Newcastle United’s defensive woes this season haven’t exactly been subtle. The Magpies have conceded over two goals per game to this point including eight goals in their last two away games.
While the defence isn’t entirely at fault for that and they have been hung out to dry at times by those in front of them, there is no doubt that Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman have been far from their best and questions are beginning to rise about whether they simply aren’t a good partnership at the back.
Simple mistakes, lazy defending and often pure chaos has characterised their pairing this season and now, with Dan Burn and Fabian Schar both available, I’m beginning to wonder whether we should return to experience instead of forcing something which isn’t working.
The experience that offers so much more
The Magpies have a very young, naive squad this season and although Thiaw and Botman are in theory two of the more senior players, neither seems to be navigating this tough period well, in terms of leadership or performance. In fact, most of the time they have also capitulated when things start to go wrong.
Now, take a moment to think about whether having Fabian Schar and Dan Burn as the starting pair would have allowed the same simple mistakes and spineless (a little harsh perhaps) performances to occur? I certainly don’t think so.
But it actually isn’t just the experience that may see at least one of them coming back into the side.
Whilst we know Jaissle’s system is still having some persistent teething problems, there is a question about whether some of the players he is using simply don’t have the right profile for what he needs.
As we know, Fabian Schar is an excellent ball playing centre-back, and has that star quality of being able to ping a raking ball across the pitch and turn defence into attack at a moment’s notice. Because the Magpies have often found themselves stuck in the low build-up phase and struggled to progress the ball, that could be the sort of ability that bypasses that problem.
In turn, that sort of pass would also allow the five men that Jaissle likes to deploy across the frontline to be brought into the game quicker and give the opposition something else to think about.
Not a case of hit and hope, but having that option would give Jaissle more patterns of play and options in build-up, but also allow the Magpies to run the game into a transition phase more often, which is a big strength.
In the case of Dan Burn, it is slightly different, mainly because he doesn’t have the same on-ball prowess as the Swiss. But what he does offer is that physical, dominating presence, alongside knowing what his capabilities are and always doing the basics well.
Burn rarely loses the ball due to a sloppy pass or a moment of hesitation, usually simply finding a teammate rather than looking for some Hollywood ball he isn’t capable of.
That isn’t me saying Botman and Thiaw inherently try to do things they can’t, but I do feel as though they may be feeling a bit of pressure to reliably break lines from the back, hence we often give the ball away in those silly areas and put ourselves under pressure.
Time for a change?
While there is definitely a strong argument that Thiaw and Botman are better players than the two old-heads, when looking at which is the better pairing, I’m not sure there is really a comparison based on the evidence we have.
I’d love more than anything to see the current starting pair begin to flourish, but there is only so long we can continue in the current vein before a solution is probably the best option.
Whether it be both Burn and Schar or just one of them, I couldn’t say. But it feels like the argument for bringing that experience and the attributes they both possess into the fold is beginning to grow, even if it may feel like a step backwards on paper.
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