Eddie Howe has made no secret of his penchant for deeply analysing both Newcastle United’s games and that of their upcoming opponents.
You suspect this weekend’s visitors to St James’ Park, Brighton and Hove Albion, will have piqued Howe’s interest more than most as the Newcastle chief prepares to deal with one of the most unorthodox coaches to ever set foot in England’s top flight.
The Seagulls’ new boss, Fabian Hurzeler, arrived on the south coast over the summer after a fascinating and successful stint in Germany with St Pauli. Incredibly, Newcastle’s defensive duo of choice – Fabian Schar and Dan Burn – are both one year older than Hurzeler, who at 31 is the youngest head coach in Premier League history.
But what the German lacks in experience, he makes up for in creativity. His unique style of management makes him ideal for a club like Brighton – and will no doubt cause Newcastle problems on Tyneside this weekend.
One area of the pitch the north east outfit have struggled in this term is midfield. With Joelinton struggling to showcase his best form, Bruno Guimaraes taking a few games to truly get up to speed, and a lack of regular starting spots for Sandro Tonali, we have not yet seen the best Newcastle in the middle of the park.
The unflattering 3-1 defeat against Fulham at Craven Cottage last month was undoubtedly Newcastle’s worst performance of the season and highlighted major flaws with Howe’s midfield. Emile Smith-Rowe and Alex Iwobi simply had a field day exploiting the vast amount of space left in the middle of the park by the away side, prompting Howe to swiftly admit he had gotten it wrong with his midfield three of choice from the start.
A repeat of that display this weekend and Newcastle will be in trouble due to Hurzeler’s love of progressing up the pitch vertically, using his two midfield men as the swift go between for his defence and attack.
Jack Hinshelwood, 19, and Carlos Noom Quomah Baleba, 20, have been Hurzeler’s central midfield pairing of choice in recent games, with Yasin Ayari, 21, and Mats Wieffer, 24, also called upon as the German opts for youth over experience in the centre of the pitch.
Brighton’s young contingent have proved extremely effective of playing through midfields with relative ease, with one of the two central midfielders frequently dropping deep, picking up the ball in front of the central defensive partnership and seeking out their midfield partner, who is usually situated behind the opposition’s attacking press but in front of any deep-lying opponents.
This allows Brighton to beat the press vertically, while allowing the man receiving the ball to pick it up centrally and turn into space with two wide options and a striker ahead of him. Hurzeler’s full-backs are also regularly seen bombing forward to offer support, especially when one of Brighton’s central defenders has to ball at his feet in his own half.
Arsenal struggled with this particular tactic in their 1-1 draw with Brighton back in August, with Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli often being taken out of the game by the deeper-lying midfielder, while Declan Rice and Thomas Partey were reluctant to press too high in fear of being spun by the second midfielder receiving the ball.
