Newcastle boss Eddie Howe salutes "absolute class" of Fabian Schär

The Swiss defender played a huge role in the club's first win of the season

Author: Rory GannonPublished 3rd Mar 2024

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has praised defender Fabian Schär for his "absolute class" as he played a huge role in the team's first win of the 2024 season.

The Swiss player took on a number of roles during the match against Wolves at St James' Park on Saturday (March 2nd).

He was also instrumental in setting up each of the Magpies' three goals against the team's decisive win against Wolves, with him setting up the huge counter-attack from Alexander Isak that chipped the ball into their opponent's goal.

Fabian also had a hand in the second goal, who got the ball in motion to move to Anthony Gordon, who pushed the score to 2-0.

He was not finished yet, however, as he passed the ball to recently-added substitute Tino Livramento, who managed to net the ball in a classy delivery, sealing the team's victory.

When asked about Fabian's contributions to the team's win, Howe commended Schär for his talents, saying: "There won't be many centre-halves like Fabi. He is a total one-off."

Howe added: "He is a very good defender. When he is absolutely concentrated and really well trained, he's as good a defender as I've seen. He reads the game really well and the amount of interceptions he makes is second to none.

"The two passes today were... Maybe the first one is slightly easier than the second one. The second one I don't think anyone in the stadium maybe saw - maybe Tino did because he's made the run and he probably knows that Fabi's capable of playing it, but two moments of absolute class."

Newcastle had been unlucky on home soil ever since they beat Fulham in another thrilling 3-0 result in mid-December, and since then the team had conceded 12 goals in their last four fixtures, which prompted a tweak by manager Howe.

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