Bench Power arrives at St James’ Park | OneFootball

It is all change at Newcastle United.

A summer of transfer activity in an out, a very busy transfer window.

Indeed, a huge shift for this Newcastle United squad.

Especially when it comes to…bench power.

It is an undeniable fact that these days, countless Premier League matches (and in other competitions) are decided by players coming off the bench.

Yet another factor that massively benefits the usual suspects.

The clubs with the most money can spend the most on transfer fees and wages on the players who end up on the bench, as well as those on the pitch.

Indeed, by far the biggest difference in quality and how much they cost, is usually shown far more on the two benches than in the starting elevens, when Premier League clubs meet.

No wonder the entitled half dozen Premier League clubs were the ones pressing desperately to make it as many as nine substitutes allowed on the bench and able to use any five of them.

The clubs with the strongest squads massively benefiting from this, able in any match to change half their ten outfield starters across all positions. Though most usually, the big benefit for these ‘elite’ clubs is that if things are going badly, they can put up to five fresh attacking and midfield players on the pitch if they are losing/drawing. With those players usually far closer to the quality of those they replace, than those other Premier League clubs who don’t have the same depth and quality in their squads.

With a small Newcastle United squad and then injuries and fitness issues on top of that, just look at the situation Eddie Howe faced in the Champions League qualifying run-in only four and five months ago.

These are the subs Eddie Howe made in the final six Premier League matches of the 2024/25 season (the minute each sub was made, is in brackets) and the subs the opposition made in these same matches:

Aston Villa 4 Newcastle 1

Gordon (65), Krafth (76), Willock (76), Wilson (76), Targett (82)

Ramsey, Rashford, Onana, Malen, Barkley

Newcastle 3 Ipswich 0

Miley (67), Gordon (67), Osula (77), Wilson (77), Botman (83)

Godfrey, Hirst, Luongo, Chaplin

Brighton 1 Newcastle 1

Gordon (56), Wilson (74), Krafth (90+7), Botman (90+7)

Lamptey, Ayari, Veltman, Gomez, Gruda

Newcastle 2 Chelsea 0

Miley (55), Osula (64) Krafth (64), Willock (76)

James, Gusto, Sancho

Arsenal 1 Newcastle 0

Miley (64), Osula (64), Krafth (64), Willock (76)

Calafiori, Havertz, Tierney, Jorginho

Newcastle 0 Everton 1

Willock (46), Trippier (63), Wilson (70), Osula (88)

Duocoure, Calvert-Lewin, McNeil

Conclusions

With the exception of Ipswich, I would say that all of these other Premier League clubs had better benches than Newcastle United. Yes, even Everton.

It wasn’t just an end of the season thing either, it just got even more pronounced then.

Callum Wilson was really poor and looked on his way out, Anthony Gordon coming back off a bad injury and struggling for form and fitness, Joe Willock having injury and fitness of his own and rarely showing any form, Botman unable to get fully fit and badly needing a summer to get himself right. An 18 year old Lewis Miley and then the likes of Targett, the inexperienced Osula and also Krafth. who will always give it their all but not the quality that was needed in these key matches.

Regularly through last season, if Newcastle United weren’t at their best, you would repeatedly see Eddie Howe standing there and clearly thinking; ‘What can I do…I need to make changes but the options on the bench are not what is needed.’

Fast forward only four or five months and I see a very different situation when it comes to Newcastle United bench power.

We got a hint in the Liverpool match when the Newcastle United subs helped United come so close to what would have been a deserved and remarkable result with ten men, but it wasn’t to be. That night we saw Miley, Thiaw, Osula, Ramsey and Hall come off the bench.

In only nine days time Barcelona visit St James’ Park and this could well be the Newcastle United team AND bench, injuries permitting:

Possible/probable Newcastle United team v Barcelona:

Pope, Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall, Tonali, Bruno, Joelinton, Gordon, Wissa, Elanga

Possible/probable Newcastle United bench v Barcelona:

Aaron Ramsdale – England international keeper, Champions League experienced

Kieran Trippier – England international, La Liga winner, Champions League experienced

Malick Thiaw – Germany international defender, Champions League experienced

Sven Botman – Ligue 1 winner, Champions League experienced

Lewis Miley – England Under 21 international and Champions League experienced

Harvey Barnes – England international, Champions League experienced

Jacob Ramsey – A £43m new signing and Champions League experienced

Jacob Murphy – Double figures last season for both goals and assists, Champions League experienced

Nick Woltemade – Germany international, German cup winner

As well as the 20 Newcastle United players listed above, Eddie Howe this season will also be able to call on the likes of Sweden international Emil Krafth, this month part of the Denmark senior squad Will Osula, Jamaal Lascelles and others, players who now will struggle to even make the bench if most of the Newcastle United squad is fit and available.

I think we will see plenty of occasions this season when Eddie Howe will call on Newcastle United bench power that can make all the difference. Barcelona (and Wolves on Saturday…) not a bad place to start.