It didn’t take long for them to come after Eddie Howe | OneFootball

Eddie Howe was the untouchable.

Get that statue up outside St James’ Park at the double.

Eddie Howe crowning what had been a brilliant few years in charge, with a stellar 2024/25 season where despite not being able to bring in any new first team contenders over three transfer windows (January 2024, Summer 2024, January 2025) had delivered Champions League football for a second time in three seasons AND a second cup final in three seasons AND a first trophy in 56 years.

Things move fast in modern football though and just like the supporters of other clubs, many Newcastle United fans aren’t slow to point out where the manager has supposedly gone wrong.

Which brings me to Newcastle 1 Barcelona 2.

There is nothing wrong at all with any fans of any club, giving a view after a match on what they would have done if they had been picking the team. Indeed, it is at the very core of what being a football fan is, 50,000 Newcastle United fans inside St James’ Park with 50,000 different viewpoints. As well as millions of others of NUFC fans each match who are not inside SJP.

We all wonder if only this team had been selected, if only these tactics, if only this formation, but you do it with respect. Well, you do it with respect when it is somebody such as Kevin Keegan, Sir Bobby Robson, Rafa Benitez, or…Eddie Howe.

We accept (or should do!) that they know what they are doing and have seen it with out own eyes time after time. They are not immune from mistakes, same as all managers. However, they get it right far more often than not and anyway, nobody knows for sure what would have happened if they had made different decisions ahead of any match.

A problem with

The Newcastle United fans I have a problem with, are those who when talking about Newcastle 1 Barcelona 2, want to claim that Eddie Howe made massive errors of judgement, things that were clear to any fool, that if only he had picked the team, tactics and formation that was glaringly obvious (to the critic), then Newcastle United would never have lost and almost certainly won against Barca.

This has happened so often in the past as well.

No matter what Eddie Howe has proved to us, how brilliant he has been across runs of matches, entire seasons, there are those Newcastle United fans who when a result goes against us, want to blame Eddie Howe and believe they know better, for sure. That it was Eddie Howe who lost us whichever match.

I just find it so disrespectful this over the top and feeble reaction from some Newcastle United fans. With of course certain media/journalists happy to go down this route of saying if against Barcelona only Eddie Howe had done this…

Journalists and media that either do this cynically, knowing they are spewing nonsense just to please their audience. Or alternatively, simply clueless, the same as the Walking Dead amongst the Newcastle United fanbase who wander round blinking in the light, talking rubbish.

I had an article published on The Mag ahead of Thursday’s match, where I predicted the Newcastle team v Barcelona.

I got 10 out of the 11 correct. It would have been 11 out of 11 but Eddie Howe didn’t go with the change of formation that I thought he was most likely to do.

My predicted Newcastle team v Barcelona was:

Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Livramento, Tonali, Bruno, Joelinton, Gordon, Elanga

I thought it would be three in and three out, Botman, Gordon and Elanga coming in, with Barnes, Woltemade and Murphy dropping to the bench.

As it happened, Eddie Howe didn’t go with the three central defenders and wing-backs. Instead it was just the two changes. Gordon and Elanga coming in for Murphy and Woltemade. Barnes stayed in the team and Botman remained on the bench

My reasoning on the team and formation I predicted was as follows?

‘I think rather than playing a third central defender meaning a more defensive outlook from Eddie Howe, quite the opposite.

I think Eddie Howe will want to get at Barcelona and have a high press from the first whistle, a bit like happened against PSG (albeit when not playing three/five at the back).

Having Gordon and Elanga playing as two forwards gives them freedom of movement and a chance to use their pace as much as possible. Both in terms of closing down and when United are in possession. Elanga has played this role in the past and indeed did so with Sweden in this month’s internationals. Whilst Gordon has played through the middle for NUFC and for the England Under 21s when they won their Euros.

You then have the usual midfield trio backing them up, plus wing-backs pushing on. Tino Livarmento definitely plays, though I wasn’t sure whether in my predicted Newcastle team v Barcelona, whether that will be on the right or left, with Trippier or Hall also playing. If I am proved correct with the formation, then Eddie Howe could go with either. I have just gone on the side of Trippier staying in and Hall remaining out. I would be happy with either playing.

I think this potential/predicted Newcastle team would tick plenty of boxes, plus of course surprise Hansi Flick and Barcelona.

Personally, I think we will probably get more out of Nick Woltemade as an impact sub tonight. Plus, the fact is that we will need Nick Woltemade starting on Sunday at Bournemouth, when Anthony Gordon will be missing. Would it be ideal to expect Woltemade to start three games in a week, especially after starting both games for Germany?

With Yoane Wissa out until at least after the October international break, Eddie Howe will be looking after Nick Woltemade.

Plus of course Anthony Elanga has had a bit of a rest, only coming on for the last ten minutes on Saturday.

As well as the fact Sven Botman is a class act if he plays.

Plus of course, using the squad is something we should expect to see this season on a regular basis.’

I stand by all that and it was a 100% certainty, in my opinion, that Eddie Howe was bringing Elanga and Gordon into the team. Their pace was always going to be the big weapon that Howe would hope could unlock Barcelona and provide the goals needed.

It very nearly worked AND was absolutely the right way to go. Eddie Howe almost pulled off a brilliant result against a top quality team and he absolutely picked the correct players, formation and tactics against Barcelona. It was just the execution of that plan that went askew at times. Eddie Howe can’t do anything about Anthony Gordon not getting his body in the right position to meet Elanga’s perfect pull back very early in the match when it could and should have been 1-0 to United. The same when another brilliant break saw Elanga set up Barnes, who with his weaker left foot got a good effort on target but a good save by the keeper.

Eddie Howe needed Gordon and Elanga on the pitch as well to do the high press that was essential.

Beyond any doubt for me, when Eddie Howe in early September was looking at this Barcelona game, he absolutely would have had the intention of playing a front three of Wissa with Gordon left and Elanga right. To do exactly all of this. To press high and to try and get in behind Barcelona using pace as the biggest weapon.

The Wissa injury prevented that happening BUT never was Woltemade starting this match. Pace and a very high press is not his strength and he was always going to have far more chance of being effective from the bench in a game like this.

As it happens, Barnes was Newcastle’s weakest link in this match, not terrible but not quite the level of his teammates. If only Eddie Howe had listened to me…

I do wonder what would have happened if Eddie Howe had brought Botman in (or Thiaw? He looked good and classy again last night when coming on) and played wing-backs, with Elanga and Gordon as twin strikers (false nines in modern money).

We will never know, BUT what I do know, is that Eddie Howe didn’t make any kind of totally obvious embarrassing decisions that for sure cost Newcastle United a positive result.

The same as the vast majority of matches, this Champions League game was decided by the chances taken and not taken. Barcelona won it with a world class goal where yes Burn misplaced a pass and gave possession away, but then Rashford beat Tonali not once but twice with a dip of his shoulders and then hit a thunderbolt from outside the box that dipped ay the last second and went in off the bar.

An inch or two higher and it doesn’t go in and rebounds back into play instead of into the net.

Sometimes those are the tiny margins that decide a game and Newcastle United fans need to accept that just because you lose a match, it doesn’t automatically mean that the team has played badly, or that the manager has done anything that was for sure responsible for the loss.

Newcastle 1 Barcelona 2 – Thursday 18 September 2025 8pm

Newcastle United:

Gordon 90

Barcelona:

Rashford 58, 67

Possession was Newcastle 36% Barcelona 64%

Total shots were Newcastle 10 Barcelona 19

Shots on target were Newcastle 6 Barcelona 5

Corners were Newcastle 6 Barcelona 4

Touches in the box Newcastle 28 Barcelona 38

Newcastle team v Barcelona:

Pope, Trippier (Botman 76), Schar (Thiaw 63), Burn, Livramento, Tonali, Bruno, Joelinton (Willock 62), Barnes (Woltemade 62), Gordon, Elanga (Murphy 63)

Unused subs:

Thompson, Ramsdale, Hall, Krafth, Osula, Miley, A Murphy

(BBC Sport comments from ‘neutrals’ – Interesting on Newcastle United after 2-1 Barcelona defeat – Read HERE)