Newcastle United Champions League statistics that they don’t want to talk about | OneFootball

Newcastle United in the Champions League.

Ahead of Tuesday night’s match, I was amused by the mental gymnastics employed to present statistics in the most negative way possible.

There has been an ongoing process, a campaign, to shout down us so-called ‘happy clappers’ who dare to stick up for Eddie Howe and the Newcastle United players, you know, the ones who we SUPPORT!

Myself and others don’t claim that everything is great, couldn’t be better etc etc.

More a case of pointing out that this season hasn’t fallen off a cliff, that actually it isn’t all doom and gloom.

It is like if I now point out that this season Newcastle United actually have a record of nine wins and seven defeats (with three draws), that will be met by those at the negative extreme shouting but but but….

The bottom line is that any positive spin on what has happened this season so far, or even just not very negative point of view, is met with total resistance by those determined to see only how poor Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United players have been, supposedly.

One home tie away from a third Carabao Cup semi-final in four years is brushed aside.

Whilst talk of Newcastle almost certain needing just one win from their last three games in the Champions League to ensure a play-off spot, two wins from three to very likely guarantee a top eight automatic qualifying spot, isn’t to be encouraged.

Lies, damn lies…and Newcastle United statistics

Ahead of Saturday’s match against Manchester City, when looking at the form lines leading up to it, there were very strict rules imposed for us happy clappers.

As it was a Premier League match, you weren’t allowed to use the fact that Eddie Howe and his players had managed five wins in six games this season in other competitions, as part of the debate. No, it was only Premier League statistics that counted apparently in terms of predicting the likely outcome. The same with Newcastle on a run of five wins in a row at home, in all competitions. We were only allowed to say it was a two match winning run at home, as the five games included two Champions League matches, plus a Carabao Cup one, even though that was against…Premier League Spurs.

Then when we got to last night’s Champions League match against Marseille, we couldn’t big up the superb win against Manchester City because it was in the Premier League AND at home.

It got even more bizarre because the most relevant factor then became Newcastle United’s statistics when playing away in the Premier League, with the 4-0 away victory at Union S-G seen as not very relevant, nor the fact that United were on a run of three wins in a row in the Champions League this season, home and away. Ironically, ahead of our game in Marseille last night, Benfica (who NUFC beat 3-0 at SJP) won 2-0 away at Ajax, whilst Union S-G got a 1-0 away victory at Galatasaray to go with the 3-1 away victory they got at PSV earlier in the Champions League this season.

Anyway, us happy clappers got put in our place last night, as Newcastle lost 2-1 to Marseille, in the Champions League AND away from home.

This has now ignited a whole new and more expansive statistics attack on Newcastle United, our away record.

The fact that Newcastle actually played well last night and lost out in a tight game where they deserved a draw, is discounted totally.

Especially as because apparently this Champions League match was one Newcastle should have been able to win for sure, as Marseille are rubbish etc etc.

This totally ignores the fact that Marseille are a phenomenal force at home and have only lost there twice in more than a year, those defeats coming this season against Atalanta when they scored a 90th minute winner in the Champions League, then back in March 2025 they lost to a 94th minute Lens goal at the Velodrome, before that you have to go back to 8 November 2024 for the previous home defeat.

Marseille finished second to PSG last season and are in that same position again, plus they won 1-0 at home to PSG in September this season. They are no mugs, especially at home.

Anyway, those Newcastle United Champions League statistics they really don’t want to talk about….

It amused me what I discovered when checking back, ahead of last night’s game at Marseille, what about these Champions League away statistics for Newcastle United?

Before Marseille, Newcastle United had lost only once away in the Champions League in the previous 22 years!

So what you might say, Newcastle United have hardly played in the Champions League much in the last 20 or so years…

That might be so BUT these statistics don’t lie, in their last seven Champions League away games (before Marseille) Newcastle had lost only one, winning three and drawing three!

It gets even better when you look at some of the opposition. Newcastle had won away at Bayer Leverkusen, Partizan Belgrade and Union S-G, whilst getting draws away at Inter Milan, AC Milan and PSG. The only defeat in Dortmund when United were really on their knees with all of those injuries and Tonali’s suspension in Autumn 2023.