The Lewis Miley reality | OneFootball

I wanted to talk about Lewis Miley.

Less than a month after turning 17, the teenager made his Newcastle United first team debut at Chelsea, a sub in the final game of last season in the Premier League.

A first start came at home against all conquering Manchester City, Lewis Miley one of ten outfield changes made by Eddie Howe for this superb League Cup win. Man City’s first defeat of any kind this season.

Then the small matter of 15 more first team appearances for Lewis Miley in the space of two months. The last 13 of those, seeing the 17 year old playing on average every four days for Newcastle United,

28 May 2023 – Chelsea 1 Newcastle 1 (came on as a sub)

27 September 2023 – Newcastle 1 Man City 0

7 November 2023 – Borussia Dortmund 2 Newcastle 0 (came on as a sub)

11 November 2023 – Bournemouth 2 Newcastle 0

25 November 2023 – Newcastle 4 Chelsea 1

28 November 2023 – PSG 1 Newcastle 1

2 December 2023 – Newcastle 1 Man U 0

7 December 2023 – Everton 3 Newcastle 0

10 December 2023 – Spurs 4 Newcastle 1

13 December 2023 – Newcastle 1 AC Milan 2

16 December 2023 – Newcastle 3 Fulham 0 (came on as a sub)

19 December 2023 – Chelsea 1 Newcastle 1 – lost on penalties

23 December 2023 – Luton 1 Newcastle 0

26 December 2023 – Newcastle 1 Forest 3

1 January 2024 – Liverpool 4 Newcastle 2

6 January 2024 – Sunderland 0 Newcastle 3 (came on as a sub)

13 January 2024 – Newcastle 2 Man City 3

Lewis Miley obviously has a long way to go before reaching his full potential (which makes it even more exciting, considering what he has shown so far), but one thing for sure, he has never once looked fazed when selected for any of these matches.

If we run back on those games…

Eight matches against ‘big six’ clubs (Man City x2, Liverpool, Chelsea x3, Spurs, Man U)

Three games against Champions League giants (PSG, AC Milan, Dortmund)

Five other matches against other Premier League clubs

One away derby and a win at Sunderland

I am sure like me, you have tried to match this up to back in the day when you were 17, what you were doing in your life. Then again like me, matching up what Lewis Miley is doing, whilst you find it a struggle to get your 17 year old kids to just get out of bed and/or speak to you.

I honestly think that what he has done is phenomenal.

The biggest compliment you can play him is that you never think Lewis Miley named in the team is a weakness AND you don’t think of him as 17 (SEVENTEEN) year old Lewis Miley when he is lining up against Man City, PSG, Man Utd, AC Milan, Liverpool…

After just two career starts and two sub appearances, Lewis Miley played in that stellar week of matches where Eddie Howe was basically down to just 11 realistic first team options and they dominated and beat Chelsea 4-1 and Man U 1-0 (should have been 4-0 or 5-0) and in between were cheated out of a famous win in Paris.

For anybody to making any criticisms of any part of Lewis Miley’s game would be crazy at this point. He has of course got parts of his game that can be improved and will be. However, the whole package he brings is beyond belief at this age.

I think it is only when you hear him speak that it makes you think, oh right, he is only 17 isn’t he. Not that he has embarrassed himself when speaking, just the opposite, BUT he is still clearly just a kid speaking and it doesn’t match what we have seen him do on the football pitch!

He is already 6ft 1 and that also makes you forget his youth. Clearly he is going to get stronger with age and more stamina and bit more pace. As for ability though, as he has gone on he has got more and more confident in terms of trying things and what a player!

Some of his passing and movement and through balls and intricate passes, running with the ball, what quality!

Who knows what would have been his involvement / experience this season, if not for the crippling list of missing players. I reckon he would have got a decent amount of minutes on the pitch but only a fraction of what he has already experienced this season, plus it would have been a case of coming on for the last 10 or 20 minutes, often against a dispirited and tired opposition. Not lining up in the starting eleven against some of the best club sides / players in the world.

I don’t think this glut of first team football he has experienced already will have done Lewis Miley any harm. However, I don’t think it is ideal if the missing list never reduces and the 17 year old ends up having to play game after game for the rest of the campaign.

Best for Lewis Miley I think if Eddie Howe gets one or two midfielders back and the 17 year old takes on more of a minor role, the odd start here and there but mainly coming on as a sub frequently.

If you have moments when you feel too down with how recent results have gone, just remind yourself of how good Newcastle United are going to be in the years to come, if keeping the likes of Isak, Botman, Bruno, Gordon and Joelinton together, with the quality of the likes of Lewis Miley coming through as proper real homegrown top level talent.