Jason Tindall perfectly summed up Newcastle strengths and weaknesses on Eddie Howe’s Brentford debut match

Eddie Howe and his assistant Jason Tindall are preparing for the visit of Brentford on Saturday.

The match marks the first anniversary (one day late) of the Newcastle United takeover.

It also repeats the first ever Newcastle United match for Jason Tindall and Eddie Howe.

Amongst the many obstacles thrown in his way, as he attempted to turn Newcastle United around, Eddie Howe was forced to spend his first match stuck in the hotel, courtesy of Covid.

So it was his assistant in charge back on 20 November 2021, also taking care of the media duties following the management’s first NUFC match.

Jason Tindall (Assistant NUFC Head Coach) on 20 November 2021 after Newcastle 3 Brentford 3:

“I think that there were a lot of positives to take from the performance, especially from an attacking perspective and a physical perspective.

“We have a squad of exciting attacking players.

“On another day we win the game. It was a step in the right direction.

“We asked the group to play with a real intensity and to play on the front foot, and to attack and try to create chances.

“I think when you look back, the team had 23 shots on goal and nine shots on target, compared to Brentford’s four.

“I think there were a lot of positives to take but we’ve obviously conceded three goals and we were disappointed with them.

“We will look at those collectively and individually, and we’ll need to put them right on the training ground.”

Jason Tindall perfectly summing up the Newcastle strengths and weaknesses, shown up by this Eddie Howe Brentford debut match.

This Brentford match saw Newcastle United line up with…

Darlow in goal.

A back five of Murphy, Schar, Lascelles, Clark and Ritchie

Central midfielders Shelvey and Willock

A front three of Joelinton, Wilson and Saint-Maximin

I think fair to say that both Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall swiftly saw what they had inherited, indeed, Tindall’s post-match interview words didn’t leave any room for doubt…’We have a squad of exciting attacking players…the team had 23 shots on goal and nine shots on target, compared to Brentford’s four. I think there were a lot of positives to take but we’ve obviously conceded three goals and we were disappointed with them.’

Indeed, by the next match, Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall had already replaced Karl Darlow, who was at fault for two of the three Brentford goals. Though the rest of the defence had to wait a little longer for the serious attention it needed.

Interesting to see actually, that the front five players that day, are all still first choice players – Shelvey, Willock, Joelinton, Wilson, Saint-Maximin.

In contrast, apart from Fabian Schar, who Steve Bruce had totally sidelined, it has been all change for Eddie Howe and his people.

Only two months after that opening 3-3 draw with Brentford, Howe and Jason Tindall had signed a pretty much entirely new back four, with Burn, Trippier and Targett coming in alongside Fabian Schar.

Whilst this summer has seen Sven Botman added to the mix as well, plus yet another upgrade in the goalkeeping department, with the inspired £10m signing of England keeper Nick Pope.

To those who claim it has simply been huge sums of money that have turned Newcastle United around…

Worth pointing out that what really played the massive part in saving NUFC from relegation, when it came to transfer moves, it was the £28m spent in January on Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn and Matt Targett (£3m loan fee).

Still much more improvement to come from Newcastle United but the core of the club / team / squad has already had incredible work carried out, for Eddie Howe and his people this is just the start.