What Yasir Al-Rumayyan did after Newcastle United v Nottingham Forest as club ‘plot’ next move

A 14-minute blitz during the first-half saw Eddie Howe’s side come back from an early Callum Hudson-Odoi strike to take a 4-1 lead into the break. Two second half goals from the visitors and a lacklustre 45 minutes after half-time from Newcastle United made it an uncomfortable afternoon on Tyneside, despite them coming away with a hugely important three points.

Securing their first Premier League win at St James’ Park since mid-January and reacting from their hugely disappointing 4-0 defeat against Manchester City last weekend was exactly what Howe and co would have liked from their weekend’s work - although they will be left with plenty to ponder. Here, we take a look at five things of note from Newcastle United’s victory over Nottingham Forest.

Howe’s brave post-City trio call

After their drubbing at the Etihad Stadium, Howe revealed his anger, with many fans bitterly disappointed after a lacklustre display from the Magpies. With over a week to rest, review and react to that, three big calls were made by the head coach for the visit of Forest.

First of those saw Tino Livramento come in for Kieran Trippier, in a decision that many fans had expected Howe to make after the latter was subbed off at half-time of last weekend’s defeat. Lewis Miley also came into the starting lineup, with Sandro Tonali dropping to the bench after suffering an injury during the week.

Sunday marked Miley’s first Premier League start of the season, with the teenager putting in an assured display in the middle of the park. A wonderful strike, one that hauled his team back into the game after Hudson-Odoi’s opener, justified his selection instantly.

But the biggest call of them all was Howe’s decision to drop Martin Dubravka in favour of Nick Pope. Dubravka, who signed a contract extension with the club this week, had shipped eleven goals in his last four Premier League appearances, but his omission from Sunday’s starting XI was still a big shock to many.

Pope, meanwhile, hadn’t played in the league since being injured against Brentford in December - the game prior to Newcastle’s nine-match winning streak. Ultimately, with three goals conceded - including the opener which saw the former Burnley man caught out of position - there is no obvious answer to who will start at Anfield on Wednesday.

Sandro Tonali injury blow

As teamsheets were handed out at St James’ Park, there was no Tonali listed in the starting XI - a big blow for Howe’s side considering the importance of the midfielder. A Joe Willock-Bruno Guimaraes-Miley trio looked like a risk against an in-form Forest team, but for 45 minutes it worked a treat.

Howe admitted post-match that he didn’t want to risk Tonali, but needed his legs in midfield in order to control the tempo of the match as it began to slip away from them. He should be fit to play at Anfield on Wednesday.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan watches on

Among the 52,223 in attendance on Sunday was Newcastle United chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Al-Rumayyan is not a regular at St James’ Park, with Sunday’s match marking his first visit to St James’ Park in 2025.

Post-match, Al-Rumayyan made his way from the director’s box to the players’ tunnel with Howe revealing what he told the club’s chairman in a brief exchange following the full-time whistle. “A couple of swear words from me about the game, I think,” Howe laughed. “But he was in the same emotional place where I was, so it was a nice moment.”

Al Rumayyan’s visit to Tyneside is a timely one with the future of St James’ Park and the club’s training ground making headlines in recent weeks. PIF, who own over 80% of the club, are investing in sports with Newcastle United their first major investment into football following the takeover of the club in October 2021.

And Al-Rumayyan was quick to namecheck Newcastle when discussing PIF’s investment in sport at the FII Priority summit during the week. “So, [the] sports sector is one of the 13 different sectors that we're really focusing on as part of our strategy,” he said. “The first thing that we've done was in football - or ‘soccer’ - [was] we bought a Newcastle football club and we did extremely well.”

Newcastle United at their Howe best

At their very best under Howe, Newcastle United are a ruthless team. They showed that again on Sunday with their 14-minute quadruple salvo.

It was a breathless quarter of an hour from the hosts and one that Forest simply could not live with - and there’s not too many teams in the country, nor on the planet, that could live with them in that form. Particularly at St James’ Park.

Their second half performance, though, was one of the very worst of the season. It was that bad.

Inconsistency from week to week is a problem. Such a polarising performance within 90 minutes is a huge issue.

But a win is a win. And what a big win it could turn out to be.

Champions League boost

In a week that saw England’s coefficient boosted by defeats to Italian sides in European competition and sides around them in the Premier League table falling to defeat on Saturday, it was of paramount importance that the Magpies were able to come away with three points.

A defeat would have seen them end the weekend nine points behind Forest - a potentially insurmountable gap even at this stage of the season. However, they now sit within striking distance and just three points behind them.

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