Newcastle preview, Dempsey news

Roy’s video preview.  Usual sense.  Doesn’t seem to be considering any changes:  “I don’t see any burning need to make changes, but I reserve the right to”.

Nice comment on Aaron Hughes (who is about to chalk up his 300th league game):  “Fantastic man, fantastic player.  Underrated… train as a professional, live as a professional, play as a professional…. these are the guys who really merit respect”

Newcastle should be a tricky game.  They’re a team on the up:

Density maps.  You can see from their last two wins that there’s a lot of bunching in the middle of the park.  The width seems to come from Habib Beye and Jose Enrique the fullbacks, which will be particularly evident if we don’t have anyone going forward in wide positions.

Note Duff (#11) playing quite far infield.   He could be dangerous, and it’ll need some combination of Paintsil, Hughes and Murphy to close him down quickly.   Should be another tight one, although Newcastle have conceded a few goals this year so I’m optimistic.

Hat tip to Bruce:

Clint Dempsey rules out loan move:

“It is what it is.  But I’m not going to go on loan. I have to try to make the most of the time that I play.   I’m just trying to prove to him that I deserve to be out there. After this season I have a year left.  Whether a team comes in and wants to get me out, we’ll see.”