Eddie Howe answers Newcastle United tactics critics as Magpies outwit rivals Wolves

Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak celebrates scoring their first goal. (Action Images via Reuters)
Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak celebrates scoring their first goal. (Action Images via Reuters)
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Updated 03 March 2024
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Eddie Howe answers Newcastle United tactics critics as Magpies outwit rivals Wolves

Eddie Howe answers Newcastle United tactics critics as Magpies outwit rivals Wolves

Newcastle: Criticism, at this level, is only ever just around the corner. One year you may be returning a club to the Champions League after two decades, the next some may be calling for change at the top.

That is the situation that has recently faced Eddie Howe at Newcastle United.

A one-trick pony. The lack of a plan B. Howe has faced up to some tactical criticism from certain sections of the Newcastle fanbase in a drift from top four contenders to the fringes of the bottom half of the division in what has turned into a winter of discontent on Tyneside.

And in fairness, some of that criticism has been justified.

However, when a tactical tweak was needed, Howe delivered, landing a blow to his critics by producing a compact, robust Newcastle setup that was far too much for opposite number Gary O’Neil — transforming a resurgent, on-the-rise Wolverhampton Wanderers’ bark into a whimper at St. James’ Park.

Alexander Isak gave the hosts the lead on the break, while another counter goal by Anthony Gordon had the Magpies cruising at half-time. A late wondergoal from youngster Tino Livramento added a flourish in the dying embers.

Famed for their transition play, Wolves have torn teams apart in the Premier League on their rise. And getting caught by teams on the transition, has been Howe and Newcastle’s kryptonite during their winter struggles.

Answering that, Howe tweaked it, as Newcastle sat deeper, invited the pressure and surrendered possession wilfully. It worked wonders.

After recording the Magpies’ first home win since Dec. 16, Howe said: “We changed things tactically today. It was a big win.

“We knew, being back at home, that we hadn’t won here for quite a while, certainly in 2024. Our home form has always been so good. Ever since I’ve come to the football club, even in the season when we stayed up and then making the top four in the following one, the home form was really the bedrock of all our success.

“So, to have our first wobble here was a concern. We’re delighted to win; it was a massive game for us.

“It was a slight tweak from our normal way of playing. We analyze our opposition, like we do always, and I know there’s a lot of people that say we play the same way every week, but I can assure you that’s not the case.

“There’s always tweaks and little things we try to do to help us in our performance, and that was one today, to try to maybe play a slightly more transitional game.

“I still think we’re not quite where we were at times last year, and also at times this year, but I thought it was better. I thought we had a better physical look about us, with really good running capacity, highlighted by our first goal, which was really transitional.

“There were players running the full length of the pitch, with a real desire to score. I thought, individually, we looked better as well in that respect.

“As I’ve said many times, confidence can ebb and flow, from individuals and the team. But I thought toward the end of the game, we started to see the confidence flow back into the group, and the last 10 to 15 minutes was really good,” he added.

Newcastle have so often been starved of options when they have needed them, and injuries to key players at key times has limited what the head coach can do off the bench.

With just 12 games left, that situation is clearly easing — and it is no surprise to see Newcastle put in arguably their most impressive, coherent performance in 2024.

Turning to goalscorer Livramento as well as summer signing Harvey Barnes, coupled with Miguel Almiron, Lewis Miley, and Elliot Anderson off the subs bench is as strong a group as Howe has been able to name for months.

Arguably, the biggest impact of all, however, was getting Joe Willock back into the starting 11.

After 12 months of struggles, this was the first match the former Arsenal man has started since November. And what a difference his energy and legs gave to a United midfield that has lacked anything like it for so long.

Howe said: “Naturally, I think our midfield does have a different complexion with Willock in the team. I think he has different qualities, although I have to compliment Lewis Miley when he came on because that’s a difficult game situation for someone so young, but I thought he did really well.

“Joe does add a running and an athleticism that maybe we don’t have without him. I was delighted with his contribution. Yes, we’ve managed his game minutes, but it’s great that he’s come through three games and done really well.

“I thought he (Bruno Guimaraes) was very good and had moments where he really showed his class. When he’s at the top of his game, for me, there’s no one better in playing the role that he does. I was really pleased with his impact in the first goal because it’s a full length of the pitch counterattack and he’s had to make up a lot of yards to get a vital contribution to that goal.

“That lets me know that, mentally, he’s in a good place and, physically, he’s in a good place too after a three-game week with extra-time. I was really pleased with that part of his game,” Howe added.


Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par

Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par
Updated 08 November 2024
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Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par

Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par

ABU DHABI: Paul Waring hit the shot of his life to complete a career-low 11-under 61 in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday and establish a five-stroke lead heading into the weekend of the European tour’s first playoff event.
The No. 229-ranked Englishman hit a draw with a 3-wood from about 260 yards to inside 4 feet at No. 18 and tapped in the birdie putt to move to 19-under par for the tournament.
The European tour confirmed to The Associated Press that it is the lowest 36-hole score to par in the tour’s history.
Waring, who opened with a 64 on Thursday, made nine birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round at Yas Links and set a course record.
“I’ve got a nice lead at the moment but even before I tee off tomorrow, someone might have caught me,” said the 39-year-old Waring, whose sole win came at the Nordea Masters in 2018. “While I’m in the lead at the moment, and if we are rational about this, everyone is still going to fire a lot of
birdies in there.

Paul Waring. (AFP/File)


“So if I’m going to be involved on Sunday afternoon, I’ve still got to keep going the way I am and I know that.”
First-round leader Tommy Fleetwood of England (68), Johannes Veerman of the United States (67) and Danish players Niklas Norgaard (65) and Thorbjorn Olesen (67) were tied for second place on 14 under.
Rory McIlroy hit his tee shot into a greenside bunker at the par-3 17th and made a triple bogey on the way to a second successive 67, leaving him nine strokes off the lead.
McIlroy, who can clinch a sixth Race to Dubai title with a win this week, was 7 under after 13 holes of his second round and feels he’ll need to produce something similar to reel in Waring and his closest chasers.
“I need the golf course to firm up a little bit and toughen up a little bit to have a chance,” McIlroy said. “There’s so many gettable holes out there.”


Zheng advances to WTA Finals championship match with semifinal win over Krejcikova

Zheng advances to WTA Finals championship match with semifinal win over Krejcikova
Updated 08 November 2024
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Zheng advances to WTA Finals championship match with semifinal win over Krejcikova

Zheng advances to WTA Finals championship match with semifinal win over Krejcikova
  • Zheng, 22, awaits top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka or third-seeded Coco Gauff in the final on Saturday

RIYADH: Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen became the first tournament debutante to reach the championship match at the WTA Finals since 2021 with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Barbora Krejcikova in Riyadh on Friday.

The seventh-seeded Zheng needed one hour and 40 minutes to overcome the Wimbledon champion in their semifinal encounter, firing nine aces along the way.
Zheng led 6-3, 3-0 before the eighth-seeded Krejcikova launched a comeback attempt but the Chinese star regained control of the match to make it two wins from two clashes with the Czech.
Zheng, 22, awaits top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka or third-seeded Coco Gauff in the final on Saturday, as she bids to become the first player to win the WTA Finals on her maiden appearance since Ashleigh Barty in 2019.
“It feels so special because this is my first WTA Finals and right now I’m in the final, which is unbelievable. She’s a really good player, today we gave a good match,” said Zheng.
“It was tricky because at 3-0 I think I dropped my performance; suddenly my performance went down, and she played more free and I was suddenly 3-4 down. I gave so much control to myself to not panic too much. It shows I was mentally strong in that moment.”
Zheng was near untouchable on serve in the 40-minute opening set, dropping just one point behind her first delivery en route to a 6-3 lead.
The Olympic champion broke twice for a 3-0 advantage in the second set and looked on her way to a comfortable victory.
But Krejcikova had other ideas and she halted Zheng’s momentum by attacking her second serve to grab the next four games and inch ahead for the first time in the contest.
It became a tug of war but it was Zheng who found an opening, breaking in game 12 to put herself in the position to serve for the match.
The fight wasn’t over yet as Zheng had to save a break point and saw a first match point slip away before she wrapped up the win on her second chance when a Krejcikova forehand sailed wide.
Since the event’s inauguration in 1972, Zheng is only the second Asian player to reach the decider at the WTA Finals after Li Na pulled off that feat in 2013.


PSG to curb political slogans in wake of ‘Free Palestine’ banner

PSG to curb political slogans in wake of ‘Free Palestine’ banner
Updated 08 November 2024
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PSG to curb political slogans in wake of ‘Free Palestine’ banner

PSG to curb political slogans in wake of ‘Free Palestine’ banner
  • PSG promised to “guarantee the absence of political messages” in the stands
  • “The club was not aware of the plan to display such a message“

PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain say they will make sure there is no repeat of a midweek unfurling by fans of a banner proclaiming “Free Palestine.”
The huge banner covered an entire section of the stadium at the Parc des Princes Wednesday night ahead of PSG’s defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid.
As well as the slogan “Free Palestine,” the banner showed a bloodstained Palestinian flag, a gesticulating man with a keffiyeh scarf covering all his face except his eyes, the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and a young boy wrapped in the Lebanese flag.
On Friday, after a meeting with the French football federation and government officials, PSG promised to “guarantee the absence of political messages” in the stands.
“A frank and constructive dialogue made it possible to identify solutions that PSG is committed to putting in place from the next match at the Parc des Princes,” a government spokesperson told AFP.
The banner, which was unfurled by the Paris Ultras Collective (CUP) hard-core fan group, was shown above another slogan which read: “War on the pitch but peace in the world.”
“The club was not aware of the plan to display such a message,” PSG said in a statement Wednesday evening.


Al-Hilal win again to pile pressure on Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq

Al-Hilal win again to pile pressure on Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq
Updated 08 November 2024
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Al-Hilal win again to pile pressure on Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq

Al-Hilal win again to pile pressure on Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq
  • Three fine goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic, Malcom and Mohammed Al-Qahtani did the damage

RIYADH: Al-Hilal returned to the top of the Saudi Pro League on Friday, defeating Ettifaq 3-1 to rack up the pressure on under-fire coach Steven Gerrard.

Three fine goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic, Malcom and Mohammed Al-Qahtani did the damage as the champions moved a point clear of Al-Ittihad, who won 2–0 at Al-Orubah on Thursday. 

The loss means that Ettifaq, who started the season with three straight wins, have taken just one point from the last six games in the league. It may mean a nervous international break for Gerrard, though the Liverpool legend will know that this was a battling performance from his players, who just did not quite have the quality when needed.

While Ettifaq tried to keep it tight at the back, it was not all one-way traffic. Moussa Dembele had a couple of opportunities when the ball simply wouldn’t fall for him and Karl Toko-Ekambi shot just over from the left side, though it could have been a mishit cross.

All know, however, that you have to be ruthless and clinical when playing the 19-time Saudi champions as wastefulness is almost always punished. It took the Blues some time to get going but they started to look ominous as half-time approached.

Just before the break, Al-Hilal should have taken the lead. This season Mitrovic has been lethal inside the area and the league’s leading scorer was picked out in space near the penalty spot; the stadium held its breath but former Fulham teammate Marek Rodak got his foot to the low shot and Malcom fired the rebound wide.

Mitrovic didn’t miss in added time. Renan Lodi picked up possession on the left and the Brazilian then bent a beautiful low cross behind the Ettifaq defense and Mitrovic could not miss from inside the six-yard box for his 11th of the season.

Ettifaq were still very much in the game and ten minutes after the restart, Toko-Ekambi stretched for a low cross, and while the Cameroonian did make contact and forced a good save from Yassine Bounou, it was a great chance.

The easterners thought they were going to regret that as Mitrovic had the ball in the net once more but his close-range header was ruled out for offside. There was a lengthy VAR review but it only confirmed the referee’s original decision.

The second goal did come eventually, and when it did — in the 81st minute — it was one to remember, for the home fans at least. Malcolm was running in from the left side of the area when he was found by a smart backheel from Abdullah Al-Hamdan. The Brazilian then took the ball past the goalkeeper with his first touch and then rolled the ball home.

It seemed that there was no coming back from that — Hilal are not a team that gives up two-goal leads — but as injury time started, Ettifaq were handed a lifeline in the shape of a penalty, and up stepped Vitinho to place the ball into the bottom corner.

Unfortunately for the visitors, it served just to wake up the hosts, who quickly restored their two-goal lead, though Gerrard angrily told officials that Mitrovic had committed a foul in the build-up. The home fans enjoyed the goal, however, as Malcom fed Mohammed Al-Qahtani who turned 360 degrees to make a little space in the area and then fired a low shot home.

It got even worse for Ettifaq as Abdullah Radif was sent off for shoving Ali Al-Bulaihi in the neck. There really was no coming back from that.

All in all, it was a perfect evening’s work for Al-Hilal, even if Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard will be a little concerned that star man Salem Al-Dawsari seemed to pick up an injury — with the trip to Australia for a vital World Cup qualifier next Thursday.

Elsewhere, Al-Ahli bounced back from their defeat in the Jeddah Derby to defeat Al-Raed 2-0.


Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par

Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par
Updated 08 November 2024
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Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par

Paul Waring shoots 61 in Abu Dhabi to set 36-hole record on European tour with 19-under par
  • Waring, who opened with a 64 on Thursday, made nine birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round at Yas Links
  • Rory McIlroy made a triple bogey on No. 17 in his second successive 67

ABU DHABI: Paul Waring hit the shot of his life to complete a career-low 11-under 61 in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Friday and establish a five-stroke lead heading into the weekend of the European tour’s first playoff event.
The No. 229-ranked Englishman hit a draw with a 3-wood from about 260 yards to inside 4 feet at No. 18 and tapped in the birdie putt to move to 19-under par for the tournament.
The European tour confirmed to The Associated Press that it is the lowest 36-hole score to par in the tour’s history.
Waring, who opened with a 64 on Thursday, made nine birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round at Yas Links and set a course record.
First-round leader Tommy Fleetwood of England (68), Johannes Veerman of the United States (67) and Danish players Niklas Norgaard (65) and Thorbjorn Olesen (67) were tied for second place on 14 under.
Rory McIlroy made a triple bogey on No. 17 in his second successive 67 and was nine strokes off the lead.
McIlroy can clinch a sixth Race to Dubai title with a win this week.