Dropping £33m midfielder among bold changes Newcastle United must make after international break

There are two ways of looking at Newcastle United’s underwhelming start to the new Premier League campaign. On the one hand, the Magpies, having lost three of their first four top flight outings this term, can consider themselves unfortunate to have already faced the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, and a resplendent Brighton. On the other, if Eddie Howe’s men are serious about reasserting their status as a legitimate Champions League side, then these are the sort of fixtures that they need to be taking points from.

At the time of writing, United are already seven points adrift of a top four spot, and with the return of continental competition to contend with after the current international break, their workload, and perhaps their relative plight, may be about to spike considerably.

The reasons as to why Newcastle find themselves with just three points from the first 12 available this season are not overtly or starkly clear, but certainly there is an argument to be made for a measure of midfield disjointedness hampering their progress in recent weeks. The arrival of Sandro Tonali has delivered promising results thus far, with the Italian picking up the Magpies’ Player of the Month award for August, but there is something slightly askew about Howe’s central three as a unit, and - at the risk of sounding blasphemous - it’s hard to shake the feeling that the proverbial spanner in the works might be their stand-out player last season, Bruno Guimaraes.

The Brazilian wears the number 39 shirt at St. James’ Park in tribute to the insignia sported by his father’s taxi back in his home country, which is a touch a ironic given how decidedly pedestrian he has been this season. Where he once dictated and dominated proceedings, he has, of late, been found lacking somewhat.

Indeed, of the players in Howe’s cohort who have started two or more games for Newcastle this season, only Nick Pope, Dan Burn, and Fabian Schar have recorded a lower average match rating, as per Whoscored. That’s not all either. Compared to last season, Guimaraes is registering fewer key passes, fewer successful dribbles, fewer interceptions, and even marginally fewer tackles per 90 minutes too. Whether it be creatively or defensively, he is struggling to live up to his own notably high standards.

Again, accurately pinpointing why that is the case is not particularly easy, but there is a claim to be made for it being a matter of imbalance. The expectation was that with the arrival of a new midfielder, Guimaraes would be afforded the luxury of casting aside his prior defensive responsibilities so that he could step boldly into a more advanced, box-to-box role. In truth, however, things have not played out like that. Instead, he and Tonali are struggling to find their shared sweet spot - stuttering and stalling as they seek some kind of harmony. At times, it is almost as if the pair are inadvertently stepping on each other’s toes, stifling each other just a little. In retrospect, Howe probably wishes, on some level at least, that he had brought in a traditional number 6, either alongside, or instead of, a player of Tonali’s profile.

Perhaps that is something that the Magpies will address in January. In the short term, however, something has to be done to try and bring a greater coherence to their engine room. Some tinkering is required and, as unthinkable as it might have seemed just a few weeks ago, there is an argument to be made for the most obvious place to start being the benching of a certain Brazilian.

Maybe it won’t come to that. Maybe Howe will be able to use the current international break to puzzle out a solution that allows both of his midfield gems to shine with equal effervescence for the benefit of his team writ large. Then again, maybe he won’t.

It should also be pointed out that this is by no means a call for Bruno to be dropped forever and ever, ad infinitum, but rather a gentle suggestion that some sort of reset is needed. If that requires the temporary omission of the £33 million South American, then so be it.