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Russell Martin, the former Southampton manager, is the guest pundit on Sky Sports tonight, here in the UK. I wonder where he might end up. Many will be put off by the way that Southampton played in the Premier League this year, but many feel that the Saints have got worse since his departure. I would suggest that he didn’t have the players good enough to fit his system, although he is not without fault.
Remember the season previous, Burnley were relegated under Vincent Kompany, who had a similar tactical evangelism. And the Belgian got the Bayern job. I’m not suggesting that Martin will be manager of a European giant anytime soon but I wonder if a European club might take a punt. There are other British coaches, such as Liam Rosenior and Will Still, doing well abroad.
If you had forgotten about Glenn Roeder, this is worth a read. It was written by Louise Taylor in the wake of Roeder’s death in 2021.
It’s worth noting that his stint as Newcastle manager was badly hurt by the injury (injuries?) to Michael Owen, who was not only unavailable for most of Roeder’s tenure but also took up plenty of Newcastle’s transfer and wage budget at the time.
Well, Howe hasn’t rested anyone. Fair play, that is Newcastle’s strongest side – remember that both Sven Botman and Lewis Hall are out with longish-term injuries and Antony Gordon is suspended, following his red cad at Brighton in the FA Cup.
Speaking of Brighton, not a great look for them or West Ham loanee Evan Ferguson that he can’t get a kick for a side that is lacking a centre-forward. Jarrod Bowen leads the line again for the Hammers, who to be fair beat Arsenal (away) and Leicester in the last two games.
The teams!
West Ham: Areola, Todibo, Kilman, Cresswell, Wan-Bissaka, Ward-Prowse, Alvarez, Scarles, Kudus, Soucek, Bowen.
Subs: Fabianski, Soler, Lucas Paqueta, Mavropanos, Luis Guilherme, Ings, Rodriguez, Emerson Palmieri, Ferguson.
Newcastle: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento, Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton, Murphy, Isak, Barnes.
Subs: Dubravka, Wilson, Targett, Krafth, Osula, Willock, Longstaff, Miley, Neave.
Referee: Michael Salisbury (Lancashire)
Preamble
Hello world, and welcome to the game that absolutely nobody knows as The Glenn Roeder Derby. The late West Ham and Newcastle manager, who also featured nearly 200 times for the Magpies as a player in the 1980s, became the first person to win anything with the north-east side in 37 years when Newcastle won the Intertoto Cup (well, they were handed it by default as the last surviving Intertoto entrants in the Uefa Cup) in 2006 – following a seventh-placed finish the season previous – under Roeder’s stewardship.
While the Intertoto is not recognised as a major trophy, meaning Newcastle’s drought continues to stretch back to 1969. The Roeder years are not looked on particularly fondly by either West Ham (despite finishing seventh in 2001-02) or Newcastle fans, but how both teams would take a seventh-placed finish and a bit of silverware this year.
West Ham’s season, however, is pretty much done. Out of all cups and in the league, they are too good to go down and too inconsistent to qualify for anything else. There have been signs of life under Graham Potter, who will surely be using the rest of the campaign to figure out a gameplan for next season.
For Newcastle trip to east London tonight is a little more pertinent. Not only are they just about in the hunt for Champions League/Europa League/Europa Conference League qualification in the league, but this is the final game before the Carabao Cup final on Sunday against Liverpool. Will Eddie Howe look to rest a few key players? Or could that be detrimental to the league season, and the sharpness, form and fitness for the players on Sunday? We will find out very shortly.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT.
