The truth is that Newcastle United are better with Sean Longstaff in the team – Here’s the proof

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The Mag

·22. September 2024

The truth is that Newcastle United are better with Sean Longstaff in the team – Here’s the proof

Another poor showing for Newcastle United on Saturday.

We haven’t even really got started this season in my opinion.

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All things considered though, 10 points from five league games is a decent return, averaging two points a game would get you top four comfortably.

Newcastle United also progressed against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup.

So we have all witnessed worse NUFC starts to a season than this one, plus Eddie Howe’s side have a very winnable cup tie on Tuesday.

Normally this set of results couldn’t be any further away from a crisis, yet there are issues this season.

The midfield has now got all its big hitters back, with only Lewis Miley remaining sidelined, yet it’s been awful in my opinion.

People are hero-worshipping Sandro Tonali as if he is the key to everything working.

I’m sorry, but there’s a lot more to it than that, for starters, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton have been terrible this season. Sean Longstaff, who didn’t feature against Fulham, was getting a lot of the blame for the midfield faltering, yet if anything, we lost even more control without him yesterday. Sean Longstaff, you can think of him what you like, but the truth is that Newcastle United are a better team with him in it, end of story.

I don’t think he is as talented as his peers in midfield, but you take him out of the team, you will find there is a considerable difference.

There have been 23 games under Eddie Howe where Sean Longstaff didn’t feature at all.

The record?

There have been 10 wins, 5 draws and 8 defeats, the equivalent of an average of 1.52 points per game. Hardly top four, or even top six, form there.

Sean Longstaff’s overall record as a starter under Eddie Howe?

That is 88 starts, 46 wins, 23 draws and 19 losses in all competitions, the equivalent of an average of 1.83 points per game.

There is only one other midfielder with a better statistic than that at Newcastle United under Eddie Howe, that is Bruno Guimaraes.

As far as I’m concerned, the most important thing is getting results, not playing fantasy football and picking the 11 best individual players Newcastle United have got.

Football is never that simple.

Our most successful team so far under Eddie Howe got top four in the 2022/23 season. They didn’t score as many goals as the team did last season. It didn’t contain the Anthony Gordon from last season , or Harvey Barnes, it didn’t really contain Alexander Isak overall much in that campaign. We got there by finding what worked for us as a team. That Newcastle United team knew how to defend together, press together, fight together and everyone was on the same page and it worked and the results followed.

People complained about Dan Burn at left-back, they complained about Allan Saint-Maximin being dropped in favour of the two Joes on the left. People complained and are still complaining about Sean Longstaff. It worked though.

I couldn’t care less if Isak scored 25 goals and Gordon had 20 goal involvements last season. If the team is struggling and the results aren’t following, despite having arguably better players such as Gordon, Barnes, Isak, Tonali, Livramento, Hall and Joelinton. Than the likes of Almiron, Murphy, Longstaff and Burn, the players who actually got us top four. Which at the end of the day is what’s important, otherwise what’s the point?

The best team is the one that clicks and functions together throughout. At the moment, there are no relationships there, no chemistry, nothing. We’ve been reliant on moments of magic by Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon. That’s not good enough and it doesn’t make us a good team.

We need to find the Almiron/Trippier type chemistry, the two Joes relationship, the midfield needs to learn how to work together as a three, whether it’s attacking or defending because at present we are not playing as a team.

Bottom line, I think we need to change the midfield. Joelinton in particular as a CM has run its course and I think he needs to go further forward again, where he can do some damage. It looks stale there. It’s predictable and we are way too easy to play against. Hopefully, Eddie can find a solution to our problems.

Comments welcome.

Fulham 3 Newcastle 1 – Saturday 21 September 3pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Barnes 46

Fulham:

Jimenez 5, Smith-Rowe 22, Nelson 90+2

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Possession was Newcastle 61% (60%) Fulham 39% (40%)

Total shots were Newcastle 15 (4) Fulham 22 (13)

Shots on target were Newcastle 4 (1) Fulham 11 (7)

Corners were Newcastle 0 (0) Fulham 6 (3)