What Dan Burn did to silence Cole Palmer as Newcastle United learn from Chelsea mistake
Newcastle United's gameplan worked as Chelsea were beaten at St James' Park
Aaron Stokes is our Newcastle United Editor. Born and bred in the north-east, Aaron left Newcastle in 2017 to work in London for Reach PLC's national titles. After five years in the capital, he returned to take up his current role at The Chronicle in March 2022.
On an afternoon where Newcastle United took one gigantic leap towards the Champions League, it was the boy from Blyth who walked away with a well-deserved man of the match award at St James' Park. Dan Burn, tasked with keeping the impressive Cole Palmer quiet on Tyneside, executed his plan to perfection as the Magpies ran out 2-0 winners on home soil.
To fully understand Newcastle's tactics on Sunday, it is worth going back to the reverse fixture between these two teams back in October. It was Palmer who ran riot at Stamford Bridge on that occasion as Chelsea walked away 2-1 winners in the west London sun.
The England international frequently found himself in acres of space with relative ease throughout, with Newcastle failing to stop him on multiple occasions. “Palmer has got that ability to, whatever space he has, to be able to wriggle out of tight end situations and of course if he has too much space, he will kill you the other way, so we didn’t do with him particularly well in the opening period of the game," Howe told reporters at full-time back then.
Therefore, it was always going to be intriguing to see how Howe attempted to combat Chelsea's attacking quartet of Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez and Pedro Neto on Sunday afternoon. That task became even more fascinating when it emerged, pre-match, that Newcastle had reverted to a three-defender system for just the second time this season.
Burn, along with Sven Botman and Fabian Schar, sat at the heart of the defence, while Jacob Murphy and Tino Livramento were deployed as right and left wing-backs, respectively, with Kieran Trippier out injured. Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali sat in the middle of the park, while Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes and Alexander Isak led the line.
From the off, United's plan was clear. Burn, out of possession, did not let Palmer out of his sight, no matter how deep he dropped to seek possession. Schar was often touch-tight to Enzo Fernandez in the middle of the park too, while Botman went up against solo striker Jackson before his 35th-minute red card for an elbow to the Dutchman's face.
The sending off could easily have derailed Newcastle's plan as Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca tinkered with his 10-men from then on in. However, the Magpies' defensive unit stuck to their guns and adapted whenever they needed to.
The Blues saw plenty of the ball in the second period, despite the man disadvantage, and looked the more likely to find the net in the second period. As such, Howe took just nine second-half minutes to withdraw Botman, move Schar, Burn, Murphy and Livramento in a back four, with Lewis Miley emerging from the bench to add an additional body in midfield to combat the physical nature of Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo.
After the game, Howe personally praised the latter in his post-match media duties. Caicedo found himself at right-back, up against Gordon, for the majority of the tie before reverting to his usual position in the centre of midfield.
Every Robert Sanchez goal-kick, or Chelsea defenders enjoying the deep in their own half, saw Schar continue to stick with Fernandez as the game went on, with the Argentinian enjoying somewhat of a floating role between Palmer and the Blues' midfield. Fernandez, signed as a box-to-box midfielder but who has flourished in a more attacking role this season, hardly had a sniff as Newcastle's £3m veteran kept tabs on his progress in the final third.
Palmer grew more animated as the second half wore on as he huffed and puffed but failed to find a way to shake Burn from his tail. The Chelsea attacker was visibly downbeat at full-time after an afternoon of being silenced.
Maresca rolled the dice for one final time in the 75th minute as his team began to sense they could really snatch something from the tie. Jadon Sancho and Malo Gusto were brought on from the bench, moving to left-wing and right centre-back, respectively.
That meant the away side were using a back three of Gusto, Levi Colwill and Marc Cucurella back three. Sancho on the left, Neto on the right, Reece James, Caicedo and Fernandez as an inter-changing midfield three and Palmer as a false nine.
Still, all that tinkering could not bamboozle Howe and Jason Tindall, with Newcastle riding any late storm - after two solid saves from Nick Pope - before doubling their lead thanks to a deflected Bruno Guimaraes effort. A tricky afternoon against a flexible and intriguing side but three huge points and a solid defensive performance.
Discussing his defensive decision and Burn's performance, Howe told reporters: "I thought Dan had another really strong game. The thing I love about Dan is his fearlessness when he plays. He's very aggressive. He's very good, obviously, aerially, but on the floor, I think he's been magnificent for us this year in terms of covering ground.
“It's not easy to do what we ask of him and Fabi, but I thought they executed it really well today. I think we have to be adaptable the way the game is going and it constantly changes. Your players need to be adaptable even in running. I thought we were today and that helped us win.”