Newcastle welcome Northampton Town to St James’ Park tomorrow for their second round tie in the Captial One Cup.
The Cottagers have won two of their first four league games and easily dispatched of League One side Blackpool in the last round, so this game will be no walkover.
Ahead of the game, Steve McClaren spoke of the importance of this game and insisted he will play the strongest side available to him. So, a few of our writers attempted to predict our line-up.
THOMAS BORE
While this line-up is far from our best eleven, it should be more than enough to see off the threat of League Two side Northampton. The attacking trio of Aarons, de Jong and Ayoze, just behind Cisse, will be difficult for the Cobblers to contain and will cause problems throughout. While the weakened defence (who shouldn’t really have too many problems) will be protected by our Ivorian enforcer Cheick Tiote and Jack Colback.
Only three players in this line-up started against Manchester United (Taylor, Colback and Ayoze) meaning there are plenty of players in this line-up desperate to impress McClaren to secure a spot in the team for the Arsenal game. This will also provide players such as Fabricio Coloccini and Tim Krul with a rest ahead of this weekend’s fixture.
ADAM SOFRONIOU
Mbemba, Thauvin and Mitrovic all need as much game time as possible so all three start for me. Captain Colo gets a rest after Saturday and gives a chance to look at the potential of a Taylor-Mbemba central partnership. Haidara and Janmaat are the only players in their positions so pick themselves. Olivier Kemen is the only reserve player worth a look at and joins Tiote in midfield, who should be looking to impress and challenge Anita for the weekend’s fixture. Thauvin and Aarons are the future wingers but wont start at Arsenal on Saturday so I’d give them a good run around. Perez and Mitrovic as an attacking duo could be very exciting and Ayoze will be able to exploit gaps created by Mitrovic’s barrelling presence.
A strong side will maintain a feel-good atmosphere around the club that this season’s performances, if not results, have generated.
EVIN GRANT
I’ve gone with a variation of the 4-4-2 formation as I would like to see how we do with two strikers up top. Darlow comes in for his debut, giving Krul a deserved rest. In the back four, Colback comes in at left-back because he’s more than capable of playing there, as we saw during his time at Sunderland. Lascelles makes his debut and is partnered by Mbemba, while Janmaat starts at right-back, needing to improve on his poor display against Swansea. The Anchorman in front of the back four will be Anita and he should sit back to help out the defence on any Northampton counter attacks. Aarons starts, and deservedly so, having shown great promise in pre-season. Siem de Jong and Thauvin both start as they both need game time to bed into the team. I’ve gone with Mitrovic and Perez up front together – two players who will give us different attacking dynamics and cause the Northampton defence plenty of problems. Let’s hope they can get their names on the scoresheet!
LEE WILSON
Home debuts for the newcomers Lascelles and Darlow, mixed with experience due to a lack of viable options. Tiote needs to improve his match fitness and is partnered by Olivier Kemen – a chance to see what the highly rated youngster is all about. This game provides more time for de Jong to improve his match fitness while giving the fans another chance to see new boy Florian Thavin and hopefully aid his easing-in process. Cisse starts for me as he didn’t play Saturday and will, therefore, be fresh.
MICHAEL BROWN
Steve McClaren has always insisted that he would take the cups seriously and so did Mike Ashley in his pre-match interview on the final day of last season. So, going off that basis, I think Newcastle will field a relatively strong line-up.
I think Anita will drop to right back so Coloccini and Mbemba can both work on their defensive partnership, as well as their match fitness. So with Anita at right-back, I have gone with Cheick Tiote to fill the void he leaves in midfield. Going forward I think Wijnaldum will be given a break and Sissoko will possibly need a few extra days to recover so I think de Jong will be handed a start with Perez and Aarons out wide. This will be the perfect game for Mitrovic to get some extra minutes under his belt and possibly off the mark in terms of goalscoring. I also think former Northampton player Ivan Toney will make the bench.
RHYS MELHUISH
I’d go with a strong side to face the Cobblers, as I imagine Steve McClaren will too, should the talk of attacking the cups be serious!
I’d give Darlow the nod in goal to see what he can do, which I imagine will be the case come Tuesday night. In defence, I’d bring Janmaat back in at right back in order to pick up some extra match fitness after he had to sit out on Saturday. It’d be tough to leave out Taylor after a strong performance at Old Trafford, but Colo and Chancel are likely to be the first choice partnership this season, so the more minutes they play together, the better. Haidara will probably retain the left back spot, as Dummett doesn’t seem fit enough just yet. In midfield, I’d give starts to Tiote and De Jong, who both are in need of game time. I’d have the ever-reliable Colback in there too, with Thauvin and Aarons on the wings. Newcastle fans will be eager to see what the two wide men can create over a full 90 minutes. I’d have Perez lead the line, as he worked his socks off on Saturday and is deserving of a crack at his favored striking position, should all be going well after an hour or so I’d expect to see Toney given a run-out against his former club.
Elsewhere, I’d like to see some involvement of sorts from Olivier Kemen. Hopefully, he gets a chance from the bench.
So, who’s line-up would you go with or would you select a completely different line-up? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
