“Two starting XIs” was how one insider described Newcastle’s squad at the start of the month, the dust having just about settled on the Alexander Isak saga.
On Thursday night there was a reminder that they could have gone down a different route. They were offered the chance to sign Barcelona’s match-winner Marcus Rashford, sounded out before the summer by intermediaries who wanted to find him a Champions League opportunity to end his Manchester United misery.
There was also an opportunity to sign fellow lost boy Jack Grealish before Everton agreed to match his eye-watering wages. But Newcastle, knowing that putting all their chips on established talent would be an expensive business and prevent moves elsewhere, did not bite. They always had a different blueprint in mind.
Marcus Rashford take. A. Bow. @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/8SDW84n3h2
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 18, 2025That marvellous 4-1 win against Paris Saint-Germain will go down in black and white folklore but what is not remembered is how few changes Eddie Howe made in the following Premier League game.
At bogey side Bournemouth on Sunday Howe’s approach will be different. Suddenly he has options and changes are inevitable.
Newcastle's superb passage of play is rewarded by Anthony Gordon @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/D74maajwJL
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 18, 2025Compatriot Nick Woltemade will return to the team while Lewis Hall and Jacob Murphy are both ready to go. It’s understood that part of Howe’s pre-season pitch to the squad was emphasising how everyone would have their part to play so perhaps selection surprises will become a baked in part of Premier League weekends.
“It’s a mentality thing,” he said on Thursday night.
“Those are lessons we have hopefully learned from the last time, to recover and go again.”
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There was no eye-catching win but it was not a dressing down either. They would have beaten most of the teams on their Champions League schedule with a performance of that calibre.
And Bournemouth – for all their undoubted quality – do not have a midfield three like the Barcelona trio that helped the Spanish champions squeeze the life out of Newcastle in the second half. Hansi Flick’s side believe they can win the Champions League; Newcastle just need three group stage wins to keep the adventure rolling into 2026.
This is a black and white work in progress. A Sunday afternoon on the South Coast will tell us much about the direction it’s heading in.
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