Eddie Howe's newfound luxury after 2023/24 nightmare at Newcastle United

Squad depth has become vital in the modern game with increased sports science talk of ‘managing loads’, 48-hour recovery cycles, and football’s ever burgeoning fixture calendar basically mandating that the top internationals/club sides’ players play all year round.

The teams playing in the newly expanded European competitions (and who are still in the League Cup) will basically be playing every three days up until January (I know, tiny violin) following this current international break, highlighting just how valuable a commodity strong squad depth is. It’s also why certain actors lobbied for the continued use of five substitutes following the Covid hit season (in a move which I personally hate as it’s so skewed in favour of a select few clubs – but, honestly, what’s new there.)

Newcastle suffered last season because of poor squad depth and basically had eleven fit senior players (including a 17-year-old making his professional debut) between the 0-3 loss to Everton on the 7/12/2023 and the 2-3 loss to Man City on the 13/1/2024. During that period, United played ten games in all competitions winning just two (D1, L7). More importantly, six of the defeats were in the Premier League and saw the team unable to recover, ultimately missing out on European football – something which is vital to the continued growth and development of the squad and club.

Fast-forward to Sunday and Newcastle moved just one point short of the Champions League qualification spots (admittedly in a tight league) following Sundays deserved 3-1 victory at the City Ground. United controlled the game, even when one-nil down, and were able to make game changing substitutions, bringing on two full internationals from the bench who were instrumental in scoring the second and third goals.

The pace of the two substitutes (sorry Osula) in Harvey Barnes and Sandro Tonali let United switch to hitting a tired Forest on the break resulting in the second and third goals. Cleverly, after Willock had run his fullback into the ground (one clip showed Aina finding it almost physically impossible to get back to take a throw in after he’d had to run 60 yards trying to keep up with Little Joe and then 40 yards back to take the throw-in) Tonali and Barnes occupied that space, found oceans of it, and exploited it in the second half.

Seven of the matchday squad were around during the Ashley era (Dúbravka, Schär, Joelinton, Longstaff, Willock, Murphy and Almirón) showing just what an eclectic mix Eddie Howe is working with trying to meld into cohesive European challengers. In the main he has been successful in blending the disparate elements of the squad into a whole which is bigger than the sum of its parts but no first team signings in eighteen months has put the brakes on that upward trend for now.

Additionally, what stood out on Sunday was the versatility of the squad which was able to respond to the gaffer’s tweaks throughout the game, which allowed the team to add an element of unpredictability to its play. Gordon and Joelinton swapped wings (temporarily then permanently), Longstaff sat deepest of midfield three with Bruno noticeably further forward, Willock and Big Joe interchanging on the LW, and Isak dropping into the ‘number 10’ position between the lines feeding the two wide forwards who tried to hold positions higher and wider up the pitch.

Other factors to consider when analysing United’s squad depth are: Lloyd Kelly will get his chance against West Ham after the international break (with Krafth sidelined for three months with a broken collar bone.) Surely the lad will want to impress as we know Eddie will generally reward good performances with further starts. Trippier and Wilson are due back from injury too, despite my personal reservations with Wilson, there’s no denying that he is a goal scorer when he’s fit. Botman is returning from injury soon too but that may be on the back burner until January, we’ll have to wait and see. Lewis Miley is also back from a broken foot, giving our much-improved midfield another talented option.

The squad is also relatively injury free with only the long-term lads still injured and the lack of soft tissue injuries, which were chronic last season, being brilliant to see. Is this the Bunce Effect? Probably, you don’t appoint an elite Performance Director and ignore his advice. Injury room has the squad down as only having six injuries which is merciful compared to last season’s apparent 23!

A final special mention must go to Big Joe and his confounding but sensational versatility as the lad can literally play every position on the pitch (except, rather funnily, the one he was bought for of course!) If he can do a job on the RW until January, allowing Gordon to play in his best position, before we hopefully strengthen the squad then he’ll be even more valuable to the squad than he is now – there just aren’t many footballers like him.

All things considered United’s squad is looking in a much better place than this time last season (depth and injuries pertinently) and the end of this international break can’t come soon enough when we host West Ham on the Monday Night Football.