is never the last man up the pitch with Isak 

 

Think Miley will do a better job defensively 

[Decky]

I really hope the lads turn up for this like they did for the Spurs 6-1 which was a similar scenario in our push for CL football. Chelsea are there for the taking, smash them and put us within touching distance of top 5.

[mighty__mag]

10 hours ago, Menace said:

 

He's been shite for 5 months

 

He was easily the best player on the pitch vs Liverpool 

[Lotus]

1 hour ago, Tsunami said:

I wouldn’t start Willock for this and I’d bring Gordon in for Barnes. Horses for courses, we need Murphy’s tracking back, Gordon’s energy and extra pace, Miley is a better fit against Chelsea. We need to snuff Palmer out, Joelinton will be a miss.

 

 

You think Miley will be a better bet defensively? I'm not sure I've seen that yet. I think Williock's athleticism could be a better factor in mitigating Palmer's influence. Neither of them are ideal, obvs.

Didn't Eddie say before the Brighton game that Miley was more of a right-sided midfielder? 

Given Chelsea is such an important game I would think that would rule Miley out of the running for the LCM slot. Could move Bruno there and Miley and RCM.....Dunno, it's a tough fit.

[Kanj]

Major home match at home, i trust Howe to outgun anyone.