Leicester v Newcastle.

[Ghostrider]

A new manager and staff and hopefully a new Newcastle 'United', so hopefully we do not go there as McClaren's cannon fodder but as Rafa's roaring Lions.
On paper - and the way Leicester have been casting aside all comers, you would think that a new manager is not enough to get something. It might not be, but it gives me a hell of a massive lift to believe we can actually get something from that game for 3 very good reasons.

1. Not just a change of manager and staff but a total change of quality of manager and staff. A perfectionist by all accounts, along with his staff.

2. The players have a clean slate to impress Rafa and all will be under no illusions as to where this club could be headed under him, if we escape the drop.

3.We go to Leicester with nothing to lose and everything to gain, because our season starts against Sunderland in the stark reality of this relegation battle but a leg up tonight would be a massive bonus. And also, I'm too excited about the game to be negative.

I just thank my lucky stars that we are going there with a new manager. To think, if McClaren was our manager right now, I seriously think I would start crying just before kick off.

Apparently Shelvey is captain tonight - and fair enough because he did lead by example against Bournemouth, with Janmaat. It's a shame the rest didn't, Elliot aside.

We actually need 11 captains out there and 11 focused captains that have a never say die attitude for 90 plus minutes to give us the best chance of getting something out of the game.

I'm going for a massively optimistic win for us. Leicester 2 Newcastle 4.
Am I confident?....Let's just say I'm hopeful and excited and let's see what tunes the fat lady comes out with.

[Ghostrider]

So much for my over optimistic score-line of 4-2. :)I'm a mixture of emotions with that game.
I was all excited waiting for that game, to see how Rafa set out the team in only a few days in charge. I excitedly anticipated sneaking a win on the back of the feel good factor.

We didn't get anything but I seen enough in the set up to tell me that we have given ourselves a massive leg up in the relegation stakes, regardless of the loss.
We matched Leicester's high tempo game and never say die, terrier attitude. In fact, I'd say we were the better team overall by a small margin, technically.

However, goals win matches and we failed to score. We failed to score because we lacked the confidence to take the FEW opportunities that came our way.
Leicester on the other hand got the rub of the green. Lady luck smiled on them as she has done for many games this season, for them.
Am I bitter?. ...in a way, I am.
Their goal was offside for starters and we were robbed of a clear penalty. But like I say - the rub of the green is what the top end teams get and the bottom feeders get scraps.

I'm a bit bitter and maybe a bit jealous. It's natural.
Anyway I seen a lot of positives from us and that's what counts in this run in.
I have to remember that Leicester are sitting at the top and we played them away from home and narrowly lost 0-1, so let's take the positives from it instead.

The positives are, we are a fresh team. We are a fit team. We can battle and rough it for 90 plus minutes and we are looking 50% better drilled as a unit than we were under McClaren.

All we need to do is to gain confidence in front of goal and create enough chances to give ourselves a push and we will be fine.

I won't mark the players. All I will say is: Collectively - as a full unit, we set out to achieve a result against a team that most teams have got nothing from at their place. We may have failed by not scoring but we did get a result. We got Newcastle 'united' again - and at the business end of the season, when all hands need to be on deck - we appear to have just that.

Now if Rafa can do that in a few days - I'm confident he can do a hell of a lot more in a whole week.
The Sunderland game is going to be the game changer, either way - hopefully for the betterment of us and to the detriment of Sunderland.

Howay the lads.