Many feared the worst when Fabian Schar was sent off against Southampton. Although we have a number of centre backs in the current squad, only two are natural right-sided defenders and one of those is currently injured. That left Emil Krafth being drafted in for the rest of the opening game and he has since started the following three matches.
The Swedish international is a natural right back. When he was signed by the club under Steve Bruce, he was brought in to compete with Javier Manquillo and DeAndre Yedlin. To begin with, supporters didn’t really take to Krafth. There was never doubting his effort, but he always looked limited in the Premier League. When the takeover took place during his third season at the club, few would have predicted that he would still be at the club in 2024.
However, he has been very dependable under Eddie Howe. Krafth has been used at right back, in a back three and now as a centre back in a back four. It shows impressive versatility and his tactical intelligence has improved a lot under the current Magpies’ boss. Those two attributes combined are why he has remained at St James’ Park.
After his serious ACL injury picked up two years ago, it would have been easy for him to fall to the wayside. However, he fought back and managed to win an additional year contract earlier this year. Krafth is obviously a great character around the dressing room and he never lets the team down when he is on the pitch.
During the tenure of Eddie Howe, I can only recall one poor performance from the versatile defender. That came last season against West Ham at home. Krafth was brought off the bench due to an injury to Jamaal Lascelles, but he performed poorly and was later substituted himself. We then went on to win the game.
Aside from that performance, Krafth has been dependable and often performed well under Howe. In Howe’s first season, the Swede was brought in to play right back in the absence of Kieran Trippier and delivered the best run of form of his Newcastle career to date. During this run, he was affectionately nicknamed ‘Krafthu’ by supporters.
At St James’ Park, the fans have always had special affinities for players like Krafth – versatile defenders who put in the required effort on a weekly basis. Andy O’Brien and James Perch are two other cult heroes in this form.
During the first three Premier League matches, Krafth has more than played his part in the accumulation of 7 points. Against Southampton, he made six clearances to ensure we held on to the three points. At Bournemouth, he didn’t shrink when we went 1-0 down and helped the team achieve a positive result. During the win over Tottenham, a lot of players were loose in possession, but the Swedish defender recorded a pass success rate of 87%, higher than any other Newcastle players.
Krafth has managed to perform well, without ever standing out and that is what we needed from him during this run of fixtures. Everyone at the club (including the Swedish defender) will know the club needed to invest in the defence during the recent summer window. However, we didn’t manage to make the centre back signing that we needed.
That will open up more opportunities for Krafth and if he performs like he did during his recent run in the team, he won’t let anyone down. Fabian Schar will be back for the trip to Wolves, but Krafth can be proud of his contributions.
Due to his versatility and reliability, there could be a real case to award Emil Krafth with a new contract before the season ends. It might be seen as a decision that lacks ambition, but as a 24th/25th squad member, he is as dependable as they come.
Stats taken from Whoscored
