Eddie Howe’s decision to tweak Newcastle United’s training schedule before Sunday’s huge game against Sunderland appears to have gone down well.
Such is the magnitude of Sunday’s Tyne-Wear derby, there has been a change behind the scenes at Newcastle United under Eddie Howe.
Indeed, Howe has changed Newcastle’s training schedule before the Sunderland game, giving his players Friday off ahead of training on Saturday.
This is our predicted Newcastle XI to face Sunderland! Would you make any changes?
I would start Miley, but I think Howe will go with Joelinton.
It’s a slight alteration to their usual plans, although not completely alien to the Newcastle United squad.
Howe did something similar between the Marseille and Everton games last month. After losing in France, they won on Merseyside with a much-improved performance.
Clearly, there’s no absolute guarantee that employing such a strategy will work again but it’s been well-received among the players.
Newcastle United squad on board with Eddie Howe’s training decision before Sunderland
According to The Chronicle, the players have bought into Howe’s decision.
It’s claimed that the squad are aware that Saturday’s training session will be the all-important one as Howe drills ahead of the short trip to the Stadium of Light.
Newcastle have many problems to address before the Sunderland game. They continue to struggle at set-pieces and keep conceding late goals.
Hopefully, having a day off before training in the immediate build-up to the clash helps the Newcastle United manager make some kind of start on fixing those problems.
How many players remain from Newcastle United’s last squad against Sunderland
Though it’s the first Premier League derby between the two sides in nine years, Sunderland vs Newcastle United has been a recent clash, too.
Indeed, Newcastle’s last game against Sunderland saw them beat the Black Cats in an FA Cup third-round clash last January.
Four of the players who started that game (Martin Dubravka, Sean Longstaff, Miguel Almiron and Alexander Isak) have left the club.
You can pick one player to score the winner against Sunderland on Sunday, who are you going for?
It would be great for Wissa to get his first Toon goal, but imagine the scenes if Bruno scores!😍
Kieran Trippier and Sven Botman started on that day and are both expected to miss Sunday’s game due to injury.
Paul Dummett and Matt Ritchie both came off the bench that day and they left the club a few months later.
In total, 13 of the 20-man squad for the last Tyne-Wear derby remain at Newcastle.
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