Ketsbaia’s Kick-Off Klub
With St James' Park being less than a happy hunting ground for Tottenham sides of the past, Howe will hope to continue this with a win tonight and consolidate our recent upturn in fortune.
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United side return to action this weekend in the hope of halting this worrying run of away defeats by proving last weekend’s win at home to Manchester City was more than just a flash in the pan.
Pastis in hand, standing shoulder to shoulder with Marseille fans, I’d spent the afternoon in a bar a stone’s throw from the Vélodrome, drinking pastis with the locals. While my French is pretty fluent, my accent is not, from the moment I opened my mouth, my Northern Irish French betrayed me immediately, and I was awash with questions as to what the hell I was doing there. And truth be told, by full time, I wasn’t really sure either.
There are nights at St James Park that feel bigger than the league table says they are, and this was one of them. Newcastle United beat Manchester City. Not with luck, not by clinging on for dear life, but by looking something close to themselves again
Following what has felt like an international break that has lasted an eternity, Newcastle United return to Premier League action in a desperate attempt to kickstart their stuttering season as they face Manchester City at St James' Park.
Before we get into who’s doing what, it’s worth grounding the terms. A progressive pass is a forward ball that meaningfully moves a team closer to the opposition goal. Think of it as a pass that breaks lines, shifts a possession from safety into danger, turns midfield space into a platform for attack, or is a ball played directly into the opposition box. It’s a build-up metric: it rewards the players who move the ball into zones where chances can happen, even if they aren’t the ones playing the final ball.
The Premier League pauses for breath, and for Newcastle United supporters, that means a week without the drama of Eddie Howe’s side. But while St James’ Park falls quiet, plenty of Magpies will be flying the flag for their countries. From senior internationals chasing World Cup qualification to youngsters plotting their path to the Euros, here’s your guide to who’s playing, where, and when.
Eleven games in, twelve points on the board. For Newcastle United under Eddie Howe, this is uncharted territory, the slowest opening to a league campaign since his arrival. The contrasts are stark and unavoidable.
It’s tempting to brush off the table with the familiar refrain: “We’re only 11 games in.” But 11 games is more than a quarter of the campaign, and history has a way of turning early patterns into final truths. Last season, most Premier League sides moved no more than three places from their position after matchday 10 to where they finished in May.
Newcastle went to West London with expectations already scraping the pavement. Winless away in the league since April and fresh from a 3-1 surrender at West Ham, few in black and white anticipated anything other than a grind at the Gtech. They didn’t just meet those low expectations, they tunneled beneath them.