A tough watch at Old Trafford as Newcastle had plenty of possession but zero cutting edge in a 1-0 defeat to Man Utd last night.
Here are our marks out of 10 and comments on each player involved in the game:
Starting 11
Ramsdale (5) – Will feel like he could’ve done better with the goal. Worryingly low save % compared to Pope this season could force Howe into a change in goal with Pope back to fitness.
Miley (7) – Making a good fist of right back and has a maturity in possession that belies his age. Was one of the better performers at Old Trafford and aside from one moment where Cunha breezed past him he handled his defensive responsibilities well.
Thiaw (6) – Was one of his less eye catching displays but didn’t really do too much wrong aside from an air swing in the second half which could’ve ended badly had a Man Utd player gambled. Typically tidy in possession but wasn’t his usual threat from set pieces.
Schar (4) – Very wasteful in possession as his passing radar deserted him. In the first half when we struggled to get a foothold, we really needed the “experienced” Schar to maintain possession but we got the “Hollywood” Schar spraying 60 yard passes nowhere near a teammate.
Hall (8) – Unlucky not to continue his scoring run against Man Utd with a rasping shot that rattled the cross bar. Showcased his dribbling ability on several occasions and was easily the most impressive player in black and white.
Ramsey (4) – It looked like he was starting to find some form and then he has another poor performance today. Lost Dorgu completely for the goal and tripped over fresh air in the second half when in a great shooting position.
Guimaraes (6) – Anonymous in the first half but better in the second, coming into the game more when Tonali exited. Seems to be a bit of a pattern developing where he grabs the game by the scruff of the neck when he’s the main man. With Tonali alongside him he seems to take more of a backseat.
Tonali (5) – Started brightly and whipped in some decent corners but faded out of the game as the half wore on. Is someway short of his best and needs to recapture his form soon. Fixture congestion isn’t helping his cause.
Murphy (5.5) – Sent over plenty of crosses but couldn’t find a teammate. Looks lost when he receives the ball outside of the final third as he isn’t particularly great at dribbling or passing! Could find his position under pressure from Barnes.
Gordon (4) – Bit bewildered by Eddie’s comment that he played well as he was definitely direct but the lack of end product is seriously concerning. Blazed a chance over late on as he approaches 12 months since his last Premier League goal in open play. Had a chance but skewed his shot wide of the far post.
Woltemade (4.5) – Starved of anything remotely resembling decent service, but his movement in the box wasn’t good enough either. Dropped way too deep just to get involved and his link play wasn’t great. Crying out for a striker to play alongside him.
Substitutes
Wissa (5) – A player who likes to run in behind is never going to have much success against a low block. Great leap but rarely touched the ball in the box.
Joelinton (6) – Actually looked decent when he came on and took up some great attacking positions. Could be pushing for Ramsey’s spot.
Barnes (6.5) – Bright appearance off the bench as he set up a great chance for Gordon late on.
Willock (5) – Offered very little in the closing stages.
The manager
Howe (4) – Was outcoached by Amorim. For the first time we say Amorim change his shape and it seemed to catch up off guard as we were hopeless in the first half. Also, his inability to move to a plan B is starting to become a big issue. This game was crying out for a change tactically as Man Utd dropped into a low block but the triple substitution was purely like for like. Why not try Woltemade in behind Wissa? Give the defence something different to think about and give us an extra dimension in attack.
The pattern you mention about Bruno being better when tonali isn’t playing isn’t JUST developing. It’s been there from the beginning.
Sandro is held on a pedestal and seems not possible to criticise for some reason. His return / stats this season must be as bad as anyone’s.
Scott(Quote)
HI
From what I have seen so far this season I am afraid that we have wasted an awful lot of money in the summer transfer market, apart from Thiaw the rest of the imports are simply not worth the money we paid for them, Ramsey, Wissa and Elanga collectively should have cost in total less than 50Mill, I bet their ex clubs are laughing their heads off at our incompetence. Woltemade is halfway decent but not as a CF and is certainly not woth 60+ million. As for Ramsdale how desperate were we to get this guy on loan , he is a bloody liability. As for Howe he needs help in formulating a plan b and c.
Geordy(Quote)
Ramsdale not very good and should have done better with their goal, the worst bit was after Woltemade’s defensive header, no defender went to close down the shot as Dulago had so much time to shoot, awful school boy defending.
Toothless up front again our wingers are too predictable and couldn’t hit a barn door, midfield was no better with a lethargic display from all three, it shows how poor they were when Joelinton actually looked far better when he came on, of course Howe could have been adventurous and played Wissa and Woltemade together but he doesn’t seem to have that level of imagination or tactics to go with it.
Man of the match Hall by a country mile followed by Miley.
Can’t see Howe or his coaching staff lasting the distance at this rate.
Two very poor to average teams don’t know how Manure are fifth🤔
Joseph(Quote)
There are now two big problems.
1. Howe’s formation/tactics/substitutions (for example, his refusal to play Woltemade/Wissa/Osula together).
2. The squad Howe has built (largely a squad of runners, lacking creativity, flair and technical ability).
I think a change of manager is needed, but that won’t immediately sort out the lack of creativity etc. in the squad. Sadly, it’s not surprising that Howe’s fixation with running and physicality could only take the club so far.
I think he should go now, but I think he’ll probably go in the summer, which is somewhat understandable. Though I think asking fans to pay money to watch this for the next 5 months is not good.
Also think the board haven’t helped. Still no confirmation on the new training ground and stadium. That doesn’t scream: “This club is going places!”. That impacts the mentality of the players and coaching staff, of course.
Jeremy(Quote)
He has a gift horse not look in the mouth when Livaramento or Tripier are fit. Try 442 with Waltemade and Wissa and play Miley right midfield. He clearly has the ability to play there. Or at least try swapping the wingers in the game to the opposite sides. To try running and crossing into the box. They are rarely any where near Watemade and the never get the ball facing the opponents goal.
The little birdy(Quote)
I’ve been speaking to mates about this “lack of a plan B” issue for over a year and I’m so so glad to see others highlighting it now too.
Don’t get me wrong I’m a big fan of EH and yes he does improve players but has he ever had a “plan B” with Newcastle? The answer is no.
All the substitutions are like-for-like.
The formation is so rigid, every man & his dog knows exactly how we’ll set up.
Earlier this year when the full backs were injured I was bemoaning Howe using Trips & BDB at full back away from home just for the sake of sticking to the same old system, (a system that does not work with full backs that don’t have legs). We kept getting beat. If you’re getting beat away from home then change it and set up to be hard to beat, supposing it was 5-4-1 until the boys returned to fitness.
Now the issue is slightly different, defence is sound with Hall & Tino (or Miley) but we can’t score away from home playing 4-3-3… and as before we’ll continue to struggle until something changes… so maybe, why not, let the two strikers play together? Why does it have to be 4-3-3, its not a massively leap to change that to 4-2-3-1 with Bruno & Tonali deep, Wissa up to, Murphy, Woltemade & Gordon/Barnes in between.
Amorim changed Man United’s formation very slightly and won.
Why can’t we take that chance?
I also think we need a wrecking ball to come off the bench, we had one with St. Maximin. Klopp had one at Liverpool with Nunez. These like-for-like subs are too one-dimensional. Even having a wrecking ball on the bench you don’t use still gives other teams something to worry about!
David(Quote)
All the people getting after Howe’s supposed lack of tactical flexibility just because results have been a certain way recently (draws with Leverkusen/Spurs/Chelsea feel like defeats because of him getting us used to winning these fixtures too not to mention loss to ManU over 1/only 2 decent shots they had on our goal all game) can’t remember that twice last year he switched to a counter-attacking set-up vs Spurs knowing Ange’s rigid setup & won both. Or that he switched to a 5 at the back in Carabao Cup SF 2nd leg vs Arsenal which fooled everyone into thinking it was protecting a 2 goal 1st leg lead when it was actually more attacking than the 1st leg with Burn & Schar taking turns pressing AHEAD of the midfield & this led to our 2nd goal of the 2nd leg which knocked the fight out of Arsenal. There’ve been other eg’s too but against ManU the 2nd half was mostly played in their final 3rd & chance creation wasn’t a problem for us, putting it away was. You’d change the tactics/formation IF you’re unable to create chances else you risk even giving up your dominance. Yes he can take more risks sometimes but look at your own reactions, if he takes risks & things become worse can’t imagine what you’d all be like.
When Howe completed 4 years at Newcastle in Nov, the combined points tally of those 4 years put Newcastle at 4th in PL only behind Man City/Liv/****. This is before considering 4 consecutive League Cup qtrs, 2 decent UCL seasons, a trophy etc. That is long term performance which should not only get you a very long rope but we haven’t been dominated by ANY team for a full game this season. We’ve played the ‘big 6’/Barca/Leverkusen & others. Brentford/West Ham dominated 2nd half, the former also due to Burn’s Red Card, others have had 15 min early/end of 2nd half dominant periods.
After the first 1.5 months of the PL season Aston Villa & Brentford were in the bottom 5/6 & their managers being questioned. They’re 3rd & 8th now & Brentford also struggle away from home. Barring horrible refereeing vs Liv/Ars/Chel at home we’d still be sitting in 5th one pt behind Liv inspite of all the issues highlighted & more that we can see from time to time not to mention still in all 4 competitions (though even top 5 in PL could already be gone).
P(Quote)
The reason why I fear even with a big uptick in form that top 5 & a UCL spot with it may be gone, is that we’ve played 5 of the ‘Super League 6’ at home in the first half of the season. We needed to win at least 4 of those & have only beaten Man City & drawn with Chel/Spurs. Now we have to play everyone except ManU away. Even with an uptick in away form its difficult to see more than 2 wins & 2 draws in those & that’s before you consider what refereeing will be like at those grounds.
Also, 2 seasons back we were mostly without midweek fixtures for 2nd half of the season when we had a good uptick to (kind of) salvage the season having exited UCL/League Cup. This time we’ll have extra 2-leg ties in both with LG SF’s soon & UCL playoffs almost a certainty meaning we can’t have midweeks free before March at the least.
P(Quote)