Can set-piece coach get Newcastle’s giants firing again?

Nick Woltemade quickly felt at home at Newcastle United. In more ways than one.

For the first time in his career, the 6ft 6in forward realised he was not the tallest player in the dressing room after completing his club-record move from Stuttgart last month.

Alongside Dan Burn (6ft 7in), the German now finds himself surrounded by other imposing figures, including Malick Thiaw, Sven Botman, Joelinton and William Osula.

These players do not all start for Newcastle at any one given time, but this towering side still have all the ingredients to carry a threat at set-plays.

But as yet, it has not quite happened for Eddie Howe’s giants in front of goal this season.

“We have the players, we have the height and we have the delivery,” the Newcastle head coach said before facing set-piece masters Arsenal on Sunday. “But something is not quite clicking, and that’s not a criticism of any coach. That’s a criticism of me.

“I’m ultimately responsible for it. We can do better in that respect and we will do the work to try and be better.”

It is instructive to note that Howe was fielding similar questions nearly a year ago.

Newcastle had just gone a whopping 50 corners without scoring in the Premier League – but they eventually started firing again.

By the time Newcastle contested last season’s Carabao Cup final in March, Howe even sensed an opportunity as he stressed to his staff that “a set-play could win us the game… let’s go into the detail that could swing it for us”.

Newcastle spent the next couple of weeks working on free-kicks and corners after spotting Liverpool’s vulnerabilities in deeper areas inside the box.

The routines were not necessarily coming off on the training ground, but one did when it mattered most at Wembley as the Magpies went on to end a 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy.

Burn’s opener that day neatly illustrated the work of assistant manager Jason Tindall and set-play analyst Kieran Taylor, who played their part in Newcastle scoring a respectable 13 goals from free-kicks and corners in the Premier League last season.

However, given the huge amount of work involved, Howe had been looking to bring in an additional set-play coach to help share the load for some time.

And Martin Mark’s record at set-piece innovators Midtjylland certainly stood up when he joined Newcastle in June.

Midtjylland scored more goals from set-plays (19) than any other side in the Danish top flight last season – even after excluding penalties – and maximising dead-ball situations proved crucial to their title win the previous year.

Kristian Bak, who is Midtjylland’s head of sport, said Mark’s “hunger really shone through” during his time at the MCH Arena.

“Martin stood up for the idea that we should be the best in the world in that discipline,” he said of the 32-year-old. “For him, every single day had to involve set-pieces and having a person like that is a gift.

“His hunger and his nerdy attention to detail rubbed off on several departments, and he was very good at spreading the importance of set-pieces across the whole organisation. He took that part to the next level.”

There has certainly been a shift in Newcastle’s approach this season.

The Magpies only launched a single long throw into the box in the Premier League last year. However, according to Opta, Howe’s side have already flung 13 long throws into the penalty area in the opening five games of the new campaign.

Just as Newcastle’s rugby-style restarts follow a wider trend in the game – they have taken to booting the ball into touch from kick-off in an attempt to put the opposition under pressure deep in their own half – so, too, do the black-and-whites’ use of long throws.

It is admittedly a small sample size, but there has been an average of 3.4 long throws into the penalty area per match in the Premier League this year. For context, in the whole of the 2020-21 campaign, that number was 0.9 per game.

No wonder England manager Thomas Tuchel remarked that “the long throw is back”.

Liverpool found that out when the champions came to St James’ Park last month on a night boss Arne Slot admitted “you cannot control a game of football if every single ball is thrown into your 18-yard box”.

Newcastle’s first goal actually came from such a situation. Tino Livramento’s long throw was headed back to him out on the left and, with his team-mates still forward, the full-back was able to pick out the head of Bruno Guimaraes at the far post.

Then for Newcastle’s second, goalkeeper Nick Pope stepped forward to take a free-kick and his long ball forward was flicked on by Burn and knocked in by substitute Osula.

Two goals from two dead-ball situations dragged 10-man Newcastle level as the game became increasingly chaotic.

Though Newcastle went on to lose the game, it was a timely reminder of the power of set-plays.

Finding a way to cause such mayhem on a consistent basis is the challenge for Newcastle.

Only four Premier League sides have had more shots from set-pieces than Howe’s team (five) this season, but Newcastle have found the back of the net on just one occasion from a corner or a free-kick in all competitions.

When it comes to expected goals from dead-ball situations, Newcastle (1.56) are currently a long way off Arsenal (3.55), who top the table in this field in the top-flight.

Newcastle have yet to concede from a set-piece, but Howe was the first to recognise that his side have “work to do” at the other end.

So will it take time?

“I hope not,” he said. “That’s not the plan. The plan is to make the difference from set-plays. I think we have been really good in that respect for a long time.

“When you look at games like the Bournemouth game [a goalless draw], if you play as we did, defend as we did and nick the game 1-0 on a set-play, it’s the perfect away performance – but we didn’t.”

Sunday’s opponents Arsenal have certainly exploited such situations.

Half of Arsenal’s goals in the Premier League this season have come from set-pieces, including what proved to be a winner at Manchester United and openers against Nottingham Forest and Leeds United.

Arsenal remain the team to beat in that respect.

But freelance throw-in specialist Thomas Gronnemark, who worked with Mark at Midtjylland last season, has no doubt that Newcastle will eventually click from set-plays.

“Martin is a really talented guy,” he said. “Yes, he’s very young but I don’t care if someone is 15 years old or 80 years old.

“If they are good enough for the job and you can see the perspective, you should hire people and Martin is a fantastic guy to work with. I think he will be a big plus for Newcastle.”