Sunday 10 November 2024

This was a game of two halves with a dominant team in charge, that team was Newcastle today away to an in form third place Nottingham Forest.

Football is a complex game, it is a unique blend of technical abilities, tactical, physical, psychological and social factors to it, this makes the team stronger or weaker.

Let’s look the game stats, with Forest listed first, and the 1st half stats in brackets.

Possession: (40% / 60%) 44% / 56%

Touches in the box: 1(8 v 20) 17 v 33

Shots: (3 v 7, Shot on target 1 v 2) 9 v 17, on target 3 v 6

Duels Won: (6 v 8) 14 v 20

Fouls: (7 v 7) 13 v 6

Corners: (2 v 4) 4 v 5

First half

Newcastle played with a higher line, had 60% possession, and controlled the game but didn’t threaten Forest, and made it too easier for Forest to counter them due to their high line in possession.

Newcastle were slow moving the ball and Forest held a low block, and waited to they retrieve the ball, once Elanga got on the ball he had a lot of space to transition into, and Forest countered Newcastle well. Newcastle dominated play, interceptions, shots, duels, touches in the box and corners.

Forest tactic of hitting Newcastle on the break worked, they won a foul and then didn’t mark Murillo and easily (unmarked) headered into the Newcastle net.

Second half – What changed?

Eddie Howe was clearly not happy, Newcastle were not direct and too slow in their build up play, a quick tactical shift to put Gordon on the left and Joelinton on the right helped, he instructed one things, play with tempo, move the ball fast and be more aggressive, this was they key to their victory.

Movement of the ball – Newcastle played faster and with much more urgency

Set pieces – Newcastle got an early goal from a corner after Longstaff battled for the ball and Isaak reacted quickly to tap in the goal amongst the mele of players in the box.

Off the ball movement – The second goal came from being strong in holding / shielding the ball by Bruno Guimareas and a fast past and go in a triangle, then a counter, and they took advantage of Forest playing a higher line, and having more possession

Counter attacks – Joelinton scored a goal because of some good counter attacking play, build up play with a midfield triangle and off the ball movement, then a daunting run on the right by Tino Livramento opened up space for Joelinton to cut from the right onto his left and shoot with his left foot into the bottom left corner of the goal.

Newcastle were effective and made their chances count (scored 3 out of 4 on target shots), had 4 corners in the first half and in the second half only 1 and scored from it, had more chances, and were more aggressive in their play, personafied by a battling and player of the match performance by Joelinton. The aggression is what won the game, as they were simply first to the ball, first to the duels and this made them play on the front foot.

Midfield battles – Newcastle won their duels and this gave them more opportunities to counter and attack Forest, with Willock adding pace to the midfield and this finally paid off.

Discpliplined in defence – Newcastle and Dan Burn won the first ball time after time, which made 20 duels won v 14 for Forest, this made the difference in midfield and defence.

Impact subs – Tonali gave Newcastle more aggression and compusure on the ball, his ability to lead the midfield and slow down play makes him so useful, he is agile enough to change gear and lead the transitions. Barnes provided energy and skill to easily take on his man, and does what he does best, finish like a natural goal scorer. One of the best impact subs out there. He added a different dimension and threat which they were lacking in the first half.