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Predicted Newcastle team v Wolves has these two changes

3 years ago
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Looking ahead to Sunday night’s Newcastle team v Wolves.

Steve Bruce comes into this game on the back of a sixteen game run with only two victories.

Twelve defeats and two draws, a bleak run of form these past two and a half months.

We got a fair bit of guidance from the Steve Bruce pre-match press conference, as to which players would and wouldn’t be available for this Newcastle team v Wolves.

The NUFC Head Coach confirming that Javier Manquillo, Callum Wilson and Fabian Schar are all still missing.

Steve Bruce confirming that Joelinton is available despite being subbed off with an injury at Man Utd, though he said  Federico Fernandez is unlikely to be involved as he is still not quite ready to return.

Bruce adding that there aren’t any other new injury issues with the rest of the squad.

To help give a starting point, this was the 20 man Newcastle United squad that was selected against Southampton last weekend:

Darlow, Krafth, Lascelles, Clark, Lewis, Willock, Hayden, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin, Almiron, Joelinton (Dubravka, Dummett, Carroll, Ritchie, Gayle, Hendrick, Fraser, Murphy, Sean Longstaff)

So which Newcastle United team will Steve Bruce pick this weekend against Wolves?

The vast majority of Newcastle fans want to see Martin Dubravka back in goal, not because Karl Darlow has been poor, but Dubravka is the better keeper and Darlow has been pretty average the last couple of months. However, no excuse for Steve Bruce having told journalists he was making the change before he told Darlow.

Krafth is the only right-back option and whilst you can just about get away with playing Murphy in a back five, you can’t in a back four, he can’t defend. Krafth can’t defend very well either but with the ridiculous Steve Bruce decision to give away DeAndre Yedlin in the middle of a relegation battle, the Swede is our only option and hopefully knowing he will get a run in the team might give him confidence and a little bit of improvement…

On the left, Jamal Lewis has been very up and down but is another player we have to persevere with. Obviously better than Krafth but still a bit of a team weakness far too much of the time. Lewis will also hopefully benefit from knowing he will be playing every week and if alongside the same players, the hope is we will end up with a better drilled and disciplined defence. Dummett totally injury prone now and it would be a massive own goal to put him in ahead of Lewis at any time, as he would almost certainly be quickly injured again and the former Norwich player would find it hard coming back in, knowing Bruce doesn’t have faith in him as first choice.

With Fabian Schar injured and Federico Fernandez still not ready, it appears an obvious choice.

Jamaal Lascelles is still trading on the two years where he massively benefited from Rafa Benitez coaching him but he will stay in the team alongside Ciaran Clark, who has impressed recently.

Isaac Hayden and Joe Willock will obviously play and I’m afraid Jonjo Shelvey is no doubt nailed on as well for Steve Bruce, despite being a total liability for me, somebody who either can’t or won’t put in the necessary graft on the pitch. .

For me, it is a complete no-brainer that Fraser, ASM and Almiron should all be played behind Gayle.

However, the all but certain inclusion of Shelvey by Bruce, means at least one can’t play.

They are our quickest players and most likely to be able to provide enough goals in these final 13 matches.

I’m assuming Fraser will once again miss out and whilst Steve Bruce loves picking Joelinton, I think Gayle will come back in.

Giving this predicted Newcastle team v Wolves:

Here’s hoping whatever Newcastle team v Wolves that Steve Bruce does pick, is good enough to pick up points to relieve the relegation pressure.

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