Newcastle United eased to a 1-0 Premier League win over Norwich City at St James’ Park on Sunday with Demba Ba scoring the only goal of the game.
The margin of victory should have been greater, with Papiss Cisse missing a penalty for the Magpies.
But it was at the other end where Newcastle impressed most, as they limited Norwich to just a couple of serious chances.
Mike Williamson and Steven Taylor were commanding in the centre of the Magpies defence with Alan Pardew's training sessions on defending crosses clearly paying dividends with a second clean sheet in a row.
Mike Williamson was well positioned to defend crosses
Alan's session on defending crosses, written up for Elite Soccer, works on players' recovery runs and teaches the best run to make out of possession to protect the goal.
The session then progresses to bring in other scenarios, for example full backs showing opponents down the outside and wide midfielders doubling up with full backs.
Davide Santon’s excellent display at full-back ensured one of Norwich’s most creative players, Robert Snodgrass, had little joy on the wing as he was denied space and time.
The crosses Norwich did manage to get into the area were repelled. This was thanks to good central defensive positioning and excellent full-back play forcing the Canaries’ wingers into areas where it was difficult to provide consistent delivery.
“You only have to look at the number of goals scored from crosses in the Premier League to know why it’s important for us to practise this session,” says Alan
