Hughton to audition players at Ibrox
Aug 7 2010 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
CHRIS Hughton will use the pressure-cooker Ibrox atmosphere to audition his Newcastle United players for an Old Trafford starting role.
United journey to Glasgow today to play SPL champions Rangers in a game Hughton believes will be almost as competitive as their Premier League opener in nine days.
The manager is looking for a step up from his United side to coincide with the countdown to the start of the top-flight campaign.
Apart from Sol Campbell, who is yet to regain match fitness, and injured Dan Gosling and Steven Taylor, Hughton will have a virtually full-strength squad from which to choose.
He said: “The reason I took this game was because I knew it would be a big atmosphere and it would get us ready for that very big game at Old Trafford. Rangers are a good side and you don’t get anything easy when you go to Scotland for a game against one of the big teams from that league.
“It will be an excellent test. I took all of the pre-season games because I felt they offered us a good work out, and this is really as big as you can get. It will be very competitive.”
Hughton (right) is close to deciding on his starting line-up for Old Trafford and, although he is staying tight-lipped, it would be a surprise if he deviated from the 4-5-1 system which served United well on their travels last year.
That is likely to mean England under-21 striker Andrew Carroll up front with Kevin Nolan tucked in behind in a supporting role, leaving Spanish forward Xisco sitting out the match despite a pre-season campaign which has been more encouraging from the former Deportivo La Coruna man.
The Newcastle boss will give Xisco, along with young forward Nile Ranger, an opportunity to impress north of the border before taking a long-term decision on their futures.
He added: “We have good options in the forward area.
“We have Andy Carroll, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi, Leon Best and Nile Ranger.
“We have a lot of options, and I have to work around those options. These are decisions we have to make.”
Newcastle had been planning to sell Xisco but, after Racing Santander turned down an option to sign him permanently, the door has been opened to him again on Tyneside.
