Welcome to the Coventry City v Newcastle United preview.
Monday 12 October and an 8pm kick-off.
The Toon play their first match in twenty-three days this Monday night when travelling to the Coventry Building Society Arena for the first time in the Premier League.
NUFC will be looking to continue where they left off against Hull City last time out, whilst Coventry will be hoping to win their first home match of the season so far.
This is the start of a busy spell for the Magpies who will now play five matches in twenty-one days, all of which are featured live on Sky Sports.
Form
Newcastle have played five league games so far this season winning two, drawing two and losing one. Well deserved victories have come away at Tottenham and at home to Hull, whilst 2-2 draws were achieved at home to both Liverpool and Bournemouth in vastly different circumstances. The Liverpool draw was hugely disappointing as a tremendous performance was robbed of two points by a dodgy penalty gifted to the reds deep into injury time. The same scoreline against Bournemouth however was met with relief as United had to come from 2-0 down to salvage an unlikely point. The one truly dark point of our season so far came in an away match against Leeds where we never really got going and went down to a devastating 4-1 defeat. In addition, we’ve enjoyed wins against both West Brom and Millwall in the League Cup as we marched into a last-sixteen tie away at Everton. We’ve scored nine goals in five league games but also conceded nine. A win on Monday night would see us in the top four.
Coventry have also played five league matches, they got off to an awful start by losing their first four of the campaign without scoring a goal. Defeats came against Arsenal, Hull, Man City and Brighton. They alleviated that slump with a 1-0 win away at Nottingham Forest in their last match. In the League Cup, they beat Plymouth before losing to Aston Villa. They’ve scored one goal in their five league games and conceded ten. A win against the Toon would see them climb out of the relegation zone.
Last time out
It seems a long time since Newcastle last played, we hosted Hull City on Saturday 19th Sept and got off to a blistering start by taking a two goal lead inside the opening seven minutes. The match was just two minutes old when Joe Willock netted his third of the season by smashing in an effort at the Gallowgate End. Newcastle looked like they might run riot a few minutes later when Lewis Hall raced through and found the bottom corner. The Toon were then given the chance to make it 3-0 at the end of the first half but unfortunately Wissa saw a penalty saved, making the next goal absolutely crucial. Unfortunately, it was the Tigers who scored it to set up an incredibly nervous last twenty-three minutes. Thankfully Newcastle survived to take a 2-1 win into the international break.
Photo by The Mag
Coventry City went away to Nottingham forest having not scored a goal let alone earned a point in their opening four matches. They weathered a first-half onslaught to secure a superb win with their moment of glory coming ten minutes into the second half. VAR came to their rescue with just four minutes left to play to deny Forest an equaliser and Frank Lampard was able to breath a huge sigh of relief at the final whistle.
Stat attack!
-Newcastle have won four of their last five trips to Coventry in all competitions.
-The Toon have found the net in their last eight away matches against Coventry.
– Newcastle have only ever visited this Coventry stadium on two previous occasions since it opened in 2005. We beat them 3-2 in a 2008 League Cup tie and 2-0 in a Championship encounter the season after.
Memorable match
In September 1998, Ruud Gullit was settling into life on Tyneside whilst promising to bring ‘sexy football’ back to NUFC. Kenny Dalglish had been shown the door after just two matches (both draws) of the 98/99 season and Gullit came in to oversee back-to-back defeats against Liverpool and Aston Villa. A lot of rebuilding needed to be done and that started with a 4-0 win over Southampton and a 2-1 success against Partizan Belgrade in the Cup Winners Cup.
When travelling to Highfield Road however, the Toon were yet to win an away match all season. Things couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start when Alan Shearer opened the scoring after just four minutes. Yes, you did hear that right, our illustrious number nine bulleted a header past his own ‘keeper to give Coventry an early lead. Thankfully this setback lasted only ten minutes before Nikos Dabizas buried a header (at the right end!) for the second time that week to restore parity. Mr Shearer then made amends in the forty-second minute by muscling past a defender and slotting home to put the Toon in the lead and just a minute later Gary Speed found the bottom corner to make it 3-1 before half-time and give Coventry a mountain to climb.
Any notion that a famous comeback from the Sky Blues was on the cards was dispelled by Stephen Glass in the fifty-eighth minute when he raced through to score his first for the club and there was still time for a certain Mr Shearer to have the last laugh when forcing a good save from the ‘keeper and lashing home the rebound to score what was technically his third of the match but without the reward of the match ball. The Toon would follow this up with another victory against Nottingham Forest meaning Ruud Gullit had masterminded four wins in a row, what could possibly go wrong?! Coventry 1-5 Newcastle.
Played for both
Darren Huckerby signed from Lincoln in 1995 but his chances of career development at the Toon were massively hindered by Keegan’s decision to scrap the reserve team due to a rule that they’d have to play some matches at St James’ Park. A little known fact is that his signing inadvertently brought about Alan Shearer’s first ever NUFC goal. Part of the deal was that Newcastle would travel to Lincoln in the pre-season of 1996 and by that time we’d signed Mr Shearer who converted a penalty on his debut in a 2-0 win (Albert adding the second). Darren only made two appearances for Newcastle and was unlucky not to find the net during an impressive performance at home to Chelsea in the FA Cup. He went to Millwall on loan and scored three goals in six league games before a transfer to Coventry City where he scored his first goal for the Sky Blues in a win against…Newcastle.
Stuart Pearce is one of the best footballers England has ever produced. He was near the twilight of his career when signing for NUFC in 1997. Often ridiculed as part of a ‘Dad’s Army’ brigade of Dalglish signings, Pearce became an integral part of the team and rifled home a fine free-kick in a 2-0 Champions League win against Dynamo Kiev. He also played in the 1998 FA Cup final as Newcastle made the showpiece occasion for the first time in twenty-four years. He began the next season by firing home a brilliant effort in a pre-season friendly at home to Juventus but the replacement of Dalglish with Ruud Gullit was the beginning of the end of his time at Newcastle and he didn’t play a match after December 1998. He had played for Coventry between 1983-1985 having signed for them from non-league Wealdstone for £30,000, a very large fee at the time for a semi-pro. He played fifty-two league games and scored four goals for the Sky Blues.
Callum Wilson spent five seasons at Newcastle, scoring forty-seven league goals. When fit, Wilson was a number nine worthy of the shirt, scoring a number of important goals to help us qualify for the Champions League, his eighteen strikes of 22/23 made him our top scorer for the season as we finished in an outstanding fourth place. Unfortunately, injuries dogged his time at the Toon but fans will fondly remember his time at St James’ Park. He made his debut for his hometown Coventry city in 2009 and scored an impressive twenty-two goals in forty-nine league appearances.
Managers
Matthias Jaissle after a 2-1 win against Hull: “Overall, I’m really satisfied. We showed an incredible reaction, especially after the defeat at Leeds. The first half was excellent, we could have killed the game with a third goal for sure. We were totally dominant and then in the second half you saw the legs were getting tired towards the end – but we were also missing nine players today. I am really proud and I want to show the players respect for what they did at the end of the game when it was tough. To defend their own box, everyone was committed and really fighting for the three points. This is something we can count on.”
Frank Lampard after a 1-0 win away at Nottingham Forest: “It was a real pleasure as it sunk in for the players to feel that feeling of winning a Premier League game. I have to understand why that’s a big deal for them so as long as we remember all the reasons why they got there and keep doubling down on all the work we’re talking about and what we do, then it’s good. There will be things that they will naturally learn as they go and my job is to be there to support them and understand if they keep going, keep working, belief will grow with that. It’s pretty unique because it is a support base that have lived unique circumstances of going down the leagues and coming back and now, we’re in this moment and we rely on them. Things are tougher now so we need them more than ever and they’ll be there.”
Charity
As it is an away match, Newcastle United fans will not be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end, for the food bank. However, you can still help out and all online cash donations are very much appreciated. For further info and/or to donate to the food bank online.
Prediction
I think this will be a close match. There’s no denying that Coventry have endured a desperately poor start to their Premier League campaign, a win in their last match however may well have provided them with a much-needed boost. It’s always hard to predict how things will pan out after an elongated international break and I’m expecting a rusty first half from both teams. An opening goal from the Toon at the start of the second half will be cancelled out by the Sky Blues but I fancy a late NUFC winner and three valuable points. Coventry 1-2 Newcastle.