The Eddie Howe tactical tweak that has revitalised Sandro Tonali and Newcastle's form

In Newcastle United’s two full seasons under Eddie Howe, the team’s No 6 had a defined role in how the side attacked. It was a position mainly occupied by Bruno Guimaraes, with the Brazilian’s profile suiting the team’s on-ball demands.

Guimaraes’ ability to carry the ball forward without losing it, even when under pressure, has been key in helping Newcastle maintain possession. His passing ability allows the side to progress the ball down the wing or switch play to the other flank, and when playing as a holding midfielder, he supports the team’s right wing by consistently finding runners behind the defence.

But teams — and managers — evolve. This season, Howe has tweaked his midfield setup and has recently started playing Sandro Tonali as the team’s No 6, something that has coincided with a distinct upturn in form.

Since the beginning of the season, Newcastle’s No 6 — whether it’s Guimaraes or Tonali — has had more freedom to attack the central space, but only when there is a team-mate in a position to cover.

In the 1-0 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion in October, Guimaraes played as the holding midfielder with Tonali and Joelinton flanking him.

In this attack, Newcastle progress the ball down the left wing through Joelinton…

… and by the time it reaches Anthony Gordon, Guimaraes and Tonali have moved up the pitch.

When Gordon drops deeper, Guimaraes spots the space between the lines and attacks it. Gordon then combines with Tonali to find Guimaraes behind Brighton’s midfield…

… and the latter puts Alexander Isak in front of the goal, but the centre-forward fails to score.

At the start of the attack, Guimaraes was Newcastle’s deepest midfielder, but with space to attack and Tonali in position to cover, the Brazilian surged forward.

“Freedom within a structure is always the optimum for me. You can give players too much freedom and it becomes a mess,” said Howe after the 4-0 victory against Ipswich Town this month. “We have always worked really hard on freedom within a structure.”

In another example, from the surprise 2-0 defeat against West Ham United in November, Guimaraes is the deepest midfielder when Lloyd Kelly plays the ball to the dropping Isak.

Isak’s involvement drags Jean-Clair Todibo up the pitch, and with Tomas Soucek focusing on Joelinton, there are spaces to attack in West Ham’s lines. Lewis Hall spots that and moves forward as Isak plays the ball back to Joelinton.

With Joelinton in a position to cover, Guimaraes attacks the space in midfield as Hall moves into the gap in the defensive line.

Joelinton finds Guimaraes’ run between the lines…

… and the Brazilian plays it into the path of Hall, but the move doesn’t lead to any significant danger.

It’s not all misses and half chances, though. This move has led to several goals. Newcastle’s penalty, from which they equalised against Manchester City in September, originated from Guimaraes’ forward runs in midfield.

Here, Joelinton drops to receive the ball from Dan Burn…

… and Guimaraes attacks the space between Rico Lewis and Ilkay Gundogan.

Joelinton’s position provides cover for Guimaraes in case Newcastle lose possession, and the Brazilian finds his compatriot, who receives the ball with his left foot and dribbles forward with his right…

… before playing the through ball which allows Gordon to win the penalty.

But since the 2-0 victory against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup, Tonali has played as the No 6 in every game he has started, with Guimaraes moving to a higher position in the midfield three.

“The plan is Sandro (Tonali) plays a little bit deeper than (Joe) Willock and Bruno (Guimaraes), but they are still given a freedom to express themselves and to move,” Newcastle’s head coach told BBC’s Match of the Day after the 4-0 victory against Ipswich last Saturday. “It’s just getting that balance right between the freedom and making sure the structure is right.”

In that game, it was Tonali’s clever advancement in midfield that helped progress the ball up the pitch, leading to Newcastle’s second goal.

In this example, Sam Morsy is keeping an eye on Willock while Jens Cajuste is marking Guimaraes. Tonali starts deep…

… but when Guimaraes drops to receive the ball from Tino Livramento, he moves forward into the space in midfield.

Tonali’s movement puts him in a position to attack the space between the lines when Guimaraes drags Cajuste higher up the pitch, and the Brazil midfielder finds him…

… before Tonali carries the ball into space and starts the attack which leads to Jacob Murphy’s goal.

In the following game, the 3-0 victory against Aston Villa on Boxing Day, the advantages that come from freeing the No 6 in attack were on show again.

After Newcastle switch the play towards their right side, Guimaraes and Tonali are in their expected positions in midfield. Kieran Trippier plays the ball back to Guimaraes, and because Amadou Onana is close to the midfielder…

… Tonali spots the gap in Villa’s lines and accelerates from behind Ollie Watkins. Tonali’s decision is also supported by Guimaraes being in a position to cover for him in case the ball is lost.

Guimaraes finds the Italy midfielder between the lines…

… and Tonali’s movement forces Watkins to drop deeper, vacating the space in front of Villa’s midfield.

As Tonali plays the ball to Trippier, Guimaraes drops into that space, with Onana maintaining his position to defend his zone and Watkins being dragged away by Tonali.

This means Guimaraes has time and space when he receives the ball from Trippier…

… which helps him find Murphy’s run behind the defence.

Murphy then plays the ball across the goal, and Isak scores to make it 2-0.

The profiles of Guimaraes and Tonali mean that they can both play as a No 6 or a No 8, which aids the theory behind introducing more freedom in Newcastle’s midfield. Since they can play in both positions, spur-of-the-moment interchanges won’t weaken the team’s structure or put one of Newcastle’s players in a position they are uncomfortable in.

By allowing his holding midfielder more freedom to attack the central space, Howe has added solutions which play to the strengths of his best players — and Newcastle’s improved form is proof that it’s working.