And now to Newcastle’s next opponents, Liverpool, the leaders. Jürgen Klopp has been riffing on why Liverpool’s defence has improved so much this season. “It’s just general defending, that’s how it is. Everyone buys into the way we have to work, not that the team didn’t do that last year but you lose too many balls in areas you don’t want to and you suffer – last year that was more of a problem. Recently we have stepped up counterpressing wise so that means everyone works better: midfield, front three, and the high line keeps opponents from having so many chances. It’’s just the effort everyone puts in.”
Newcastle, Klopp says, have been unlucky with injuries. “They’re not used to international [European] football, all the games they’ve lost they’ve had really good spells, they have a really good idea of how they want to play, but Eddie had to play too often the same lineup with all these games for a long, long time. But now they have five or six days between games and that helps, using that extra recovery time. We have a busy January and we all have to get through that.”
Eddie Howe has admitted he hasn’t had guarantees he’ll be able to splash the cash next month. Asked about transfers ahead of Newcastle’s visit to Liverpool on Monday, the managers said: “We haven’t had those assurances. It’s a difficult month when January comes around, financial fair play continues to play a part in decision-making so let’s wait and see.” Howe said he remained in frequent dialogue with Newcastle’s Saudi owners. “I always communicate with them win, lose or draw.”
Howe also praised Newcastle’s fans for sticking with them in this current lean patch. “Supporters have been second to none, we didn’t perform as we wanted to [in the Boxing Day defeat by Nottingham Forest] but supporters stayed with us.
“It’s been a difficult period, December was always going to be really tough – we’ve gone out of two competitions we were determined to do well in and our performances haven’t been where they want to be. We have to be strong, stand up and be counted and respond. January is a great opportunity for us to fight back and show our qualities.
The Newcastle manager said the return of Joelinton is a boost: “Whenever you lose a player of Joe’s quality it’s felt and it’s felt harder when other players are out, he showed that when he came on [against Forest] – his ability in the duels in the middle of the pitch is vital.”
Morning everyone. It feels kind of strange to be previewing another round of fixtures when the previous one finished only late last night, but here we are: no one ever quite knows what day it is at this time of year and I for one plan a nice brisk Sunday stroll when the working day is done to clear away the cobwebs.
And so the top flight goes again tomorrow, starting at lunchtime with in-form Luton squaring up to Mauricio Pochettino’s wildly unpredictable Chelsea, before afternoon fixtures that include ostensible home bankers for Manchester City against Sheffield United and Aston Villa against Burnley, and who knows what for Manchester United at Nottingham Forest. We’ve got media conferences coming up today from Erik ten Hag, Pep Guardiola and Eddie Howe, among others.
One suspects Pep in particular will be in perky mood after Arsenal’s defeat by West Ham last night exposed failings in their title credentials, while Spurs will be licking their wounds after a 4-2 going-over by a Brighton side back to their ebullient best in the league. And of course with three days to go until the slammed-shut transfer window is prised back open again, there’s all sorts of conjecture to feed off.
There are also four Serie A fixtures this evening, with the leaders Internazionale visiting Genoa and the inconsistent champions, Napoli, have a tricky assignment against Monza. What’s more, there’s a full EFL programme too, with Championship leaders Leicester visiting Cardiff, who’ve improved since Erol Bulut took over, second-placed Ipswich hosting QPR and a tasty looking showdown between West Brom and Leeds. I also like the look of Oxford v Derby in League One and Bradford at home to the League Two leaders, Stockport.
Here’s some reading from last night to start you off: