What brilliant 48 hours it’s been for Newcastle United, who not only hammered Spurs at St James’ Park but saw a near-perfect set of results unfold after that.
Below I pick out some of the main positives (I could’ve named 20!) from Saturday’s huge win and one negative from the weekend of Premier League action that followed.
Positives
Eddie Howe masterclass – Some questioned Howe’s tactically flexibility a few weeks ago, claiming he only knew one way of playing and had made us too predictable. The man-to-man marking worked a treat and the set up was bold in both halves, as we stopped Spurs from playing out and pressed high so effectively. All that was done with our back-up goalkeeper, a winger at right-back, a £3m right-back at centre-back, a centre-back at left-back and two academy graduates in midfield.
Our best front three finally start – Injuries have often denied Eddie Howe the ability to start Barnes, Isak and Gordon in the same side, but they looked electric and could spearhead our push towards a top-six finish over the final month of the season. Barnes linked up nicely with Anderson and the two-footed Gordon looks equally good on the right. As for Isak, he’s just elite, isn’t he? What a player.
Clean sheets! – For all the goals we’ve scored this season, we have shipped far more than last term. However, this is now back-to-back clean sheets for Dubravka and it would’ve been three on the spin without Dummett’s moment of madness in the 1-1 draw with Everton. With 11 in total, we now have the second most clean sheets in the Premier League this season behind Arsenal. Hard to believe, but shows we can be solid on our day.
The Elliot Anderson effect – For me, he’s had a transformative impact on our midfield in recent weeks and really set the tone for improved performances of late. His intensity, pressing and aggression gives us something we’ve sorely missed in Joelinton’s absence, but his ability to drive forward and links up down the left also offers the attacking threat we’ve previously seen from a fully fit Joe Willock. Saturday was his best display in a Newcastle shirt, for me.
S*******e Mags are back! – For a while, Newcastle looked too easy to play against, a little soft and nothing like the ‘win at all costs’ side we saw last season. It’s been coming back of late, but it was clear on Saturday. Tactical fouls, fighting for the ball and seeing out the game superbly. Bruno’s coming together with Lo Celso summed that up at the end!
Results elsewhere – Newcastle were he only Premier League side between 6th and 11th to win over the weekend, yet we had the ‘toughest’ fixture on paper. Brighton drew at Burnley to go six points behind us, Wolves drew at Forest and are now seven adrift, Man Utd dropped two points at Bournemouth, meaning we stay ahead of them on goal difference and West Ham lost at home to Fulham yesterday, missing their chance to move back above us. Let’s hope Chelsea also slip up tonight!
Negatives
Fluky Man Utd do it again – They didn’t win, but I’m losing count of the number of times I’ve watched Man Utd pick up a result after being battered. Not only did Bournemouth play them off the park on Saturday night, they were denied what should’ve been a 95th-minute penalty by VAR; who gifted Man Utd a dubious one to draw level moments before. I’m confident we finish above them, but it was frustrating to see them get away with it once again.
Olly:-
Fans had every right to question Eddie Howes lack of an alternative plan or a reluctance to change things.
Let’s not get carried away, if we hadn’t had injuries to both Botman and Lascelles Burn would have still been playing LB.
Howe himself admitted that the turnaround in Joelinton was when Clarke was sent off against Norwich it was accidentally discovered.
Just like he has realised Burn’s best position is LHS centre half and noticeably the defence has started to concede less.
Don’t get me wrong I like Howe as a manager and he is a great ambassador for the club but we have a lack of imagination when deploying the players we have at our disposal.
I would like to think he is looking outside the box now.
Joseph(Quote)
I don’t doubt that he’s deserved criticism at times this season and has got some things wrong – I’m more addressing those who said he needed to go and had no plan B.
His tactical masterclass on Saturday with the players available to him was top, top management and further proof that he’s improving and deserves time.
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
It wasn’t questioning /criticisng howes tactics. It was the lack of recognition this club is still very much developing and implication they are something they’re not that was hard to comprehend
It’s exhausting to read simplistically trite tropes that ignore or actively dismiss that a drop in performance could be a factor of, for example, playing elite clubs in Europe or having 11+ players out. Add to that it was Howe’s first experience in the CL.
To then compound over simplification with statements like howe has taken this club as afar as he can or just play the kids( several of whom have now been released) or this team are not too good for relegation comes across as overly emotive so lacks credibility
Howe made mistakes, he was criticised he’s done well to show signs he’s turning it around so good for him. Let’s hope he continues that
getreal(Quote)
Olly:-
On another matter, how can Tod Bohley sell the two hotels at Stamford bridge which he owns to himself to alleviate FFP issues, and Newcastle are under scrutiny for getting sponsorship from anything related to PIF, it absolutely sucks!
Joseph(Quote)