It is always dangerous to read too much into pre-season friendlies, of course, particularly against non-league opposition. However, Eddie Howe will have taken a lot from Newcastle United's 5-1 win against Gateshead on Saturday.
Nick Pope, Sven Botman, Fabian Schar, Bruno Guimaraes and Chris Wood may not have been introduced just yet, following the internationals' extended break, but Howe still got to look at 21 players after fielding an almost completely different XI in each half. In fact, only centre-back Kell Watts, who had a productive loan spell at Wigan last season, completed a full 90 minutes in the behind-closed-doors clash at Newcastle's training ground.
The intensity in which Watts and his team-mates played with pleased Howe, who hates to even lose a pre-season friendly, and Newcastle cut loose as Gateshead tired late on, scoring three goals in the final 10 minutes. Yes, the opposition has to be taken into account, but Newcastle have been working on hitting teams on the break from a compact shape in training this past week and that work was evident late on.
