It was always going to be tough today given the opposition we were facing and the amount of key players we had missing, but we gave it our all and were simply undone by a few moments of quality.
There’s a lingering frustration given it was one of those games where we could’ve easily got something had Rafa been allowed to sign a quality attacker or two – something that’s continuing to cost us given 4 of our 5 relegation rivals picked up points today. That said, it’s hard to have too many complaints. We were organised and gave 110%; two qualities that bode well in a relegation battle.
It was a first-half of two halves. Just when it looked like we’d ruined Rafa’s game plan by conceding within the first 10 minutes, we finally came back into the game, stringing a few more passes together and getting more balls and bodies up and around Rondon, with a brilliant header from Ciaran Clark giving us a well deserved equaliser before the break.
It was great to see us show fighting spirit and actually come into the game from 1-0 down given we’ve failed to gain a single the last 11 times we’ve conceded first in the league, but our inability to kick on after that cost us (and don’t even get me started on that short corner in the final few seconds of the game!)
It didn’t quite happen for us in the second half, with us tiring and struggling to really get going, but it’s hard to fault the lads in this one – especially when we were missing several first-team regulars.
Rondon was an absolute monster up top and held off Chelsea defenders all night to hold up the ball, Longstaff put in a brilliant shift and looked comfortable on the ball on his first top flight start and Lejeune looked a class act at the back.
Atsu, Yedlin and Perez gave us an outlet and got into good positions in attack, but they flattered to deceive more often than not, showing exactly why Rafa wants the likes of Almiron to give us some flare and quality in and around Rondon.
Here’s how the table now looks after today’s results:
Burnley won the relegation six-pointer over Fulham and Cardiff and Huddersfield drew 0-0 in another huge game at the bottom, but it was Southampton’s 2-1 win at Leicester that result we could’ve done without today.
Here’s our next six games – starting with a FA Cup outing to Blackburn we could really do without before next weekend’s crucial game with Cardiff.
- Blackburn (A) *FA Cup
- Cardiff (H)
- Man City (H)
- Tottenham (A)
- Wolves (A)
- Huddersfield (H)
Ultimately, it came down to one side having that bit more quality than us – even if we outran them. Pedro and Willian took both of their chances emphatically, where as the likes of Perez sliced his big opportunity well wide.
With Ashley in attendance, hopefully he can see that all we may need to stay up is a bit more attacking flare in the final third (Almiron?), although I wouldn’t bank on that.
There’s positives to take from this, but we MUST start picking up points sooner rather than later – with our next league game against Cardiff undoubtedly our biggest game of the season to date.
Technically, Eric, the only lies we know were absolutely lies were the the scare mongering from the establishment. They’ve been proven to be lies. We don’t actually know whether what Boris or Farage said are lies yet because we haven’t been given the chance to see.
Stuart79(Quote)
Kim, what doctors know about customs control you could write on the back of a pin head. That’s pure scare mongering. It doesn’t make sense. If we weren’t going to get medicine on time why aren’t millions of people around the world dying due to customs controls on medicine? Whether there are delays are 100% in the control of the government. Australia for instance aren’t in a custom union and import large amount of drugs. I don’t see thousands of deaths there, do you? It’s nonsense. I also don’t know one single person who wants to stop professionals coming here to work if a particular industry requires it.
But anyway, there’s a bigger issue at play here. It’s whether parliament will implement the result of a vote or whether they’ll stay in via the back door. That will do more damage to our country than any sort of Brexit will.
Stuart79(Quote)
It was a roughly 50/50 split though Stuart so it wasn’t a mandate to leave. That is the problem that they have, as well as a weak PM who stands for nothing. It was the arrogance of Cameron that caused this. He was so sure that it would go his way that he allowed a simple majority and now it is just one big mess. He also forgot that he had political enemies like Boris and Nige so overplayed his hand.
What a mess. It makes NUFC look sane 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Technically under the ,UK constitution, a referendum is regarded as advisory, not mandatory. Obviously a clear result would require enforcement, but a marginal result is ignored as it does not fulfil it’s objective of providing clear guidance.
PremAndUp(Quote)
What makes me laugh is Kim complaining about how much the UK taxpayers have paid so far in this Brexit process then demanding we pay millions more for a second referendum.. Ridiculous.
The other big joke is Corbyn. He supports leaving the EU but wants a general election , that he thinks he will win , so he can negotiate better terms for leaving than what the Tories have achieved.
The very last thing that the EU want is that the UK does have a general election. They are terrified that the far right would win a good number of seats in Parliament , and encouraging far right parties across Europe.
Sorry Ice – I wont put any thing else up on politics.
sidekick(Quote)
Nee worries mate,and by the way I agree 100% with you comment,on the same mind I think
Icedog(Quote)
Stu, with regards health workers, they are leaving in their droves mate, and the shortage of staff is alarming, i know i see it everytime lew is admitted .
Sidekick, i don’t care for JC at all and i’m a labour voter but the thought of someone like Boris taking over and becoming pm terrifies me.
KIMTOON(Quote)
good shot by longstaff
KIMTOON(Quote)
In under a minute 😉
Icedog(Quote)
2-0 up with both Longstaff and Cal Roberts scoring,we were flying, then we did what only Newcastle can do… gave up and shot ourselves in the foot… ??? 2-2 at the break. We’ve managed to throw away a 2 goal lead against championship opposition. What a pile of **** our team is. Defenders are our first team. They just switched off… ???. It’s on tv here but god I wish it wasn’t.
Dubai Toon(Quote)
No new article for the game like?!.
Joselu and Murphy were passengers in the first half imo. They need to step in imo.
Sharpy17(Quote)
For fucksake man!!!
2 mins on the pitch and Lascelles looking ******!!!
Fucking amateurish!! and if that’s a bad hamstring injury then it’s going to cause big problems that
Sharpy17(Quote)
ffs get Lascelles off before his injury gets worse
KIMTOON(Quote)
Aye he’s ****** – brilliant
I was pleased to see our young uns get a chance tonight – Longstaff, Sterry and Roberts and for 2 of them to score so early – it was a rare feel good moment watching NUFC recently.
But for them to pull level and now Lascelles is ****** – I’m foaming!!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Extra time… just how S.hit are our team… ***… this is dire. Joselu is not even championship level, I don’t think he touched the ball. Best players are Longstaff and Roberts… dreadful, just dreadful… now we have to face extra time… only going to be one winner now I think and it’s not going to be us. ??????
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Hayden ****** now
Sharpy17(Quote)
Get iiiinnnnnn 4-2
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Longstaff & Schar were the best players out there tonight.
Cal Roberts and Sterry didn’t look out of place in the first team imo.
But a lot of injuries and knocks to players tonight.
Sharpy17(Quote)
A win is a win.
We can probably cobble together a team for Cardiff and Man City is a write-off so there should be time for players to recover. Good it was a Tuesday as the first team players that played/were brought on will have recovery time.
Need reinforcements.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Take his offside goal out of the equation and Joselu was hopeless tonight mind.
Having seen what the likes of Longstaff and Roberts can now do, I would like to see Rafa move Sorensen or Toure ahead of Joselu.
I thought Toure may have got a chance tonight when he was training with the first team – but the fact he was suggests Rafa is considering him.
That’s subject to us not buying a better forward in January of course.
Sharpy17(Quote)
lots of knocks tonight, we didn’t need a replay let alone extra time 👿
KIMTOON(Quote)
NEW THREAD
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2019/01/15/blackburn-2-4-newcastle-debut-goals-disastrous-injuries-late-drama-but-were-through/
A great day for our youngsters and a good win in the end, but it’s come at a cost..
Olly Hawkins(Quote)