Skip to main content
ข่าว

Newcastle United attacking numbers are at risk of undermining Eddie Howe’s season

Newcastle United attacking numbers are at risk of undermining Eddie Howe’s season

แชร์

If results go against them this weekend, defeat to Manchester City could see Newcastle United in the relegation zone. 

By Sam McGuire

We’re just a third of the way into the 2025/26 Premier League campaign, so no drastic measures are required. Eddie Howe’s job shouldn’t be in danger or anything like that. 

But this isn’t how the season was supposed to go for the Magpies. The club won the Carabao Cup last term, their first piece of domestic silverware in 70 years, and claimed a Champions League place with a fifth placed finish. 

Heading into the summer transfer window, Newcastle had ambitious plans. According to reports, they wanted the likes of Liam Delap, Hugo Ekitike, Bryan Mbeumo, João Pedro, Benjamin Šeško and Samu Aghehowa, and the plan was seemingly to partner one of those attackers with Alexander Isak in a new-look 4-4-2 shape. 

For a variety of reasons, these players opted to sign elsewhere. To compound the club’s misery, Isak, eventually, forced a move to Liverpool for a British record fee, believed to be in the region of £125million. 

Not only did the Magpies miss out on practically all of their top targets, they also lost one of the best strikers in Europe. Isak had hit 44 goals across his last two Premier League campaigns and was rivalling Erling Haaland as the best No. 9 in the English top-flight.

Newcastle did get some deals done. Yoane Wissa signed from Brentford in a deal worth £50million. Nick Woltemade, tipped to join Bayern Munich as the striker to succeed Harry Kane, shocked everyone when news broke he was heading to St James’ Park for £65million.

The signing of Woltemade salvaged the club’s summer. He’s been a bright spark this term in what has been an underwhelming start to the campaign. The Germany international has four goals in the Premier League to his name and he’s settled into life in the North East better than anyone could’ve hoped for. He’s also found the back of the net in the Champions League too.

Despite this, Newcastle’s woes this term are tied to their issues in attack. There’s no getting around this.

The Magpies are averaging just one goal per game and their return of 11 in the top tier is the 17th lowest in the Premier League. As a team, it just isn’t clicking for them in attack. They are underperforming their underlying numbers too, with an xG of 13.2, but even when looking at those numbers, they still rank fairly low (13th). They’ve managed just 20 big chances across their 11 outings, a figure that sees them sitting in 12th for this particular metric. 

So while Woltemade is impressing as an individual, the Newcastle attack as a unit is failing to deliver. 

What it means, in a nutshell, is that their superb defensive exploits are all for nothing. For example, only Arsenal have kept more clean sheets while only the Gunners and Man City have a lower xG conceded this term. They’re the top two teams in the league right now. 

Newcastle have the third best defensive numbers but find themselves 14th. More often than not, solid foundations can catapult a team up the table. In this instance though, with Howe’s side struggling in the final third, it is keeping the Magpies out of the relegation zone and nothing more. 

Ultimately, that is the problem. That is what Howe and his coaching team need to figure out if they’re to, yet again, salvage their season.

When looking at the data from last term, it’s glaringly obvious what needs to change. The Magpies, during their successful 2024/25 season, scored the fourth highest number of goals, with an average of 1.8 per 90. They had the fourth highest xG (65.4). 

A functional attack, coupled with a solid defence (the second most clean sheets), meant a Champions League place really was a formality. 

Delve a little deeper and the issue becomes clearer. Last season, the team played to the strengths of their main man in attack, Isak. He was taking the most shots (3.2 per 90) and had the highest xG per 90 average in the team (0.66). 

The attack was shaped around getting the best out of one of the best finishers in the Premier League. 

Perhaps this is due to the injury to Wissa coupled with the need to ensure Woltemade was able to acclimatise to life in England, but Newcastle, so far, haven’t been able to build the attack around a certain individual just yet. 

Yes, Woltemade is scoring, but he’s not anywhere near as involved as his predecessor was. He’s averaged just 1.9 shots per 90 in the Premier League, though he does have an impressive 0.44 xG per 90. For context though, the shots total sees him rank fifth within the Newcastle team, just slightly higher than Bruno Guimarães. It isn’t optimal. Especially when the man leading the way for shots is Jacob Murphy (4.1). When your winger is tops the charts for shots, you have an issue in the attack. Especially when the winger with the huge shot volume only has an xG per 90 of 0.35. 

There’s no simple fix. There’s no easy solution. But if Howe wants his side to climb the table, he needs to figure out a way to turn Woltemade into the main man in attack. Do that and they have the solid foundations in defence to build a top four challenge. 

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Newcastle United game with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Newcastle United attacking numbers are at risk of undermining Eddie Howe’s season

If results go against them this weekend, defeat to Manchester City could see Newcastle United in the relegation zone. 

By Sam McGuire

We’re just a third of the way into the 2025/26 Premier League campaign, so no drastic measures are required. Eddie Howe’s job shouldn’t be in danger or anything like that. 

But this isn’t how the season was supposed to go for the Magpies. The club won the Carabao Cup last term, their first piece of domestic silverware in 70 years, and claimed a Champions League place with a fifth placed finish. 

Heading into the summer transfer window, Newcastle had ambitious plans. According to reports, they wanted the likes of Liam Delap, Hugo Ekitike, Bryan Mbeumo, João Pedro, Benjamin Šeško and Samu Aghehowa, and the plan was seemingly to partner one of those attackers with Alexander Isak in a new-look 4-4-2 shape. 

For a variety of reasons, these players opted to sign elsewhere. To compound the club’s misery, Isak, eventually, forced a move to Liverpool for a British record fee, believed to be in the region of £125million. 

Not only did the Magpies miss out on practically all of their top targets, they also lost one of the best strikers in Europe. Isak had hit 44 goals across his last two Premier League campaigns and was rivalling Erling Haaland as the best No. 9 in the English top-flight.

Newcastle did get some deals done. Yoane Wissa signed from Brentford in a deal worth £50million. Nick Woltemade, tipped to join Bayern Munich as the striker to succeed Harry Kane, shocked everyone when news broke he was heading to St James’ Park for £65million.

The signing of Woltemade salvaged the club’s summer. He’s been a bright spark this term in what has been an underwhelming start to the campaign. The Germany international has four goals in the Premier League to his name and he’s settled into life in the North East better than anyone could’ve hoped for. He’s also found the back of the net in the Champions League too.

Despite this, Newcastle’s woes this term are tied to their issues in attack. There’s no getting around this.

The Magpies are averaging just one goal per game and their return of 11 in the top tier is the 17th lowest in the Premier League. As a team, it just isn’t clicking for them in attack. They are underperforming their underlying numbers too, with an xG of 13.2, but even when looking at those numbers, they still rank fairly low (13th). They’ve managed just 20 big chances across their 11 outings, a figure that sees them sitting in 12th for this particular metric. 

So while Woltemade is impressing as an individual, the Newcastle attack as a unit is failing to deliver. 

What it means, in a nutshell, is that their superb defensive exploits are all for nothing. For example, only Arsenal have kept more clean sheets while only the Gunners and Man City have a lower xG conceded this term. They’re the top two teams in the league right now. 

Newcastle have the third best defensive numbers but find themselves 14th. More often than not, solid foundations can catapult a team up the table. In this instance though, with Howe’s side struggling in the final third, it is keeping the Magpies out of the relegation zone and nothing more. 

Ultimately, that is the problem. That is what Howe and his coaching team need to figure out if they’re to, yet again, salvage their season.

When looking at the data from last term, it’s glaringly obvious what needs to change. The Magpies, during their successful 2024/25 season, scored the fourth highest number of goals, with an average of 1.8 per 90. They had the fourth highest xG (65.4). 

A functional attack, coupled with a solid defence (the second most clean sheets), meant a Champions League place really was a formality. 

Delve a little deeper and the issue becomes clearer. Last season, the team played to the strengths of their main man in attack, Isak. He was taking the most shots (3.2 per 90) and had the highest xG per 90 average in the team (0.66). 

The attack was shaped around getting the best out of one of the best finishers in the Premier League. 

Perhaps this is due to the injury to Wissa coupled with the need to ensure Woltemade was able to acclimatise to life in England, but Newcastle, so far, haven’t been able to build the attack around a certain individual just yet. 

Yes, Woltemade is scoring, but he’s not anywhere near as involved as his predecessor was. He’s averaged just 1.9 shots per 90 in the Premier League, though he does have an impressive 0.44 xG per 90. For context though, the shots total sees him rank fifth within the Newcastle team, just slightly higher than Bruno Guimarães. It isn’t optimal. Especially when the man leading the way for shots is Jacob Murphy (4.1). When your winger is tops the charts for shots, you have an issue in the attack. Especially when the winger with the huge shot volume only has an xG per 90 of 0.35. 

There’s no simple fix. There’s no easy solution. But if Howe wants his side to climb the table, he needs to figure out a way to turn Woltemade into the main man in attack. Do that and they have the solid foundations in defence to build a top four challenge. 

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Newcastle United game with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.