Big Midweek: Barca v Newcastle, Liverpool, Guardiola, Dowman… Newport

Liverpool won’t tolerate more of the same against Galatasaray, while Newcastle are buoyed before Barca, and Manchester City have no choice but to go for Real Madrid…

It’s a bloomin’ massive midweek for the Premier League league sides in the Champions League after not one of them won last week.

Some face a bigger task than others to reach the quarter-finals…

When Lamine Yamal slotted in his penalty in the final moments at St James’ Park last week, we all thought the same thing, didn’t we? That’s that then…

But then Newcastle went to Chelsea and rather than view it as an inconvenience between two glamour ties against Barcelona, they tested a blueprint for success in the Nou Camp. The outcome: an all-too-rare away win – achieved by the kind of defensive solidity that got Newcastle back at the big boys’ table – and a shot in the arm before catching a flight to Catalonia.

Managers generally downplay these things, especially Eddie Howe, but the Toon boss was unusually happy to hype the significance of Saturday’s win before Barca.

“On so many levels, that was such an important victory with what we have coming up this week. We needed to win to give us any chance of winning in Barcelona and progressing in the Champions League.”

Why? Because it proved that Newcastle’s defensive discipline and solidity hasn’t gone for good. They have offered the odd sign of encouragement amid a rotten run of late, but at Stamford Bridge, it all came together to form a very impressive 90 minutes. Liam Rosenior may suggest that Newcastle ‘offered nothing in the game’, but the onus wasn’t on them – it was on the ball-hugging oddballs in blue – and when they got their chance, Anthony Gordon took it.

Gordon missed the first leg for reasons disputed but his pace against a perilously high line gives Newcastle reasons to believe they will get more chances against Barca than those they didn’t ultimately need at Chelsea. It will only matter, though, if they can maintain the defensive focus and form that so satisfied Howe on Saturday.

Of the four Premier League sides behind at the midway point of the round of 16, the Reds’ deficit is easily the most retrievable. That’s just maths. But does anyone trust this Liverpool side to get the job done?

The Kop has clearly grown tired of their sh*t this season. Failing to beat this year’s worst Premier League side on Sunday drew levels of dissent at Anfield that Arne Slot cannot ignore.

It is not a stretch to suggest that Slot’s job is on the line here . For as long as Liverpool remain in contention in the Champions League, he’s on solid ground, if only until the summer. But should they be knocked out by a Galatasaray side with a third defeat of the season to the same opposition, he could be toast.

Slot is simply not getting enough out of his players. This is a squad that p*ssed the league last year then strengthened to the tune of £446million. On no level is their current output acceptable.

Sure, the players have to take their share of the responsibility amid a succession of docile performances – individually and collectively. So too should the board after a summer splurge that still left the squad imbalanced. But of all the changes that may be necessary the manager is usually the first and always the easiest.

One of Slot’s biggest decisions before the Turks turn up is whether to stick with Rio Ngumoha. The 17-year-old was perhaps the only redeeming feature of Liverpool’s performance on Sunday and it was no coincidence that it got worse after he was substituted. Knowing Slot as we think we do by now, he’ll be held back as Plan B.

However he goes about it, Slot needs to inspire a turnaround in the tie, then hope it is a catalyst to save a sorry season.

The Manchester City boss admitted he got his team selection wrong at West Ham on Saturday night to leave his side choking on Arsenal’s dust in the Premier League title race. At least for the second leg against Real Madrid, the objective is clear, and surely even Guardiola cannot overthink it.

In east London, Antoine Semenyo played in a central role behind Erling Haaland which was… odd. Semenyo’s best work this season has come in one of two positions, neither of them in the middle. He looked every bit the winger moonlighting as a playmaker.

Which was all the more odd because Rayan Cherki is right there .

Guardiola gave an interesting insight into his thinking , believing his side lack the stability needed in the Premier League with Cherki tasked as creator in chief. Shame though that is, he might be right. But stability alone won’t spark a comeback for the ages against Real.

Cherki surely starts on Tuesday night when City start three goals down. Guardiola sent his side out on the front foot at the Bernabeu last week and it worked – until it didn’t. City got in behind and threatened their hosts for 20 minutes until Federico Valverde got the ball rolling on his hat-trick, and the visitors never recovered from going behind against the run of play.

Perhaps it was a mistake to go so gung-ho at the Bernabeu but City have no other choice at the Etihad. If they are going out, let it be balls out in a blaze of glory.

After the 16-year-old made Premier League history at the weekend, all eyes will inevitably be on Dowman on Tuesday night, trained on the Gunners’ bench, we expect, for at least the first hour.

Mikel Arteta will hope his senior players can get the job done against Bayer Leverkusen before turning to the kid once more. Ideally, the Gunners will secure safe passage to the quarter-finals nice and early, allowing for Dowman to make a cameo and prolong the buzz he prompted on Saturday.

Of course, if they need him to step up again, there should be no hesitation in putting the teenager back in the spotlight he stole against Everton. But Arteta, if he’s smart, will prefer to manage the hype and expectation around the Champions League’s youngest-ever player.

It has already reached surely-unsustainable levels. Comparisons with Wayne Rooney are perhaps inevitable but parallels with Lionel Messi are definitely unhelpful. When his incredible progress plateaus even slightly, it won’t be long before Dowman is pinned as a fraud. These days, there is very little in between for a player garnering so much attention.

If we see him on Tuesday, Arsenal fans will hope it’s a bonus from a job clinically done, rather than a need for Arsenal to be rescued once more by a schoolboy.

If you fancy something a bit more EFL-y on Tuesday night, you could watch Wrexham’s trip to Watford. But some are already tired of the circus around the Welshmen .

There was a very different Welsh circus at the bottom of League Two until recently but Christian Fuchs appears to be turning Newport around in the nick of time.

Until the start of this month, County had spent 151 days in the drop zone staring at an uncertain future in the National League but three wins in the last month have propelled them to fourth bottom as the in-form side in a four-team relegation dog fight, with four points the difference between Newport and rock-bottom Harrogate Town, who themselves have been in decent form of late.

With Newport facing top-of-the-table Bromley, it is a really big midweek down at the bottom of the 92, all of it televised. What it gives up in glamour to the Champions League, it makes up for in grit.