Written by kirsikka
Lots of changes from last week’s starting XI but perhaps that’s a sign the illness has mostly left the camp. We still started slowly but once we got our foot in the game after about fifteen minutes, we were the better team for the rest of the match, barring one other fifteen-minute spell around the subs in the second period.
Man of the match against NewcastleTavernier
Semenyo
Neto
Cook
Senesi
Evanilson
Zabarnyi
Christie
Kluivert
Someone else
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Semenyo, such a key player last season, looked off it last week but today he was a monster. Harrying, powerful, skillful, fast, and with his shooting boots back on. Unlucky to only hit the crossbar with one effort.
Maybe Howe’s plan was to contain Semenyo with Kelly because he knew his game. However, that works both ways and today Semenyo had Kelly on toast.
Our goal came from great battling from Semenyo to win the ball and this time not take on the shot, instead laying it on a plate for Tavs to poke home. Worth also noting that Semenyo robbed Joelinton after Cook had also harried another player into a quick pass. Keep the pressure on multiple players as a team and mistakes come…
Evanilson, the new big mon£y signing, made a promising start to his AFCB career. His movement looked good and the way he instantly snapped in one shot that Pope managed to save with his legs bodes well.
After dominating them in the first period, I thought there was no way Howe would allow that to continue so we should prepare for an onslaught after the restart but it never materialised. If anything, it was more of the same until the subs came on.
Newcastle’s changes already had them taking the initiative and controlling the match so AI tried something funky, taking off our striker but not bringing a new one on. I appreciate the thought process of trying to alter the direction of the match with something unexpected but it didn’t work and left them firmly ensconced in our half until they scored.
As an aside, I thought it was interesting to see multiple instances of poor distribution and clearances from Pope who is supposed to be one of the better keepers in the PL. He couldn’t deal with the pressure we were putting on him and kept shanking it. Neto was far more composed in comparison.
Throughout the 90 did Isak and Guimaraes have bad matches or did we harry them into it? Sometimes I think we have to give our players the credit for turning top-notch players into ordinary-looking ones and so well done today for the way we didn’t give them a moment.
As for the way the match finished, more on that below but it’s stuff like this that makes me hate the Premier League and modern football. Sadly, it isn’t enough to give teams huge financial advantages at the cost of a more competitive league because their owners and fans won’t accept teams on a level pegging… now we have completely legitimate goals being disallowed and players committing horrific neck clothes lines and getting away with it because the PL and tv money wants certain teams near the top.
Evanilson Watch
He may be our replacement for Solanke but he isn’t Solanke II. He comes with his own set of strengths and weaknesses. We may have to accept he may not put in the same kind of shift, but he does make a lot of good runs behind. We didn’t always play it to him when he did but I think we’ll see more of that in time.
It may also be that AI will coach him into the demands of our system over time, but perhaps we’ll adjust things to suit him more rather than the other way around.
He looks like he can take first-time shots with real snap to them, which I’m not sure Dom did in the same way. I’m also impressed that he wasn’t collapsing to the floor at the first sign of contact, which you sometimes see from players moving here from abroad.
Only a cm or two from a debut goal but we’ve got to be happy with what was on show. He looks a very good player so far.
Ref Watch
You can choose to believe me or not but in my match notes I wrote after about 70 minutes:
“Coote continues to give them every single hecking 50-50. Every one. A sign that they’re starting to get Sky Six treatment from refs? I shudder for when it starts to come into play for the ‘referees call’ decisions with VAR.”
Which was true. All through he was blowing up whenever they needed it but allowing roughhouse treatment from Burn and other away players without blinking.
There was one point when Evanilson got a run on Krafth who tried to obstruct him in one direction so Evanilson switched to go around him on the other side. Krafth responded by desperately throwing himself in the way. Somehow by committing two fouls, Krafth was awarded a free kick which also stopped Evanilson from going clean through on goal.
Standard fare for today from the man in the middle and his accomplices.
Still, I guess my 70th-minute notes make me feel kind of responsible for what came next.
I’d say the handball decision was on par with the horrific ones v Burnley. It was that bad. And then how Joelinton stayed on the pitch… I actually don’t have the words to justify that decision in any way. That would be a red card in a martial arts contest, never mind a football match. Even the commentary team and pundit were utterly incredulous about it.
Actually, I said I felt responsible but in reality it was inevitable. This is exactly why the ‘referees call’ system was brought in and we may as well get used to it because we’re going to see this a lot this season. There’s a complete get-out-of-jail-free that now allows refs to favour the big clubs without question. ‘Referees call’? Complete ******************************** more like it. The favouritism isn’t even disguised anymore.
Frustrating to see Newcastle yet again escaping with a draw against us thanks to an aberration of a ref’s decision – remember the ball being blasted at Lerma from one metre away and them getting a penalty for it? Yeah…
Selected Player Watch
— Senesi —
Big call to bring him back in for last week’s MOTM, but he looked solid and impressive.
— Semenyo —
Last week wasn’t his best performance despite the goal, but today was a complete contrast. More accuracy in his shooting, an assist and a thorn in their side all afternoon. MOTM today by a country mile.
— Neto —
With all the noise around us signing this keeper or that, he stood up to things very pretty well. Multiple good saves and even came and took a few balls and not too much he could have done about the goal. I think he deserves a lot of credit for that showing.
— Dango —
Just a mention to say how unfortunate it has been for him to be denied two goals in two weeks by VAR. At least last week’s was marginally and technically correct. Today’s was nothing less than a complete pisstake.
AI and Tactics Watch
I think the starting team shows just how depleted we were last weekend by the illness, with a far more familiar looking lineup today. Once we found our groove you could see the familiar patterns of play and we were all over Newcastle.
I do think he screwed up with the subs. The players they brought on delivered more impetus to their team whereas ours made us look worse. It does feel like he’s trying to introduce something new into the team with a fluid front line, today by taking Evanilson off but not bringing on Jebbison. If I’m honest, I’d say it was a big mistake and cost us the equaliser.
Newcastle struggled massively when we had a focal point and pressured them in their half. As soon as we let them camp in our half with nothing to aim for up front we gave them exactly what they wanted. I’m not dismissing it as whatever the aim is, it might take time to get right but it was a mess last week and again today. We instantly improved again when Jebbison came on. If he wants this to be a tactical option then there’s a lot more work to be done on the training ground.
That one spell aside, overall though we were excellent and a million miles better than last week.
A point against one of the better teams is still a decent result. We outplayed them and more than deserved the three points. We even scored enough good goals to get the three points only for Coote and co to steal two of those. I’m not sugarcoating it because that’s exactly what happened.
Theft of points, theft of the right result and theft of the integrity of the league.
Druss_the_Legend
My takeaways from today.
The removal of Christie and replacement with Scott was the turning point. If Christie is not fit enough for 90 then we need someone who can come in and do a better job than Scott. He’s great on the ball but he didn’t put the tackles in when needed.
Kelly was Kelly and Semenyo exploited his on-ball dalliance. If he doesn’t finally learn that then he won’t last long there.
Lewis Cook was MoM. Immense in the middle and Joelinton (more on him shortly) will not have a much tougher game this season with Cook giving him zero space.
The goal…it was a goal. No number of replays will convince me otherwise. The idiot of a ref pointing at his head and then wrist to suggest that’s what happened. VAR SHOULD have sent him to the monitor if they truly thought it needed a decision made.
Evanilson…. he’s going to do the business. The more he makes centre-backs nervous the more it helps the team and after a couple of moments when he beat the defence they sat more on him and thats when the whole team started to get more space and chances.
Finally…the red that wasn’t. That tackle by Joelinton is a sending-off in Rugby, That tackle is a sending off in American football. But apparently, neither the ref nor VAR thought that hitting someone across the throat while they are running at speed is a problem?
Absolute shambles of a refereeing display. He blew up constantly, got in the way with bad positioning countless times. Every time we have him hes been utterly terrible.
Overall, a hopeful performance. Teams will have to play well (and have the ref and VAR with them as usual) to get something out of our games this season. We look one of the better teams, no doubt.
DangerousDave
I must confess to only just having regained my composure after the events that unfolded today. Even had the decision been correct it still feels so wrong to be robbed of such a joyous moment, the kind of moment that should epitomise the game that we all love. The fact that we were robbed of this special moment unjustly and unfairly leaves me pondering what has happened to the once-beautiful game. It may sound dramatic but if you take away the spontaneous euphoria and are not even getting the calls correct anyway then what do you really have left?
Anyway, on to the game. I thought that we were comfortably the better team up until the point that Christie and Evanilson were withdrawn. Evanilson provided the focal point and was doing a fine job of occupying the two centre-backs and holding the ball up. Christie is the engine of the team and whenever he’s not on the pitch the intensity that the entire team plays with seems to drop. Scott is a fine player and without a doubt a superior technician but he just doesn’t have that energy and drive out of possession that the Iraola way seems to require. I understand why he’s getting minutes due to the amount that we invested in him but dare I say it, I’m not so sure that he is a good fit for us under Iraola right now?
Neto was like a man reborn today, really satisfying to see him back to the level that we know that he is capable of.
Araujo looks like a very nice fit for an Iraola side, pacy and likes to play on the front foot.
Zabarnyi and Senesi had good enough games but it is clear that as a defensive unit that our kryptonite is defending crosses into the box. I feel as though Marcos in particular struggles to be commanding in those situations and this vulnerability could have cost us today. Huijsen dealt with these kind of situations so comfortably a week ago that I must confess that I was a tad disappointed not to see him in the eleven today. As much as I like Senesi I feel that Huijsen has the profile to take our defence to the next level.
Semenyo is something else isn’t he? There is not a lot else to say other than he was not far off of being unplayable today. Lloyd Kelly is not a bad left-back by any means but Antoine made him look like a development player thrown in at the deep end.
Really happy for Marcus Tavernier to see him on the score sheet again, he was lively today and steadily looks to be rediscovering his form of old.
I’d be remiss not to mention Cook and Christie, but we all know how good they are under Iraola at this point.- To join the conversation, click here.
