Kevin Nolan targets win at Manchester City
Newcastle United captain Kevin Nolan is targeting a win at Manchester City this weekend.
Newcastle is looking to bounce back after a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Stoke City at St. James' Park. Nolan says it's time for the whole club to stand up and be counted.
Newcastle will take confidence into a very daunting away game because of victories on the road against Everton and Chelsea. The captain wants the team to forget about the Stoke game and be focused on getting
three points on Sunday.
Newcastle can take a number of different approaches into the game that could be successful. However, Manchester City will be buzzing with confidence after becoming the first side to beat Chelsea in the
league this season.
Different approaches
A defensive approach is what everyone will expect from Newcastle ahead of this game. Newcastle can put a number of players behind the ball and make it as difficult as possible for the opposition to attack
and be creative. This will enhance Newcastle's chances of taking a point from the match.
Newcastle is able to take a very free mentality into the game. The majority of the football world will expect Newcastle to lose this match. This means the players have nothing to lose and everything to
gain, which can be very positive.
The most likely approach will be a mixture of the two. Newcastle cannot attack Manchester City from the start because City has enough quality to slowly pick off any opponent. Newcastle manager Chris Hughton
must brand some belief and confidence on his team this week.
Nolan said: "That's the main thing now. Manchester City
is the next game and we want to win that game. Well, we hope that's going to happen.
We are going to do our best and we are going to work as hard as we can to make sure we keep going in the right direction."
Confident opponents
Manchester City is a club filled with confidence at the moment. The side is capable of beating any other team at Eastlands. It's not at all naive to say that Newcastle
is a much weaker team than Chelsea and City showed the team is capable of breaking down the Premier League champions.
City played very well in the 1-0 win over Chelsea. There are many players who are on the top of their game and manager Roberto Mancini will be looking forward to having
some defensive players fit again. This will make it even more difficult for Newcastle to score.
Nolan added: "We have got to learn from defensive errors and make sure we
eradicate that from our game because there are going to be a lot of teams this year who are going to come and throw a lot of set-pieces and throw-ins at us, and we have got to be prepared for it.
There were a lot of positives to take out of the game, but we have got to make sure we eradicate the massive negatives."
Betting advice
It will take a very brave betting man to bet against Manchester City for this game. Nolan and Newcastle deserve plenty of credit for saying the right positive things after
the disappointing defeat to Stoke.
Back Manchester City to win this game by two or more goals. The side will be looking for another team to pick on and Newcastle just happens to be the opponent.
There are many players that are candidates to score in this game. Carlos Tevez for Manchester City or Andy Carroll for Newcastle United are both players to think about
backing to get on the score sheet.
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