Man City recap and Newcastle United vs Nottingham Forest thoughts

NewcastleWorld

How big a game is Newcastle vs Nottingham Forest this weekend?

Transcript

00:00Hello everybody, how's it going? I'm here to give you another Newcastle United daily update.

00:05What better way to start than recapping that terrible, terrible performance of that day down in Manchester City.

00:12There was a lot of optimism going into the game.

00:15And you've got to think, just one look at the history book sort of didn't really explain why that was the case.

00:22Newcastle haven't won away from home at Manchester City in the Premier League game since September 2000.

00:29They haven't won a league game at Man City Stadium at all, obviously.

00:34Main Road got knocked down in the early 2000s.

00:38The only victory there came in the Cowboy Cup in 2014.

00:41There's been 5-0 heidens, 6-1 heidens, multiple 4-0 heidens.

00:46And supporters saw another one the other day.

00:49But regardless of the history books, living in the present, there's no excuse for that performance from Newcastle the other day.

00:57I think a lot of the optimism came, obviously you've got the Cowboy Cup final coming.

01:03There's a lot of positivity around Newcastle at the minute.

01:06And obviously looking at Man City, that game being sandwiched in between two huge Champions League games for them.

01:13And they've not been at their glistening heights like they normally would be this season.

01:18I think Newcastle fans thought, you know what it is, they could get something today, they could pull off a shock.

01:24Even the bookmaker, as we looked at the odds before the game, Newcastle love.

01:28I don't think I've ever seen Newcastle be as short a price as they were to go down there.

01:33And ultimately it was a case of history repeating itself.

01:36Newcastle, they may as well have shook hands before the game and said, right lads, you can have the three points now.

01:42And just not bother even playing the match because Newcastle really were that poor.

01:46A little personal anecdote, I was away, I was actually away on a visit to Amsterdam with the lads.

01:52So we were watching it in the bar and I wasn't in reporter mode, I was in supporter mode.

01:57All I had were black and white tops on, ready for the Newcastle game.

02:00Finally found a little sports bar that would be able to put the game on and actually have the volume on.

02:05And within half an hour we were starting to regret asking to put it on.

02:11The match almost sort of became secondary in the second half to obviously having a few players in Amsterdam, it was that bad.

02:17Newcastle, they couldn't string a couple of passes together.

02:21I know they were playing Manchester City and everything, but I think it was a little bit of a reality check that

02:27if Newcastle don't get the rock together pretty quickly,

02:33they could sort of blow all this sort of optimism that they gained over December and January.

02:39I think that nine game winning run now sort of looks a distant memory.

02:46And you look at the pictures coming up, you've got to question, is this Forest game on Sunday, is it a must win?

02:54Now Newcastle have already beaten Forest twice this season away from home.

02:58Once on penalties in the Cowboy Cup and then once in the league 3-1.

03:03But you've got to think of St James' Park.

03:07Newcastle haven't been at the rock solid best that they normally would be at home.

03:12They've obviously lost to teams that should be beaten.

03:15Not for a lot of surprise packages in the Premier League this season.

03:19After Forest you've got Liverpool in midweek and you know you're starting to think, is this a must win?

03:25You look at the table and they're now a couple of points out of the top four positions.

03:29I think Newcastle need a good result just to bring that feel-good factor back.

03:34There's a lot of people, quite rightly so, to be fair, wondering whether Newcastle players' minds are elsewhere.

03:42Eddie Howe answered that question after the game.

03:44He said, I hope not, because they've still got a lot of games to go before the Cowboy Cup final.

03:50But we saw it two years ago, we saw Newcastle players sort of switch off for that month or so.

03:55I think they won one game in seven leading up to the Cowboy Cup final.

03:59To say that happened again would be a real shame.

04:02So yeah, I think they need to go to St James' Park on Sunday and they need to put on a good performance against a tough team.

04:10Against a team that, you know, a couple of years ago Chris Wood got a hat-trick and that was the start of his revival, if you like.

04:16So yeah, let us know how you're feeling in the comments below.

04:18Where would you rank that Nottingham Forest game this weekend on the must-win scale?

04:23Because the last thing Newcastle need, you know, they've got Liverpool in the midweek after that.

04:28Then they've got Brighton in the Cup, they're looking to go strong in two Cup competitions this season.

04:33Then they've got West Ham away and Liverpool in the Cup final.

04:36The last thing any Newcastle fan wants ahead of that Cowboy Cup final is to go down with a team where the confidence has shot to bits.

04:44And you've got to think, back-to-back defeats in the Premier League at St James' Park, Bournemouth and Fulham, this is a tough game.

04:51You know, Nottingham Forest sitting in the Champions League places, this is a hard game for Newcastle.

04:56I personally think it's a must-win, I think it's one that they've got to go there, home soil, crowd behind them.

05:03They need to put in a good showing because results in the Premier League lately just haven't been good enough.

05:08Especially when you consider where they were a month or so ago and they were flying high.

05:14Isak was banging in the goals and they've obviously got a Cup final on the corner.

05:18Let us know your thoughts in the comments below everyone and I'll see you again later this week.

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