It was a frustrating watch to put it mildly yesterday, as we had no response to an Aston Villa side who never really looked like conceding after taking a first-half lead.
Here are our marks out of 10 and comments on each Mag involved (including Eddie Howe) in Sunday’s 2-0 defeat…
Starting 11
Pope (6.5) – Not at fault for either goal and pulled off a couple of decent stops to stop it becoming a real hiding. Swept well when he needed to, though we all still clench every time he comes rushing out. Solid enough.
Trippier (4) – Tough one to write, but the legs just aren’t there anymore for top-level Premier League right-back play. Lost possession far too cheaply, struggled to get up and down, and the transitions exposed him badly. Absolute legend of a servant who’s given everything for the shirt, but it’s looking like the curtain might be coming down on his time as our first-choice.
Thiaw (6) – Early mistake handed Watkins a golden chance he really should’ve buried. Bounced back after that and showed some of his early-season composure, but not quite showing the imperious form we saw when he first broke through.
Botman (7.5) – One of the brighter sparks in a grim day. Sven’s form is picking up again at just the right time – strong in the air, decent on the deck. Could’ve got tighter to Buendia for one of the goals, but let’s be fair, the midfield let him down badly there.
Hall (5.5) – Below the standards our starboy has set this season. Looked leggy at times – he’s been playing a hell of a lot of minutes, so fatigue might be creeping in. Needs careful management now. That one stray pass was criminal and nearly cost us another.
Miley (6.5) – Bright start, whipped in a peach of a cross that nobody attacked, and forced a top save from Martinez. Faded badly after the break though and switched off for their second. Still raw, but showed glimpses.
Tonali (5.5) – Should’ve put us 1-0 up early doors – Martinez pulled off a stunner to deny him. Covered plenty of ground but with Bruno missing, he needed to grab the game by the scruff and dictate things. Didn’t quite happen.
Joelinton (6) – Big Joe was the only one who looked ready for the scrap. Winning second balls, getting stuck in – proper physical presence. Gutting he went off early second half with what looked like a groin injury.
Barnes (5) – Started with a bit of spark but offered next to nothing going forward. Stuck out on the right (not his best side) and was no better when he switched left after Gordon’s sub.
Gordon (4.5) – Had Cash on toast a few times beating him outside, which was promising. But the final ball – especially those crosses – was woeful. Looks so much more comfortable in the open spaces of Europe than against these parked buses in the league.
Wissa (4) – Poor lad had nothing to work with – service was shocking. When he did get on the ball, he looked a million miles from the dynamic, progressive runner we signed. Still not clicking with the team yet.
Substitutes
Ramsey (5) – Kept it tidy, brought some energy, but never really hurt his old club. Needs to show more of a goal threat to match the hype and price tag.
Woltemade (4) – Barely involved. Eight touches in half an hour tells its own story. Not a natural 9, and the system’s not doing him any favours. Confidence shot to bits at the minute.
Elanga (5) – Won a couple of free kicks and did try to use his pace to get beyond his man, although that was about the extent of his highlights. End product has vanished – looks nowhere near the level we paid big money for.
Willock (N/A) – Came on late. Hard to give a rating but offered so little.
Manager rating
Howe (3) – Showing a complete lack of imagination when it comes to tactics. Every substitution is predictable (almost down to the minute) and they’re always like for like changes regardless of the game situation. Eddie was completely outcoached by Emery today and had absolutely no answers.
Also if he isn’t going to play Wissa and Woltemade together today in that scenario then he never will. This game was crying out for something different but we just don’t have (or rather won’t try) a plan B.
We’re so easy to play against. PSV played right into hands and made us looks good by playing relatively high up the pitch. Teams know that we’re unable to break down a low block and we’re vulnerable on the counter. The gap in between our defence and midfield was gaping. It was no shock to see Buendia, Rogers and Watkins exploit it
This obsession with, in many cases, buying Premier League athletes instead of highly technical footballers needs to stop if we’re to find ways of breaking down low blocks, but is that something Eddie will do?
Personal opinion think we’ve been crying for a creative no10 since we finished 4th but Howe never seems to want to go down that route
Darren Bebb(Quote)
Lewis Hall does at least 2 terrible/dangerous square passes per game. They get intercepted often but sometimes are just missed.
He also tries incredibly risky dribbles in dangerous areas but gets a pass because some of the dribbles look good.
If he wants to dribble about and do high risk passes then he simply shouldn’t be a left back.
If he cuts that out, he could be excellent.
Haz(Quote)
Would like to see that and I also think we should have bought a DM instead of Ramsey just to have something different in midfield this season.
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
The buys this summer were overall poor for the money we paid, there was no early movement that had been requested, the strategy was awful and we would have been better buying 3 instead of 4 players and paying the money.
Isak was obviously going to go and the money would have been recouped on 3 quality players, instead we have 4 who appear very average ones thanks to Howe’s tactics or misjudgment and unfortunately a really poor performer in Gordon this season to add insult to injury.
Joseph(Quote)
I’ve been saying this for ages: if you play with a three-man midfield, one of them has to be a creator, a proper number 10 type – think your Eriksen or De Bruyne. You can’t just rely on pressing, because it falls apart when the other team decides to sit deep and not play out. That’s small-team, underdog football. Howe, in his head, is still coaching Bournemouth. Throughout his entire time here, the club hasn’t once seriously looked at a creative midfielder. I was hoping we’d at least go for someone like Gibbs-White in the summer, because he’d even fit Howe’s own style. Even Emery has built Tielemans into his system at Villa, and he usually hates that type of player (the ones who don’t work off the ball). But not Howe. And then he has the nerve to complain about the service to the forwards!
And Ramsey is just more of the same – another pressing machine. Every single signing is just to fit the same one-dimensional plan
hmd(Quote)
Newcastle right now are the most predictable team in the Premier League. Any manager who does their homework can easily find the weaknesses in Howe’s tactics and doesn’t have to worry about any surprises.
From the very first matches of the season, what stood out to me were the rigid three lines (4-3-3, or a 5-4-1 when defending a lead) when Newcastle are out of possession. The players don’t move forward and back, but shuffle side-to-side within their lines. I’ve seen it so many times – yesterday included, for their first goal – where an opponent just runs into the gap between those lines, receives the ball there, turns, and plays a killer through pass
hmd(Quote)
I’d like to see Howe try 442 or just something different we’re too predictable too slow in build up and CRYING out of #10
Miguel Elms(Quote)
Thanks for the write up Luke. Agree with all of the above comments.
When our full backs were injured I was wanting to give Howe the benefit of the doubt. However, the return of the fullbacks hasn’t fixed the issues and have highlighted more fundamental challenges: The setup doesn’t work.
I sympathise with the challenges Howe has had with lack of training time and replacing a striker after the season started. But the reality is that if we are successful then we will continue to have games every 3 days and we will lose amazing players to bigger clubs. So we need to have the agility to handle that.
Enough time has passed now to expect some variations in our play to have been introduced by Howe (doesn’t have to be radical) in order to suit our players and address the short comings of our performances. However we haven’t seen that – and Howe seems to be sticking with the lines that we are playing well and it’s all fine margins. I am losing faith in that line of argument.
Howe the toon(Quote)
Top and bottom of it is they scored first and we couldn’t . Two brilliant saves from Martinez. Don’t agree the signings are average. Wissa, Waltemade are and could be better players. Wissa will score goals but I don’t think either are ready for the demands playing three games a week. That’s where the financial fair play restrictions hurt us. We can’t go out and buy willy nilly or build a big squad. Teams with money either buy to stop us having them or the players want the higher wages.Yes Villa played on Thursday but that’s not a stick to beat Howe with.
We need some more creativity from the front three. Who ever they happen to be and more movement, that is Howe responsibility. They are very good players but seem fixed to one spot. We also need to set up in relation to the team we are playing at times. Think 5 in midfield would have strangled Villa.
The Little Birdy(Quote)
Agree with the majority you’re saying and i believe with Wissa Waltemade it’s the system/tactics not the players.
Elanga i was baffled at the time we signed him very good player but just didn’t fit our system/style of play imo,
Ramsey a upgrade on Willock who i was hoping we’d move on last summer or this window but looking less likely.
I said it earlier today and in the summer i’d have liked to see us sign a DM and as others have said an AM just to have different options in the middle instead of a lot of like for like players.
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
To be fair, we went after some very decent strikers, Ekitike?, Joao Pedro? But they chose to go elsewhere for more money. PSR and the crazy wages being offered by the septic six have us hamstrung when it comes to recruitment. That said, I do agree with all the criticism of Eddie. I’m desperate for him to try something different. I really like the guy and just wish that he’d bring back what we had with Keegan and Robson in terms of entertaining, attacking football.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Bruno, Big Joe and Tonali, play 4-3-3, if 1 or more missing revert to 4-4-2 get Wissa and Voltemade working together getting crosses in we have a chance if not we are too predictable and do not get points.
But practice both systems and chop and change…
Terry Paul Syson(Quote)