Eddie Howe namedrops three Newcastle United coaches for ‘innovative’ move during Aston Villa win

Newcastle United have made a habit of catching the opposition off-guard from set pieces in recent home games, which has directly led to key goals in wins against Brentford and Aston Villa.

Miguel Almiron and Kieran Trippier combined from a short corner for Bruno Guimaraes to head the Magpies in front against Brentford earlier this month. And on Saturday, United fans were treated to a similar routine, with Almiron’s tidy flick setting Trippier free, whose dinked cross was headed home by Callum Wilson for 2-0.

It’s no coincidence that United aren’t always directly crossing the ball into the penalty area. Howe revealed after the 4-0 win over Villa just how much hard work goes into planning “innovative set plays”. And rather than take credit himself, the Magpies head coach paid tribute to his backroom team.

“It’s not just Jason (Tindall), it’s Simon Weatherstone, Graeme Jones and Stephen Perches, they deserve a lot of credit for our innovative set plays,” Howe said. “It’s something we’ve already prided ourselves on, a lot of work goes into it.

“It’s not just the coaches, it’s the analysts as well. It’s a collective effort. I’m delighted when they work, not every one is going to work but that element of surprise is important in our routine.”

Howe’s side have scored all kinds of different goals during their opening 13 Premier League games and most encouragingly, the innovative corner-kick goal against Villa came at such an important time after a frustrating first half. United held a slender 1-0 advantage.

“First-half was a difficult half for us because it was stop-start, we couldn’t get any rhythm,” Howe said. “Aston Villa are very competitive. Teams will come here and try and disrupt us in different ways and I felt they did. We struggled to build consistent pressure.

“The first goal is so important in any game and today we got it, probably from our best move of the half. The second half was totally different, that’s the football and the style that we want to see on a consistent basis here. I stood back and enjoyed the second half. I thought we were really good.”