In a possible future version of this football world, Lewis Hall is winning the World Cup for England at left-back, while still a Newcastle United player.
At right midfield in the same team is Lewis Miley, Hall's Newcastle teammate.
They have transferred their unique understanding at club level to the international arena.
However, in another not-so-impossible future, it's easy to see them both as the next players that Newcastle United cash in on.
So, let's forget about Fantasy Island, and in the interim, let's see what the two of them could do in a Newcastle side reinvented tactically and positionally – while we've still got time.
I'll start with Lewis Hall.
For a couple of games last season, Newcastle's absolute best player, even with our former midfield talisman Bruno on the pitch, was Lewis Hall. From left-back, he ran the game. He moved forward into what would have been called a half-back position – just ahead of the central defenders but relatively narrow. From there his ability to tackle and pass gave a new dimension to the creative thrust of the midfield.
The central defenders would split left and right and one of the midfield trio would drop back into a back three temporarily to accommodate this switch.
All football tactics come down to freeing up some potential so you have more or better options than your opponents. It was obvious that Eddie Howe allowed this move or was even encouraging it.
It gave Newcastle a new dimension, allowing the attackers to concentrate on attack, and to make defence a much more attacking option, without necessarily sacrificing solidity.
I noticed Howe also seemed to be favouring Miley at right-back, and that he seemed to be slowly pushing him into a similar right-back/right-half hybrid.
In the world of number sixes, number eights and number 10s, it's worth explaining what a half-back used to be.
The half-back was a player who tackled hard, broke up opposition attacks and linked defence to attack. At Newcastle, Jimmy Scoular was a legendary example, while Billy Bremner at Leeds offers a more familiar illustration of the combination of aggression, intelligence and passing ability. Modern football has divided many of those responsibilities between holding midfielders, central defenders and inverted full-backs.
Lewis Hall Screen Newcastle United St James' Park
Photo by The Mag
Last week, I polled my mates in our NUFC WhatsApp group as to who is Newcastle's current best player and the resounding answer was: Lewis Hall.
He is strong in the tackle but he also has the attacking instincts of a midfield player. If he's Newcastle's best player, it would be pointless to limit him to full-back when he can do so much more without losing any of what he gives at left-back.
Lewis Miley might be less adaptable to – or even less keen – to play full-back, but he also has the tackling, vision, passing range and movement to make an excellent right-half – breaking up opposition play and recycling the ball in numerous, deft ways.
Since we lost our four best players – Isak, Gordon, Tonali and Guimarães – and then our manager, Newcastle have been left with a weakened squad and an inexperienced coach. It's a monumental challenge to get anything out of the current group.
Some would go so far as to say the midfield has a gaping hole in it and that the attack is not much better.
The Bruno-Tonali-Joelinton midfield – the so-called 'best midfield in the Premier League' – was broken up and two thirds of it sold. But trying to play the same way with fewer, less gifted and less experienced players – two out of Joelinton, Nico, Ramsey, Steur or Miley – is doomed to fall short of the players and formation we lost.
Further forward, trying to replace the combined thrust and technical adroitness of Tonali and Bruno with Willock or Wissa also seems like no more than wishful thinking.
Matthias Jaissle needs to find some positional and tactical innovation based on the players he has got at his disposal. It's not going to work just to impose a system he likes – be it 4-2-3-1 or the Red Bull vertical football – just because he likes it.
The Newcastle United players in this squad have strengths as well as weaknesses. Nico has an eye for a pass and is not as easy to get knocked off the ball as many might have thought. Dedić is a traditional overlapping full-back with strength in both attacking and defending. Osula is like lightning and has boundless confidence. Barnes has a few tricks and a neat way of finishing. Wissa has an excellent recent international record even if the weight of replacing Isak at Newcastle seems still to be weighing him down. And so on.
So let's play to our strengths.
Give our best player (Hall, remember?) permission to push forward to left-half and dictate the game. Coach the central defenders and midfielders to accommodate that – Burn or Botman goes further left to cover the space behind him.
Let Miley operate at right-half, with Amar Dedić behind him at right-back, providing the overlapping threat. Miley can drop back to cover when Dedić advances, or move centrally to help control possession. Again, coach the right central defender to cover Dedić as well.
Amar Dedić Screen Newcastle United St James' Park
Photo by The Mag
With a midfield three of Joelinton, Nico and Miley, Joelinton would have the responsibility to fill the central position in a back three – to tackle, hustle and move the ball forward.
Give Nico more time to express his range of passing and even drift forward into a number 10 hole.
Let whoever is picked out of our multiple wide men have the time and space to break down the wings or cut inside, knowing they have Hall and Miley ready to come in to tackle, pass, dribble or push forward themselves.
The innovation would be having multiple players doubling up on responsibilities. No one gets the luxury just to be a striker or a winger or a defender; everyone has at least two things they do well.
These movements wouldn't necessarily happen simultaneously. The point is to give Newcastle different ways of creating an extra man in midfield while maintaining cover behind the ball.
It's not based on the coaching playbooks, but on the players we have, and it will take drilling and practice to get it right.
Let's be first hard to beat and then hard to stop.
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