Can Spanish trip kick start another United surge?
CAN UNITED’S WARM-WEATHER TRAINING CAMP LIFT THE PLAYERS AND TRIGGER ANOTHER SEASON-SAVING RUN?
REMEMBER Newcastle United’s mid-season friendly with Royal Antwerp last year?
The trouble is, not many people do and even the players involved in the game struggle to remember what the score was given the result’s near insignificance.
If you are still wondering how that game panned out, it ended 1-1 after Matt Ritchie’s goal proved to be insufficient to net a friendly win over the Belgian side.
Dwight Gayle also missed a late penalty in a match played over three 45-minute periods.
There is every chance only the football stattos out there will pay close attention to the details of Saturday’s clash with CSKA Moscow.
Yet what people do remember most about last year is what the midseason training camp in Spain was REALLY about.
Back then United travelled to the resort of La Finca still deep in relegation trouble, just like they are now - but when they returned to the UK they went on a great run of three successive wins against Huddersfield Town, Arsenal and Leicester City to seal their top-flight place.
In short, the trip, which was carefully drawn up by Rafa Benitez, galvanised the team and proved to be the catalyst for a creditable top-10 finish. Whether Newcastle can do that again is up for debate and Sky Bet are offering odds of 18/1 for a top-half finish at the moment for United.
At the moment Benitez will settle for three points against the Terriers again at St James’ Park this Saturday.
A result which would push Huddersfield further into the mire and potentially offer breathing space between the Magpies and the bottom three.
Saturday’s friendly clash with CSKA was important in the sense it leaves the door wide open for Miguel Almiron to start his first Premier League game.
He looked sharp and showed his fantastic turn of pace a few times.
All he really needs now is to get used to his team-mates and the rest should all follow.
His new best mate Salomon Rondon also benefited from the game by adding another strike to his tally for the season, a goal which will do his confidence no harm whatsoever.
One slight cause for concern was
the back-up on show and if Rondon gets injured United could be in trouble.
Both Joselu and Yoshinori Muto had good chances to win the game against the Russian side but fluffed their lines in front of goal.
Joselu’s miss was head-in-hands stuff for the supporters who travelled over to Spain but he remains a United player because of a lack of investment in the striker position at the club.
Rondon is a borrowed body and United chiefs may still be reluctant to pay a big fee for him at the end of the season.
For the next 12 games, he will be a Newcastle player, though, and they must wrap him in cotton wool until survival is achieved. Importantly, the team spirit seems to be excellent at Newcastle – despite players quarrelling after the Wolves game. This trip has allowed them to get that out of their systems and, while there has been a serious tone in training when it comes to work-rate, the squad hasmixed really well in La Finca - which bodes well for the crucial run-in.
Newcastle look refreshed as they prepare to step back on to the big stage at St James’ Park against the rock-bottom Terriers.
With a bit of luck, history can repeat itself after their trip to the Costa Blanca.
What people remember most about last year is what the midseason training camp was REALLY about