𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

As Eddie Howe walked on to the pitch to greet his players, Jason Tindall thrust his arm around the head coach’s shoulders. The pair had already embraced on the touchline at full-time, but the significance of Newcastle United’s 2-1 victory against Manchester City drew a double celebration — mixed with delight and relief.

Following the alarming defeats at West Ham United and Brentford, a response was required and Howe recognised change was necessary.

His coaching staff spent days studying match and training footage, before Newcastle players were run hard in sessions as Howe looked to rediscover the energy and intensity by which his team had previously been defined.

Tweaks to personnel and tactics were identified as Howe looked to beat City in the Premier League for the first time as a manager, having failed in his previous 18 attempts.

“We don’t have anything new left to try,” Howe said, only half-jokingly, beforehand. Afterwards, he admitted he had implemented fresh ideas.

For Howe to mastermind the 100th win of his St James’ Park tenure against Pep Guardiola’s side felt opportune. Heading into the match, Newcastle had collected just 12 points from 11 top-flight matches — their worst start under Howe since he was appointed in 2021, six short of the previous lowest return — and there was increasing unrest among a portion of the fanbase, particularly on social media, even if the hierarchy remained steadfast in their belief.

That faith was at least partly vindicated by Saturday’s result, which came via a double from Harvey Barnes, although the true test will come against Everton on Saturday, given Newcastle have not won away in the league since April 7, against soon-to-be-relegated Leicester City.

Harvey Barnes’ double helped Newcastle sink City (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Regardless, inside the dressing room after their win against Manchester City, players and staff described the performance as “being more like us”.

For Newcastle to partly revive an identity which had become muddled, three alterations proved pivotal.

Transformative full-backs

The most organic of the changes proved the most critical.

Those inside Newcastle had been preaching for weeks about the transformative effect having Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall back fit would have — defensively, but especially in attack — and that was immediately evident.

Hall had not started since September 24 due to a hamstring injury, while Livramento’s last appearance before injuring his knee ligaments came on September 28. The England pair had only started once together this season, against Bournemouth on September 21.

Kieran Trippier has performed well but, at 35, can no longer get forward regularly, while Dan Burn is limited offensively at left-back. Burn was suspended following his dismissal at Brentford, so Hall was always expected to start, but a minor hamstring strain for Trippier also elevated Livramento straight back into the XI.

Hall’s ball-playing ability and game-reading skills are excellent. He was composed in possession, able to play line-splitting passes and overlap and underlap beyond Barnes. The 21-year-old played five passes into the final third, completed two of his three attempted dribbles and made three ball recoveries.

Lewis Hall was influential (Michael Driver/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“He took the ball under pressure, linked really well with Harvey and ran forward when he was able to,” Howe said. “You saw Lewis’ technical ability and that was a great performance.”

On the other flank, Livramento was heavily involved in just about everything positive Newcastle did. The 23-year-old shadowed Jeremy Doku well, but was even better in attack, creating triangles with Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Jacob Murphy, and showing athleticism to repeatedly stretch Manchester City’s defence.

“Physically, he looked unbelievable considering he’d been out seven weeks,” Howe said. “That was a really high-level performance against a very dangerous opponent.”

Having one of the pair available again would have made a material difference, but for both to start was match-defining.

Rather than have to shift formation away from what had appeared an increasingly predictable system, suddenly 4-3-3 looked far more sustainable with Hall and Livramento in the team providing width and creativity.

The midfield tweak

When Newcastle were humbled at Brentford in the Premier League last December, Howe responded by switching Guimaraes and Tonali. The Italy midfielder’s move to the No 6 role helped change the complexion of the previous campaign.

Fast forward 11 months and Howe reversed that. Guimaraes reverted to No 6 and dictated play from deep, threading balls out wide for Murphy, with nine passes into the final third. But the Brazil midfielder did not merely stay in a quarter-back role — he got forward when he could, dribbling to the edge of the box to lay on Barnes’ opener.

Tonali, meanwhile, delivered an industrious performance at right-sided No 8. He played three delicious long balls, made three tackles and seven recoveries.

Newcastle’s midfield was back to its all-action best, with Howe celebrating the reawakening of his side’s “devilment”, encapsulated by Joelinton. The Brazilian won possession high almost immediately from kick-off, leading to a Barnes shot inside 27 seconds, and his interception led to the opener.

Joelinton encapsulated his side’s ‘devilment’ (Michael Driver/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Although Howe promised tweaks post-Brentford, he did not dispense with his preferred midfield three. Instead, he recast the trio — and it will be fascinating to see if that reorganisation is temporary or permanent.

A surprise centre-back call

In 11 of Newcastle’s previous 12 matches, Sven Botman had started alongside Malick Thiaw. The expectation had been that, once Burn had served his one-match ban, Howe would have a difficult call to make between Burn and Botman at left-sided centre-half.

Yet the Dutchman found himself dropped after being bullied by Igor Thiago at Brentford, with Fabian Schar restored to a Premier League XI for the first time since September 13.

Schar was deployed at left-sided centre-back, having been used on the right when previously fielded alongside Thiaw, and the pair dealt well with Erling Haaland, preventing him from scoring his 100th Premier League goal, and distributed the ball efficiently.

Thiaw in particular was magnificent once more. Assured in possession, the 24-year-old Germany international was colossal at the back, standing up Haaland in a one-vs-one situation and regularly thwarting City attacks.

Of all the changes fans had anticipated Howe might make, playing a naturally right-footed centre-back on the left side was far down the list. But, just like the other subtle alterations the head coach made, it proved a wise call.