Newcastle take on Rayo Vallecano at St James’ Park today as their final friendly before returning to competitive action on Tuesday. Kick-off is at 12:30pm and you can watch the action live and for free on NUFC TV.
The team to start the game has been announced and there are a few surprises in there: Nick Pope and Kieran Trippier start after returning from Qatar, going straight back into action instead of taking advantage of a few days of rest. That, to me, just shows the level of commitment these players have for the club these days.
HOWAY NEWCASTLE! 💪
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— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) December 17, 2022
Despite Kieran Trippier’s presence, Jamaal Lascelles wears the armband as the hierarchy is Lascelles as club captain, Trippier is vice-captain, despite Trippier being more involved in first-team duties these days.
There’s a start for Allan Saint-Maximin who recently ended the hospital visit video with a “you ain’t seen nothing yet” type message, so it sounds like he is ready to go. Matt Targett also returns to the side after being absent from the squad which demolished Al-Hilal over in Riyadh.
There’s no sign of Callum Wilson, which makes sense given his injury record – it’s just wise to bring him back slowly instead of rushing him into action in a friendly. Also no sign of Miggy Almiron either on the pitch or the bench, maybe carrying a knock or just being saved to tear Bournemouth apart on Tuesday night.
The bench is full of names that may be alien to a lot of fans as it seems to be almost entirely made up of youth players for Eddie Howe to cast his eye over. Howe used a lot of young players in the Al-Hilal victory and they all did very well in their respective roles when brought on. It seems like the plan is to do the same again here.