Premier League team introductions: A season of truth awaits Newcastle. Will it confirm that they are definitely among England’s elite?

Newcastle United climbed up to 4th place last season, which guarantees them participation in the Champions League. Now, however, they have to defend this amazing result, helped in part by the ineptitude of the other top teams, and prove to the world that they are definitely back among the elite.

Coach

Eddie Howe is already well established at Newcastle, indeed he has already guided the Magpies to 74 games, with a record of 38 wins – 19 draws – 17 losses. The new owners have chosen the English coach very rightly for a gradual growth without some massive investment in overpriced stars.

However, now the 45-year-old coach faces the hardest task in which many of his colleagues will fail – to confirm previous good results and also to succeed in Europe. That is also why it will now become clear if Howe really has what it takes to field a top team that wants to win major trophies.

Goalkeeper

Nick Pope should continue to be the number one, and although he is not a big star, the 30-year-old Englishman is a goalkeeper that his teammates can lean on in any situation. In partnership with them, Newcastle had the best defence in the Premier League last season along with Manchester City. That’s saying something!

Defence

As mentioned, 33 league goals conceded is an amazing number. However, Newcastle didn’t strengthen the defence in any major way with only the talented Tino Livramento coming in on the right flank.

What to change about such a great defence, you might say? However, this could backfire grossly for the Magpies as the centre of defence in particular is not wide enough for the club to play in the Champions League.

Moreover, key players are already over 30 in most cases and if injuries come, Howe will have big problems that Jurgen Klopp could talk about in recent times.

Backup

The midfield hasn’t changed much either, with only Sandro Tonali coming in from AC Milan. In this case, it will certainly be interesting to see how the £64million signing performs, as the Premier League has already churned out a number of interesting talents at this position.

However, what can be expected is that the 23-year-old Italian will form a duo with Bruno Guimaraes, who was magnificent last season. Howe will then probably put Joelinton alongside them most often. The centre of midfield will certainly be very strong, and not just because of these three names.

Attack

The attack, rather surprisingly, hasn’t seen many changes, with only Harvey Barnes from Leicester strengthening the club. The lethal trident has also been doubled by Howe and quite well, so there might not be a problem even if one of the attacking players gets injured.

Newcastle have a good team built on not-so-significant personalities who collectively put in great performances. It’s just that now they have to cope with a much higher match load when they play in the Champions League.

It is for this reason that I would personally expect to see an improvement in both defence and attack. The Magpies, however, their gradual build up is working out. Personally, though, I don’t expect this team, unless the other teams fall into crisis again, to be able to play top four again.

On the other hand, if Newcastle were to bring in a few more star reinforcements, they would unnecessarily draw too much attention to themselves, like Chelsea did last time, so any failure in the new season may not be a failure after all.

However, the European Cup matches and the pressure to repeat the great result from last season will be a great experience for the whole team, including coach Howe, at least in their journey to the top.

The ideal line-up

Pope
Trippier – Schär – Botman – Burn
Joelinton – Guimaraes – Tonali
Almirón – Isak – Barnes

Positioning tip: 5th place

Source: Newcastle, Transfermarkt, Premier League