Well… a 3-2 loss on home soil at the hands of Everton, and it’s difficult to say we deserved anything more than defeat.
A lack of any real threat, despite the sustained pressure in the second half, was the main culprit. Not to mention some seriously dubious defending (and goalkeeping) that saw two of the goals conceded almost immediately after getting back on level terms.
The setup yesterday was an interesting on to say the least, and not in a good way. So let’s have a look at what worked and what didn’t.
What didn’t work?
Right, let’s get it out of the way…
There was a lot that didn’t work today, especially in the system Eddie Howe chose to begin the game with.
For some unknown reason, Howe decided Woltemade should play in Joelinton’s position, Joelinton should play in Gordon’s position on the left, and Gordon should remain in the position Woltemade was signed to play… none of it worked.
Ramsey and Tonali didn’t actually play too badly in the first half, but were essentially having to do the job of an extra player, given the physical and athletic nature of the midfield battle that Woltemade was unable to deal with.
It was a very rotational system initially, with Joelinton occupying the wide space and allowing Lewis Hall to invert, who then occupied the space to allow Woltemade to step forward into a more advanced position in the left half space.
Gordon was being tasked with dropping slightly deeper, which was somewhat of a decoy movement, as he then looked to run beyond the defence as the attacks progressed. When Gordon made the deeper movement, Elanga shifted across to act as a temporary focal point, and Kieran Trippier stepped high to fill the space on the right wing.
It was rather complicated to watch and didn’t look quite as fluid in motion as I imagine Eddie would have liked. It almost felt like a system built around fitting Woltemade into the team, instead of just playing Barnes and leaving Joelinton in his favoured midfield position.
Out of possession, Everton were looking to play over our press and get bodies into forward areas, the main weapon being to isolate Kieran Trippier in a 1 vs 1 situation against Iliman Ndiaye, something which was worked well for the visitors.
It would have been Elanga doubling up against the winger, but with his slight inversion into the centre-forward space in possession, he was finding it difficult to get back and help out his full-back.
When Howe realised it wasn’t working, he tried to change it by putting Gordon, Joelinton and Woltemade back into their normal positions.
Woltemade could barely get a touch on the ball from that point on, and although Gordon got a bit more into the game, it felt like too big an instructional shift to make midgame.
Toward the back end of the game, it was a similar story as Newcastle pushed to find goals.
Some cumbersome buildup kept everything in front of an Everton defence who were content to watch Newcastle struggle to break them down.
There were a few moments, including the goal and Sandro Tonali’s effort, which was well saved by Pickford, that posed a threat, with each coming from taking shots outside the area, something which fans have been crying out to see more of.
But for the most part, it was an incredibly static and frustrating period, rather than one with the Magpies peppering the Everton goal, which should have been the case.
What Worked
I had to really rack my brains to even make this section plausible, as there really wasn’t much to shout about.
The most positive part of the game for me was the midfield duo of Tonali and Ramsey in the first half.
Both players appear to be getting more familiar with each other’s game by the week. A lot of the rotations and interplay between them are becoming much smoother than when they initially played with each other.
With Bruno still out for a few weeks and providing Ramsey overcomes whatever his issue was today, it feels like a partnership that could be crucial over the next few weeks with the manic schedule that is looming.
Other than that, Malick Thiaw was once again solid, and his ability to be left in 1vs1 situations without worry allows us to create +1s in other areas of the pitch. Not to mention the German defender’s growing ability to progress the ball and break lines with his passing game.
