Steve Bruce’s defensive woes at Newcastle United show no signs of easing. In order for him to guide the Magpies to safety he’s going to have to shore up a very leaky backline.
The 1-1 draw against Leeds saw Newcastle concede their 13th goal of the season after just five games. Only Norwich City have conceded more (14).
Newcastle are one of five sides yet to register a clean sheet this season. The other four teams are Burnley, Leeds, Watford and Norwich.
The Magpies’ wait for a clean sheet looks set to continue unless they can urgently address one particular area of concern.
No other side in the Premier League currently averages conceding as many shots on their goal per game than Newcastle (18.6).
Friday night’s opponents Leeds (18.4) are the closest to Bruce’s team and that would probably explain why the clash at St James’ Park was so open.
For context, according to WhoScored, Manchester City currently average conceding the least with 6.2 shots per game, but newly-promoted Brentford (10.2) and high-flying Brighton (11.8) also post impressive figures in comparison.
Across the five Premier League games so far, 28 shots, an average of 5.6 per game have hit the Newcastle target (FBref).
Out of those 28 shots on goal, 17 have been saved, which gives Newcastle a 60.7% save ratio. Only Norwich, Aston Villa and Arsenal have a worst percentage for shots saved in the Premier League.
Goalkeeping issues contribute
Unfortunately for Freddie Woodman, who started the first four Premier League games before being replaced by Karl Darlow after sustaining a hip injury in training, the Newcastle stopper has the worst save percentage in the top-flight.
Across the games he played, Woodman’s save percentage was 47.4%. Former Newcastle stopper Tim Krul was just above him on 48.1% and Arsenal’s Bernd Leno averaged 50%. They are the only three goalkeepers in the league to have a save percentage below 61%.
In Darlow’s first game of the season, the Welshman’s save percentage rate was an impressive 88.9%, which, if he maintains, can only currently be bettered by Allison (93.3%) and Aaron Ramsdale and Edouard Mendy (both 100%).
As a collective, Newcastle need to find a way to become a more organised and robust defensive unit. We are simply allowing too many shots on our goal.
Hopefully Bruce and his coaching staff are equally alarmed by these stats and have spent this week on the training ground finding multiple ways to improve defensively.
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