Right Place, Right Time: Sean Longstaff’s Intangible Influence

The Newcastle midfielder is able to compensate his lack of pace with astute understanding of the game

There are kinds of player that looks good — and usually is good — in numbers. There are some that looks…. pretty bad, and you wonder why the manager kept on relying for their service.

Yet, their presence are felt across the pitch. These are the players that are able to make the difference by doing intangible things; the ones who control the game subtly from behind the scenes. St.James Park needs these kind of players, and Sean Longstaff has arrived in the right place at the right time.

Longstaff doesn’t look that good when you skim through his numbers. Most of his stats are kind of mediocre — and some are okay-ish.

Instead, his influence is related more to his excellent situational awareness. As Eddie Howe’s Newcastle rely more on quick build-ups, transitions, and high pressing, Longstaff’s ability is essential for several reasons.

Good positioning allows a player to do multiple things in a time. Occupy a vacant space ball-near and the player will find himself as a passing connection. If the teammate lose the ball, the player then is in a good position to intercept the ball. Wijnaldum, Henderson, and Xhaka is good at this stuff.

Against Liverpool, Longstaff is positioned as a lone defensive midfielder. However, during transitions, the right 8, Willock made a diagonal run to the left side, occupying the left side of the pitch.

Longstaff then covered the vacant space, positioned himself as an exit option, and, by luck, received a wild ball from Henderson. He then calmly threads the ball onto the onrushing Isak.

Longstaff is also able to be a dangerous option inside the box. The best example is shown on his both goals against Southampton at the Carabao semi-final.

During the first goal, after offering himself as a connection, he participates in wide rotations and capitalize Adam Armstrong’s lack of attention plus Diallo being out of position….

then exploits the Saints’ defensive block ball-watching by continuing to run to the box for the second goal.

In another example we’ve seen Longstaff moving to the left side and created a 5v5 out wide. Bruno circulated the ball back to Botman, which faces Almiron who drops deep and being marked.

Longstaff then goes inside to be the third man, allowing Almiron to find a player facing opponents’ goal. The Newcastle midfielder then switched the ball to Trippier, creating an opening for the Magpies.

Aside from good positioning, Longstaff has a sixth sense on deciding which space or player he will mark. Not really sixth sense, I guess, since he scanned the hell out of the pitch.

Against Tottenham, Longstaff’s constant scanning leads to him noticing central overloads — Bentancur dropping inside and Kane who positioned himself as a diagonal option. The Newcastle midfielder first mark Bentancur then jumps in front of Bissouma, while instructing Bruno to mark the space in which Kane can operate inside.

Then, in a move which contributed to Newcastle’s second goal, Longstaff navigated a 1v2 situation (in which Bentancur is positioned high and Sessegnon wide), did the right decision to jump and intercept the ball from the Tottenham left wing-back.

Now, of course, Longstaff lacks pace — lateral and vertical quickness, to be more specific.

This makes him quite unreliable on defending transitions. After conceding a turnover, Longstaff is unable to catch Bentancur, which leads into Kane’s golden chance.

Aside from transitions, Longstaff often struggles when playing as a lone pivot. Being slow means that Longstaff is prone to be separated from the defensive line and unable to recover in time.

Liverpool exploited this weakness by using Fabinho’s positioning to attract Longstaff’s pressing. The passing scheme then ends up into a crossing situation.

Although Longstaff is naturally lacking pace due to his physical stature, he is able to compensate this weakness with astute positioning. By being in the right place at the right time, the №36 player is able to match Newcastle’s fast-paced game.

Sean Longstaff’s positioning ability has proven to be influential in Eddie Howe’s system. By consistently able to contribute in various situations, Newcastle are able to seamlessly progressing the ball from back to front, and defending wide plus central areas with ease.