Newcastle United defeated Hull City 2-0 at the MKM Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Goals from Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy secured a win for Eddie Howe's side.
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00:00So, Newcastle United 2, Hull City 0 here at the MKM Stadium. It was a game where, as always
00:08for friendlies, the result is really immaterial, it's all about fitness and getting those formations
00:14or systems sort of right. But it was a good run out for Newcastle against a strong Hull
00:19team, there's been a bit of upheaval to be fair for them in the summer, they've lost
00:23their manager Lane Rossini, a couple of their key players from last year have either departed
00:27or gone back to pairing clubs, so it was a big test for Newcastle and they did well.
00:30In the first half, Newcastle, well Eddie Howe named pretty much his strongest starting XI
00:35available to him, of course he had none of the international players, so none of the
00:38Copa America or Euro 2024 players, he didn't play any of them. Joe Willock, Sean Longstaff
00:43and Lloyd Kelly didn't play, they're not deemed fit enough just yet to take part in
00:48games, so it was really, it was quite a third best squad for Eddie Howe to pick. With the
00:54major surprise being Lewis Hull, he was named in midfield obviously, we've seen him play
00:57at left back predominantly throughout his time in Newcastle, but he was played in midfield
01:01today and to be fair to Lewis Hull he was really good. Played in the sixth row, sort
01:05of in the middle of the park with Joe Linton and Jamie Miley, either side of him. Lewis
01:10Hull was brilliant, I think you could see straight away that he's clearly familiar
01:13in that position. Hasn't played for Newcastle as mentioned, but he played for Chelsea and
01:16he was brilliant at being that sipper there, spraying the balls left and right and you
01:20know what, he just continues to impress, he impressed at the end of last season and again
01:23he's just shown levels that he hadn't shown in Newcastle before, sort of February-March
01:28time, so it was a good performance from him, but I think the star of the show today probably
01:31was Jacob Murphy. Down the right side he was brilliant, he scored obviously in that behind
01:37closed doors friendly in Germany last week, he scored again today and got an assist as
01:42well, so yeah it was a good performance from Jacob Murphy. Quickly mention the goals and
01:46we'll go on to what happened in the second half, but the first goal was of course Alexander
01:50Isak, he can't stop him scoring, but Jacob Murphy did really well down the right, fortunate
01:55with a bit of slip from a defender and crossed the ball in, Isak, poor chess finish, just
01:59tapped the ball home, it was a toe poke almost on the volley, but yeah it was a brilliant
02:03finish from Isak, he was there in the right place and that put Newcastle 1-0 up, and then
02:07it was Murphy's time to get on the score sheet again down the right, he seemed to pass the
02:11ball, it was a weird goal though, he seemed to pass it to where you think Harvey Barnes
02:13has run down the middle, he's going to get a toe on it, he doesn't get a toe on it, and
02:17the goalkeeper is left and the ball just trickles in the bottom corner, it just goes
02:20past everyone without really anyone knowing, but that was sort of the story of the game,
02:25they were the two goals, Joe Linton had a good header saved before either of them goals
02:29went in, that was good work from the goalkeeper, but yeah that was the first half, so it was
02:32a solid performance from Newcastle on the first half, as I said, probably their strongest
02:35available starting XI, currently Jamie Miley playing in midfield alongside Lewis Hall,
02:41but their front three of Murphy, Isak and Barnes is really, really threatening at times,
02:47with Anthony Gordon, Miguel Almaron, people like that to come back, that might not be the
02:53front three to start against Southampton, but if it does have a start in any games,
02:56you'd back that, it'd be a decent front three, and Jacob Murphy showing again that he's going
02:59to be a decent back-up to whoever, if it's Almaron or whoever to sign, if they do go and
03:04sign someone this summer, but then second half, Eddie Hartford made no changes at half-time,
03:08which I think was telling really, I think that showed the lack of squad depth, that he didn't
03:11make any changes at half-time, in the game in Germany, he rotated the whole team at half-time,
03:17but he didn't make any, he didn't make any until after the hour mark, to be fair, so
03:20supposedly he got 11 players, he got an hour in their legs, which is positive, but once
03:24them changes came, it really, you know, stopped the rhythm of the game, you know, players couldn't
03:28get momentum, which is to be expected, Hull were the same, they made a lot of changes,
03:31I think the one player that did come on impressed was Trev Anthony down the left,
03:34he had some brilliant little runs and he looked really bright, of the academy and the youngsters
03:39that came on, Odysseys, Vlako Dimos came on, he also made some really good saves,
03:45so that was positive to see, but yeah, it was, you know, 90 minutes, they've got 90 minutes in
03:50there, in their legs, interesting to see what Eddie Howe says after the game, of course,
03:54the Shields are going to bring up all the latest on what Eddie Howe says after the game, but
03:58yeah, a solid 90 minutes, and obviously the team now head to Japan, they're expecting the
04:02international players to join them in Japan for what will be the two games out there before they
04:06return home to St. John's Park for a stellar weekend against Girona and Stad Brest, so yeah,
04:12a very solid 90 minutes, 2-0 win, scoreline's almost irrelevant, but good fitness in there,
04:17and yeah, I think Eddie Howe will be pleased with the application and
04:20from what he's seen from his team this afternoon.