{"id":5696,"date":"2025-04-09T11:19:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T11:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/5696\/"},"modified":"2025-04-09T11:19:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T11:19:15","slug":"newcastle-united-the-premier-leagues-game-state-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/5696\/","title":{"rendered":"Newcastle United, the Premier League\u2019s game-state kings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newcastle United march on. Monday\u2019s 3-0 win at Leicester City<\/a> was a fourth consecutive win in all competitions, sent the club into the Champions League places, and was as comprehensive a victory as they come.<\/p>\n

Leicester were not so much put to bed as banged over the head with a shovel. Three first-half goals, two for Jacob Murphy and one for Harvey Barnes, ended the game as a contest after just over 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s and Newcastle\u2019s second, in particular, was Leicester\u2019s greatest indignity. It was somehow more humiliating for Fabian Schar\u2019s 55-yard lob of Mads Hermansen to rattle off the crossbar and into Murphy\u2019s path for the winger to joyfully smash home.<\/p>\n

The rest of the game was drab. But what does that matter? Newcastle\u2019s team has already delivered memories to last a generation over the past month.<\/p>\n

All that really matters from here until May is consistent point accumulation and a place in the Champions League. And on that point, one major factor is in their favour: Newcastle are the best side in the Premier League at managing game state.<\/p>\n

Take holding onto leads. Newcastle are no stranger to going ahead early: they have scored three times in the opening two minutes of games this season. They never looked in any danger of relinquishing that lead at the King Power Stadium, but this is part of a wider trend, one that has stood up against better teams than Leicester.<\/p>\n

In 2024-25, Newcastle have dropped the fewest points from winning positions in the Premier League \u2014 just seven.<\/p>\n

Only one team in Europe\u2019s top four leagues, Bilbao\u2019s Athletic Club (six), can better them.<\/p>\n

Newcastle have gone ahead on 19 occasions and won 16 of those, with the sole defeat coming against Fulham in February.<\/p>\n

In total, Newcastle have converted more than 84 per cent of their leads into wins. Again, that is the highest total in the league \u2014 Newcastle and Liverpool (81.5 per cent) are well clear of the next best, Crystal Palace (73.3 per cent).<\/p>\n

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When running through Newcastle\u2019s ledger at the end of the season, it is the tight wins, the 1-0s and 2-1s, that will dictate whether they make the Champions League. Newcastle may have plenty of ugly wins, but the thing that stands out is that they are a stranger to ugly draws.<\/p>\n

And just as it is important to hold onto leads when ahead, Newcastle have shown a gritty ability to earn points from losing positions.<\/p>\n

This season, Newcastle have earned 18 points after going behind \u2014 tied for second-most in the league with Aston Villa and only behind Liverpool (19). High-profile examples, in 2025 alone, include the 4-3 win over Nottingham Forest, 3-1 victory at Southampton, and 2-1 triumph at Tottenham Hotspur.<\/p>\n

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That tally includes 13 points salvaged away from home, the most in the division, though there was no need for this at Leicester, who have not scored at the King Power since December 8.<\/p>\n

It is, however, some departure from last season. The equivalent figure, for both home and away, was just 10 points \u2014 15th in the league.<\/p>\n

You would have to go back 23 years \u2014 to Sir Bobby Robson\u2019s squad of 2001-02 \u2014 to find a Newcastle side that managed to claw back more points from losing positions. That season, they earned back a scarcely believable 34 points, almost double the next-highest in the league (Arsenal, with 18). It underscores Robson\u2019s man-management abilities and the tactical nous that his soft skills could overshadow.<\/p>\n

But after the cup win three weeks ago, Robson is the company that Eddie Howe now keeps on Newcastle\u2019s managerial Mount Rushmore.<\/p>\n

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Howe\u2019s side have moved up into fifth in the table (Carl Recine\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

So, what has been behind Newcastle\u2019s game-state improvement?<\/p>\n

One factor is availability. Last season, Howe\u2019s ability to make changes in-game was severely limited by his bench. In one Champions League game at Borussia Dortmund, for example, he could name just eight replacements from a possible 11, including two uncapped academy prospects.<\/p>\n

Another is experience. In Nick Pope, Schar, Dan Burn, Bruno Guimaraes, and Alexander Isak, Newcastle possess a spine that knows how to see out victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t got a youthful group,\u201d Howe said. \u201cWe have a lot of players that have been through various situations in their careers. With so few games to go in such a big competition, a lot of clubs fighting for Champions League places, I don\u2019t think we take anything for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there is Howe himself. The Englishman has continued to develop as a manager with his in-game adjustments, typically favouring subtle tweaks in structure over wholesale personnel changes. That has played some part. But as a coach, his greatest ability is improving players on the training pitch \u2014 and that too has its role.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t think these statistics are lost on me,\u201d said Howe. \u201cWe\u2019ve got an experienced group, so I think we have the ability to manage situations pretty well. It\u2019s a great thing to have the ability to come back, which is something we do a bit of work on in training.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we have different philosophies to try to come back in games because that ability means you\u2019re never out of a match. You\u2019ve got the consistent ability to win. So I think that\u2019s the one I treasure the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is that training work? Howe replies with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s for me to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Top photo: Carl Recine\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Newcastle United march on. Monday\u2019s 3-0 win at Leicester City was a fourth consecutive win in all competitions,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,3047,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-5696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-newcastle-united","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114307738065101609","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}