- William Osula the bright spark
- Newcastle United midfield analysed
- Magpies face familiar problems
Oh dear, Newcastle United, here we go again…
It was yet another torrid Premier League afternoon for Newcastle United, or at least it was in the second half. Crystal Palace overturned a half-time deficit to win the game 2-1 courtesy of a Jean-Philippe Mateta brace.
That shouldn’t have really come as a shock to the Geordie faithful. Especially given it has largely been the pattern across the entire campaign.
It was no secret that Newcastle faced an uphill battle to qualify for Europe even before this game. That has been a sentiment further exacerbated by this painful loss.
So, despite how painful it may be to compose, let’s take a look at the tactical outlook of the game from Newcastle’s perspective, as always, looking at what worked and what didn’t throughout.
William Osula the bright spark
Let’s start with possibly the brightest spark of the entire game for Newcastle in Will Osula.
There has already been discourse following the game about neither Nick Woltemade nor Yoane Wissa having a starting role again, despite the fees forked out for the duo last summer. That discourse appears rather unfair to Osula’s contributions across the 90.
The Dane was energetic as always. He was given rotational freedom with Anthony Gordon on the left side for the majority of the first half.
Osula may still have looked far from a polished product, but he was a nuisance to the Palace backline and occupied multiple centre backs for the majority of the game.
Interestingly, he was used in the manner fans have been screaming out for Woltemade to be used in frequent passages of play.
Similarly to the issues with the big German, the Magpies failed to get bodies around Osula when he did hold the ball up. This led to the forward largely having to do things by himself.
This was most prominently shown in his tally of four fouls won across his 84 minutes on the pitch.
Osula’s goal largely came from what many have been crying out for. Miley received the ball on the right and drilled an early cross across the six-yard box.
Lacroix failed to deal with the danger, and Osula, who had made a striker’s run toward the back post, reacted to bundle the ball home in a rather unorthodox manner.
It’s safe to say Osula largely repaid the managers’ faith in him here and was Newcastle’s most potent threat across the game.
Midfield control apparent
There are, believe it or not, positives to take from the Newcastle United defeat.
As Howe said in his post-match interview, his side did have control for large parts of the game. That stemmed from the midfield, specifically Tonali and the returning Miley, who worked in tandem throughout.
In a similar manner to the way Jacob Ramsey has worked with the Italian in recent weeks, Lewis Miley came in and did the same.
The rotations between the two were useful in possession. Tonali’s athleticism complemented Miley’s assurance on the ball, which saw him not be dispossessed at all across the 90 minutes.
A problem in that area has been the gaps available for opposition to play through. Those were well shepherded by the midfield cohort, who remained stubborn to Palace’s efforts to play through.
They did lose some control toward the back end, but were in many ways left unable to do much as the Magpies began to sit deeper and deeper in the second half.
The Newcastle United press
Led by Osula, who put in a sturdy performance, the Newcastle press was good in the early going.
It was a man-for-man game against Palace’s wingback system. Jacob Murphy was tasked with tracking Tyrique Mitchell’s forward runs and Miley stepped in to pressure Palace’s right centre back.
Palace struggled to play through for most of the game. They only found success once Mateta came on, and they could go long to his feet.
Livramento’s tightness in marking Pino was also useful in the press. Although the full back’s performance did recede heavily in the second period.
Sitting deeper and deeper
As has been the way all season, Newcastle sat deeper and deeper as the second half went on.
This was most prominent once Mateta began to get some joy, with the Frenchman causing Malick Thiaw all sorts of problems.
Newcastle’s midfield looked to stop the ball from going into Mateta’s feet. However, this sacrificed any sort of forward pressure Newcastle had. As bodies began to get tired, spaces and lapses in concentration arose.
Murphy began to lose Mitchell at regular intervals, a problem which eventually led to the equaliser. Livramento looked all at sea a few times, and Osula, then replaced by Woltemade, never really got the chance to provide an outlet.
It was an all too familiar sight for Newcastle fans and one that made for very, and I mean very, unpleasant viewing.
In other news, What Newcastle United striker did at full-time after Crystal Palace defeat is ‘unforgivable’.
