I know how to beat Newcastle United - Chelsea and Man City's managers have told everyone

The 3-1 reverse against Chelsea marked the third time Newcastle United have tasted defeat this season and ensured they will head into their clash with Arsenal next weekend without a win in their last five league games. It was another disappointing afternoon on the road for the Magpies whose woes in the capital continue with three defeats from their last four trips to London.

Unlike on previous visits however, Newcastle were far from outclassed from minute one and actually matched their opponents for large parts of Sunday’s game. Although, it is yet another game against one of their European rivals where the Magpies have fallen short and the way they lost that game is becoming a bit of a trend in these types of games.

Their all-action style of play helped them qualify for the Champions League two seasons ago, picking up some useful wins and points on the road in doing so. Last season, although they ultimately finished 7th, their high energy performances did mean they ended the campaign with their highest tally of goals in Premier League history.

This season, however, has been completely different with struggles scoring goals one of the leading causes of their slump in results. Alexander Isak’s off-colour performances aside, their prolificacy in front of goal may not be entirely down to their own doing.

Speaking after Sunday’s game, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca admitted he instructed his players to take more time on the ball and nullify Newcastle’s ability to win the ball high and transition into attack. “There are games, especially today, where if you do a basketball game, they [will] destroy us because Newcastle are strong, they are good, they have some good players in transition.” Maresca said. 

“The reason why I was telling [my players] calm was this type of game is that before you attack, you need to make 15, 20 or 25 passes. If you want to attack with two passes, they are long distance and they can recover the ball and create and cause problems. 

“The reason why I was shouting all game ‘calm, calm, calm, make passes…’ was because against them if you do an up and down game, they’d destroy us, they’d destroy every team.”

Maresca’s words are very similar to ones spoken by Pep Guardiola in August last year following Manchester City’s win over the Magpies in the Premier League. He said: “We spoke a lot; in an open game, in a transition game, they will destroy us, so we have to make a lot of control with a lot of passes. That’s why we put a lot of players in the middle to have extra, extra passes, and in the right moment we will find the moment.”

Maresca worked alongside Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium before joining Leicester City and their similar, and ultimately successful, tactical dissection of how to play against Howe’s Newcastle United should be a warning sign that teams are beginning to figure them out. In their best season, 2022/23, they had an element of surprise and were able to exploit that game after game. That has now disappeared and teams are beginning to take note.