Manchester City vs. Newcastle: Key Issues and Decisions That Will Shape Cup Game
Warning bells are sounding around the Etihad as Manchester City's season, seemingly only still just beginning, already hangs in the balance.
"They are already in danger of going out of the Champions League and have four fewer points than they did at the same stage in 2012-13. You wonder if, having won the title the previous year, they don’t show enough respect to some opposition," noted Jamie Redknapp in the Daily Mail.
Redknapp's overriding point is that City are in danger of staging their second consecutive sorry Premier League title defense. The last time City were the holders, the season ended in tatters with a sacked manager and a bungled chance to win the FA Cup.
Ordinarily City might look to this coming Capital One Cup match with Newcastle United as a chance to set the ship right. But they already tried that this year.
City blasted Sheffield Wednesday in this competition about a month ago; less than a week later they played craven, sorry football on their home pitch against AS Roma in a Champions League match.
The schedule and the rules say City have to play this match, but with everything else going on it would be no surprise if City managed to lose it.
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mangala?
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You know things are bad for you as a player (or manager) when West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce is having a go at you and there is little you can say or do to stop him.
Allardyce predictably luxuriated in some egoistic analysis of his own brilliance after West Ham's 2-1 victory over the Sky Blues this past weekend. His insightful plan, according to Paul Doyle in The Guardian, was to attack Eliaquim Mangala:
"They don’t protect him—and he’s only just got here—[then] the more and more you can get down the side of him, with the space that Clichy leaves. [Vincent] Kompany is used to it, he’s been at this level for such a long time. This lad’s not, he’s finding his feet and, like I said, we made big strides down that left-hand side and we caused them lots of problems.
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Allardyce's side played Manuel Pellegrini's Citizens four times last season and lost in the aggregate 14-1. Of course Allardyce's men ran at Mangala all day—Mangala is on a terrible run of form and besides, nothing else West Ham tried against City last season worked at all.
Regardless, Allardyce's comments poured more gasoline on the inferno that is raging around Mangala. Pellegrini might ordinarily think about sitting Mangala for a Capital One Cup match to save him for the derby four days later.
But Mangala needs to play his way through this trouble, or play his way out of the rotation entirely. So Mangala should play against Newcastle United in this match.
Pellegrini Must Look Past This Match
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While Mangala should play against Newcastle, the rest of City's best XI should be used sparingly if at all.
City's next two matches after this Capital One Cup game are enormously important. Manchester United come to the Etihad on Sunday. Every derby matters, but with United creeping back into contention after their own sad start to the season City can ill afford to drop points to Louis van Gaal's Red Devils.
Three days later, CSKA Moscow come to the Etihad for a match that City desperately need to win to keep their failing Champions League hopes alive. Normally the advice for any manager is to worry only about the match you are playing next. In this case, though, Pellegrini has to look ahead.
City second-teamers like Stevan Jovetic, Willy Caballero, Martin Demichelis and others will need to carry City through this match, because the team's stars have bigger jobs to do in the coming days.
Newcastle's Fortunes Are Turning for the Better
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Newcastle United come into this match with City playing their best football of the season. Not that that is saying much.
The Magpies went two months in the Premier League without a win, finally claiming three points from Leicester City on Oct. 18. Things change fast in the league, though. Newcastle are presently riding a two-game winning streak in the league after slipping past Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.
Those two wins have launched Newcastle out of the relegation discussion for the time being and eased the heat on manager Alan Pardew.
Pellegrini and Pardew Renew Acquaintances Again
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The biggest problem with acting out in your workplace or in your home is that eventually you are going to have to deal with those same people again.
You can rant at a stranger on the street or the clerk behind the counter of a store in a town you're never going back to again with confidence that moment in time will remain safely in the past.
Pardew's profane lash out at Pellegrini last season is a prime example of why common decency is not just the right thing to do but a wise course of action in a selfish way, too. Pardew is going to hear about that incident every time Newcastle and City play one another until one of these two managers is gone.
Though if Pardew ever wants to give Jose Mourinho a similar piece of his mind, few would likely argue or stand in Pardew's way.
Everything Is Relative
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For City, winning the Capital One Cup is better than not winning it, but that is about as far as it goes.
City brass have not-so-subtly called for Pellegrini to win five trophies in five seasons, and the Capital One Cup is not one of the trophies they are talking about.
Conversely, Newcastle must realistically view the Capital One Cup as a prize they might actually win, especially if bigger clubs like City play depleted sides in the early rounds of the tournament.
City could be there for the taking in this Capital One Cup match. The real question is whether Newcastle have enough quality to get them.
