Newcastle 0 Albion 1

The joke among the Newcastle-based reporters after this impressive triumph for Fabian Huerzeler and his team was that the Albion boss is a future England manager.

It was, of course, reference to the fact the Three Lions have gone German with the appointment of Thomas Tuchel.

That had particular relevance on Tyneside given the way Eddie Howe had been linked with the national team job.

The other line doing the rounds was that Howe had come off second best to two German coaches in a week.

While we do not necessarily know whether the Newcastle boss was really pipped to the England job by Tuchel, we could see for ourselves how things panned out on the St James’ Park turf.

It was not necessarily an indictment of Howe because his team were bright and intense for significant periods and did enough to have built what might have proved to be a winning position.

But it was a very good day for Huerzeler, his staff and the players who ensured a plan paid off.

He became the first away boss to see his side keep a clean sheet at St James’ Park since, yes, another German coach – Edin Terzic with Borussia Dortmund this time last year.

And his surprising, and criticised in some quarters, team selection proved to be spot-on.

With their options affected by what happened during the international window, plus the way Newcastle play, Huerzeler and staff got the line-up, tactics and in-game decisions right.

That included a rejig when match-winner Danny Welbeck went off with a back injury - and the five-man backline for the closing stages.

It included Yasin Ayari offering support to Ferdi Kadioglu down the left while ensuring there were still four attacking players on the pitch (Albion looked 4-2-4 at some stages).

And it included defending deeper and at times looking to play longer (hence Evan Ferguson's presence).

Equally, football is not just theories and diagrams. It is not chess. The ‘pieces’ in play are human and this plan hinged on players being sufficiently strong, stubborn, sharp and in some cases, adaptable. Which they were.

Of course, history might have been written differently had Alexander Isak beaten Bart Verbruggen in a one-on-one shortly before Welbeck combined with Georginio Rutter to slide home the only goal.

But Heurzeler liked the way his team dug in and adapted to the challenge

He said of his team selection: “It was a balance between everything. In the end, we had to deal with some issues.

“(Yankuba) Minteh coming back after a long travel from Gambia with a small issue.

“Pervis (Estupinan) and Julio (Enciso) had long travels and had two very tough games in a different environment.

“Then we had (Kaoru) Mitoma after a long travel back so I think it is also a responsibility of us to take care of the players and to take care of the availability of players.

“The second thing, of course, there was also some tactical things.

“For example, with Evan and Danny, if we go more on the second ball and the long balls against the man-marking and this intensity. And they did it quite good.

“In the first half, we suffered, had a bit of luck. In the second half, we were better.”

Verbruggen denied the clean through Isak and dived to his left to swat away a curler from Anthony Gordon, who was a big threat.

A dangerous corner to the far post by Gordon should probably have been turned in by Joelinton, rather than narrowly wide.

But Welbeck, picked out by Lewis Dunk after Carlos Baleba had drawn a foul, combined superbly with Rutter and was too strong for defenders before applying the finish.

Albion posed more threat in the second half but never quite got totally off the leash in terms of counter-attacking.

Kaoru Mitoma, sent on as sub, twice went close and Ferdi Kadioglu, switched from left-back to an attacking role on the right, might have scored from a cut-back by Pervis Estupinan, who had just gone on.

But Verbruggen kept making saves, usually from Isak (including a deflected effort), there were key blocks and headers, some tame Toon finishing and, right at the last, a solid defensive wall and a huge claim by the keeper.

Newcastle: Pope; Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall (Osula 90); Tonali (Willock 65), Guimaraes (Almiron 85), Joelinton; Jacob Murphy (Barnes 65), Isak, Gordon (Longstaff 85). Subs Not Used: Vlachodimos, Krafth, Kelly, Miley.

Yellow card: Burn, Hall.

Albion: Verbruggen; Veltman, Dunk, Igor, Kadioglu; Baleba (Wieffer 71), Hinshelwood; Rutter (Estupinan 72), Ayari (Enciso 82); Ferguson (Mitoma 60), Welbeck (van Hecke 81). Subs Not Used: Steele, Lamptey, Gruda, Moder.

Yellow card: Ayari, Hinshelwood.

Goal: Welbeck 35.

Att: 52,220

Ref: Peter Bankes (Merseyside).