Robins or Magpies? Bristol City v Newcastle United – Match preview.
Posted on March 19th, 2010 | 223 Comments |
Newcastle United travel to Ashton Gate on Saturday for a tea-time kick off against managerless Bristol City.
The Robins are on a poor run of form currently and have won only two of their last six matches at Ashton Gate, something that the Magpies will be looking to capitalise on in an effort to secure promotion at the earliest possible opportunity.
Caretaker boss Keith Millen will take charge of Bristol City, who are now only seven points clear of the relegation places. Following Gary Johnson’s mutual departure on Thursday, the stand-in boss admits he is relishing the chance of testing his managerial abilities against the league leaders. Speaking to the official Bristol City website, Millen had this to say:
“It’s the perfect game to have really. The Newcastle match is one everyone in Bristol has been looking forward to for a long time and it’s going to be a full house.”
“We need to get over the shock of what happened quickly, get back on the training ground and stay focused on the Newcastle match.”
Millen will be missing a few players for his first game in charge with Evander Sno, Jamie McCombe and Marvin Elliot all sidelined with long-term injuries. Jamal Campbell-Ryce will also be unavailable as he serves out a one game suspension for his dismissal against Plymouth on Tuesday. The Robins starting line-up for that Plymouth match was:
Bristol City: Gerken, Orr, McAllister, Fontaine, Carey, Elliott, Skuse, Sproule, Campbell-Ryce, Maynard, Maierhofer.
Newcastle front man, Peter Lovenkrands, faces a race against time to be fit for the game after limping out of the 3-0 victory over Scunthorpe on Wednesday with a calf injury. Alan Smith is still out and will join long term absentees Joey Barton, Shola Ameobi, Steven Taylor and Mike Williamson on the sidelines.
Again it’s very much a case of how we set up for the game tomorrow. Will we go with the hard to break down, nick a goal 4-5-1? Or will we stick with 4-4-2? With Wayne Routledge back fit again, I’d suggest it should be the latter as having him on the pitch makes us look much more balanced. Assuming Lovenkrands doesn’t make it, I expect a starting XI of:
Newcastle Utd: Harper, Simpson, Hall, Coloccini, Emrique, Routledge, Nolan, Guthrie, Gutierrez, Best, Carroll.
Fitz Hall could be a very important player for us against Bristiol City. His height and aerial ability will be needed to try and nullify the threat of 6ft 7in Austrian forward Stefan Maierhofer, but with two wingers and two tall strong forwards in the Newcastle side, the Bristol City defense will also have to be on top of their game.
Newcastle are unbeaten in seven league matches although it’s Bristol City who hold the advantage when it comes to the head-to-head record between the two teams. Of the 12 games played, the Magpies have recorded 3 wins, and Bristol City have come away with 5 victories.
The last time the two teams met at Bristol City was more than a decade ago, in September 1995, where Newcastle annihilated Bristol City 5 – 0 in a League Cup match. Our last league win at Ashton Gate was a 2-1 success back in January 1993.
Going with the form book then it has to be an away win, although Newcastle will have to guard against what will inevitably be a fired up Bristol City buoyed by the new manager. On the other hand, if we stick to what we can do then we should give them something to worry about.
My prediction: 0-1
Howay the lads!
Venue: Ashton Gate
Date: Saturday, 20th March,
Kick-off: 5:20 pm.
Ipswich game may be getting moved for TV.