Here's a round-up of your Newcastle United evening headlines on Wednesday, March 2.
Eddie Howe half-time team talk shows Newcastle have evolved from parking the bus
Newcastle United have quietly shaken off their tag of parking the bus from recent seasons under Eddie Howe. In United's first season back in the Premier League it was pretty much universally accepted that Rafa Benitez, due to financial constraints, didn't have much of an option other than to play with a five-man defence and wait patiently for opportunities on the counter-attack.
Benitez was starting to evolve in the club's second season in the top-flight in 2018/19 after signing Miguel Almiron and playing further up the pitch. Under Steve Bruce, the former Manchester United captain vowed to play "on the front-foot" on a balmy night in Edinburgh after beating Hibernian 3-1.
But by autumn, and after a 5-0 defeat at Leicester, Bruce told reporters that the squad had grown too accustomed to playing with a five-man defence and it was going to take time to get them to play more attacking football. This resulted in some heavy criticism for Bruce not least because he had almost £80million of attacking talent at his disposal in Allan Saint-Maximin, Joelinton and Almiron.
Right up until Bruce's last few games, Newcastle played with five at the back but under Howe they have operated mainly with a 3-4-3 or 4-3-3 formation. Playing with less fear has coincided with Newcastle's seven match unbeaten run in the Premier League and the steady climb to 14th no less.
Even a victory over Brighton & Hove Albion won't be enough for Newcastle to move up the table any further this weekend. But they can certainly cement that 14th place spot if they win and others slip up elsewhere.
Ryan Taylor's brilliant response to Newcastle supporters' Kieran Trippier 'over the wall' chant
Ryan Taylor has joked that Kieran Trippier's free-kicks against Everton and Aston Villa did not go over the wall, after Newcastle supporters adapted his song for the Magpies new boy. Kieran Trippier became the first player since Taylor to score from a direct free-kick in consecutive games.
The Newcastle right-back scored an 80th minute free-kick against Frank Lampard's Everton to seal three points against the Toffee's, before scoring the winner against Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa five days later. Since Trippier's arrival from Atletico Madrid, the Magpies are unbeaten in the Premier League and have transformed their season.
The last man to score in consecutive games from free-kick was indeed Taylor, with a goal against Scunthorpe United and a strike against Sunderland in the Tyne and Wear derby that earned him cult status.
Speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle's show Total Sport, Taylor said: "I remember both of them. One was Scunthorpe away wasn't it. Obviously two days before it was Sunderland away. Mine both went over the wall.
"Kieran's are going round the wall, I'm not having it. That second one was an own goal, come on [Trippier's free-kick against Aston Villa]."
Chris Waddle says Newcastle owners have 'no excuse' to not deliver on investment promise
Chris Waddle, Alan Shearer, Paul Gascoigne, Peter Beardsley and Michael Carrick. That's just some of the players that have made it to the Premier League from the north-east.
However, there's no denying that Newcastle are far from superior when it comes to developing youngsters for their first team set-up. Arch rivals Sunderland and Middlesbrough both had a better reputation when it comes to homegrown players.
Nonetheless, this is an area that Amanda Staveley and the Newcastle owners promised to improve. The training ground at Darsley Park is in desperate need of an upgrade and Waddle says the new owners have 'no excuse' to not deliver on their promise to invest.
Waddle told Compare.bet: "Oh it’s massive, the training ground needs to be done up. They’ve sat on it for a while. I look back, over the years when I was growing up as a kid, I didn’t live too far from the ground, but the youth team never really produced players.
"Probably the best talent they had was when they won the Youth Cup with Gazza. But realistically out of that lot, it was only Gazza who went on to become a big player. The youth setup at Newcastle has never been any good."
Wor Flags set to take over the East Stand against Brighton as they urge everyone to do 'their bit'
Newcastle United supporters sitting in the East Stand of St James’ Park are being urged to make full use of the flags some supporters will find left in their seat ahead of Saturday’s game with Brighton.
Supporters’ group Wor Flags have been busy planning their next display and after requests on social media have decided to venture into the East Stand. In recent weeks displays have been held in the Leazes End and the groups’ traditional home, the Gallowgate, and both stands will once again form part of a big show ahead of kick-off.
Those sitting in the East Stand will be handed the black and white wavers, while those in both the Leazes and Gallowgate - if everything goes to plan - will hold up a display of support for the club and Eddie Howe.
A spokesman for Wor Flags told Chronicle Live about the plans: “We’ve never ventured as far as the East Stand in our displays and with such a big game coming up, we thought 'why not'? The East Stand will be packed with flags, both small and big, and we’d encourage anyone with a flag in their vicinity to wave one.
“The Gallowgate and the Leazes never let us down, and we’re sure the East Stand won’t either. The Leazes has been a big help to us in expanding the displays, and on Saturday we have something prepared that’ll include everyone in the Gallowgate and the Leazes."
Newcastle United handed double boost overnight without kicking a ball
Newcastle United's Premier League survival hopes were handed a major boost after Burnley slipped up at home to Leicester City last night. The 2-0 defeat maintains a four-point gap between the Magpies and Sean Dyche's side and means the gap can now be stretched to a healthy seven points this weekend.
Were United to beat Brighton & Hove Albion at St James' Park and Chelsea beat Burnley at Turf Moor it would be another big step towards safety. Toon boss Eddie Howe has kept a cool stance towards the short-term future at Newcastle and insists it has to be about focusing on the next game.
He said: "It's going to be tight right till the end. We don't want to be involved, we want to elevate ourselves away from trouble as quickly as possible, but there's no guarantee on that.
"We're in a really good run of form, we want to maintain this for as long as possible, but we have some tough fixtures to come."
After a night of action in the FA Cup and Premier League, Newcastle's schedule was also eased by the success of Crystal Palace against Stoke City in round five The March 20 fixture with the Eagles has now been postponed and will take place at a later date.
