Written by kirsikka
It was the Return of the King with his new side, but would we make them battle or would they take all the points with a Tolkien effort? Genuinely surprised to see he included Fraser on the bench and thought that may annoy people enough to get the atmosphere riled up. Meanwhile, GON, in search of his precious… first win as permanent manager was able to bring back Solanke and Stephens, with Fredericks and Tavernier also on the bench giving us a lot more depth.
First 45, let’s be honest, Newcastle were poor. Yes, they had a lot of possession but weren’t able to do anything with it. Meanwhile, when we managed to get the ball out from under our feet, we looked a threat at times on the break. There were also some of those desperately wanted patterns of play we’ve so often missed since the change in manager. Sharp and neat passing out from the back, with multiple players offering for the ball. Finally! Having said that, it’s a shame the first half lasted 47 minutes. Conceding so late is always painful, although at least this time it wasn’t because we had camped in our box.
Some of the cheap decisions Newcastle were getting were frustrating. One in particular when Zemura won the ball in the final third and Almiron just collapsed and rolled over multiple times for no reason, only for the ref to fall for it, was particularly frustrating. Meanwhile, nothing similar was offered in the other direction with the rough housing of Solanke repeatedly overlooked. It wasn’t like he was a disaster, he was just the opposite of a homer that gives decisions 60-40 in favour of the crowd. An awayer, if you like.
Not sure how Botman stayed on the pitch. Even ignoring all the fouls that weren’t given, when on a yellow he committed another foul that was as clear a yellow as you’ll see. Ref just gave the free kick. He seems like a weird player. As long as refs allow him to physically knock players to the ground he’ll get away with it and do well. However, as Newcastle start to challenge the hegemony I can see there being more spotlight on him. Do what he did today against a ‘more important’ player and the condemnations will arrive. Could be he has a limited shelf life as a PL player as once refs start penalising him for the fouls that they should, he’s going to struggle.
Dango was the classic winger mess. Lively and dangerous but lacking quality with some of his passing and final balls. That said, great flick-on from the corner and that’s two assists in three starts. We have to remember he’s made a step up from Ligue 1 and he isn’t the finished article so he’s going to frustrate. The flashes look promising though. Timed numerous runs well and has a good pace. Shame about the passes to him.
Since he first made the first team, the worry about Zemura has always been his defensive work. He was almost impeccable out there. It looked like they targeted him and he stood up extremely well to the test. For the goal, he was drawn like a magnet to the middle leaving the man behind him, but if he hadn’t tried to make a challenge and Neto hadn’t saved he would have been lambasted. One of those where he had to make a call from two bad choices. Excellent performance though, on the whole.
The idea of our central midfield has been that we have a fulcrum player through which everything links, and we’ve struggled to make that work in the PL. The change in dropping Billing back there and Traore in front of him is we’ve moved to shifting it quickly in a counter-attacking style. As they said on Sky, we aren’t renowned this season for our counter-attacking so it might be we’ve caught Brighton and Newcastle off-balance a touch with the change. It does seem to suit us with the new players, so a nod to GON for switching it up. We may have attempted it before but it was always a lonely and sad thing to watch a player breaking on his own. The change and key to it is getting numbers forward at pace, and it’s happening. Well done.
The second period was scrappy but there was desire all over the pitch from all our players, chasing things down, intercepting and then trying again to break at pace. It’s a shame we couldn’t get the pass right to Dango on 3 (or more?) separate occasions when we had the run on his fullback but we over hit the ball and Pope came out to clear. Unlucky with the Solanke chance cleared off the line.
I had one disconcerting moment when the camera cut to Howe getting advice from one of his coaches and I wondered why the heck a Newcastle coach was helping him. Then reality returned to my mind.
Heard a few songs aimed in the direction of the little Scottish gnarled toad. Enjoyed them. He was slunk down deep in his seat whenever the camera was on him. Meanwhile, Eddie refused to put him on despite all the injuries to players he could have replaced. Scottish ****************.
The big difference between today and recent weeks was we didn’t try and sit back and put all 11 men in the box. Did the message finally get through to GON? Whatever, it’s the reason why we have a point, and could have walked away with all three. A genuine relief to see the change.
A hard-fought, hard-earned point. A much better showing defensively and in an attacking sense. More performances like this and I might have to start reassessing GON. There’s still a long way to go, and it was only one match, but this is what we should have seen six matches ago.
Man of the match against NewcastleSenesi
O. Dango
Lerma
Solanke
Someone else
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=== Positive performances ===
Zemura – They knocked and knocked and knocked, and each time he answered. Excellent defensively, and still managed to get forward a bit. Are we going to see a Daniels style stepping up of his game now competition has arrived? I hope so. As long as it’s accompanied by a new contract signed.
Stephens – Solid. Very solid.
Traore – He was a mixed bag, but when he did well he looks like a player that can make a difference. Did he take the corner for the goal? Missed it and haven’t watched it back yet. Either way, as part of this new midfield mix, he looks a find.
Semenyo – I don’t often note a cameo here but I thought he was excellent in his few minutes. Bustling and full of physical aggression that they didn’t know how to handle. Would have liked to see him bosh straight into Botman and give him a bit of his own medicine. Also, excellent dummy to set up the chance for Solanke.
=== Room for improvements ===
Solanke – He worked hard. He was pulled and pushed and yanked and knocked all over the place with the ref ignoring the vast majority of it. He had opportunities but lacked the killer touch. Wild shots, and a chance he maybe should have buried rather than go with the fancy flick. As the striker, we need him to score goals and today that was missing in his game.
=== GON Watch ===
Where have performances like this been GON? All over the pitch, there were partnerships and players working for each. Players busting a gut to support each other’s runs. Neat little passing interplays. Skilful moments. It looked a different team.
This is progress. Significant progress. Not just about the result, but also not tactically falling into the same trap. We won’t stay up with draws so it isn’t enough on its own, but its a start. It’s a foothold. It’ll give other teams pause for thought that we aren’t just the whipping boys we’ve looked like of late.
We didn’t concede from a set piece or give away a penalty. We scored from a set piece. We were still trying to win the game in the 97th minute. Is it too little too late? Looking at the upcoming fixtures, GON is going to have to pull a rabbit out of the hat to get a win on his CV. But that’s what we desperately need.
Sit the team down and make them watch that. That’s what we need in every single match from now until the end of the season. If it isn’t enough, at least we tried and gave teams a game. Genuinely enjoyable that we didn’t capitulate which was what I was half expecting.
Well done to the team, and (first time I’ve said this in a long time), well done to GON.
Your say…
adam0102 said…
Great summary, I was particularly impressed by Southampton’s sixth-choice centre-back and Semenyo’s dummy to give Dom the chance
Agree this was a really different performance from those of late. Partnerships seem to be happening and we went forward in numbers; I know one swallow doesn’t make a summer, but I was encouraged by the performance.
The commentators kept saying Newcastle were bad…..maybe, just maybe, the way we played contributed to that. – To join the conversation, click here.
