Jacob Murphy has named an unexpected former teammate as the inspiration behind his excellent crossing.
Newcastle United claimed a sixth victory in a row on Wednesday night as they completely demolished Crystal Palace 5-0 at St. James’ Park.
Jason Tindall once again took charge with Eddie Howe hospitalised and it was an important fixture given it was Newcastle’s game in hand on their rivals for a Champions League place.
Yet, they won in emphatic fashion, with Jacob Murphy himself getting the ball rolling with a thunderous finish.
Marc Guehi scored a second own-goal of the season for Newcastle before the impressive Harvey Barnes confidently found the bottom corner.
Fabian Schar nodded in a fourth on the cusp of half time and then Alexander Isak finally got on the score sheet to round out the scoring.
As well as finding the back of the net, Murphy set up Schar’s header with a sublime cross and has now credited former Newcastle teammate Matt Ritchie as a big help in improving his delivery from the flanks.
Photo by Joe Prior/VisionhausJacob Murphy names Matt Ritchie as his crossing inspiration
Talking to Sky Sports after the match, Murphy was asked about his crossing and who helped him do it so well.
He replied: “I would say for my crossing, the biggest help was my former teammate, Matt Ritchie.
“He always, never put too much on the cross and he taught me about having a better feel on the cross and ever since I developed that, the crossing has been pretty decent.
“The cross doesn’t work unless you’ve got good occupation in the box and I’m fortunate that I’ve got a great striker who’s always in the box, the opposite winger is always getting in as well, so is Joelinton in the left No.8 role.
“So yeah, there’s always plenty of people to hit in there, which does make the job just a bit easier.
“I pride myself on my crossing, I love crossing, I love to be able to provide for my teammates because if they score, then that’s two people that are leaving happy.”
Murphy now has 11 Premier League assists this season (13 in total) and is only behind Mohamed Salah (18) in the rankings.
“When the juice is flowing, you’ve just got to hit it” 🧃
Jacob Murphy confirms he was shooting when scored his goal. pic.twitter.com/74amDfckos
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 16, 2025
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Jacob Murphy says he meant goal vs Crystal Palace
Murphy was also questioned about his goal, which he fired in from a tight angle after seeing three excellent crosses beforehand not be scored by Isak.
After Sandro Tonali admitted he did not mean his bizarre strike against Brentford, Murphy says his was completely deliberate.
When Jamie Redknapp said he thought Murphy meant to score, he replied: “Well, thank you very much for that, because I did mean it, yeah.
“When the juice is flowing, you’ve just got to hit it. Because the defender has come out, it was going to be hard to get it through, oh, I’ll just shoot here. Oh, lovely.
“It was good, to get the ball rolling for us there. We always knew the first goal would be really important. Happy to get it and happy that we started off so well.”