Guimaraes and Miley combine to get Newcastle’s season back on track

Anthony Gordon ushered a bashful 17-year-old back towards the Gallowgate.

Lewis Miley had just become the youngest Premier League scorer in Newcastle United’s history, aged 17 years and 229 days. And he had just provided what Eddie Howe labelled as a “huge moment in our season”.

Away from the cameras — as “Lewis Miley, he’s one of our own,” chorused around St James’ Park — Bruno Guimaraes peeled away to run over and jump into Howe’s arms. That off-screen embrace encapsulated the magnitude of Miley’s opener in the context of Newcastle’s campaign.

Lewis Miley’s memorable moment ✨ pic.twitter.com/wSZwLXcL5X

— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) December 16, 2023

Yet it also spotlighted the crucial role of the second principal protagonist in the 3-0 victory over Fulham. Miley, a midfielder, showed composure beyond his years to score in the 57th minute. But, as Howe stressed, to offer up that opportunity for the teenager, Newcastle were “crying out for a big player to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and win it for us”.

By his exalted standards, Guimaraes’ influence was muted during Newcastle’s galling Champions League defeat by AC Milan. But it was the Brazilian who led Newcastle’s second-half response during what had increasingly appeared a laborious slog against Fulham. Newcastle haven’t won any of the seven Premier League matches Guimaraes has missed since January 2022 — he is the quarterback, fulcrum, and very heartbeat of Howe’s team.

It was not coincidental, therefore, that it was Guimaraes’ bustling dribble which laid on Miley. Present and future — though Miley is demonstrating he falls into both classifications — combined at an opportune juncture. The pair problem-solved during the most-pressurised of situations to inject positive momentum back into Newcastle’s season.

Miley makes it 1-0 (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

“We’re out of Europe and know if we want to get back we’ve got to put together a good run,” Sean Longstaff said. “Lewis scored what could be one of the biggest goals in our season to kickstart us.”

Howe described Fulham as a “really tricky game”, one that “was probably set up for us to fail”. He held a squad meeting on Friday, outlining renewed goals now that Newcastle’s season “starts afresh”.

The Milan reversal was merely one of five defeats from their last eight. Newcastle shipped seven goals during back-to-back defeats at Everton and Tottenham. The campaign was teetering and there was a genuine risk of a prolonged downturn.

Kieran Trippier also missed his first league match of the season due to suspension, meaning Newcastle had to compensate for losing the league’s joint-top assist provider (with seven). The 33-year-old extended the list of senior absentees to 10.

While Newcastle had the comfort of their Premier League home form to fall back upon — this was their seventh straight top-flight victory at St James’, their best run since 2002-03 — they then faced the in-game challenge of losing two further stalwarts to injury inside 36 minutes.

Fabian Schar, the only player to have previously featured for every minute in the league, pulled up with a glute issue, then Joelinton tweaked a hamstring. That brought together a back four and a midfield which had never played competitively as units.

Perversely, Raul Jimenez’s 22nd-minute red card for a reckless jump into Longstaff ramped the pressure further. Dan Burn insisted that, “if anything, it killed us,” because expectation of a Newcastle victory only increased. Yet, in August, they played against 10 men for 62 minutes and contrived to lose 2-1 against Liverpool; memories were still fresh.

By half-time, Newcastle were toiling, failing to manage the situation. Callum Wilson had managed just three touches inside the opening 30 minutes, while Newcastle’s first-half expected goals (xG) return was just 0.99, despite having 72 per cent possession.

“It’s funny, when the other team go down to 10 men, people automatically think, ‘Ah, we should score straight away’,” Longstaff said. “But a lot of time it works the other way. We didn’t get lost in the first half but we got a little bit individual.”

With Alexander Isak unavailable with an ongoing groin issue, Newcastle’s only offensive option on the bench was Matt Ritchie. Howe instead tweaked his tactics at the break, pushing Newcastle higher upfield.

By full time, Newcastle’s xG was 3.51, their highest at home all season, while they had conjured the most shots (27) and highest number of touches in the opposition box (54).

But that shift was not merely automatic, it required a player to effect change — and Guimaraes stepped forward.

As the table shows, Guimaraes was central to everything positive Newcastle did. He led the statistics for touches, passes, chances created, duels won and distance covered. It was the ultimate all-round midfield performance.

The Brazilian played a role in all three goals, too.

For the opener, which was sorely needed given the rising tension, Guimaraes flicked the ball beyond Tom Cairney, outmuscled Joao Palhinha, skipped past Andreas Pereira and charged towards Antonee Robinson.

The resultant ricochet may have been fortunate, but Guimaraes drew Robinson towards him, meaning Miley had space to calmly finish. “A really special moment for me and my family and hopefully there’s lot more,” Miley said. “It was everything I dreamt of.”

“There’s a reason we speak so highly of him,” said Longstaff, who has taken to informally mentoring Miley. “He’s got all the talent in the world. We’re just lucky to have him.”

If Howe foresees “the hallmarks of a great player” in Miley, he recognises that he already has one in Guimaraes. “His general performance was of the highest level,” Howe said. “That’s why he’s such a big player for us.”

As well as his assist, it was the 26-year-old who played the positive forward pass that eventually resulted in Miguel Almiron’s strike. Then there was the exquisite outside-of-the-foot cross for Burn’s goal, which Shay Given hailed as “Nolberto Solano-esque”.

How good was this guy today?! 😮‍💨🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/cBCoacmr2y

— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) December 16, 2023

In the end, a 3-0 scoreline suggests a routine home victory, but that belies the precariousness of Newcastle’s position beforehand, and the difficult situation they found themselves in halfway through.

Mercifully, a top-class midfield orchestrator in his prime and a prodigy with boundless potential came together to chart a path to victory. The prospect of Guimaraes and Miley dovetailing for years is a tantalising one.

(Top photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images)