Nobody is getting dropped at Newcastle United | OneFootball

A lot of debate surrounding Nick Woltemade and Jacob Murphy having been ‘dropped’ by Eddie Howe for the Barcelona match.

The two players who had combined for the winning goal against Wolves five days earlier.

Woltemade heading home from Murphy’s cross.

However, five days later the pair found themselves on the bench, replaced by Anthony Elanga and Anthony Gordon.

It wasn’t just numerous Newcastle United fans asking why Eddie Howe had ‘dropped’ the match winners from the Wolves match.

The journalists were also quick to question Eddie Howe after the defeat to Barcelona about his decision to ‘drop’ players, especially record signing Nick Woltemade:

“I can’t live in that world.

I have to make decisions for the benefit of the player sometimes.

“It was a really difficult one for Nick.

“Of course any player would want to start every game but I have to try to manage him into the team.

“And make sure he stays fit, that was always at the heart of this decision.

“Knowing that we have Anthony Gordon suspended for the next game as well.

“It is the same for Jacob Murphy as well.

“He is nursing an Achilles problem and we just want to keep the majority of the squad as fit and healthy for as long as possible.”

Even without that explanation from Eddie Howe, I thought it was very obvious why the changes had been made for the Barcelona match, for many reasons.

The Champions League match couldn’t have been more different than the Premier League game that preceded it. United expected to have domination of possession against a defensive Wolves outfit and having to work the ball around the pitch, to try and create openings.

Whereas Barcelona was always going to see the visitors dominant in possession but Newcastle United high pressing to try and force them into errors when playing it out from the back, as well as hitting them on the break with pace.

To do that, Eddie Howe needed Anthony Elanga on the right side and somebody who could do a lot of unselfish sprinting playing through the middle, plus able to keep up with Elanga on the fast breaks.

Newcastle United were excellent in that first half on Thursday night and the game plan was perfect, Eddie Howe using the best available players for the tactics he wanted to employ. Barcelona didn’t have a single effort on target in that first half and as well as other decent situations/chances before half-time, Gordon and Barnes had great opportunities to score, both provided by the pace and quality of Elanga on the right.

Eddie Howe called it exactly right and it was only in the final execution where the players on the pitch failed to put the ball in the net. As well as at times making the wrong choice when in good situations, or badly executed passes.

United were always going to try and win this match in the first half with the tactics outlined above and then later in the game, changes would be made as and when Eddie Howe thought they were a good idea and/or forced through fatigue and potentially injury.

The thing is, even if I hadn’t called it correctly before the match what Eddie Howe would do, I would have been just as supportive whoever he played, whatever tactics he used.

Eddie Howe is a brilliant football manager and I am not, he also crucially has all the information to hand when it comes to injuries, knocks, how players are performing in training and so on.

Sadly, even with Eddie Howe giving that additional information and insight on Nick Woltemade and Jacob Murphy, some Newcastle United fans have still persisted in trying to make out that the NUFC Head Coach got things wrong, that if only he had done what they think would have been best…

Nick Woltemade was forced to come off against Wolves after only an hour on his debut because he was cramping up. Yet some Newcastle United fans can’t see why he needs to be looked after.

I think bottom line is that for certain NUFC supporters, they would have Eddie Howe playing our best 11 players every single match. However, these same supporters would also be the first to go on the attack slagging Howe off, when key players predictably then got injuries due to overplaying them.

If you grew up watching football in the 1970s and 1980s, the idea of using a ‘squad’ of players was an alien concept. Unless injury forced it, or a big loss of form, you saw every club put out the same team pretty much every week. As a kid, you could name the starting eleven for all of the 22 top tier (First Division) teams with some confidence, any Saturday. You’d very rarely get more than a few predictions wrong across all 11 matches.

Back then as well, you only could bring on one substitute. That didn’t chance until the 1987/88 season in England, when it increased to two subs you could use in any match.

So there was no point having a squad of players as we have these days, apart from the first choice eleven, at most each club would have a handful of back up players for emergencies plus kids hopefully coming through.

Things couldn’t be more different now.

The richest most powerful clubs have forced it so that you can have nine players on the bench and use five in any match.

Which means those with the biggest most powerful squads can often bring on half a new outfield ten, in any game, often without any serious drop in quality. Plus of course, often make numerous changes from one game to the next, especially when you have a lot of games in quick succession.

In this modern world of football and especially when Newcastle United are playing pretty much every midweek, apart from in international fortnights, talk of Eddie Howe ‘dropping’ players is just daft. Except in very rare circumstances where there’s a total loss of form.

The Newcastle United boss has to use all of his available resources in the best possible way, balancing both short-term and longer-term.