When it comes to the Premier League, how do you know if your club has something special?
For me, that’s the moment when the fans of all the other clubs know all about it and have a strong (positive!) opinion.
Like this midfield trio from Newcastle United.
Put it this way: whoever faces United in the next match, if you asked that club’s fans to name Newcastle United’s first-choice midfield, very few of them couldn’t name Bruno, Joelinton and Sandro Tonali.
Newcastle United played a total of 48 games in the last season (2024/25) and Bruno played 47 games, Tonali 45, Joelinton 37.
This Newcastle United midfield trio was crucial to Eddie Howe’s Champions League qualification, with perhaps their best ever game together taking place on March 16, 2025.
Newcastle United not only won the Carabao Cup, they completely dominated Liverpool and should have won three games to four. That performance and trophies were built on an excellent display from the NUFC midfield trio, who together totally overwhelmed the much-vaunted Liverpool midfield that carried them to a runaway Premier League title.
Anyway, back to Newcastle United’s midfield
This season there has been a slight change in what people sometimes say, opposition fans.
After matches, opposition fans and neutrals increasingly say things along the lines of; “I thought this Newcastle United midfield would be the best in the Premier League…”
The way I see it is that this Newcastle United midfield trio was generally excellent last season. On their day they were as good as any rival midfield in the Premier League, invariably better than the opposition midfield on any given day.
For me, this Newcastle United midfielder can still be as good as any player in the top flight, sometimes better than anything else. However, we must accept that this will not be as regularly the case as last season.
A bit like the season in general (eight wins, three draws, five defeats) so far, this first-choice midfield trio has reflected these results. All a bit up and down, highs and lows, often somewhere between great and not so great.
I think Tonali has definitely been the most consistent, while Bruno is the next best in the consistency ratings, while Joelinton is the most prone to a bit of in and out. He was excellent in midweek, adding a goal to a very good personal performance against Athletic Bilbao. But other times he just hasn’t been watching the races.
I would say that so far this season it has been a case of one or two midfield players reaching a level similar to their normal in individual matches, but not all three of them together, and not dominating the entire match that they are capable of. Perhaps all three clicked together for periods of games, but not as we have seen in the past when we pieced together series of games where they combined effortlessly to win the midfield battle.
I think a lot of factors have come together and of course the sheer number of matches is an important thing that cannot be ignored.
Playing with the same Newcastle United midfield trio every game is simply not feasible.
I would say that Jacob Ramsey’s injury has been a big blow as I think he has been brought in mainly to take the pressure off of playing this same midfield trio all the time, especially when it comes to giving Eddie Howe the freedom to not feel obliged to pick Joelinton so often.
With Ramsey missing, Joelinton has played too much and both he and the team in general have been affected.
I think Lewis Miley has done well this season, while I really like Jacob Ramsey’s look. Having an extra player who is willing to carry the ball and also with a bit of pace is a big plus. I thought Joe Willock was very good against Spurs in the cup, his best performance for a long time. Some Newcastle fans seem determined not to give him any honor or another chance, but I think he can be an asset this season and we indeed need people like him to step up and help United with so many games. Willock is also someone who can carry the ball and move quickly. If he can finally get over the injury, fitness and form issues that have plagued him for so long, he could be the proverbial new signing.
Winning football matches builds confidence in the whole team and with six wins in the last eight games the players will hopefully have a better collective feeling that they can excel and potentially do great things this season.
With many more performances such as that bizarre performance in West Ham last weekend, when all the players had an off day, nothing will of course be achieved. It felt contagious as the entire team struggled to maintain possession, repeatedly giving the ball away and finding themselves in second place. Newcastle United’s midfield was a major reason why NUFC never got going in that 3-1 defeat.
I think winning the midfield battle in every match is so important. If you can do that, your chances of winning the match will be greatly increased.
As I said before, this Newcastle United midfield can still be at least as good as anything else, but they need to click sooner or later for this to be a successful season.
No better time than today, away at Brentford, for Eddie Howe’s team and especially the midfield to really come together, a first away PL win of the season and with it seven wins from the last nine games in all competitions.
We can make the rest a lot easier as we face this latest international breakthrough.
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