It was a nice occasion for Newcastle United to be involved in, as we faced Rangers in Allan McGregor’s testimonial. The atmosphere was great at Ibrox, with 8,000 Geordies in attendance. This was our first real test of pre-season with international players now back in the fold.
Allan Saint-Maximin was left out of the squad, as he enters discussions over a move to Saudi Arabia. That was the talk pre kick-off, but the focus switched to Sandro Tonali, as he made his first start for the club. There was excitement surrounding the Italian international and he didn’t disappoint.
He was excellent in the middle of the park, with his defensive work rate and reading of the game clear to see. Tonali was also a big upgrade in possession, as he played a number of eye-catching passes. That highlighted how he can inject pace to our build-up play. His best contribution was a smart through ball to Elliot Anderson, who went on to assist Miguel Almiron for the first goal.
When playing a team set up in a deep block, it is important to play with pace and purpose. Tonali will certainly do that and he has the quality to find team-mates in space. One overhit lofted pass to Callum Wilson showed how he can quickly launch an attack. On another day, he could have had an excellent assist.
There were tenets of our style of play that were on show. Although it wasn’t an energetic high press, there were a few occasions where we pressed high. As we build our fitness levels, the press will be more frequent.
One tactical takeaway was our intent to switch the play more frequently than normal. That may be a new aspect of our game against teams that play in a low block. If we are able to stretch the playing area, there will be more space. In Kieran Trippier, Sandro Tonali and Fabian Schar, we have players that can play that pass accurately. It is something to keep an eye on in the coming weeks.
It can be difficult to read too much into pre season friendlies, due to the number of changes that take place. Eddie Howe made seven at the break and the fluency of the performance was lost. Rangers managed to get a foothold in the game.
Anthony Gordon was the big eye catcher from the subs. He continued to beat players with ease and seems to have a clarity in his game that was lacking last season. There was always going to be improvement in his game, but it is becoming evident that he is growing in confidence. His work rate should be noted too, as he fought hard out of possession. That will have pleased Howe.
Due to the loss of fluency, Rangers did manage to get back into the game. It was a sloppy piece of play between Karl Darlow and Bruno Guimaraes, that resulted in the latter being dispossessed. Sam Lammers fired past Darlow. On occasion, we saw Bruno make similar mistakes, so it is an area of his game that needs work. Others will argue it was a poor pass and decision from the goalkeeper to play it into him.
By the end of the match, we had a young team, with Lewis Miley, Harrison Ashby, Alex Murphy and Joe White on the pitch. It was good to see them get a chance, but we weren’t able to physically dominate the game as a result. Their talent was clear and they will all be attracting loan interest.
Alexander Isak was a live wire after coming on, in a similar way to Gordon. They continued to cause problems for Rangers, even if the attacks from us became less frequent. It was his excellent footwork on the left wing that led to our winning goal.
There were similarities to his dribble at Everton, even if this one was less impressive. The frequency that Isak creates chances in this fashion suggests it is something that will continue. His cross was slightly overhit, but Harrison Ashby did well and managed to get his header past Jack Butland.
Even in pre-season, this team manages to find ways to win. These matches aren’t important, but a winning mentality can be built and Howe will be hoping to harness that over the coming weeks.
There were some good aspects of the performance and some areas to work on. The matches in the USA should tell us a lot more about the direction that the team are going in
Sell Maxi and put a bit more in for Diaby not Barnes!
georgio(Quote)
I’m really impressed with our central midfield now with the addition of Tonali.
Him added to Bruno, Joelinton, Willock & Longstaff is a strong midfield for how we play – but I am really impressed with Elliott Anderson & Miley behind them.
I really hope we DONT bring in another central midfielder this season & give Anderson & Miley to chance for some game time this season. I really think they can develop into first team squad players.
Also think we could see good things from Gordon this season too – he has to earn it obviously, but he looks a confidence player to me & the more game time the better.
I will be happy to see us sell Darlow ASAP though. He’s proven over these 2 pre season games he’s just not close to being good enough.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I’m going to be interested to see how Miggy does this season.
I can’t decide whether he had a good season last season or if it just looked good coz a super rich vein of form pre WC – which couldn’t have come at a worse time for him really.
I’m not saying his form was bad outside that period – more that it made his season look better than I think it was.
His workrate is also high & he’s an excellent team player. But he’s all left footed which brings an imbalance imo & he’s not as clinical as he should be imo – though he took his goal very well yesterday.
Is last season the player he really is & he was held back but Rafa & Bruce, or was last season a freak – hope it’s the former coz we’ll need them goals again this season I reckon.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Great write up and match report Jake!
Gilly Toon(Quote)
You know what really, really pi..sses me off… there’s a story on newsnow of an “Ex Newcastle winger who faces jail for punching 60 yr old woman” that’s the headliner… then you find out he was in our academy 11 years ago and released without ever playing for the first team. Played for several other clubs in between like Darlington and Blyth Spartans (yup that’s his level), Marcus Maddison his name, but the headline is “ex Newcastle winger” not ex darlo player or ex Blyth player … the fucking press love to link our club to every bad thing they can. In 20 years, if Nile Ranger goes to prison again we will still see “ex Newcastle striker goes to jail” aaaggghhhhh super annoyed at this shocking “journalism” 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡
Gilly Toon(Quote)
If as now sounds plausible ASM is about to leave I’ll miss him at the toon
Is anyone else puzzled by the seemingly low fee or am I just biased coz he’s a toon player??
I’m struggling to understand why this is about selling ASM and not for example Almiron who’s unlikely to be more sellable than right now. It’s debatable if Barnes is an upgrade on ASM but he is on Almiron or Murphy and ASM could do a job as a conventional right winger
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
If ASM is going as seems likely I am delighted it is to Saudi and not another Premiership team. They always seem to come back to haunt you.
StanHardy(Quote)
Stan – I agree mate. Whilst I could see him being the perfect replacement for Zaha at Palace, I’d have hated seeing it.
I think Barnes is an upgrade on ASM in all the important areas.
Maxi may have better stats on ball carry or dribbling but Barnes has far better stats in goals per game – I think I worked it out that Maxi was 1 in 9 where Barnes was 1 in 4.
I agree re your point about Miggy & Murph though – and where does Gordon fit in to all of this 🤷🏼♂️ it will be interesting to see what Howe has in mind.
Barnes is clearly the player Howe has wanted though, so I’m pleased the club are providing for him.
Like I said yesterday, I’m not expecting the club to go out and spend hundreds of millions this window – just bring in the improvements Howe is asking for (where possible).
I won’t be pleased to see Maxi go, but he was a bench player for large parts of last season and a rarely used sub – so if Howe didn’t fancy him I think the switch makes sense – but Maxi will leave with my thanks & best wishes.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I see Henderson looks to be next on the plane to Saudi to join Stevie Gs team.
I might have missed it – has anyone seen the term ‘blood money’ or ‘sports washing’ when journos write about them??
Sharpy17(Quote)
I’m sorry to see maxi go, but exciting as he was to watch, he rarely scored or assisted goals, and goals win games. That’s what Harvey Barnes will bring. Plus, of the players we would be willing to sell, Maxi would bring in the most and thus assist us with FFP. We’d have to sell 3 or 4 others to bring in what we will get for Maxi. Sadly Ashley left us with very little in the way of saleable assets.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Well £38m and Barnes looks like deal done 👍🏼
I really like this transfer – I really see him fitting a Howe team.
Hopefully all goes well with the medical & it can be finalised quickly 🤞🏼.
If we could get RB cover & a CB in before the window closes & I’d feel pretty confident in the strength of our squad going into this season.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Not convinced we need RB cover but we do need a RCB to cover Schar
StanHardy(Quote)
Soz That was me not Stan didn’t check the details
PremAndUp(Quote)
Agreed cover for schar needed but I’m not sure rcb and rb cover are mutually exclusive .. notwithstanding ffp.
It’ll be interesting to see if the media suggestion that nufc have relifed interest in Livramento comes to anything. As with Gordon purchase, it may be an opportunistic move by nufc
Based on how many waxed about his talent livramento’d be a ready made fill in for trippier when needed
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
Prem – if we keep Manq then we don’t need RB cover. Krafth is still recovering from an injury that kept him out pretty much all of last season – he’s not even training yet, so we can’t class him as cover imo.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Another post not displayed and wrong details
PremAndUp(Quote)
Sharpy – I’ve never noticed Manquillo having a poor game. In fact I’ve always liked him.
So Maxi’s gone and Barnes is (almost) is here. Thought we might have got more for Maxi. I guess financially it’s a straight swap. I confess I’ve not noticed Barnes much but maybe that’s because we hammered his team several times recently. Really looking forward to the new season. I watched some highlights of last season and we seriously were a very good team.
HTL!
georgio(Quote)
Sites being a bit weird again.
georgio(Quote)
Georgio – likewise mate, but all the craic seems to be that Howe wants to replace him 🤷🏼♂️ or maybe he wants to leave for more regular football.
I think longer term we’d need upgrades, but whilst the club build the commercial revenues to tackle FFP, I think Trippier, Manq, Targett & Burn are cover enough at full back for now – more games than not I think each are 7 out of 10.
The priority now is CB cover
Sharpy17(Quote)
Looking at the squad list for the USA
It’s good to see so many youngsters
Going through squad depth being realistic in that we are not going to be buying any world-class players this window, but we might pick up one or two extra players.
GK Looks OK
Defenders, would be nice to have a young understudy for Schar especially if they are already better than Lascelles
Midfielders, Happy with that.
Wingers, Barnes will help, but still an area of concern long-term.
Forwards, Need a third Striker and this is where I would spend what little money we have.
PremAndUp(Quote)
this time it posted
PremAndUp(Quote)
Isn’t it nice to be talking about players needed for a season in Europe than looking at players who might just .save us from relegation and a possible downward spiral into the championship and beyond.
StanHardy(Quote)
Absolutely Stan, fully agree with that sentiment mate!
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Here here!
georgio(Quote)
Agree with Stan & Prem – I love the fact we have as many youngsters involved in the pre season.
I don’t imagine they will be as involved when the season kicks off – but what a way to wet their appetite & give them something to work hard for in the coming season.
We also have Kuol & Minteh to develop through.
Sharpy17(Quote)
How the hell can Villa keep spending so much? Now signing Diaby apparently for £50million? No FFP worries there I guess.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Gilly – they are building some squad their mind & Emery had them playing last season.
This league is getting to a point where if you finish in the top 8 you’ve had a brilliant season – you get nowt for it in terms of European football, but if you’re in the mix with Man City, Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle, Spurs, Villa then you’ve done well 🤦🏼♂️
Sharpy17(Quote)
Don’t know why we’ve missed out on Diaby – only a tad more than Barnes.
georgio(Quote)
Think there were doubts over his work rate. Guessing Howe thinks he can mold Barnes into a high-presser. He’s well-built, a good runner and probably has it in him to fit into our system well.
I hear you though – Diaby went for less than we expected, but seems we looked elsewhere and didn’t ‘miss out’ to Villa.
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75xGldLacsY&t=16s
Good watch re Barnes v Maxi
PremAndUp(Quote)
loved this .. thanks for the tip. Summed up nicely why we watch fotballl and why the asm/ Barnes swap is divisive. Sentimentality of wanting to be entertained .. asm.. and business end of wanting to win .. Barnes.
Oh and it highlights beautifully what an absolute chump Bruce is and why he should never be let loose on football at any level again
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
Puttting aside Howe’s appetite or not for diaby, when comparing cost, wages as well as transfer fee should be considered.
How much they paying him is a factor and if it’s a lot the question of how villa can afford this investment (asked earlier in this thread) is a good one
it seems odd Newcastle have chosen to improve left not right side as I believe the right side was weaker than left
Mind you this is Howe and he ain’t done much wrong yet
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
Things seem to be taking off in the transfer market.Although it may seem to some that players are being signed for the wrong side of the pitch we have to trust in Eddie.He comes across to me as a very methodical manager who certainly has a plan.
StanHardy(Quote)
I guess a few people have seen more of Diaby than me. Doesn’t track back enough?
Guess we’ll just have to trust wor Eddie.
georgio(Quote)
There could be a number of reasons why we didn’t go for Diaby but affordability wouldn’t be one – not when you consider we’ve spent £45m plus on Tonali & £38m on Barnes.
If Diaby had been seen as a player to sign as top priority – he would have been signed.
It may be that midfield was the priority – hence Tonali being the first signing.
It may be that the structure of the payments for Diaby fee did not suit how we wanted to pay it.
It may be that Diaby wanted wages we weren’t prepared to pay – his agent wanted more than we weren’t prepared to pay.
It entirely possible that for as good as he is going forward, they weren’t so sure about his workrate with the high press.
Maybe they looked at proven PL quality for £38m versus unknown for £50m 🤷🏼♂️.
I also think Diaby would view playing for NUFC or Villa as a stepping stone to a PSG.
I’ll wager that come the end of the season, there won’t be much difference in terms of stats for Barnes & Diaby.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy
I think that looking at that video I posted earlier it could well be about style of play as well.
ASM needs space to run past players, Barnes is give-and-go in tight spaces. Diaby ???
PremAndUp(Quote)
Prem – I’m fairly certain the club see Diaby as a good player but whatever the reason he’s not right for us.
But I think that’s the reason over Villa being a bigger draw or better in the market.
Ultimately Barnes has 146 PL games under his belt with 35 goals & is a player that fits Howes NUFC like a glove imo.
Sharpy17(Quote)
The 2 that seem most likely – Barnes just needs announcing now. Liveramento feels not too far off.
Other possibles – Disasi would be a brilliant addition if we could get him in – but if not him I do think RCB is needed.
Lewis Hall just got mentioned yesterday. He’s a quality player & very versatile – maybe loan to buy?!.
But I think a young CF would be needed ahead of Hall personally.
I don’t expect all of those additions – and if we can get Barnes & Liv then I expect the full attentions be turned to moving some players out – I know that will still be getting worked on now obviously, but I think moving 5 or 6 out would need to be done before incomings – as much for wages than funds.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Anyone watching the lionesses ?
kimtoon(Quote)
Kim – they never got out of 2nd gear did they – never needed to mind. It was comfortable without impressing but that’s all they need to do just now – progress & avoid injuries. Conserve energy for the tougher games to come 🤷🏼♂️ 1-0 or 8-0, nobody’s remembering your opening game against Haiti.
Sharpy17(Quote)
If Saints really want £50m or close to that for Liv then he ain’t coming – he’s worth the £30m we’ve reportedly offered but nowhere near £50m yet.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I watched the lionesses. Canny match, but lots of sloppy passes and need a bit more accuracy on shooting. That said, a good result, a win is a win!
Anyone know if our USA friendlies are televised?
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Gilly I’m sure I saw they are on Sky mate – it’ll be daft o clock like but set you’re alarm & they’re on 👍🏼
Sharpy17(Quote)
Gilly – there you go buddy 👍🏼
https://www.live-footballontv.com/newcastle-united-on-tv.html
Sharpy17(Quote)
I’m struggling to believe a championship club like Saints can turn down a £30m offer. Seems like we’re unwilling to go higher. There’s no competition either. Strange situation although Chelsea are due a share.
georgio(Quote)
ref Livramento .. so depending on which media ‘expert in the know ‘ to believe either he’s on his way to the toon next week or clubs are £10m+ apart on price.
I guess I’ll stick to believing my eyes when /if hes holding up a black n white scarf in SJP
Despite how good he apparently is, £30m feels a lot for a player who’s not played much since recovering from a significant injury. £40m+ feels like a desperate gamble. Do Newcastle really need to gamble that much ?
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
Thanks Sharpy! That’s great. I’ll probably set them to record and watch the next day!
Gilly Toon(Quote)
So far any mention of the ASM sale being dodgy has been limited to social media gob5h1te5 but it seems the PL looking at this now.
Not a peep about chelsea cast offs heading to PIF clubs at inflated rates despite the silent partner .. you know the PIF monsters .. propping up Boehly as the chelsea figurehead via Clearlake.
Not surprising really and shows the self proclaimed elite are still $h1tt1ng themselves about the threat of nufc. Long May that continue.
The PL BS kinda explains why the nufc board are being so careful not to push ffp boundaries.
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
Exactly mate
kimtoon(Quote)
FFP to me is like being put on Santas naughty list!!.
There’s isn’t an investigation needed to find out whether City breached it – of course they did!! But they were allowed to – encourage to even.
Just like it’s absolutely obvious that Chelsea are breaching it now – but they’ll get away with it. It wouldn’t surprise me if Boehly was give assurances just to buy Roman out & get that stain off the league – don’t want one of your big money clubs with government restrictions on it now do you.
It also wouldn’t surprise me if they allowed the Saudis to buy us out on super strict restrictions.
There is nothing fair about financial fair play.
It’s a tool for the PL to protect the top money making clubs & keep all other clubs in their shadows.
For years the PL have allowed the likes of Man Utd, Man City & Chelsea to break the rules because they were buying the best players in world football making the league the most view around the world – earning billions.
But it’s grown beyond its means – these clubs want more – they NEED more because the fees & wages are so inflated now they can’t be sustained.
Ironically as this Saudi league continues to buy up Europes top players, I only see it forcing Europes ‘top’ clubs deeper into this Super league plan – I don’t agree with it, but the PL WILL have to enforce FFP eventually to survive & that will send the money clubs looking for a new pie.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Are we still interested in Livra? Would be an interesting signing given how any games Tripps has played for Atleti and England as a left back.
georgio(Quote)
many
georgio(Quote)
What the hell is the hold up on Barnes,Villa signed winger in a crack,something very strange
Icedog(Quote)
Ice – you beat me to it mate, came on to say exactly the same thing!!.
Are we having to wait for Maxi to be sold to get the funds for Barnes??? – surely money isn’t that tight!!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I see Howe has named Lascelles captain again for next season. That would suggest he’s not looking to replace him just yet then – unless a club make an offer for him we think is good money.
I still think we lack top quality in the CB position though. We might have the numbers but whilst Schar, Burn & Lascelles can do a job, I don’t think any on par with Botman for quality.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Some strangely poor PR moves made recently. Barnes is one but Tonali was the same. The club seem to be juggling too many balls at the moment and they can’t quite handle it. Some of it the result of having half our admin people in USA.
georgio(Quote)
So Barnes is finally confirmed. He’s already with the team in the USA so not sure why the hold up in announcing him. Strange. Glad to have him though. A great player. I wonder who will be next.
I have Stan’s sign on details now 😡. Needs sorting! I get other peoples details even when I open a news thread from this site on newsnow. Means others get my details too.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
SHARPY club must have heard us mate lol
Icedog(Quote)
Ice – good to know they read the blog mate 😂
Sharpy17(Quote)
Anyone considered the reason for slow signings & outgoings maybe down to the club having to be absolutely sure every deal is not going to be picked apart by rival clubs, fans, media etc etc .. easentially anyone with an agenda against nufc that wouldn’t be bothered to poke around other clubs business.
The diligence to implement deals and second guess people’s objections must be excruciating to prep for and see through.
Maybe we need to give the club a break
GoWest!Mag(Quote)