1) Fearless Howe has Newcastle on the rise
Pep Guardiola’s football is not for everyone – some prefer a more emotional, aggressive style – but what cannot be argued is that it is the hardest style to beat. Though possession is not everything, against a team that has so much of it, an opponent needs to be almost perfect to get a result, and in the hour after they went behind, Newcastle were close to that, producing a scintillating display of power, bravery and imagination – for which Eddie Howe deserves much praise. It’s one thing saying you plan for your team to attack the defending champions with aggression, another to actually mean it, and something else entirely to convince your players that they’re good enough to pull it off. But Howe did all of that, presiding over a performance that will resonate throughout the league, showing other, more fearful – and for now, at least, more expensively assembled teams – what can be done with the right attitude, while also putting them on notice that Newcastle are coming. Daniel Harris
