All the changes at Newcastle United.
Especially when it comes to… bench strength.
It is an undeniable fact that today countless games in the Premier League (and in other competitions) are decided by players coming off the bench.
Another factor from which the usual suspects benefit enormously.
The clubs with the most money can spend the most on transfer fees and wages for the players who end up on the bench, but also those on the field.
By far the biggest difference in quality and how much they cost is usually much more apparent on the two benches than in the starting XI when Premier League clubs meet.
No wonder the half-dozen Premier League clubs were the ones desperately pushing to get as many as nine substitutes on the bench and be able to use five of them.
The clubs with the strongest squads benefit enormously from this and are able to rotate half of their ten outfield starters across all positions in each match. Although usually the big advantage for these ‘elite clubs’ is that if things go badly they can put up to five new attacking and midfield players on the pitch if they lose/draw. With those players usually being much closer to the quality of those they replace, than those other Premier League clubs who don’t have the same depth and quality in their squad.
With Newcastle United’s squad short and injuries and fitness issues to boot, just look at the situation Eddie Howe faced during Champions League qualifying five and six months ago.
Here are the substitutions Eddie Howe made in the last six Premier League games of the 2024/25 season (the minute each substitution was made is in brackets) and the substitutions made by the opposition in the same games:
Aston Villa 4 Newcastle 1
Gordon (65), Krafth (76), Willock (76), Wilson (76), Targett (82)
Ramsey, Rashford, Onana, Malen, Barkley
Newcastle3Ipswich0
Miley (67), Gordon (67), Osula (77), Wilson (77), Botman (83)
Godfrey, Hirst, Luongo, Chaplin
Brighton 1 Newcastle 1
Gordon (56), Wilson (74), Krafth (90+7), Botman (90+7)
Lamptey, Ayari, Veltman, Gomez, Gruda
Newcastle2Chelsea 0
Miley (55), Osula (64) Krafth (64), Willock (76)
James, Gusto, Sancho
Arsenal 1 Newcastle 0
Miley (64), Osula (64), Krafth (64), Willock (76)
Calafiori, Havertz, Tierney, Jorginho
Newcastle 0 Everton 1
Willock (46), Trippier (63), Wilson (70), Osula (88)
Duocoure, Calvert-Lewin, McNeil
Conclusions
With the exception of Ipswich, I’d say all of these other Premier League clubs had better benches than Newcastle United. Yes, even Everton.
It wasn’t just an end of season thing either, it became even more obvious then.
Callum Wilson was very poor and looked on his way out, Anthony Gordon was coming back from a serious injury and was struggling for form and fitness, Joe Willock was in injury and fitness of his own and rarely showed any form, Botman could not get fully fit and desperately needed a summer to get back to good shape. An 18 year old Lewis Miley and then Targett, the inexperienced Osula and also Krafth. who always gave everything, but not the quality needed in these key matches.
When Newcastle United were not at their best, last season you could regularly see Eddie Howe standing there and thinking clearly; ‘What can I do? I need to make changes, but the options on the bench are not what is needed.”
Fast forward to the present and I see a very different situation when it comes to Newcastle United’s bench power.
On Saturday, I don’t think Newcastle United would have beaten Fulham if he had the options available last season.
Eddie Howe was able to use Tonali, Schar and Barnes after an hour.
Then Elanga and finally Osula, the young Dane is now a much better player than last season and developed under Eddie Howe and his staff. Moreover, Osula made that late crucial impact on Saturday despite an ankle injury.
I think all five substitutions contributed to the 2-1 win over Fulham. Schar’s class is available to replace Botman who had a head injury. Tonali speaks for himself as he added his qualities to midfield, while Barnes gave new legs on the wing and added threat, as Elanga did when he came on.
You then also had Jacob Ramsey on the bench, who didn’t even step up, along with Joe Willock, who has gone from the team and/or first choice off the bench to now apparently seventh or eighth choice off the bench. This doesn’t even mean that Wissa, Hall and Livramento were unavailable.
Cut back to Tuesday and Barnes came off the bench after 63 minutes to score twice against Benfica. Joelinton introduced at the same time and he was instrumental in helping United eventually win 3-0 and it could have been more.
The bench strength has really arrived at St James’ Park and seeing Wissa, Livramento and Hall back in the squad will take things to a whole new level, in terms of options for Eddie Howe to switch from game to game and make changes mid-match.
Newcastle 2 Fulham 1 – Saturday 25 October 2025 3pm
(Statistics via BBC Sports)
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Murphy 18, Bruno 90
Fulham:
Luke 56
Possess was Newcastle 51% Fulham 49%
Total shots were Newcastle 18 Fulham 12
Shots on target were Newcastle 7 Fulham 5
Corners were Newcastle 4 Fulham 3
Touches in the box Newcastle36Fulham25
Pope, Trippier, Thiaw, Botman (Schar 61), Burn, Bruno, Joelinton, Miley (Tonali 61), Gordon (Elanga 76), Woltemade (Osula 86), Murphy (Barnes 61)
subtitles:
Ramsdale, Krafth, Willock, Ramsey
(3 positive and 3 negative points from Newcastle 2 Fulham 1 – Read HERE)
(BBC Sport comments from ‘neutrals’ – Interesting on Newcastle United after 2-1 win over Fulham – Read HERE)
(Newcastle 2 Fulham 1 – Instant Newcastle United fan/writer reaction – Read HERE)
(Newcastle 2 Fulham 1 – Match ratings and commentary on all Newcastle United players – Read HERE)
#bench #power #Newcastle #United