"What better place to try and respond? We know how difficult it will be but we have to be ready for that challenge. We've had a disappointing week, we're hugely disappointed in what's happened the other night - hugely, and none more so than me - but here's a wonderful opportunity."
Newcastle travel to The Etihad to face Man City in the 8pm kick off on Boxing Day hoping to improve on the 4-1 loss they suffered exactly a year ago in Manchester at Old Trafford at the hands of Man United despite an opening goal from Matty Longstaff, who celebrated with an 'Ice In The Veins' celebration copied from NBA star D'Angelo Russell.
Newcastle could well do with an injection or two from somewhere - either of the Corona Virus immunity vaccine after a bout of Covid-19 decimated the squad or an injection of funds in the January transfer market to freshen up the squad for the challenges ahead with a box-to-box midfielder or striker looking sensible choices to add extra squad depth.
A disappointing exit to Brentford in The Carabao Cup Quarter-Final on Tuesday night has focussed some pressure on Steve Bruce's position as Newcastle Head Coach with very tough games against Man City, Liverpool & Leicester next up over the festive period.
The Magpies, suffering from a Covid-19 hangover following a serious bout of Corona Virus at the training ground three weeks ago that has left star players side-lined and fatigued, could only field one fit recognised centre back at Brentford's Community Stadium and The Bees, realizing that physical prowess alone might give them an edge in the circumstances, rotated and played a refreshed side lacking even striker Ivan Toney.
Yet if ever Newcastle fans needed to believe God is with them at Christmas, that Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus and England right back Kyle Walker are out with Corona Virus could be the Sign they need to believe, just as Newcastle's Allan Saint-Maximin slowly recovers from it with Bruce very concerned about his attacking talisman.
Thankfully, Newcastle Captain Jamaal Lascelles has begun light training again for The Magpies although is not expected to feature in any festive fixtures while Javier Manquillo and Fabian Schar were all involved in full training and could yet make it in Manchester along with Fede Fernandez, who has been battling Covid-19 related fatigue.
Replacing Jesus up front for Man City will likely be Ferran Torres, who dominated the headlines in the last international break with a hat-trick for Spain against Germany in the unexpected 6-1 demolition in The UEFA Nations League but has only notched two goals in 11 Premier League appearances this season, both against Burnley in 3-0 Away and 5-0 Home wins respectively or Sergio Aguero, whom Newcastle fans know all too well.
Since the advent of VAR, Man City's goals haven't been flowing as freely in The Premier League and they finished a disappointing 18 points behind Champions Liverpool last season and have scored just two goals more than Newcastle this season with 19 goals from 13 matches and Pep Guardiola stressed scoring is not their God-given right:
“The goals don’t come as a present from Santa Claus - it comes from your performance,” the City boss stressed.
“Of course, it's important but it is a consequence. We have to play better.
“That’s what we have to do. We have to restart the way we play.
“That’s what we have to look at. The goals will come after. If they score seven or six, that means how good they are.
“We still have good team spirit and players, with many games to play, many things can happen.”
Steve Bruce's Newcastle, meanwhile, will be relying on their own strong team spirit to get them through at The Etihad in the next tough run of games and will be tempted to dip into the Geordie pool of talent at his disposal like Andy Carroll and Matty Longstaff, both of whom are now fit and raring to go and are due game time:
"I’m sure I’ll be using most of them because of the backlog of what we’ve got.
"It’s not just Christmas, it’s New Year.
"The schedule in January’s unbelievable.
"Andy will be frustrated that he hasn’t seen much lately.
"He’s just recovering from a calf strain, he’s fine."
and about Matty Longstaff he added:
"He’s been out a long time, and he’s trained now for the last two or three weeks.
"He’s in and around the squad, and I could have done with him having two, three, four games, like a pre-season.
"Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to have that, but he is in my thoughts, especially when we’ve got a few missing."
Despite the disappointment of Brentford, Bruce has asked to be judged on his long-term results, justifiably after bettering Rafa Benitez's record over 50 Premier League games in charge of the club and guiding The Magpies to 12th place & 18 points at Christmas which is Newcastle's best start to a season since 2013-4 under Alan Pardew:
"If you’re a club like ours, or a club that expects to be in the bottom half of the Premier League, then it’s always tough.
"When you see Arsenal on 14 points, you realise how tough it is.
"This is what the Premier League is, this is what it throws up, and that will never change.
"You’ve got to ready for it.
"There’s going to be periods where you go up and down, and unfortunately we’ve had a bad week.
"It’s only three or four weeks that we were at Crystal Palace, where we were delighted with the performance, and we then followed that up with the West Brom win.
"Unfortunately, we’ve had a poor week since. We have to accept it and get on with it."
Games don't come much tougher than Man City away although Newcastle will take heart from the point they won away to Jose Mourinho's Spurs earlier in the season and the draw away to Wolves when Jacob Murphy scored a last-minute equaliser and with Steve Bruce's Newcastle never knowing they are beaten and leading The Premier League for late goals scored in the final 15 minutes of games, don't bet against them.
Prediction - Newcastle 1 Man City 0 - Andy Carroll
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