Eddie for England? Not when he’s singing this Toon
Howe’s stock soars again as Newcastle stun Potter strugglers
TO some, this may have looked like an audition of the England hopefuls. Not the players. The managers. How ironic, then, that a victory should move Eddie Howe further still from the possibility of the Three Lions post. But in defeat — a third on the spin for turgid Chelsea — Graham Potter’s odds will likely be shortened.
For should Gareth Southgate ride into the sun after the World Cup — or, more likely, find himself burnt beneath it — there is close to zero chance of Newcastle’s Howe taking residence at St George’s Park. He has been the favourite with most bookmakers for a while now, and that is because he is the outstanding candidate.
Howe, though, is fully invested in the Newcastle project, which is just about the most exciting in world football right now. The chances of him entertaining an England approach are as likely as the FA re-offering the job to Sam Allardyce.
Potter, meanwhile, is only two months into his new venture and would not want to be jumping ship for England. The flip side of that argument is that he could be pushed — after all, he is the first Blues boss to lose three consecutive league games in seven years. His Chelsea makeover continues, and we’re not talking about his own appearance. Potter’s get-up has gone from dog’s dinner to cat-walk since arriving in West London. His team, however, is degenerating into a scruffy bunch of misfits.
Newcastle’s fifth victory on the bounce — secured thanks to Joe Willock’s secondMiguel half blast — cements their place in third position, nine points clear of Potter’s eighth-placed Blues.
The Magpies may not be top of the tree come Christmas, but the fact they will not be clinging onto the last branch is something of a novelty. As is the inclusion of three of their players in the England squad headed for Qatar. And how supporters are revelling in the turnaround. When Chelsea won here 12 months ago, we should remember, it left Newcastle in 19th. Come the end here, St James’ Park was engulfed in ecstasy.
For Southgate, meanwhile, he might not have enjoyed this fullblooded affair — involving five of his players — quite as much as the Toon Army.
If the Three Lions boss was already reeling from a kick in the guts after watching James Maddison limp out of Leicester’s win at West Ham earlier in the day, the team-sheet here would have left him feeling even more nauseous, much like his squad members Callum Wilson and Raheem Sterling.
Neither was fit enough to start because of illness, with Sterling missing out completely. But what a sickener it was for Newcastle that Wilson could only make the bench after a week spent training alone.
For all of the praise showered on the likes of Bruno Guimaraes and Almiron, it is the absence of Wilson that tends to hurt Newcastle the most. Not since before last Christmas had he started a game his team have lost.
The goalless first half demonstrated just what the hosts were missing. They played well, to a point. That point being the final third, where fluid approach play quickly stiffened. They had not tested Edouard Mendy come the break, despite dominating the ball.
It was a mark of respect for Newcastle that Chelsea were happy to sit in with a back five and attempt to contain. England’s Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher were deployed further upfield for the visitors, but they were largely anonymous.
It was not until the second half that St James’ became the cauldron of rampant hysteria it had always promised to be, the end-of-term party fuelled further by an extra couple of hours of ale inside the locals. Still, though, Chelsea’s backline — by the hour it was good as eight-men strong — survived.
They were fortunate to do so on 51 minutes, when Mendy smothered at the feet of Sean Longstaff inside the goalmouth before the same player swept inches over after Newcastle recycled the loose ball. He should have scored.
So, too, should Gallagher on 67 minutes. Bruno wanted too long on the ball, allowing substitute Christian Pulisic to steal. It ran kindly for Gallagher, unmarked 16 yards out, but his whipped curler was flipped around the post by England colleague Nick Pope.
It would have stung, then, that another Englishman — and one not even close to Southgate’s squad — should show Gallagher exactly how to convert a not dissimilar chance.
Willock was already the home side’s best player, out-running Gallagher and Mount in midfield. And so it was from one such burst that he steamed onto Almiron’s pass and finished first time from 20 yards.
It proved enough to win it for Newcastle, who were serenaded into the night on full-time. Howe isn’t giving up this gig in a hurry, even if England do come calling.
● A SMALL group of Newcastle supporters opposed to the club’s Saudi Arabian ownership protested outside St James’ Park before the game against Chelsea.
Organised by ‘NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing’, the group said: ‘It’s not a protest against Newcastle fans, we are Newcastle fans and we love Newcastle.
‘We’re protesting against the 80 per cent owners and how they’re using our club for sportswashing. They want people to look the other way.’