Big decisions face Howe in many areas as he steps up planning for new campaign
BOSS HAS AWFUL LOT TO CONTEMPLATE
SUCH is the workaholic within Eddie Howe you wonder if he needs a summer holiday to replenish body and soul like most everyday mortals.
Nevertheless, back he comes as the action is about to rev up.
Newcastle are due to return for pre-season training on Friday – is it that time already? – with the stepping stones to a new campaign coming up at every turn.
July 26 brings a friendly away to Benfica, July 29-30 home back-toback games against Atalanta and Athletico Bilbao and on August 6 Nottingham Forest are here for the big points.
So while the transfer merry-goround, which unbelievably only officially started twirling 19 days ago, picks up a’pace what major team decisions await the manager’s thumbs -up or down?
Who starts in goal? What is his preferred centre-back pairing? Who are his picks for the middle three?
Who plays centre-forward? What about the wide positions?
Some decisions are much easier than others, of course.
Signings will inevitably continue to come in, although whether they will be completed in time for the big kick-off is very much another matter - but as things stand here we go.
Barring mishaps in the warm-up friendlies (heaven forbid) Nick Pope will be in goal ahead of the everloyal Martin Dubravka.
Pope moved to protect his England status among other things and will be armed with reassurances he starts in between the wood. After that it is up to him.
Dubravka has had a terrific career at NUFC and it certainly is far from over - but time waits for no man as Freddie Woodman has just found out.
This is a new challenge from the back of the grid.
Ideally, ambitious clubs need two top competitors for every position, which is what United are trying to achieve.
Centre of defence? Favourites for the nod are a couple who rival Grey’s Monument in terms of blocking out the sunlight.
Sven Botman and Dan Burn are the last two brought in so are men of choice, although both would say privately their preferred position is left of a two.
However, if a couple of right-footers can be paired elsewhere on the park surely two left-footers in harness is not too unnatural. Howe has used players on their ‘wrong’ side in the wide positions more than once.
The emergence of the B Boys brings a further decision for United’s boss to make.
How can Jamaal Lascelles be skipper when he is not an automatic starter? For me he cannot.
Maybe he could be club captain but not team captain for the season.
The two can run in tandem. Kieran Trippier is a much better bet on match day.
As for the midfield three, the debate must be about who gets the third slot alongside Bruno and Joelinton. The two Brazilians, mixing graft and grace, surely are stand-out picks even if a new signing does arrive. Who sits at their shoulder from the rest of the current crop is where the fun starts.
Jonjo Shelvey, Joe Willock, or Sean Longstaff?
Maybe even Elliot Anderson. Form can decide. Take yer choice.
Up top is has to be Callum Wilson if the cotton wool used to protect him from danger does its job. He has no competition – at least not until A.N. Other walks across the welcome mat and the sooner that happens the better.
Out wide they are lining up for another audition ... the moody and unpredictable Allan Saint-Maximim, scurrying Ryan Fraser, the South American Mo Farrah Miggy Almiron and permanent back-up artist Jacob Murphy. Howe about that?
Good enough? Probably not, which is why another wide man is
on United’s shopping list. ASM remains as always the intriguing figure. He really splits opinion like a knife through butter.
So much depends not just on ability but on mood. If he is in the right frame of mind or not.
Of course his basic game needs an extra polish – his decision-making on the ball and his execution.
Whether he is negative or positive dictates what the team gets.
Saint-Maximin must guard against becoming another Hatem Ben Arfa, a fellow Frenchman chock- full of ability and self-belief who never quite reached the heights he saw as his destiny. Truly great players may be convinced they can soar to the moon and the stars but they graft like billy ho to make certain it happens. Performers like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Those who flare and fall are somehow convinced – or have been wrongly told – that talent is enough.
It is essential but the blind adulation of some supporters who hero worship occasional flamboyance must never cloud personal judgement.
Consistency is the difference between the greats and those who grate.
When I consider the rest of the wide attackers I see Almiron and Murphy as back-up at best and, while Fraser has improved his desire and body language, he still has to improve his ability to stay fit.
The arrival of a striker plus winger and/or midfielder will greatly change the landscape so there is plenty for Howe and fans to contemplate during the countdown days.
Ambitious clubs need two top competitors for each position, which is what United are trying to achieve