6 Newcastle reserve players set for FA Cup replay after left out on Monday night
Rafa Benitez has a bit of a selection problem for Newcastle v Birmingham on Wednesday night and he is set to name some less recognisable names in his 18 man matchday squad.
After drawing at St Andrew’s which produced this replay, the last thing the United boss needed were the injuries to Hayden, Anita and Gayle at Brentford.
These now look to be the players definitely missing against Birmingham:
Injured: Gamez, Aarons, Mitrovic, Anita, Gayle, Hayden, Haidara
African Cup of Nations: Diame, Mbemba, Atsu
Cup-Tied: Sammy Ameobi, Jamie Sterry
In addition, Tiote looks set to leave any day now, whilst Gouffran must be a doubt after also getting injured late on at Brentford but being forced to carry on, as all three subs had been used.
This appears to leave, as few as 11 fit first team squad outfield players for FA Cup duty:
Goalkeepers:
Sels, Darlow
Defenders:
Clark, Dummett, Hanley, Lazaar, Lascelles, Yedlin
Midfielders:
Colback, Ritchie, Shelvey
Strikers:
Murphy, Perez
The Newcastle reserves had a game tonight at Swansea and this was always going to give clues as to who might be promoted to the first team squad on Wednesday and six reserve team regulars were missing.
These are 30 year old goalkeeper Rob Elliot who is working his way back to full fitness.
Central defender Stuart Findlay who is 21, as is forward Yasin Ben El-Mhanni.
You then have midfielders Dan Barlaser (20th birthday on Wednesday!) and Jamie Holmes (18 years old), plus forward Luke Charman who is 19.
In the reserve match tonight, Swansea won 3-1, Oli McBurnie scoring a hat-trick before Newcastle’s Tom Heardman scored a late consolation.
The Newcastle team that lined up v Swansea reserves on Monday night:
Harker, Newberry, Wilson, Hunter, Bailey, Good, Gallacher, Ward, Heardman, L.Smith, C.Smith.
Also, an update tonight points towards there being another very impressive crowd for this 3rd round replay.
If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk