Jacob Murphy's reinvention as a right wing-back has paid off for Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce.Granted, two Premier League games is certainly a small sample size but the 25-year-old followed up his goal against Wolves last week with a productive performance in that berth against early pace-setters Everton.Bruce, of course, has come under heavy criticism during his time as Newcastle manager and, while it’s hard to argue that a positional change should see that begin to stop, he certainly deserves praise tactically.Indeed, out of everyone who played across the division yesterday, Murphy ranked really rather highly in a number of key statistics.His four progressive runs were the joint-fourth highest across all of Sunday’s four fixtures with only Allan Saint-Maximin, Jack Grealish and Adam Webster beating him.In terms of attacking duels won, only Saint-Maximin and Grealish could better his seven out of nine attempted and it was just the Aston Villa captain who completed more than his six dribbles.Ten successful defensive actions saw him rank within the top 15% (joint-fifteenth out of ninety-nine) too, so the former Norwich City man certainly did his job up and down the right-hand flank.
Transfermarkt's positional data suggests Murphy has only actually ever played two games (Wolves and Everton) in that role so Bruce must be given credit.
In order to develop his side somewhat, he appears to have moved a more dynamic option there over either Emil Krafth or Javier Manquillo and that certainly speaks to an impressive tactical shift.
Bruce may not exactly be renowned as a masterful tactician and previously suggested that aspect of the managerial game wasn't for him but, while the fact it has only been two games should be kept in mind, it's only fair to note when he gets things right too.