Beset by injuries and fatigued by a long schedule, this coming nine days will define Newcastle United's season
Newcastle United are beginning a huge week for the club
Newcastle United are beginning a huge week for the club
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The door has slammed shut on domestic silverware, the bolt firmly secure, and now we must turn our gaze towards the supreme test continentally.
It's bad enough that top tormentors Manchester City produced their fourth victory in five games against Newcastle this season shooting us out of the FA Cup just as they did the Carabao Cup but next along comes Champions League royalty Barcelona who have already gorged themselves in our backyard.
They arrive knowing they have the safety first valve of a return at the Nou Camp. Yeah, life doesn't get any easier, does it?
We fleetingly hoped that the regular executioner who would do it again was to be Harvey Barnes. He scored both goals that downed City up here in the Premier League and sure enough opened the scoring after only 17 minutes with a sumptuous finish when United were fleetingly in the ascendancy.
However, no, City went on to take complete control and the king of the killers turned out to be Omar Marmoush whose brace took his haul against us Geordies to seven in five matches. Considering he mostly plays as stand-in for Erling Haaland who never scores against United we know which one we would rather be confronted by!
Truth is the City slickers won in a canter as Eddie Howe went as wild as a Las Vegas gambler chasing the disappearing coin - at one time Lewis Hall was right-back, Dan Burn left-back, and Joe Willock outside-right. Square pegs in round holes.
He had made two huge calls in his starting line-up leaving out Joelinton and Anthony Gordon and frankly both Nick Woltemade and Will Osula spectacularly failed to justify selection.
Sandro Tonali is carrying the workload of two men at the moment, a terrific example to all of not giving in to the inevitable. Lewis Hall is the same but who else is walking with pride?
We have no pace at the centre of a mistake riddled defence, no midfield dominance of territory across the line, and little va-va-voom up top. Has Yoane Wissa been stripped bare by injury and a lack of pre-season? Does Anthony Elanga play in a cul de sac?
This was yet another case of a match lost from a winning position which has happened so often this campaign and did so again because of a defence absolutely porous at home - United have conceded two against Aston Villa, three Brentford, two Qarabag, three Everton, one Manchester United, and three Man City in successive fixtures at SJP. That tots up to 14 home goals given up in half-a-dozen starts.
Our next Becher's Brook comes all too quickly without time to draw breath or lick wounds - Tuesday night against the Spanish champions.
Barcelona swept to a domestic treble last season but fell agonisingly short in the Champions League, beaten in the semi-finals by Inter Milan. A defeat that determined their clear priority this year. Their dream is to return to the European throne for the first time since 2015.
Lewis Hall (above) and Sandro Tonali (below) have consistently impressed
Lewis Hall (above) and Sandro Tonali (below) have consistently impressed
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Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali has been linked with a move to Arsenal
Sandro Tonali(Image: Getty Images)
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With Newcastle in the last 16, and then either Atletico or Tottenham in a potential quarter-final, they can see a relatively kind route towards the final four. Can we shatter such a presumption?
Such is their determination that Barcelona changed their travel plans to head directly to England from their weekend game at Bilbao rather than returning home first.
They won 1-0 before departing home shores through a goal from wonder kid Lamine Yamal who missed their earlier match at SJP through injury.
What can we now expect? Somehow conjuring up a repeat of the magical 3-2 victory here in 1997 when Tino Asprilla somersaulted himself into the record books with a hat-trick or the other four outcomes which were all Barca victories culminating earlier this season when we lost out 2-1.
Having bent the knee at home to Everton and City with Man U the stand out exception United cannot afford to make it three home defeats out of four in a 10-day period.
Eddie has often highlighted the tiredness of players forced to play three matches a week all season long. However if Barcelona aren't overcome over two legs he will have as much time as his heart could desire on the training pitch after Nou Camp on March 18 with only a long run-in to the end of the Premier League programme left to negotiate.
That would stretch over two months and eight games beginning with a mammoth winner-takes-all derby against Sunderland where local pride hangs by a thread.
It has been a topsy turvy season all right but there is still time for another upturn. We have to believe that because where there is life there is hope. Can we rediscover the form and desire of the Man U victory rather than revisit Everton? He who dares wins. So who dares?
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