The invert convert and Newcastle United

Wednesday night saw Newcastle United qualify for their third Carabao Cup semi-final in four seasons.

If we negotiate our way past Manchester City, Newcastle will have qualified for as many finals in that time too.

Heady stuff especially considering we had only been to Wembley once in this competition in our entire history, prior to Eddie Howe’s appointment.

Newcastle United have still not fallen behind in a single game in this competition since the 2023 final either.

It was a decent performance against Fulham. We were far from our best and we didn’t have an abundance of shots, but I think we controlled a lot of the game and although shots weren’t plentiful, potential chances were.

There are a couple of things I wanted to discuss about the game and really it’s just an expansion of the instant reaction I gave on the night.

Firstly, Yoane Wissa’s return to fitness has given us the weapon we’ve missed so dearly. His introduction to our playing squad could well see an upturn in performances and a new dimension brought into our style of play.

I think Nick Woltemade is a class act and I don’t believe we’ve truly learned how to operate best with him in the team yet. We are but four months into his time here and will have plenty of opportunity to get this right.

Wissa gives us more of what we had last season. He is quick to pressure the goalie and defenders, forcing hurried clearances and hopefully more turnovers in possession.

He has that killer instinct around the box. From his fortunate but well taken goal, he was in and around the six yard box on several other occasions. The pull backs and crosses weren’t quite there each time but, on another day, he could have had a hat-trick of tap-ins.

This is what I meant when I said there were plentiful potential chances.

We put lots of balls into decent areas and sometimes broke the lines but didn’t get the final pass quite right. Wissa was constantly alert. His movement and positioning were top drawer. Considering he’s not even currently fully fit or at optimum sharpness, that bodes extremely well for us. In time we could see Wissa as the new main beneficiary of that wonderful enterprise Murphy’s Supplies.

The really interesting thing about Wednesday night was the tactical shift. You see regularly with teams like Man City and Liverpool, their full-backs drifting into midfield when in possession, to give an extra option and discombobulate the opposition.

Both Livramento and Miley were doing this Wednesday. Livramento, especially, was borderline recreating total football. He was bombing down the left, wandering into the centre and even finding himself joining in on the right at times.

It wasn’t always beneficial. He didn’t make the best decision or execute what he was attempting every time, but it was a promising first attempt at an altered role. Miley did similar from right-back, moving into the centre to give us an extra body in midfield. He wasn’t quite as expansive as Tino, but it seemed both had new instructions.

This left the two centre-backs alone to mop up danger, but often Bruno came deep as well, and he was constantly busting a gut to get back when Fulham countered.

Is this something we’re likely to see more of?

Eddie Howe gets criticised for only having one way of playing. It is a stubborn 4-3-3 and that’s it, his critics would say.

I don’t think this view gives him much credit. He does have his preferred way of playing but it’s not the only thing he ever does.

He has played with a back five and we have seen him make effective tweaks previously. Schar’s free role, man marking Declan Rice in the second leg of the semis last year, anyone?

I think this new system, with inverted full-backs, could be something we see a lot more of. It would be good to see Eddie Howe test out a 4-2-3-1 at some point, with a number 10 drifting behind our striker. We’ve got several players that could be effective as the number 10. The obvious options for me being Barnes, Woltemade and Bruno.

With two strikers of completely different profiles, we need to have multiple ways of setting up to get the best out of both of them. Could we even see the pair up front together in a throwback big man and little man combination?

Lewis Hall wasn’t available on Wednesday but I have no doubts he could comfortably do this inverted full-back job. I can’t think of many pairs of full-backs that are better designed to be able fulfil such a role than Hall and Livramento.

I think the one thing that is missing is a second defender with pace. Schar, Burn and Botman are all reliable defenders. However, on the counter, with our full-backs committed to the attack, their lack of speed could be a liability.

Bruno isn’t the quickest but did a good job dropping and protecting them. I think Tonali would be the most proficient for that role long-term. His speed, power, determination and durability make him the ideal deep midfielder and would be able to balance that lack of mobility from some of our backline.

I doubt this new tactic will be used every game, especially now there are so many defensive injuries to manage. But I think it could be a sign of ways Newcastle United may look to expand our playing style in the future.

If United could get in another defender of Thiaw’s profile in the summer, I think we’d be perfectly equipped to utilise this playing style more regularly.

You can follow the author on Twitter @billymerlin