3 Positives and 3 Negatives to take from Leeds 0 Newcastle 0 | OneFootball

Saturday match ended Leeds 0 Newcastle 0.

Ahead of each game we ask one of our writers to come up with three positives and three negatives following the match.

An interesting day at Elland Road…

Plenty to talk about after this one.

On this occasion it is David Punton:

POSITIVES

The clean sheet

If you go away from home, it’s never all that bad to come away with a point.

We managed that, and at the very least, it was a clean sheet after that game against Liverpool on the Monday night, which must have left a small hangover.

Minutes for Botman

I’m taking a positive from Sven Botman getting 70 minutes under his belt.

It’s a slow rebuild for the big Dutchman after some bad injuries and hopefully this will have done him good.

Yes, he was taken off, but fears over any re-occurrence with that knee have been played down.

Points from a hard start – and Germany calling

On paper, Villa away, Liverpool home, and Leeds away look tricky.

Two points from those games is about par.

Nobody gets relegated by September and there is plenty to play for in what is a long season.

The big plus for me was the big German watching from the stands. Nick Woltemade. It’s been a real coup to get him and we can all look forward to  the striker adding a new dimension to our attack.

Same old issue

The lack of a centre-forward was glaring.

No disrespect to William Osula but we desperately need a proper number nine (possibly going to be Yoane Wissa at time of writing).

However, by not adding strikers sooner, it has once again proven very costly, allied to Isak’s flawed and classless approach to leaving the football club.

On a wing and a prayer

There were somewhat disappointing run outs for both Elanga and Barnes as subs.

They added very little end product, when extra quality on the bench was perhaps something we could and should have exploited against newly promoted Leeds.

Tactics talk

A big talking point was the change of formation.

Eddie Howe has tried it before with five at the back. It has had mixed results.

At Elland Road it didn’t really seem to work, so we’re back to the drawing board with that one.

Surely it’ll be back to 4-3-3 for the visit of Wolves?

Leeds 0 Newcastle 0 – Saturday 30 August 2025 5.30pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Leeds

Possession was Newcastle 57% Leeds 43%

Total shots were Newcastle 8 Leeds 10

Shots on target were Newcastle 2 Leeds 1

Corners were Newcastle 5 Leeds 5

Touches in the box Newcastle 13 Leeds 19

Newcastle team v Leeds:

Pope, Trippier (Hall 61), Schar, Botman (Barnes 69), Burn, Livramento, Tonali, Bruno, Ramsey (Miley 46), Jacob Murphy (Elanga 62), Osula