Newcastle United players were shown footage of some of the Entertainers' finest moments by Eddie Howe in a team meeting last week in a bid to inspire them. However, Newcastle had to show a very different side of their game at Brighton on Saturday to come away with a point after the visitors kept another clean sheet in a goalless draw at the Amex.
Champions Man City are now the only other side in the Premier League yet to concede a goal after Newcastle kept shutouts in their opening two games of the season. For context, Newcastle shipped six goals in their first two matches last season against West Ham and Aston Villa and it took the Magpies until December to even register their first clean sheet in the top-flight.
Saturday was a reminder of Newcastle's need for attacking reinforcements, after Brighton had seven times as many shots on target, but Howe's side will continue to pick up points with this gritty backline. In fact, what was once a weakness is now the team's undoubted strength following the arrival of Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier, Matt Targett, Dan Burn and Sven Botman in the last seven months.
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There was once a time where Newcastle's performances dropped if a regular starter got injured but when Targett was ruled out of the trip to Brighton with a dead leg, Howe simply moved Burn across to left-back and handed Botman his full debut. This unit had never played together before in the Premier League - Burn had not even previously played a game at left-back for Newcastle - but, tellingly the Magpies still came away with a clean sheet.
Although the visitors certainly rode their luck, in years gone by, Newcastle's defence would have crumbled under such pressure in the stifling heat. However, Howe's side managed to, somehow, keep Brighton at bay after goalkeeper Nick Pope made superb saves to deny Adam Lallana and Solly March and Kieran Trippier and Fabian Schar both cleared efforts off the line.
It was a real contrast to a week previously when Newcastle put in their most dominant performance in years against newly-promoted Nottingham Forest. Steve Cooper's side did not even manage a shot on target.
However, there will be times where Newcastle will need to scrap and dig in over the coming months like they did at Brighton. As Howe said earlier this month, the Newcastle boss is prepared to do 'whatever it takes' to pick up points.
These players already know how to do that, after rallying to pull clear of danger last season, and Howe has a leadership group in place to ensure standards do not drop. Burn, for example, urged his team-mates to up the intensity during one keep-ball drill in the warm-up on Saturday as he repeatedly clapped his hands. As the players lined up in the tunnel, a few minutes later, it was Burn leading the shouts of "Come on, let's go!" on his return to the Amex.
Burn was a vocal presence throughout on the left-hand side, even alerting Allan Saint-Maximin to the unmarked Sven Botman at one point after the Frenchman picked up the ball, and Trippier was similarly loud on the opposite flank. The stand-in skipper was constantly in his team-mates ears, even during the water breaks, and showed his experience when tempers flared before the hour mark.
Joelinton was furious with Solly March after the Brighton wing-back ambitiously attempted to lift the Brazilian up off the ground after shepherding the ball out for a goal kick. Joelinton and March squared up and started pushing each other and it was Trippier who broke up the fight after others got involved.
Trippier, knowing that Joelinton could get himself sent off, took the midfielder away from the situation and quietly had a word with him. Trippier then led Joelinton over to referee Graham Scott to be booked alongside March before throwing an arm around each player and appearing to encourage them to shake hands in front of the official.
As the game restarted, Trippier pointed to his temples, warning his team-mates to stay smart, before motioning to them to calm down by lowering his arms. These little interventions add up over the course of a season. On Saturday, they helped the visitors earn a point.
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