NEWCASTLE boosted their Champions League hopes with victory over Chelsea thanks to Eddie Howe’s tactical bamboozle.
Howe insisted that his side’s first half performance was “electric” as they went into half time a goal and a man up.
Sandro Tonali fired the Toon ahead before Nicolas Jackson lost his head and was sent off before the break.
Bruno Guimaraes settled the tie with a 90th-minute goal to earn his side three huge points.
Despite the scoreline being a modest 2-0, there was plenty to show that Newcastle were far superior.
1. Quick Sand
Sandro Tonali embodied Newcastle’s high work ethic against the Blues.
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He showed incredible stamina and pace to cover ground in order to press the opposition and put them under pressure.
This helped other press from the front and as a result increased the numbers in the box.
This was evident in Tonali’s goal after the ball was won up the pitch.
He and Bruno Guimaraes were then able to act as strikers and get into the box and threaten the goal, from which the Italian scored.
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2. Botman and Rob him
Chelsea found themselves down to ten men after Nicolas Jackson was sent off for an elbow on Sven Botman.
The visitors’ front three were up against Newcastle‘s changed defensive line, which was made up of five players.
The full-backs Jacob Murphy and Tino Livramento were charged with marking wingers Noni Madueke and Pedro Neto.
While the three centre-backs Botman, Dan Burn and Fabian Schar could go man for man with Jackson and midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer.
Burn and Schar were allowed to move up the pitch to mark the midfielders in turn, knowing that there would still be a back four behind them.
Botman was marking Jackson, and when he would go, Burn and Schar would become the two central defenders.
Chelsea could not work it out and it was as if the Toon had an extra player on the pitch.
The trigger for the defenders to make their move appeared to be when Chelsea players would put their foot on the ball.
This stopped Enzo Maresca‘s player from being able to get a foothold in the match.
3. Break the box
Chelsea have been playing with a box midfield all season and the Toon were able to break it down.
The tactic uses players such as Palmer who can control the ball and then play it out wide while sucking in the opposition.
Howe’s side got into their back five and put three of the midfielders into Chelsea’s box.
This would see the likes of Guimaraes and Tonali be joined by one of Harvey Barnes or Anthony Gordon, making it tough for the Blues to progress the ball.
And with the back-five so deep it meant that any longer or more direct ball would be collected by goalkeeper Nick Pope.
The defence was so well connected that it made it almost impossible for Palmer to influence the game.
4. Change that Toon
The second half showed how Eddie Howe was able to react to Enzo Maresca’s changes.
Nick Pope was called into action on a couple of occasions to preserve the Toon’s lead.
Chelsea abolished the box shape and went for a line of three, which meant they could dominate possession as Newcastle still had a back five.
Howe changed this by moving the formation to a four at the back and a more natural 4-2-3-1 shape.
Maresca countered back by using Moises Caicedo as a midfielder and full-back which saw them return to dominate.
But Howe was able to change the tide again by calling on Emil Kraft and Lewis Miley which bolstered the midfield and stop Caicedo.
5. Palmed off
Newcastle did a great job of squeezing Cole Palmer away from the goal.
They were able to palm him off and keep him at a safe distance.
If he were to have had a shot, it would have likely been from 35 yards and at that point, they backed Nick Pope to deal with the effort.
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Palmer also suffered from the change in tactics as he is more limited than some of Chelsea’s other players.
He continued to try to find space in the match but was often stuck in his own half and facing his own goal.
