Newcastle (h); The Preview

Andy – After, let’s call them ‘low-key’ starts, is it too soon to call Saturday a must-win game for both sides?

George Caulkin – Newcastle failed to win any of their opening 10 league matches last season and still stayed up, which should offer a bit of perspective, but It’s never too soon for a response and I think that’s key for both teams. And Newcastle are a different club now; putting some kind of positive marker down is pivotal for Steve Bruce.

A good point, especially given the start Palace had a few years ago under Frank de Boer and then Southampton starting equally poorly last term. I read you described Bruce’s first game as damp and dispiriting, were there any positives amid the gloom?

Well … the first-half was okay and there was some promise up front from Joelinton, Newcastle’s £40m signing from Hoffenheim, but what followed was very ragged and disjointed. And the mood music of fans boycotting, although perfectly understandable, wasn’t exactly life-affirming.

In terms of the feeling around the place, the clubs could barely be further apart at the moment, with optimism and unity a key feature at Carrow Road. How much do you think that will play a part on the pitch Saturday and what are you expecting from the game?

Yeah, it’s been brilliant to see Norwich’s resurgence and the sense of identity that drove them last season.

Maintaining that momentum looks to have been a deliberate strategy over the summer and that can definitely work – Huddersfield Town are a decent example.

I have a feeling that Newcastle might be a bit better away from home – they have a lot of pace – and their travelling support is always brilliant, but the club have also returned 700 tickets for the match, which feels like a reflection of off-field concerns.

Irrelevant personal trivia: my dad lived there for well over 20 years and I was a regular visitor to the stadium in the 1980s, usually for 1-1 draws. So I’ll be rooting for you, after Saturday.

It very much is the plan. The feeling down here is that the criticism of our transfer window is all based on the misguided sense that spending money = good and therefore not spending money must be bad. There is real quality in our squad however and you don’t need to spend £100m on new players if you can properly coach the ones you already have.

That said, most City fans aren’t looking much further ahead than survival this season. Is that the case on Tyneside or are there loftier expectations?

I think that’s wise. There’s a lot to be said for having a clear, obvious plan – get up, stay up. What happens after that can be where trouble lies. What’s the big idea?

Newcastle went through a bit of an existential crisis related to that last season and, ultimately, that’s why Rafa Benitez left. How do you make a club progress? It’s very difficult to judge what constitutes success this time. They’ve lost a world-class manager, they’ve gained a £40m striker, they’ve lost their two top scorers, they’ve gained other players. But Benítez was the glue that held disparate strands of the club together. Without him, there a danger everything falls apart.

I agree, retaining your identity after survival is possibly harder than surviving in the first place. That said, my own feeling is that our current set-up is planning a fair few years down the line. In fact, over the summer we probably spent more on recruiting exciting talent for our youth sides, rather than on our first team.

On to Saturday, how do you see the game panning out? Will Newcastle sit back and hope to hit us on the counter?

Even now, so much about football is hand to mouth. Look at what Fulham did in terms of spending last summer – what on earth was the plan then?

It’s difficult to know what Newcastle’s gameplan will be – early days and all that – but Bruce has made a commitment to ‘have a go’, so perhaps they will be on the front foot a bit more. But in Joelinton, Almiron and Saint-Maximin, they definitely have the pace to attack quickly on the counter, even if they looked a bit disjointed against Arsenal.

The way we’re set-up it’s unlikely to be dull at any rate.

Quick question on Mike Ashley, do you think the protests will have any effect and what is the latest with his attempts to sell the club?

I think the protests are more about making a stand rather than anything else.

Talks with potential buyers are still rumbling on in the background, but as Ashley said in an interview recently “I have to assume I will stay running this football club.” As far as Newcastle are concerned, expecting the worst is always the safest course …

On that note and hoping you’re right, let’s end with a specific prediction

I will go for a 6-2 Norwich win to avenge the defeat which destroyed Alex Neil on our last visit to the top-flight. Pukki and Buendia will put us two ahead, before Dummett pulls one back from a set-piece. Pukki restores our cushion, before Almiron makes it nervy again. Then with 10 to go, Aarons wraps up the points with a buccaneering run and finish, before Drmic steps off the bench to grab a brace of his own…

Blimey, you’re not sitting on the fence. I’m going to be a bit more pedestrian, I think. 1-1.