The Tactics Behind Arsenal 0, Newcastle 1

You know that feeling you get when you turn on Match of the Day 2 and The Toon have made the cut for the show? Multiply that feeling times 10 and that's how I get when I see that Newcastle has received the Zonal Marking treatment. It's the little things in life that can give us great joy, and the week after a 1-0 win is always joyful. Read and yes...enjoy.

Ten steps: how Newcastle coped with Arsenal in the centre of midfield (whilst playing a 4-4-2)

Playing With Chalkboards: NUFC at Everton FC

Each week we devote a bit of time to tactical review of the previous week's game. This week it falls to me and I attempt to take a dig at my compatriot, who disagreed with me a bit on my opinion on one Alan Smith, and how he hasn't done much this season. I'll admit up front that the comparison I'm about to make may be unfair, and I also admit that I have the benefit of continuing my argument with the hindsight bonus, but Cheik Tiote did replace Smith on the starting squad so allow me to submit the following:

by Guardian Chalkboards

Now before I expound, I anticipate the following arguement: Yeah but that Blackpool game was Smith's worst. So here is the passing graph from the Wolves Game:

by Guardian Chalkboards

Tiote's activity as we can measure it with these tools is just plain superior to Smith. Cheik is value in volume, Alan seems to watch the game pass him by, and spend his time not making any mistakes. Mistake free is good but we'll need higher class than that to make sure the Premiership is our home come next year. What say you now, Robert?

Tactical Match Review: Week 3

Going forward, we will be publishing two match reviews each week: one pretty soon after the match that will mostly concentrate on the story, and one at mid-week that will mostly concentrate on tactics. Since we had a two week break, we held the first mid-week review until today. We of course solicit your suggestions on how to improve this and other features here at CHN.

Going into this week's match against the Wolves, Chris Hughton didn't have very many decisions to make. His squad had just gotten done thrashing Aston Villa 6-0, so there was little question that he would trot out the same Starting XI and the same formation.

In the 4-4-1-1, funneling crosses into the middle is key. You won't see the Magpies take very many shots from strange angles, and this week was no exception. Nearly all of the 13 shots taken were close-range shots from the middle of the box created by long-range crosses from the outside. Unfortunately, the only ones getting through were coming from the right side, as Jonas Gutierrez and Jose Enrique were completely shut down on the left by Kevin Foley and Jody Craddock. Wayne Routledge, on the other hand, was extremely dangerous. His pace was troubling to the Wolf midfield and defense, and he came very close to connecting with Kevin Nolan twice. Routledge and Nolan were supported by Joey Barton who overcame several malicious challenges to be an offensive threat as well. Also supporting effectively was James Perch, who himself swung an effective cross to Andy Carroll that he was unable to get a good touch on. Carroll was a bit of an enigma. His goal on the Barton set piece made up for his egregious miss toward the end of the first half, but one can't help but wonder if it should have been a final of 2-1.

Defensively, The Toon were solid once again, save for the one lapse that led to Sylvain Ebanks-Blake's spectacular goal. There's not much to say about Steve Harper; the only shot that Wolverhampton got on target was the aforementioned goal, and there's not much you could have expected Harper to do in that situation. Perch did his best to play the ball, but with a striker to his right you can understand his hesitancy to get in front of the shot. It does seem that Mike Williamson might have been a tad bit out of position, but I think you can chalk the goal up to Ebanks-Blake simply exploiting a small gap. Aside from that momentary lapse, the only other moment that seems to stand out is the Perch tackle in the box that wasn't called. It was a risky move that paid off, but it wasn't necessary and he would do well to avoid dependence on the referee's generosity in the future. It should be mentioned that Alan Smith did well in support. He won several 50-50 balls and made key tackles down the stretch.

Passing Triangles

My Man of the Match: #7 Joey Barton
Best Passing Percentage: #10 Wayne Routledge (32/34)
Best Shooting Percentage: #4 Kevin Nolan (3/4)
Most Interceptions: #17 Alan Smith (4)
Most Successful Tackles: #6 Mike Williamson (7)