‘We need to’ - Eddie Howe reacts to Newcastle United’s shock statistic but plays down major change

Newcastle United are yet to score from a corner-kick this season and, as a graphic shown on Sky Sports during their defeat against Chelsea at the weekend highlighted, have taken 50 corners without scoring - the most in the top-flight. Considering the great aerial strengths and dead ball specialists available to Howe, not scoring from a corner in half a century of attempts is a pretty poor stat - and Howe was asked for his reaction to that by our sister site NewcastleWorld ahead of tonight’s clash against Chelsea.

He responded: “I wasn’t necessarily aware of that stat presented like that but I was certainly aware we haven’t scored from a corner. I think we’ve had chances, I hate to use XG and try to be clever in my response but our XG from set plays isn’t too bad - it’s competitive so we should have scored at least one. 

“I think it is a two-fold thing because I am well aware that we haven’t been as potent as we have been previously. I think we’re missing a couple of key corner takers, Tripps, for me, has been consistent source of goals for us, outstanding delivery whether that is wide free-kicks or corners and also the height we have in the team we’re missing a little bit of that height that we’ve had previously and strength of headers really. 

“I think Sven has always been a big miss for us, not so much of him being a focal target but 6ft4, 6ft5 and when you add Dan Burn and other players into the mix to go with his height you become a lot stronger team from set plays. Callum Wilson will add to that as well. 

“I think a mixture of those two things but we have to do better, it has to be a source of goals. I think it always has been for us historically so we’re constantly tweaking what we’re doing and that will probably no doubt have to evolve again.”

One potential option to improve this record and get Newcastle scoring from corners again could be to hire a set-piece coach. Most Premier League clubs now employ a dedicated coach to give them the edge from set-pieces.

Whilst Howe revealed that this is an option that has been discussed by the club, it is not something they will press on with in the near future: “It’s something we have discussed, looked at and talked with the club about,” Howe admitted. 

“I think we have a set play analyst who is very good. Kieran does a lot of work with Jason regarding our set plays, they work incredibly hard to try and improve our product from our corners and set plays but also from a defensive viewpoint which we’ve not been too bad. 

“A lot of work goes into them, we practice them a lot. Sometimes you go on runs where you score and sometimes you go on runs when you don’t but we do know it is an area we need to contribute to. It can win you games and it can really make the difference, as other teams have found out this year.”