Newcastle United cruised to a 3-0 win over Leicester City on Monday Night as another Eddie Howe late season charge gathers pace. United were quick out of the blocks, scoring after just two minutes and Fabian Schär was robbed of the goal of the season by the width of the crossbar in a thoroughly professional display.
A brace from Jacob Murphy and a goal from Harvey Barnes on his return to his old stomping ground sealed the victory for United, condemning Leicester to an eighth straight defeat, as we took our tally of straight victories to four.
Here are our key takeaways from the game:
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- Fab Schar
Fabian Schar’s superb Beckhamesque effort from 55 yards deserved a goal for its sheer cheek, guile and beauty. Sadly, the effort was not to be, denied by the woodwork, and thankfully Murphy had followed the long range effort in and was on hand to make it 2-0.
Schär has been poor at times this season but on the back of signing a contract extension this week, and a commanding performance in the cup final, the Swiss put in another mature and stylish performance at the back, admittedly against an insipid Leicester attack, something you should expect from a senior pro.
It remains to be seen if he will be first choice CB next season (and the same can be said of his partner Dan Burn) but he is a mainstay of the squad right now, thoroughly deserves his new contract, and will go down as a long serving club legend and one of our great bargains at £3m when he eventually hangs up his boots.
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- Murphinho
Only Salah and Isak have more goal involvements in the Premier League since 7 December, and Murphy is simply having the season of his career.
Can he improve? That’s the $64m question, and most fans would say RW is a priority position to be strengthened in the summer; but Murphy can’t do anymore than he is doing right now. His first touch can still be a little iffy, as he acknowledged himself in a post match interview, but he deserves great credit and respect for his professionalism.
What Murphy certainly is, is another testament to Howe’s ability to improve players via his coaching ability.
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- Is Tino’s best position LB?
It’s an interesting debate that’s developing amongst sections of the fanbase because over the last few games, especially since Hall’s recent injury, as Tino has put in his better performances across the entire season out of position at left back.
He was excellent on Monday night, defending well and contributing with an assist on the overlap and cross for Murphy’s first goal. He looks more comfortable bursting forward down that side and defends just as well, it seems.
Long term Tino will need to replicate his LB performances at RB as you simply can’t leave Hall out of the team when he is back from injury next season, but Tino has stepped up and played excellently in Hall’s absence, not least of course in pocketing Salah in the League Cup final either side of keeping Bowen and Mbeumo quiet!
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- Squad management
Despite the second half being a complete non-event, and the away section was the best thing about it, Eddie managed the squad well and was able to rest key players ahead of a big game at the weekend.
There is no team I want to beat each season more than Man Utd at St. James’ (probably a symptom of being a kid fan in the 90’s) so it was vital that Eddie took advantage of the professional performance and rested players when he was able to.
Isak (despite pre-game ‘ITK’ nonsense again on Twitter/X ) is “100% fit”, Howe’s words, and was given an extra 20 minutes off on the night as we can hopefully look forward to him running the show on Sunday.
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- United are in a great position
The weekends results were pretty good from United’s point of view and the lads took full advantage at the King Power.
We’re sitting pretty in 5th and have a game in hand, which if we win puts us 4th and just a single point behind Forest in 3rd. Things are look good.
It’s been simply fantastic few weeks; not just our cup win but our response since then, seeing us win back-to-back games since our post-Wembley celebrations.
It would be some return for Eddie Howe and the squad if they finish the season in the Champions League spots. And with a game in hand and Villa, Brighton, Chelsea still to play, it’s safe to say we are in full control of where we will finish in the league this season.
Keep the faith!
