“A lot of people just stood still. Stood still is no good. You’ve got to create the space. Okay so you create your space, you then touch inside.”
These were the words picked up from a 7-second video posted by Newcastle earlier today, in what was the first training session under Eddie Howe.
It may only have been a 36-second video in total, although it said a lot about what problems the 43-year-old has decided to iron out first.
What’s the story?
Well, it sounds like Howe has decided to make his Newcastle side a bit more fluid in attack on his first visit to Little Benton as manager.
Howe can also be heard saying “we want to create space” at the start of the video, suggesting that he feels his side are too static going forward.
The ex-Bournemouth manager clearly wants his side to make more runs in the final third, and pull the opposition around a bit more.
Is Eddie Howe right to identify this as a problem at Newcastle?
Yes. This is arguably the biggest issue at Newcastle right now, as WhoScored shows.
Thanks to Steve Bruce, the Magpies rank 17th in the Premier League for shots per game, taking just 10.7 efforts every 90 minutes this season.
Newcastle also average the lowest ball possession in the Premier League by far, having just 37.3% of the play this term.
In total, the Magpies have only scored 12 goals from 11 Premier League games.
Clearly, Newcastle do need to become more fluid, so Howe is more than correct to focus on making his side more expansive and free flowing.
Hopefully, he can get his ideas across as soon as possible, as Newcastle need every point they can get in the 27 Premier League games that remain.
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