Sheffield United 0-8 Newcastle United: 2023/24 Premier League gameweek 6 match report

Eddie Howe broke yet another record as head coach of Newcastle United, as his Magpies ran riot at Bramall Lane to achieve the largest away league victory in the club's history.

The game finished 8-0 but the Blades couldn't have complained if their visitors had reached double figures, grabbing another record for the biggest win in Premier League history in the process.

Sean Longstaff, Dan Burn, Sven Botman, Callum Wilson, Anthony Gordon, Miguel Almirón, Bruno Guimarães, and Alexander Isak all found the net on a day when pretty much everything went right for Howe. Never before had eight different players scored for their side in a Premier League game.

The result also matched the Premier League record 8-0 victory overseen by Sir Bobby Robson against Sheffield United's city neighbours Sheffield Wednesday at St. James' Park back in 1999.

Despite not hitting the net themselves, Kieran Trippier made a hat trick of assists, Elliot Anderson shone in central midfield and set up Gordon for his goal, while Fabian Schär was outstanding once again, just one wayward defensive header blotting an otherwise perfect display from the Swiss international.

Indeed, the only black mark on a famous day for the Magpies was the early injury to Harvey Barnes, who limped from the field after just 12 minutes due to what Howe later described as a serious-looking toe issue.

The goal glut aside, there was even time for Gordon to have a stonewall penalty overlooked—by both the match official and even more incredulously by the VAR—and to miss one of Newcastle's best chances of the game.

Wilson was also left frustrated by only managing to notch once, missing a handful of chances he'd usually bury without breaking a sweat. At the other end of the pitch, Nick Pope barely had any involvement after the opening 15 minutes, with absolutely no San Siro heroics required this time out.

This was a truly marvellous end to a landmark week, which has brought two wins, a creditable draw on the biggest stage of all, nine goals, three clean sheets, and plenty of cheer back to the Toon Army.

As for miracle worker Howe, the head coach has led his side to a better start to this season than the last, with nine points instead of seven from the first six matches and a much healthier goal difference. Where we go from here is anyone's guess, but we've never been in safer hands.

We've said it before, but what a time to be a Newcastle United supporter this is.

Are there any highlights of the game?

We're not sure how Sky Sports have managed to fit eight goals into three minutes of footage, but they have, and here it is:

What were the player ratings?

We're not sure we'll ever dish out three 10/10 ratings again, but there's just no other score for the displays put in by Trippier, Botman, and Gordon. Our captain was immense for the third game running, this time making three assists. Our number four was imperious in every action and scored his first goal for the club, and our number 10 came off the bench early for Barnes to dominate the game from the left wing.

Schär, Burn, Longstaff, Guimarães, and Anderson were all instrumental in the victory, too, with only Almirón and Wilson struggling overall despite each grabbing themselves a goal. Miggy had a very poor day at the office otherwise, while Wilson should have had a hat trick in the first half and was unusually profligate in between the posts. Pope only had one save to make, but wasn't very convincing in the early stages.

As for the other substitutes, Livramento and Tonali didn't need to do much by the time they arrived and didn't do much, Hall barely had a kick in his 16 minutes of action, and Isak was a real menace. The Swedish striker scorePd a brilliant goal that owed everything to his anticipation, pace, and composure, while also being involved in numerous other threatening moments after joining the action in the 70th minute.

Newcastle United (4-3-3): Pope 6; Trippier 10 (Livramento 6), Schär 9, Botman 10, Burn 9; Longstaff 9, Guimarães 9 (Hall 5), Anderson 9; Almirón 7 (Tonali 6), Wilson 7 (Isak 8), Barnes 5 (Gordon 10)

What was Eddie Howe's reaction?

Our beaming head coach spent four minutes with NUFC TV's Dan King in the immediate aftermath of the mauling, with his key quotes being:

"I'm delighted with the attitude from the players after a long week. (There's been) a lot of travelling for us, (they've put) a lot of energy into every game. The Brentford game was massive, and of course, Milan was always going to speak for itself because of what that game meant to everybody and to us. Then we knew this was going to be a really challenging game coming, but what a response from the players. What an attitude, what a desire to be the best they can be, and I'm just delighted they got rewarded.

It's great to see the set plays work. Congratulations to everyone involved in that, from the coaches to the players. It's so important to us, as we were regular goalscorers from set pieces last season and it's such an important part of the game. It helps when you've got someone of his (Kieran Trippier's) quality on the ball. The two balls he put in were top-class. He's done that for us for a long time and he also assisted Callum's (Wilson) goal so I thought it was another great display from Tripps.

I didn't actually realise that until afterwards, someone said 'It's eight different goalscorers'. It's a bit of a blur during the game. It's important because we need goals from every source. We need different types of goals from different phases of the game. I thought we looked really, really good in every phase of the game today. Counter-attacking, building up against a deep defence, we played some really intricate football. You could see the confidence returning to all of the players after we'd scored a few goals and the game was over. Hopefully, we haven't used them all up in one game and there's a lot more to come!

You're not seeking records like that (the equal largest Premier League win) but it's nice if they come and it'll be a nice moment to look back on in the future, I'm sure. But for us in the moment, we're just concentrating on trying to give the best performance we can to the people that come to watch the game and support us. We want to make them proud.

It looks like a toe problem (for Harvey Barnes). It's difficult to know, he said he was just pushing off and felt something in his toe, which is not an issue he's had before. Hopefully, it's nothing serious but it doesn't look good at this moment.

You can easily lose games in the Premier League and we didn't want our season to slip away before it had started. It's been a big response from the players, the Brentford game, Milan, and this match give us a lift and now we can hopefully regain our best form. But we know the competition gets harder, it doesn't get easier, so we're very level but looking forward to the next challenge."

What did Dan Burn, Sean Longstaff, and Anthony Gordon have to say?

Burn, the scorer of the second goal was the first of the squad to speak to King after the final whistle:

"There's been a lot of talk about us this season, asking if we could back up last season. We had a bit of a sticky patch but that's three games in a week and three clean sheets, and then to go and perform the way that we did today—I thought everyone to a man was brilliant—so it's been a really good week.

I think everything (clicked) today. We switched formations when we needed to, we played through the lines, and we were great from set pieces, so I think it was just one of those days where everything fell for us. I'm really happy with the clean sheet, though, as that's the third in a row. That's what our season was built on last time, being solid defensively, and we've let in a lot of goals recently so it's nice to get back to that solidity.

It's nice to get one (a goal) early because I'm normally hanging on towards the end, panicking. I'm still going for Shearer's record, so we'll see if we get there! I'm really happy with the lads and buzzing for Sven (Botman) as well. He's been getting a lot of stick in the changing room for not scoring, so hopefully, it's the first of many.

I've said before that I should score a lot more goals for the size I am. It's something we've been working on a lot in training, so for it to come off it will hopefully give us a lot more confidence moving into the next games."

Fellow Geordie, and scorer of the opener, Longstaff was next up and spoke brilliantly, as always:

"It's been a really positive day. It backs up the win last weekend against Brentford and a good result midweek. We knew it was going to be tough coming here, but I thought we started really well and scored relatively early, which settled the nerves. I thought we were excellent after that, it was one of those days where whatever we tried came off and it's always nice when that happens.

It was always going to be a battle and a grind, and not as nice a football game as it was on Tuesday. But I thought we won our early battles and any time you can score early is always going to help. After that, I thought Sven (Botman) and Fabi(an) (Schär) controlled the game really well and settled the whole team down. It was one of those days where whatever pattern we tried to use or whatever pass we tried, it worked. It was a great day.

I can't really remember it (his goal). I just know that Tripps (Kieran Trippier) has been on me for the last week and a half saying, 'You need to get in the box more'. It's funny because he's done that twice in my career and the last time I scored two against Southampton. I scored today, so I think he needs to do it for every game.

It's something I want to add to my game more and more, scoring goals. I feel like over the last year-and-a-half or two years under the manager, I've added a lot to my game and that's the final little piece now. It's something that I focus on, so I'm happy to get off the mark. In the last few years, it's been one for the season, so hopefully that's not the case this year.

It's amazing. The squad we've got is unbelievable. I never feel like we're far away from that (a big win). We create chances, we're a really good team to watch. We try to play attacking football, running forward, passing forward, and it's a bit like last year against Tottenham (6-1) where on the day everything falls into place perfectly and I feel like that happened today. Unfortunately, for them, they were on the other end of it.

It's a really good place to be at the minute and we're just trying to carry on the momentum from last year and ride that as long as possible."

A smiling Gordon rounded off the interviews, after another scintillating display on the wing:

"I'd probably say it was (his best game for Newcastle). I could have probably gotten a few more assists and goals if I'm being hard on myself, but I thought I played well and the team played well. Everything we did was together, we got a couple of set-piece goals and a clean sheet so it was a great day for everyone.

I was a bit disappointed (to be named on the bench) because I want to start every game. I feel like I'm playing well at the minute so I didn't want to come out (of the starting XI), but ultimately we've got a really difficult season coming up and there'll be a lot of squad rotation, I imagine. It's a team game and when I came on it was just about playing my part—there was no sulking on my part—I was just trying to affect the game as much as I could for my team

It's a clear pen(alty), isn't it? Have you watched it back? Was it a pen(alty?) It's a clear penalty. I'd done him with the feint and I was going on to shoot, and he just took me down. I feel like because they'd given me the last one, maybe, that... but it's no problem. I thought the ref(eree) had a really good game so I'm not going to complain.

I've been working on it (the technique for his goal) for weeks now with JT (Jason Tindall). Normally, when I cut in, I'm trying to aim for the top corner and get the perfect goal with loads of power, so we've been working on taking a bit of power off it and just finessing it in. Today it's 'practice makes perfect', as that's exactly what we've been doing.

I'm in the best place I've ever been physically in my whole career. I feel really quick, really sharp, and that's coming out in my play because I feel I'm able to do a lot of combination play around the box sharply, and then recover if we lose the ball. I feel great."

What's next for NUFC?

Just the small matter of Pep Guardiola's treble winners visiting St. James' for a third-round Carabao Cup tie on Wednesday evening. That game's an 8 p.m. BST kick-off and is sold out, but it will again be shown live on Sky.