Newcastle United picked up all three points on the road to jump up to third in the Premier League. In what was another back-to-the-wall performance, two sensational second half strikes from Fabian Schar and Harvey Barnes turned the game on its head to the delight of a rapturous away end.
Wolves had taken a first half lead through a Mario Lemina goal, which came via some poor Newcastle defending, in what was an unspectacular first half. Eddie Howe made a triple change at half time which gave United the platform they needed to complete the comeback in the second half.
Here are our five key takeaways from the game:
Eddie’s triple change (and the wrong starting eleven)
Eddie Howe showed a much-needed ruthless streak at half time; he saw how wretched Newcastle had performed in the first half, despite having 75% possession, and wrung the changes. They were badly needed: Longstaff hadn’t won a single ground duel in the first 45, Isak couldn’t continue and Joelinton was a walking red card waiting to happen.
The triple change gave the lads the platform to turn the game around although it took two wonder strikes to do so. Considering just how poor the lads had performed towards the end of that first half, it was vital Howe made early changes, so he must get credit for making them to alter the flow of a game that was starting to get away from us.
Unfortunately, Howe must take criticism too, as he got the starting eleven completely wrong yesterday. After a solid opening ten minutes, the lads lost all urgency and pace from their play and conceded another terrible goal from a defensive point of view. We were too open, too weak in the tackle, and too slow to react to danger. There was also confusion and frustration as to why Tonali and Barnes were benched.
So far this season Newcastle have been a ‘moments team’ and have yet to string a coherent 90 minutes together. The gaffer needs to start picking his strongest ‘starting’ team.
Young fullbacks showed they…
Source link : https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2024/09/16/five-takeaways-from-wolves-1-2-newcastle-eddies-11-ruthless-move-and-the-points-saver/
Author : Olly Hawkins
Publish date : 2024-09-16 10:39:33
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