Eddie Howe considers changing Newcastle defender’s position

It’s not been the best season for Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United side.

After a brilliant 2022/23 campaign, the opportunity to build on their success has consistently been taken away from them because of injuries to key players.

Though there are still 45 points to play for this season, the Magpies are currently 13 points from the Champions League spots and with the teams above them in better form.

Howe’s positive outlook will ensure that he’ll keep pushing his squad to give their maximum week in and week out, and if they are able to put any sort of late run together, they might just sneak into the top four at the last possible moment.

That has to be the squad’s motivation at this stage, with Howe looking at different ways in which to get the results he needs.

One of those could be to move defender, Fabian Schar, into a midfield role.

“He had been toying in recent weeks with going to a back five in matches,” The Athletic’s George Culkin said on Pod on the Tyne.

“We saw that happen at Villa. He had been toying with putting Fabian Schar in midfield at various points.

“It will be very interesting to see what happens next, because at the moment they are way too open.”

Though such a move might be seen as a little too drastic, it’s worth remembering that Howe was the man who turned an ungainly Joelinton that was lacking confidence into a marauding, first-class midfield dynamo.

The manager therefore deserves to be afforded some respect from the St. James’ Park faithful as he tinkers with his systems.