The latest proof that the commitment of these Newcastle United players cannot be questioned

The commitment of the Newcastle United players?

To me that cannot be questioned.

If you need definitive proof of that, how committed Newcastle United’s players are to the cause, to Eddie Howe and the NUFC fans, check this out.

Interesting to see this different angle from the Newcastle United players (and their opponents).

There are so many factors that determine the outcome of games and sometimes you show up and the team plays really well, other times they don’t.

What you always want to see, however, is that Newcastle United’s players are fully committed, willing to work harder than the opposition to try and achieve victory.

Here are Newcastle United’s last fifteen matches in the Premier League and the distances covered by each team in total (all stats via BBC Sports):

Newcastle United players 111.14 km and Burnley players 109.81 km

Newcastle United players 116.83 km and Man U players 113.10 km

Newcastle United players 116.91 km and Chelsea players 108.91 km

Newcastle United players 109.91 km and Sunderland players 106.52 km

Newcastle United players 114.04 km and Burnley players 108.91 km

Newcastle United players 112.30 km and Spurs players 110.05 km

Newcastle United players 116.39 km and Everton players 111.74 km

Newcastle United players 112.40 km and Manchester City players 113.64 km

Newcastle United players 111.01 km and Brentford players 114.13 km

Newcastle United players 116.85 km and West Ham players 114.08 km

Newcastle United players 114.50 km and Fulham players 110.21 km

Newcastle United players 115.16 km and Brighton players 113.59 km

Newcastle United players 109.45 km and Forest players 106.43 km

Newcastle United players 112.94 km and Arsenal players 115.08 km

Newcastle United players 113.23 km and Bournemouth players 109.03 km

As you can see, in twelve of the last fifteen Premier League games (BBC Sport previously did not show these stats of total distance covered for each match), Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United players have comfortably outpaced the opposition, collectively covering more distance.

Workrate is the least fans can expect.

In the three of the fifteen Premier League matches where the opposition covered more distance, two of them were against the two best ball-handlers in the division. Newcastle United forced themselves to commit more against both Arsenal and Manchester City, somewhat reducing the distances the players covered. Against Man City there was anyway a collective difference of just over a km. Newcastle then played against Brentford with one player less for quite some time, after Burn was sent off.

One of my biggest hates is when NUFC fans accuse Newcastle United players of not trying. Maybe we’ve had it happen in the past, but I honestly don’t see that in the Newcastle United team that Eddie Howe has.

Sure, Newcastle sometimes have players who don’t play well, or lack a bit of confidence, lack form and so on.

But I certainly don’t think it’s a lack of effort.