I did flag this up on Friday about Newcastle United losing to Celtic – Key message | OneFootball

On Friday I had an article published on The Mag – ‘If/when Newcastle United lose to Celtic on Saturday – Please bear this in mind’

So I am not just saying this in hindsight, I did it ahead of the match.

Due to the way so many people in the past go way over the top when reacting to results (winning and losing) in friendly matches, I just wanted to make a few points.

I thought there was every chance Celtic would beat Newcastle United on Saturday and so it proved.

My article on Friday (see below) pointed out just how much further Celtic were on with their pre-season, yesterday was the Glasgow club’s fifth friendly in front of fans, it was Newcastle’s first.

Most of Newcastle’s best players had actually only had four or five days back, taking part in the training camp in Austria, having been given extra time off this summer due to international duty.

Celtic start their season in only two weeks time and have only two friendlies left to play before that, whilst Newcastle have five more to go before the Premier League kicks off.

Then when you take into account that Hall, Isak, Joelinton and Livramento weren’t available AND Eddie Howe effectively split his available first team squad and under 21s into two separate teams playing 45 minutes each (Miley and Osula the only exceptions who played more than 45).

It then surely becomes no real surprise that United ended up losing against a far fitter and match ready Celtic.

You never want to see your team lose any game but the first friendly of pre-season I would take it every time, over any competitive match.

In their general play, I don’t even think Newcastle were that bad. In terms of working the ball up the pitch, it was just once they got to in and around the Celtic penalty area that they looked a bit clueless. Making poor decisions, not executing the final ball well, especially when crossing. So many United shots charged down and blocked, due to taking too much time, not thinking quickly enough, shooting when should have passed passed when should have shot and so on.

I haven’t seen any stats but Newcastle seemed to have at least as much possession and got into the final third as much as Celtic did at the other end.

The difference was that Newcastle United made far too many mistakes at the back, too open at times, players losing their men. All of this not helped by the fact Celtic scored their first goal when to me seeing it on replays afterwards, Willock made no contact with the Celtic player who went down for the penalty.

You can call of this excuses but I think they are just viable reasons that contributed to why Newcastle United lost, which as I said ahead of the match, was always likely with the differing points of pre-season the two clubs are at.

Newcastle did deserve to lose on the overall play but I think it was more a one goal margin match, two at the most. With 4-0 suggesting Celtic controlled the game and overwhelmed Newcastle, which was anything but the case.

If you are going to make mistakes and not get things right, far better to do it in friendly kick abouts, rather than when it really matters.

A lot of work still to for Eddie Howe and his players, plus more signings needed of course, but this is just the start of preparations for when the real stuff starts, so give them the time and support to get things primed for when the new season comes around.

My article (‘If/when Newcastle United lose to Celtic on Saturday – Please bear this in mind’) that was published on The Mag on Friday (18 July):

Saturday sees Newcastle United face Celtic in the first pre-season friendly ahead of the 2025/26 Premier League season.

Last Saturday (12 July) there was a friendly against Carlisle United.

However, that was a behind closed doors kick about against the now non-league club, basically not much more than a training session as 22 members of the Newcastle United first team squad and Under 21s we divided into two separate elevens. One set of 11 players playing 45 minutes in the kick about, then the other 11 in the second 45.

Newcastle won that friendly ‘match’ 4-0 but it is tomorrow when things get (vaguely/relatively) serious.

Actually most of United’s key players, biggest assets, hadn’t even returned to the training ground by the time the Carlisle kick about happened. International players such as Gordon, Tonali, Livramento, Burn, Bruno and Isak, not back yet, whilst those who took part against Carlisle had only had a few days of group training.

Most of those international players did join the rest of the squad for this week’s training camp in Austria, although it looks like Tino given a little extra time due to his late June involvement with the England Under 21s.

So that is the state of play for the Newcastle United squad as with now 29 days to go until the new season kicks off, they now face the first of six pre-season friendlies.

Newcastle United pre-season friendly schedule 2025/26

(Saturday 12 July – Newcastle 4 Carlisle 0 (Behind closed doors))

Saturday 19 July – Celtic v Newcastle United

Sunday 27 July – Arsenal v Newcastle

Wednesday 30 July – Team K-League all stars v Newcastle

Sunday 3 August- Spurs v Newcastle

Friday 8 August – Newcastle v Espanyol

Saturday 9 August – Newcastle v Atletico Madrid

First game of new league season

Saturday 16 August – Aston Villa v Newcastle

Compare that then to tomorrow’s opponents and how their pre-season is shaping up…

Celtic pre-season friendly schedule 2025/26

Friday 4 July – Queen’s Park 0 Celtic 1

Tuesday 8 July – Cork City 1 Celtic 2

Saturday 12 July – Estrela da Amadora 3 Celtic 2

Wednesday 16 July – Sporting Lisbon 0 Celtic 2

Saturday 19 July – Celtic v Newcastle United

Thursday 24 July – Ajax v Celtic

Saturday 26 July or Sunday 27 July – Celtic v Al-Ahli or Como

First game of new league season

Sunday 3 August – Celtic v St Mirren

As you can see, Celtic are effectively at least two weeks ahead of Newcastle United when it comes to pre-season preparations, including having played four friendlies already.

I think it is an attraction for Eddie Howe and his staff to play this kind of match against a Scottish club, a tougher test than normal for the Newcastle players when playing a team north of the border, as their season kicks off weeks earlier than the English Premier League.

The standard may not be that high in the Scottish top tier but the fact they have already had a number of friendlies and plenty of time on the training pitch, with their season only two weeks away, means that the likes of Celtic will push the Newcastle players a lot more at this stage of their preparations.

Indeed, exactly a year ago today, Eddie Howe and his squad travelled to Glasgow and won 2-1 in front of 51,000 against Rangers, Miguel Almiron and Harrison Ashby getting the goals.

I think pre-season friendlies are the very most extreme, when it comes to how Eddie Howe and the Newcastle United fans react to the actual result.

Whilst Eddie Howe and his staff will be overwhelmingly interested in how the fitness of the players was, how certain parts of the game played out, how well things they’d worked on now looked in a friendly.

Compared to us as fans, where all of us, to lesser or greater degrees, put far too much emphasis on the actual result.

In any match it is human nature to want to see Newcastle United come out on top, however, if/when Celtic win tomorrow, don’t go daft.

Man for man, the Celtic players will be far further along the way to full match fitness than the Newcastle United players will be. Plus, many of Newcastle’s very best players may well not be risked at all.