Murphy’s Newcastle form more than a hot streak

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Welcome to The Debrief, a Sky Sports column in which Adam Bate uses a blend of data and opinion to reflect on some of the key stories from the latest Premier League matches. This week:

↗️ More than a hot streak for Newcastle’s Murphy
🔶 Andre has been central to the Wolves revival
🔥 Baleba’s stunning strike just part of the package

Murphy is now a star at Newcastle

Since the start of December, there are only two players in the Premier League who rank in the top 10 for both goals and assists. It will not come as a surprise to many that Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is one of them. The other is Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy.

With eight goals and nine assists in the competition since then, Murphy has been a revelation on the right wing. Since being recalled for the 3-3 draw against Salah’s Liverpool in early December, the 30-year-old has started every Premier League game.

Murphy technically did not add to those goal and assist tallies in the 3-0 win over Ipswich but it was his smart run inside that drew the foul from which Newcastle won their opening penalty. He also played the pass before the pass for the second goal too.

That happens a lot. There is a metric that calculates the total expected goals of every possession in which an individual player is involved. It has Murphy, this uncapped Englishman, in third place during this period, behind only Salah and Luis Diaz.

How about some more numbers? There have been 87 crosses from open play, second to Fulham’s Antonee Robinson. Murphy is in the top 10 for high speed runs and for distance covered while sprinting. He is up there underlapping and overlapping runs.

“Full credit to Jacob,” said Jason Tindall recently. “He has been at the football club a long time and I am sure if he were someone we had signed at the start of the season or January from somewhere then he would be receiving more plaudits than he is.”

He has a point. Murphy’s form has become more than a hot streak, more than a placeholder for a team with big aspirations. While Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon compete for a spot on the left, he has simply become one of Newcastle’s best players.

Andre bringing balance to Wolves

It is hard to believe now that back in November, with Wolves still winless in the Premier League under Gary O’Neil, Andre watched from the bench as an unused substitute against Crystal Palace as Mario Lemina came on for Tommy Doyle at Molineux.

Back then, the Brazil international midfielder signed late in the transfer window from Fluminense, was perceived to be a player of promise but not what the team needed. Almost six months on and there was Andre receiving yet another standing ovation.

He has not only started each of Wolves’ six consecutive wins under Vitor Pereira, a Premier League record for the club, but he has starred in them. Andre was far too good for Leicester in Saturday’s 3-0 win, too combative out of possession, too classy in it.

There were seven tackles, not only more than anyone else on the pitch but more than anyone across the Premier League weekend. He also completed 48 of his 53 passes. He is an elite ball-winner but he is also someone capable of setting the tempo for his team.

Matheus Cunha was the hero against Leicester with a goal and two assists, but speaking to Pereira in the press conference afterwards, it was a chance to ask him what he though of his diminutive powerhouse. “In our team, Andre is the balance,” he replied.

“He is the player who should connect the defenders with attack. He needs to be intelligent not to lose his position because if he loses his position, we lose the balance. He is a tactical player, technical player, and intelligent. He’s a top player, in my opinion.”

Cunha may well get his big move soon but picking which of Wolves’ Brazilians will have the best career is not so easy. There is Joao Gomes too, while Andre is even younger at 23 and would already improve most midfields. Not bad given his standing in November.

And finally… Baleba’s special moment

Fabian Hurzeler talked afterwards of the merits of sticking to the plan as Brighton came from behind late in the game to win 3-2 against West Ham. Moving Yankuba Minteh to the left wing certainly paid off but Hurzeler could not claim much credit for the winner.

It was a “special moment” from a special player in Carlos Baleba, he explained. “We have worked on tactics needing a goal in the last minute. That was not a tactic,” Lewis Dunk told Sky Sports. “But he put it in the top corner so the gaffer cannot say anything.”

According to the expected-goals models, Baleba’s strike was a one-in fifty effort given where it was struck from but the manner of it – curling from well wide of the goal to just inside Alphonse Areola’s right-hand post was more like one in a thousand. A beauty.

It was fitting that it was struck by Baleba. At 21, he has already become a colossus in the Brighton midfield. He won possession nine times, more than anyone else on the pitch. His four tackles won were four times more than the West Ham team combined.

Consider that no team-mate completed more passes too and a picture builds of an all-round midfielder who has been crucial for Brighton, a beacon of consistency in another injury-hit season for the club. There will be more special moments to come for Baleba.

This news was originally published on this post .

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