Eddie Howe’s simple Newcastle tweak reignites their European dreams
ST JAMES’ PARK — As the deluge did its utmost to dampen spirits, there wasn’t an umbrella in sight down on the touchline. Two potential England managers had clearly learned from the pitfalls of a previous incumbent, that wally with the brolly.
The decision to eschew cover was about the only issue on which Eddie Howe and Gary O’Neil, both heirs apparent to Gareth Southgate, would concur after the former exposed his younger counterpart to a tactical mugging.
A couple of noticeable tweaks from Howe had Newcastle United back to resembling the force they were last season, fuelling their aspirations of a swift return to Europe. The hosts played like the away team, sitting back and dropping off before pulling Wolverhampton Wanderers‘ pants down three times on the break to trouser maximum points at home for the first time since mid-December.
Newcastle will have few more comfortable victories this season against opponents seemingly confounded by the rope-a-dope tactics they faced. Wolves were minging, in the rain.
The hosts’ successful less-is-more approach owed much to the tactical acumen of Howe, who provided a sobering reminder to his opposite number as to the strides he must still take to become a fully fledged member of club FEC: future England coach.
O’Neil fought his corner after the end of his side’s six-game unbeaten away run and riled at suggestions they had fallen into Newcastle’s possession-surrendering approach.
“There’s no way Newcastle let us have a lot of possession,” O’Neil insisted.
“The reason we had it was because of how good we were on the ball. Our structure was better than theirs and caused them more problems than theirs did ours.”
Unfortunately for O’Neil, it’s goals, not structures that win games, and Newcastle scored 100 per cent of them in this one-sided affair to leap-frogged Wolves up into eighth after a first league clean sheet in nine attempts helped Howe chalk up a 100th win as a Premier League manager. He said: “It was a slight tweak from our normal way of playing.”
Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and substitute Tino Livramento all scored from close range at the culmination of swift counter-attacks, defender Fabian Schar playing a prominent role each time.
Howe added: “If someone had said I’d win 100 Premier League games as a manager starting as I did in League Two I wouldn’t have seen that coming.
“I’ve always been prepared to produce a game plan for a single match. This was just a slight change to make us defensively solid and give us the best chance to win. Sometimes you just have to find a way to get over the line.”
