A look ahead to Newcastle United’s next fixture as they host Leicester City under new manager Ruud Van Nistlerooy. The Magpies have so far, struggled against lower level opposition this season and are looking to start a run of form ahead of the festive fixtures.
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00:00Dan, looking at Newcastle United and obviously their next Premier League fixture at home
00:06against Leicester City. Now, looking at Newcastle's form this season, it's been quite indifferent,
00:12quite tough for them, especially in a few away games. How do you sort of look at the
00:17way they've started this season? It's been, you know, not the sort of glistening season
00:22that they had a couple of seasons ago. Last season, obviously, was really halted by injuries
00:27and obviously the European football situation as well. How do you look at the way they've
00:33gone about this so far? And Leicester, you know, they are a rampant side under Ruud
00:38van Nistelrooy now. It looks like Jamie Vardy's hitting his big form again. How crucial is
00:44it that Newcastle get a win here at St James' Park and can carry on into this festive period,
00:50which is obviously always tough for every side in the top flight?
00:54Well, they need momentum, certainly, because they've passed up a lot of opportunities
00:57of late against sides you would have backed them to beat. I mean, you lose against West
01:02Ham, you draw against Crystal Palace, you lose against Brentford. And in all those games,
01:08you think these are sides who Newcastle, with the quality and the talent they have on the
01:11side, that they should be doing better against, really. And that's what's been unbelievably
01:15frustrating so far. It has put a bit of pressure on them anyhow, to be honest, because Newcastle
01:20are a side at the moment where they play their best football against the better sides in
01:23the league. They'll go and draw 3-3 against Liverpool, they'll go and beat Arsenal, they'll
01:26go and draw against Man City, they'll go and beat Tottenham, they'll go and beat Chelsea.
01:30But then they'll struggle against the other sides because they find it hard to break down
01:35low blocks or teams sitting deep. And some of the big names as well need to book their
01:41ideas up a little bit too, because they go through the motions a little bit in some of
01:45these not-so-big games, whereas they pull it out for the big ones. And so that's a frustration.
01:53You've got your likes of Gordons, your Isaacs, your Brunos, who are good players, but they're
01:57not turning up in the lesser games, so to speak. And that's costing Newcastle at the
02:01moment as well this season. Defensively, they've not been half as good. Either they're shipping
02:05too many goals at the moment. Attacking-wise, they're doing all right, but as I say, they're
02:10still not scoring as many as they were last season. And it's just a real frustration,
02:16to be honest, for Newcastle. And it comes at an important time as well. Of course, as
02:21I say, if you can beat Leicester, then you go next into a League Cup quarterfinal against
02:25Brentford, because that's important as well, because that's sort of what your season's
02:29currently riding on at the moment. The Cups, at least, at the moment. January, where they
02:34need to also spend and recruit well. And they'll probably have to sell to do that, which is
02:38the unfortunate way with PSR at the moment, in this modern football that we live in. But
02:43Newcastle just need to book their ideas up a lot at the moment, and a lot of the players
02:46need to step up. And Eddie Howe needs to take some blame as well. It's just not being good
02:50enough tactically, intensity-wise, and just overall, it just feels a bit stale.