Saturday once again exposed weaknesses within the Newcastle side and suggested that now more than ever, a tactical tinker is paramount if we are to achieve our goals for the season and continue on building as a club.

Just to clarify before you read the ideas, this is no criticism of Eddie, Jason or any of the other coaching staff it is purely me voicing an opinion of a tactical style I think would suit us. These scenarios also focus on both now and if all players at the club were fit.So, without further ado let’s begin. The first thing that the vast majority think of when you say tactics to them is a formation so that will be our starting point. Formations are not as rigid as they once were and teams will often operate with maybe two or three or even more per match. That been said, my idea is to play a 5-4-1 that transitions into a 3-4-1-2 when in possession. With the assumption everyone is fit this would mean (in my opinion) a team of Pope; Trippier Schar Botman Burn Livramento; Isak Bruno Tonali (or J7?) Gordon; Wilson. In terms of players currently fit or not suspended it would be Dubravka; Trippier Schar Botman Burn Livramento; Gordon Bruno Miley Barnes; Wilson

You may have noticed Isak was in the midfield line in the strongest lineup and this is largely due to the in possession set up of the team. So first things first Trippier and Tino move up the pitch and transition into midfield giving Gordon and Isak (for example) the option to push on with Gordon operating in a free roam number 10 (which is Gordon is unavailable would get the best out of Miggy) allowing him to play to strengths we’ve seen when he plays both up top and on the wing; which is his ability to drift collect a ball and take on a man. It would also play into his strengths of being a good passer of the ball sliding it through for the two centre forwards. Which brings me onto the Isak role which is essentially where Isak is able to push on and join Wilson as a front two rather than the one striker we are so used to. The attacking overload with Trippier and Tino pushing forward should result in us being able to cross to two or three targets in the middle and result in an increased attacking output, all whilst if we lose possession maintaining defensively stability with three back, potentially even having Schar operate slightly ahead of his defensive counterparts when in possession, operating as a deep-lying playmaker and using his passing ability to create chances.

What about out of possession and in transition I hear you ask. Essentially, we’d play like Newcastle. What I mean by that is our main defensive aspect focuses on our ability to press teams with consistent energy with each man knowing his role and I don’t want to remove that key identifying characteristic, only improve it. With Gordon and Isak moving back to wide roles and pressing the opposition wide areas which will allow Trippier and Tino to sit slightly further back to stop overlapping runs and crosses as well as allowing them to invert into the box if needed. This counteracts one of our biggest weaknesses at the minute which is Dan Burn up against quick wingers, with him having Tino to protect him he shouldn’t really be having as much difficulty with that part of his game anymore and should enable us to see centre half Dan Burn.

All in all, do I see Eddie abandoning a 4-3-3 approach anytime soon? Of course not, it’s his system and if there’s one thing we all should’ve realised about Eddie by now it’s that loyalty is his driving factor, but if he did have a tactical rejig and him and Maddog were drawing up ideas, I hope they will consider a system like this as an ideal way of improving the stability and output of a team dampened by defensive disasters.