Can set-piece coach get Newcastle’s giants firing again?

At Newcastle United, Nick Woltemade made a quick home. in a number of ways.

After moving from Stuttgart last month and breaking club records, the 6′ 6″ forward realized for the first time in his career that he wasn’t the tallest player in the dressing room.

The German is now surrounded by other powerful figures, including William Osula, Sven Botman, Joelinton, and Dan Burn (6′ 7in).

Although not all of these players start for Newcastle at once, this formidable side still has everything needed to pose a threat on set-plays.

However, this season’s giants in front of goal have not yet experienced this.

Before facing set-piece masters Arsenal on Sunday, the Newcastle head coach said, “We have the players, we have the height, we have the delivery.” However, something is not quite clicking, and no coach should be held accountable for this. That is unfair to me.

It is instructive to note that Howe posed similar queries almost a year ago.

In the Premier League, Newcastle had just gone a whopping 50 corners without a goal, but they eventually started firing once more.

By the time Newcastle faced the Carabao Cup final of the previous year in March, Howe even recognized the value of “a set-play could win us the game… let’s go into the detail that could swing it for us” (p. 63).

After discovering Liverpool’s weaknesses in deeper areas of the box, Newcastle spent the following weeks working on free kicks and corners.

The routines at Wembley did what was most important, and they put an end to a 70-year wait for a significant domestic trophy.

The work of assistant manager Jason Tindall and set-play analyst Kieran Taylor, who contributed to Newcastle scoring a respectable 13 goals from free kicks and corners in the Premier League last year, was well illustrated in the game’s opener that day.

However, Howe had been considering hiring an additional set-play coach to help with the load for some time given the volume of work involved.

And when Martin Mark joined Newcastle in June, Midtjylland’s set-piece innovators record was unquestionable.

Even after penalties, Midtjylland’s record of set-play goals (19) and the country’s top flight counterparts (including those from other teams) last year contributed to their title triumph.

Mark’s “hunger really shined through,” according to Kristian Bak, the head of sport at Midtjylland.

He defended the notion that we should be the best in the world in that field, saying of the 32-year-old. Every day must have set-pieces, and for him, having someone like that is a gift.

This season, Newcastle’s approach has definitely changed.

In the Premier League, the Magpies only launched one long throw into the box last year. Opta claims that Howe’s side have already launched 13 long throws into the penalty area in the first five games of the new campaign.

The black-and-whites make long throws in the same way that Newcastle’s rugby-style restarts have a wider trend in the game – they have started by pressing the ball into touch from kick-off to put the opposition under pressure deep inside their own half.

Although the Premier League has an average of 3.4 long throws into the penalty area per game this year, that is a small sample size. In order to put that into context, the 2020-21 campaign average was 0.9% per game.

No wonder Thomas Tuchel, England’s manager, said “the long throw is back”?

When Liverpool visited St James’ Park last month on a night where manager Arne Slot admitted that “you cannot control a game of football if every ball is thrown into your 18-yard box,” they found out.

In such a circumstance, Newcastle actually scored their first goal. With his team-mates still forward, the full-back was able to pick out Bruno Guimaraes’ head at the far post thanks to Tino Livramento’s long throw that was headed back to him out to the left.

Then, for Newcastle’s second, goalkeeper Nick Pope stepped forward to take a free kick and drove Burn’s long ball forward before being blocked by substitute Osula.

As the 10-man Newcastle’s match grew more chaotic, two goals from two dead-ball situations brought the score to a dead-ball.

Newcastle’s challenge is finding a way to consistently cause such mayhem.

Only four Premier League teams have attempted to score more goals from set pieces than Howe’s team (15), but Newcastle have only attempted to score one goal from a corner or free kick in all competitions.

Newcastle (1.56) are currently a long way off Arsenal (3.55), who are at the top of the table in this area.

Newcastle have yet to concede from a set-piece, but Howe was the first to acknowledge that they have “work to do” in the opposite direction.

Will it take some time, then?

He said, “I hope not,” adding that. That’s not the plan, they say. The difference between set-plays and plays is what is intended. We have been doing that for a long time, in my opinion.

It’s the perfect away performance – but we didn’t when you look at games like the Bournemouth game [a goalless draw], if you play as we did, defend as you did, and win the game 1-0 on a set-play.

Arsenal, the team that hosts Sunday, has undoubtedly abused these circumstances.

Set-pieces have been the key to half of Arsenal’s Premier League goals this season, including the winner against Manchester United and the Premier League opener against Nottingham Forest and Leeds United.

In that regard, Arsenal is still the best team to defeat.

But Thomas Gronnemark, a freelance throw-in expert who worked with Mark at Midtjylland last season, has no doubts that Newcastle will eventually fall off set-plays.

He claimed that Martin is a “really talented guy.” Yes, he is very young, but I don’t care whether someone is between the ages of 15 and 80.