Newcastle United eased some of the concerns surrounding preseason shape with a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
For Eddie Howe, it was three important points, but performance highlighted the ongoing areas for improvement.
Magpies are a mix of the start of the campaign.
Their Champions League adventure last week saw a 4-0 victory over Belgian Champions Union Sun-Joys, but the Premier League has taken more Tests.
Before the forests collided, Newcastle was near the bottom of the table where the expected targets were created. Their attacks lacked sharpness despite the arrival of high-profile summer signatures such as Nick Urtemade and Joane Wissa.
Sunday’s victory, along with European victory in the week, suggested signs of improvement.
Howe’s side scored six points without a reply in the final two matches, showing greater unity both on offensive and defensive.
Importantly, these results occurred despite an increase in the injury list.
Fullbacks Tino Libramento and Lewis Hall both face expansion spells on side jobs, and Wissa hasn’t trained for the club yet. Ramsey is just on his way home.
Team depth is essential when Newcastle balances domestic and European competition demands.
Newcastle performance and forest count
The victory at Nottingham Forest was, in many respects, Newcastle’s most complete offensive performance of the Premier League season so far.
Magpies produced a predicted target tally of 3.28 highest in one match in this campaign, creating six major opportunities while taking 18 shots. On another day, the margin of victory could have been much larger.
Bruno Guimarães was an outstanding performer.
Wearing the captain’s armband, the Brazilian midfielder determined the tempo and found a space to constantly advance.
He scored a great curling strike from outside the area in the 58th minute, defeating a deadlock and later earning a penalty.
Guimarães’ match rating via Sofascore on 9.4 reflects his dominance.
But elsewhere, not everything was clicked – Newcastle wingers continue to be overwhelmed.
Anthony Gordon and Anthony Elanga found themselves difficult to impose and struggled to provide consistent service to the box. The latter walked out of the field after 70 minutes after delivering only one accurate cross from nine attempts. He also won only three out of the 12 duels.
Hau is concerned about his lack of productivity, especially given the wasteful possibilities.
The positives took the opportunity to outweigh the negatives, but the game emphasizes that Newcastle is still looking for flow ency in certain areas of the pitch.
Jollington’s Struggle and the Forest
One of the more disappointing displays came from Joelinton.
The Brazilian midfielder became a divisive figure within Newcastle’s fanbase, praised his physicality and power, but also criticised his contradictions.
Like Elanga and Gordon, he struggled to positively influence the game against Forest.
He registered 50 touches and attempted 35 passes, completing 32 of them with 91% accuracy.
But his influence largely stopped there. He was unable to complete a single dribble and won only two of the seven ground duels, missing a big chance in the first half.
His tendency to admit unnecessary fouls was also outstanding, with three infringements passing momentum and passing forest opportunities to ease pressure.
At times, Jollington seemed to focus more on oppositional chaos than building play.
Jollington vs. Forest | |
Matched ratings | 6.7 |
I played a few minutes | 89 |
Expected goals | 0.49 |
Expected assist | 0.02 |
I missed a big opportunity | 1 |
Source: SOFASCORE | |
He lost ownership four times and rarely offered a driving run that brought such an effective looting presence in the middle.
Instead of Lewis Miley, his performance reminded me that fatigue could play a role. Newcastle plays every few days due to Champions League and domestic Cup commitments, so it appears they are unable to maintain their normal high-intensity style.
For Howe, Jacob Ramsey’s return will not come anytime soon.
England U21 International is expected to challenge Jollington’s spot directly, and his arrival could provide both competition and inspiration.
Jollington has previously shown that he can stand up at the opportunity he has been pushed. Now he may need that extra spark to rediscover his best form.
There’s a lot to tackle, but the recent results from Newcastle have helped ease the pressure that is beginning to rise.
Even though his performance is not yet refined, he has back-to-back wins, six goals and two clean sheets heading towards progress.
Although Howe has overcome the early storm, we will be testing how deeply this Newcastle team can really adapt in the coming weeks.