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Fight off relegation with a change of tactics by Craig Doyle

Keegan has no option to improve the squad therefore he must improve the tactics. Keegan needs to vary the tactics to get more out of the players he has available.

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It has been twelve games now since Newcastle recorded a win in the Premiership. I even had to look back over the fixtures to check which side were ‘unlucky’ enough to lose to us. And being honest, it was a stroke of good fortune that led to the penalty against Fulham in an otherwise dull game of football that was destined to finish scoreless. But fortune is something that can’t be relied upon and that has been proven at Stamford Bridge (offside goal), Old Trafford (Owen ruled offside when clearly on) and at home to Middlesbrough (Perfectly good Owen goal ruled out plus an offside Boro goal) and Manchester United (Owen penalty claim at 0-0). In most cases we have ourselves to blame with suicidal defending and generally poor all round play not helping our situation.

While it is easy to lay the blame at the feet of the players and cite effort and lack of commitment or pride as reasons for one dismal performance after another perhaps it is time to look at the manager. Keegan has been here a matter of weeks and opted to make no changes to the playing staff with his logic being that nobody he fancied was available. This raises more questions than it answers of course. Where is the mystical ‘pot of gold’ that the papers claim Ashley has promised? Can the club/Keegan not attract a high enough calibre of player or are we to believe that what we have at our disposal is better than anyone that could have arrived? When Keegan arrived I was concerned not just by the fact that I felt he was the wrong man, but he was being appointed at the worst time possible. With only two weeks of a transfer window to go I’m still at a loss as to explaining the logic in letting another man takeover our squad, which for the most part, this season, has been cobbled together with players fielded out of position and strange team selections. But when that man coming in is Keegan, the confusion is only amplified by the fact that the past has exposed his lack of tactical awareness.

Keegan has always stuck by what he knows and unfortunately all he seems to know is a flat 4-4-2 formation. Across the world this is probably seen as the ‘default’ footballing formation which puts most of its emphasis on creating width and using it as an avenue of attack by trying to keep the playing areas as big as possible to stretch the opposition. However it’s not the only way to make 4-4-2 work. As with any formation, 4-4-2 has strengths and weaknesses, which can be defined by the variation of the formation that is being played. In turn the variation is usually defined by the players at hand. As a quick example; there is no point in playing with a system designed for two wingers when only one is available. Instead, one might opt to play a variation with a defensive man in behind the 3 other midfielders, with less emphasis on getting the ball out wide. Real Zaragoza are currently a good model of this variation as they lack any natural wide men. Effectively tailoring the system to suit the qualities of the individuals available is the key to getting the best out of any formation. So what are the qualities of the players we currently have?

I’ll start in the middle of the park as that is where I believe our biggest weakness lies. It seems that all three of our natural choices for the centre of midfield are players that share a passion for sitting deep. Nicky Butt offers what some would refer to as industry and effort with his ball winning abilities but in terms of actual football he shows nothing on the ball and little desire to get on it in the opposition’s half. He has displayed cringe worthy shooting skills and rarely finds himself far enough up the pitch to influence any attacking play. His latest partner in Joey Barton is almost a carbon copy in the fact that he ‘tries a lot’ but seems to have a fear of getting on the ball and trying to impose himself on a match. The only thing separating Barton from Butt is the fact that he is unexplainably worse at passing the ball and hence concedes possession far too often. Our third and in my opinion, best, option is Emre. The little Turk is a great passer of the ball and has the ability to land the same passes that Butt and Barton so frustratingly attempt. As well as being our only real danger from a set piece, he has a vicious left boot that I only wish we saw more of. However there are downsides to Emre in that he is never consistently fit and he exhibits a desire to sit in and try to play ‘killer’ passes from a deep position in midfield. This wouldn’t be so much of a concern if he was also a ball winner as there would be no requirement for a defensive man to be played alongside him, meaning we could deploy another attacking option who could stroll into the spaces beyond Emre to receive the ball. At the moment we limit ourselves by using two defensive options, leaving far too much space between the midfield and strikers that has to be bridged by Alan Smith dropping off to receive the ball. Again, it doesn’t sound like a massive problem, but once Smith picks up the ball he tends to find that the options aren’t available to him or offer nothing more than sending the ball back to where it just came from.

There are several solutions that could yield better results. The first would be to push Emre forward. Make the best of his passing and shooting abilities by trying to give him a role similar to Deco (Barcelona) or Diego (Werder Bremen). The key idea would be to get into attacking positions and link up with the wide men and strikers from a central position, leaving a defensive man such as Nicky Butt to sit deep and cover the back four. His current role seems to be the opposite in that he links the defence and midfield by standing 2 yards from a centre half to pick up the ball, in what I feel is a completely pointless act. The other obvious option would be to let Emre sit back and have the other midfielder push on ahead of him. This would rely on Barton, or perhaps N’Zogbia looking to get involved in the game and get on the ball as often as possible. The downside would be that the midfield could be seen to be a little ‘lightweight’ and with must win fixtures against the likes of Birmingham and Reading there is every chance we could be facing more of a scrapping battle in midfield that would dictate the need for heavy hitters.

Out on the wings we have little to work with. Keegan has shown in the few games so far that he wants to get the ball out wide and use the two wide men to get crosses into the box. However, we really lack pace and the quality that is required to put in a threatening delivery. On the right side I must admit to being sceptical of James Milner. While some may highlight his potential, I’m afraid I’m not quite seeing it. For all the effort he applies, to my eyes he is one paced, one footed and has the ability to put one type of cross into the box. I don’t want to turn this article into an assault on the abilities of the playing staff but it is clear that Milner isn’t going to provide the supply lines that Keegan is trying to force upon the side. Across the pitch there are options but both have their flaws. While Duff is adept at crossing the ball with either foot, he is clearly a yard short on pace these days and struggles to go by any fullback. N’Zogbia is pretty much the opposite in every way. Pace, skill, can turn a man inside out, but couldn’t cross the road. One bright spark has been the strange ability of Duff and N’Zogbia to link up whilst Charlie has been occupying the left back role. Perhaps a second chance in a central midfield berth against a side that isn’t Arsenal could lead to further link up between the two left footers? Regardless, we appear to be setting up to utilise our wide men, but have found so far that they can’t deliver the crosses to bring the goals. Which begs the question, why bother then?

The key element that width brings is the ability to stretch the opposition to the point that they leave spaces somewhere that can be exploited. As the game goes on the idea is that the opposition will tire quicker if they have to work hard to defend the whole pitch instead of just having to cover the central areas or one flank. Effectively the gaps that appear tend towards presenting crossing opportunities and unfortunately these seem to go to waste where our players are concerned. The simple solution is to get the attacking midfielder and the other winger or even central midfielder up to support the wide man on the ball. Instead of being forced into crossing the ball he then has alternatives on the edge of the box he can select. Even if the ball doesn’t go to one of these new options their presence on the edge of the box creates difficulties for the opposition. The defence can’t drop off to just mark the strikers in the box. They are suddenly split between dealing with a cross coming in and getting out to stop someone like Emre or N’Zogbia letting fly from the edge of the area. Any sort of confusion in the defence can only aid our own attempts to score. Even better is the fact that if the midfielders get to the edge of the box then there is nothing preventing them from making a delayed run into the area to attack a cross as it comes in, creating yet another option to keep the defence on their toes.

I’ve considered our options up front and I can’t find a suitable partnership that would provide reliability both in terms of being fit and scoring goals. For me, Michael Owen is the obvious choice up front when he is available. He is one of the few players in the world that given a sniff of a chance will score goals. The papers are full of nonsense about how he prefers to play with a big man striker in the mould of a Heskey or Crouch. From a tactical point of view, strike partnerships aren’t as effective in 2008 as they were back in 1996. There is less link up play between two strikers than there is between a striker and the midfielders who provide the ammunition. Look at Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. The main man upfront is the goalscorer and everyone else provides the chances, chipping in every now and again with one of their own. In fact Liverpool offer an interesting comparison to our setup in the way that Dirk Kuyt is playing in a similar role to Alan Smith. Neither are prolific goalscorers but Kuyt is operating almost as a link up man on the front line to bridge the gap between the midfield and Torres. The placement of Smith alongside Owen looks to be the foundation of trying to forge a similar bond between our goalscorer and midfielders. Of course the whole concept falls to bits when you factor in that we play with two defensive midfielders in the middle of the park, completely isolating the front two. Smith isn’t ideal for the role either as he lacks the vision and ability to make the passes required to fulfil the part. Viduka may present a better option but questions arise over his fitness and mobility. For Ameobi, see Viduka, but with the uncanny ability to foul defenders every time he’s within five feet of the ball.

A different approach could be to forget the second striker and go with a fifth midfielder in more of an imaginative free role. Arsenal have adopted this method a few times this season where an additional midfielder has supposedly been playing in behind Adebayor. It is also rather popular with AC Milan where they let Kaka express his creativity in front of the midfield without compromising the shape of the team when it comes to defending. This isn’t just a setup that works at the top tier though. Everton have elevated themselves from Premiership strugglers to European contenders on a disciplined version of this formation. The sticking point with reference to our squad is our lack of strength in depth. We have more available strikers than we do central midfielders and that would mean stretching our squad to the limit while risking upsetting the front men who can’t get into the side.

As we go into a phase of more winnable games the challenge for Keegan is to get the team playing well. So far we have seen fairly predictable 4-4-2 tactics within which the players have generally been ineffective. It’s time for Keegan to show more innovation in his tactics, make the necessary selection changes and win some matches.

Over to you Kevin !!!

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