Newcastle United: 5 things we learned from the friendly against Royal Antwerp

Newcastle United will be returning to England after their 1-1 draw against Royal Antwerp in Spain.

The match between Newcastle United and Royal Antwerp ended 1-1 after the two sides played three 45 minute halves. In terms of the sport’s official 90 minute length, Newcastle would have won 1-0, but Royal Antwerp pulled one back in the third half.

The match was largely dominated by Newcastle, but the dominant performance did not translate to a victory. Thanks to the live stream provided by NUFC TV, here are five things we learned from the friendly match today.

Matt Ritchie – The New CAM for Newcastle?

An interesting observation that was made during the friendly today was Matt Ritchie’s position on the field. Solely used as a winger all season, Ritchie found himself playing as the central attacking midfielder behind Joselu.

Ritchie is known as a quality winger because of his pace, dribbling and passing ability, but he played well in the middle. The Scottish international was spreading the ball out wide and threatened the opposing keeper with shots from distance. It is also worth noting that Ritchie scored a nice goal lobbing the ball over the keeper in his new role this afternoon.

Midfield Attack

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In the Premier League, we often see the Magpies take a few minutes to settle into a match, but the midfield was ready to attack on Sunday. From the opening whistle, Jonjo Shelvey and Mikel Merino minimized their back-passes and focused on moving the ball forward.

With Royal Antwerp living on the counter-attack all afternoon, Newcastle’s midfielders enjoyed playing in the opposition’s half. After lots of pressure and successive shot attempts, the Magpies were able to take the lead thanks to their midfield play.

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It was refreshing to see Newcastle force their opponents into an ultra-defensive mode. It showed that Benitez has emphasized the importance of attacking from the start. Royal Antwerp had no answer for the pressure they were facing. The Belgian side heavily relied on long aerial passes to create time to re-group in the back.

Against Huddersfield Town, this tactic will benefit Newcastle, but only if the defense maintains a firm line to prevent a likely counter-attack.

Wasted Opportunities

Not this topic again, seriously? Unfortunately, yes. Newcastle seemed to have learned their lesson against Southampton by scoring three goals, but that was not the case today. Rafa Benitez should be disappointed with this result as the Magpies missed several scoring opportunities.

The match could have been in the bag by the end of the first half as the Magpies had three great chances to score, but the shots lacked precision. This is something that Newcastle must resolve before playing Huddersfield Town if they want to take three crucial points.

Excessive Experimentation

The purpose of this friendly was to better prepare for the important match against Huddersfield Town on March 31. However, Benitez chose to experiment and provide every player with some minutes against an inferior opponent.

What Benitez should have done was play his starters to see his tactical ideas being implemented. Instead, this match ended up being a conditioning session to keep players in shape. That is important, but the friendly today could have been better utilized as Newcastle aim to avoid relegation in the Premier League.