Good read, very hard to draw conclusions from such a short space of time. Ten games in i think will be a good time to evaluate. Hard to take too much from games against v good opposition. Think you’re onto something, with bruno drifting over to help Tonali bit I also think Trippier and Schar being most confident on the ball skews the midfield too. Particularly when its burn at LCB.
Yeah very interesting. I think this tough run in a round about way could actually help Newcastle, run of easier games to build momentum and lowered expectations. Is there an easy way to access Statsbomb information? Interested in analysing and writing about the average formation in 2022/23 season vs first 4 this year.
What makes us (or Howe) think that doing the same thing as least season will lead to the same or better results? My concern is after 1.5 seasons, teams have worked out how to play against this Newcastle team, and there isn’t really a clear alternate option when the opposition is able to beat our press.
When Newcastle play to the plan, it’s incredibly difficult to stop them. Coaches are smart, if it was easy to knock us out of our stride it would’ve been done way before the end of last season.
The idea is clearly to be a faster, stronger, better version of that identity and then to evolve again. While we still have a core of Ashley era players within the squad moving to a highly technical & possession focussed play style is probably 3 windows away still.
That’s a two way street. City, Brighton, and Liverpool all prevented us from playing to plan. It’s easy to forget that before TAA’s mistake, Newcastle didn’t have many answers that day. VVD’s red card changed the game, but you can’t “plan” for that either. Opposition will have better solutions, and I’m worried that “do the same, but better” isn’t going to be effective enough for the challenges of this seasons.
We have plan B’s, the home game vs. Brighton is a clear outlier in last seasons game planning. Pep’s City do that to a lot of teams too. The other two games are defined but little moments of luck & individual errors. We were keeping Liverpool at arms length while being mindful of counters until a double deflection off of Botman falls kindly. Same with the opening two goals vs. Brighton, Pope’s error causes the opener and he should maybe save the second too. Difficult for a coach, we do need a good performance to get some pep back in our collective step though.
This is good analysis Kev, and I think makes a lot of sense. Do you think Howe's solution will be to practice, practice and more practice in terms of the team holding thier lines? Guimeras made a passing comment last year, that this something that they constantly drilled. Which in my view made our midfield so effectives. Or do think, as many in the fan base demanded, which is changes in personnel or formation?
I think Longstaff would be a wise move, and who would Howe bench? Also, do you think Howe would make changes anywhere else? In my view, Howe prefers subtle changes, instead of anything too dramatic, and I think we might see Wilson come in for Isak.
Good read, very hard to draw conclusions from such a short space of time. Ten games in i think will be a good time to evaluate. Hard to take too much from games against v good opposition. Think you’re onto something, with bruno drifting over to help Tonali bit I also think Trippier and Schar being most confident on the ball skews the midfield too. Particularly when its burn at LCB.
Yeah, these aren’t firm conclusions really. Just something to keep an eye on early in the season.
Yeah very interesting. I think this tough run in a round about way could actually help Newcastle, run of easier games to build momentum and lowered expectations. Is there an easy way to access Statsbomb information? Interested in analysing and writing about the average formation in 2022/23 season vs first 4 this year.
Nice work Kev, huge appreciation for what you do in your own time, to help give us fans some balanced views with excellent data. 🤝
Thanks bud. It does take up more of my time than it should really, but I do love it.
What makes us (or Howe) think that doing the same thing as least season will lead to the same or better results? My concern is after 1.5 seasons, teams have worked out how to play against this Newcastle team, and there isn’t really a clear alternate option when the opposition is able to beat our press.
When Newcastle play to the plan, it’s incredibly difficult to stop them. Coaches are smart, if it was easy to knock us out of our stride it would’ve been done way before the end of last season.
The idea is clearly to be a faster, stronger, better version of that identity and then to evolve again. While we still have a core of Ashley era players within the squad moving to a highly technical & possession focussed play style is probably 3 windows away still.
That’s a two way street. City, Brighton, and Liverpool all prevented us from playing to plan. It’s easy to forget that before TAA’s mistake, Newcastle didn’t have many answers that day. VVD’s red card changed the game, but you can’t “plan” for that either. Opposition will have better solutions, and I’m worried that “do the same, but better” isn’t going to be effective enough for the challenges of this seasons.
We have plan B’s, the home game vs. Brighton is a clear outlier in last seasons game planning. Pep’s City do that to a lot of teams too. The other two games are defined but little moments of luck & individual errors. We were keeping Liverpool at arms length while being mindful of counters until a double deflection off of Botman falls kindly. Same with the opening two goals vs. Brighton, Pope’s error causes the opener and he should maybe save the second too. Difficult for a coach, we do need a good performance to get some pep back in our collective step though.
I’d like to see you analysis of Newcastle’s plan B. Sometime in the future perhaps?
Sure. Ideally I wanna get to 10 games so our data sample is a little more robust. 👍
This is good analysis Kev, and I think makes a lot of sense. Do you think Howe's solution will be to practice, practice and more practice in terms of the team holding thier lines? Guimeras made a passing comment last year, that this something that they constantly drilled. Which in my view made our midfield so effectives. Or do think, as many in the fan base demanded, which is changes in personnel or formation?
It’s hard to say. But there’s a reason they say practice makes permanent. It might be we see Longstaff start a couple too though.
I think Longstaff would be a wise move, and who would Howe bench? Also, do you think Howe would make changes anywhere else? In my view, Howe prefers subtle changes, instead of anything too dramatic, and I think we might see Wilson come in for Isak.