Newcastle boss Howe delighted with 'deep thinker' Murphy

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has heaped praise on midfielder Jacob Murphy.

Howe was delighted at how Murphy performed in their emphatic win over Burnley at the weekend.

The Magpies won 4-1 with Murphy playing a starring role in a system with two strikers.

Howe told Chronicle Live: "Jacob is such a reliable player for us. He is so dependable.

At Burnley, he had quite a big job on his hands tactically as we asked him to do something slightly different.

He really does understand the game and he's a deep thinker.

"He does have the quality and you can see with the goals he created and assisted for us just how important he is to us."

Howe added: "The whole team was set up differently because that's how we felt we needed to play against Burnley, we felt it was the right way. With our away form being as it has been, the opportunity to play two experienced strikers to try to give the opposition a problem with having two strikers in their face.

"It is all very well having that idea but you have to go and do it. Our execution was at the highest level. It doesn't always work like that but it did on Saturday and I was delighted to get four goals."