OPINION
Rafa Benitez knows a strong Newcastle United line-up will be needed to safely bypass Nottingham Forest in the League Cup on Wednesday and will take advantage of his squad containing several players chomping at the bit to prove their talents.
The Magpies crashed out of the tournament last season courtesy of their Championship opponents and will be eager to ensure they get the job done this time around.
Benitez knows that with him having a relatively small squad than the best course of action against Forest is to utilise players who are guaranteed starters but can cause Aitor Karanka’s side problems.
The Spanish manager should look to make five changes from the side that started Sunday’s game against Chelsea in order to field the best possible team he can while resting certain players.
Martin Dubravka, DeAndre Yedlin, Mohamed Diame, Matt Ritchie and Ciaran Clark who all started the match against the Blues should be the ones to make way.
Sean Longstaff should be handed a golden opportunity to start against Forest as the promising 20-year-old midfielder deserves an opportunity to showcase what he can do after impressing in pre-season and following Diame’s struggles this season it makes sense to give the veteran a rest.
Clark should lose his place in defence just so Benitez can switch to a back-four rather than a back-five with summer recruits Federico Fernandez and Fabian Schar being preferred ahead of him.
Young right-back Jamie Sterry should also have a place in the starting line-up as he is capable of stepping up to play against Forest and it would allow Yedlin to have a rest after he only just returned from a knock.
Ayoze Perez and Yoshinori Muto also should start the game in order to hopefully gain confidence in front of goal from playing against a lower-ranked opposition while Salomon Rondon should keep his place in the starting line-up in order to have a golden opportunity to get off the mark for the Magpies.
The final change that would see Benitez field the best possible line-up sees Karl Darlow take Martin Dubravka’s place between the sticks in order to give the goalkeeper a much needed run out in a competitive game.
With these five changes the Spanish manager should see his side overcome Forest while keeping a lot of his fringe players happy and some of his senior players fitter for having a break.
