I don’t get to see many Newcastle United games in the flesh these days but one of the few times I can get in, is for the Sela Cup.
I take the whole family. I’d take Tessa the dog too if I could.
This is the penultimate weekend before it all kicks off for real. At this point, Eddie Howe has normally got the players he wants in and has worked with them.
There are two games over the weekend and we field two strong but totally different teams. If you can go to one game only it’s pot luck if you will see the new signing(s) or your favourite player. The games are quite competitive and some of the foreign teams really get stuck in.
It seems a step up from the usual pre-season stuff. Correct me if I’m wrong, but are Newcastle United the only club to do this split to give two balanced, strong teams?
So why post this?
Well, Newcastle United have now played 24 Premier League games so far this season, plus eight games in the Champions League, with at least two more to come. We are mid-table but once again top of the injuries table.
Newcastle United have also played four games in the League Cup and are still in the FA Cup after an exhausting extra-time and penalty shootout win.
Our players look knackered and this is disrupting the bread and butter of our season – the Premier League.
We may or may not field a centre-forward and we may or may not have a creative midfielder. And yet in the Sela Cup we seem to have all of these options.
So why not have a cup team and a league team for Newcastle United?
Yeah, in the Venn diagram of things there will be some players who play more games than others, but surely there’s got to be something in this approach. The Premier League is what will dictate our finances and our appeal to prospective signings.
And for those who say we have done this, why are we again top of the injuries table?
And why are the Newcastle United players who do play, unable to play the high press anymore?
And if you think players would be unhappy in the ‘cup team’, well that team is going to play around 20 games (or more) this season. That’s a decent involvement I think.
Oh, Newcastle United also need a bigger ground if we truly want to compete, but that’s another article.