Ahead of the highly anticipated Wear-Tyne derby this Sunday, editor of our sister site Read Newcastle, Thomas, joined us for a Q&A session. Here’s what he had to say:
Recently, Newcastle haven’t had many Derby moments to savour, but what is your all-time favourite Derby moment?
There’s been a few, but the 5-1 win in 2010 was probably my favourite. Kevin Nolan bagging a hat-trick and Shola Ameobi scoring twice – what a way to win a game. That game still sticks in my memory and will do for years to come – at least until we do it again.
If you could place one Newcastle player from the past in your current team, who would it be and why?
Although Alan Shearer would be the obvious choice here, just based on his ability, I’m quite fond of Ayoze Perez’s new partnership with Aleksandar Mitrovic. Instead, I would like to bring back Jonathan Woodgate to solidify our leaky defence.
Week in, week out, the Geordie faithful sit in fear watching their beloved Newcastle when the opposition have the ball. Fabricio Coloccini is far from the player he once was and his back-up, Mike Williamson, is even worse. To bring back our best defender in years, Woodgate, would be a dream come true.
Would you take any Sunderland players at the Stadium of Light? If so, who and why?
I would probably take a look at Jermain Lens if I had to shop at the Stadium of Light. The tricky winger has looked good and able to cut it in the Premier League from what I’ve seen of him so far. He and Georginio Wijnaldum on either wing would be an attractive proposition.
Are there any rising stars at Newcastle that we should be keeping an eye on?
We have a couple, but Rolando Aarons and Adam Armstrong are the two that I reckon will actually make it as Premier League stars one day.
The former was handed a handful of starts last season, but his Newcastle career has been plagued with injury and he has failed to replicate the fine form he showed upon bursting onto the scene.
While, the latter is currently out on loan to League One’s Coventry City and is scoring for fun. With eight goals in 11 games and League One’s Player of the Month award for September, it’s fair to say he’s doing pretty well. At 18-years-old, he has plenty of time to make the step from League One to the Premier League.
Who is your most important player(s)?
An unlikely choice but Chancel Mbemba is who I would select as our most important player. Our defence has been pretty shaky this season, but it has been a vast improvement on last season’s shambles.
Mbemba only arrived on Tyneside in the summer, but he has already significantly improved our defence. His importance is highlighted even more by Steven Taylor’s injury, making Mike Williamson the only back-up available. Hopefully, we’ll sign a partner for him in January and our defensive woes will be eradicated.
What do you reckon will be the key battle on Sunday?
Sam Allardyce vs Steve McClaren. As the pundits and columnists keep repeating, Sunday’s game will be like a game of chess and the manager who can keep on top of it will come out triumphant. In the past five, Sunderland have caused us problems on the counter, but Alan Pardew and John Carver ignored the issue, which was inevitably our downfall.
On the pitch, Yann M’Vila vs Cheick Tiote will be one to watch – whoever bosses the midfield battle will be able to help his side dictate the game.
Your score prediction and expected line-up.
Sunderland 1-1 Newcastle
With a win in our last game, morale should be high going into this game, but Allardyce is likely to set up quite defensively so a draw at the Stadium of Light would be a decent result.
