Whilst the victory was comfortable in the end it is well worth pointing out that I personally don’t feel things would have been as straight-forward had Maynor Figueroa not received his marching orders after giving away a penalty in the 13th minute, a penalty which Demba Ba duly converted at the Gallowgate end beating Ali Al-Habsi even though the Omani goalkeeper, one of the best in the league in my view, guessed the right way.
Prior to that Wigan started off the better of the two teams and put the home side under pressure from the start. Franco Di Santo forced a fine save from Tim Krul but events in the 13th minute, with Demba Ba playing in Papiss Cisse who came together with Figueroa for the award of the penalty, severely hampered Wigan’s chances.
An unlucky 13th minute for Wigan perhaps, but it was game over just eight minutes later when Davide Santon embarked on what are fast becoming one of his trademark runs forward. He burst down the left before cutting in onto his right foot and shooting at goal only for Al-Habsi to parry his shot straight to the feet of Demba Ba who had the simple task of knocking the ball into the back of the net for his second goal of the evening.
The home side controlled the remaining 20 minutes of the first-half with Wigan looking increasingly frustrated and even more likely to lose another man after a couple of unfair tackles from former Magpie Gary Caldwell, Having said that Cheik Tiote was also doing what he does best and launched a few tackles of his own. With the Wigan skipper already on a yellow and with Tiote one booking away from suspension both were withdrawn at half-time.
Half-time: Newcastle 2-0 Wigan
The away side once again started the brighter of the two in the second period despite the numerical disadvantage, but despite all of their pressure they were unable to fins an unlikely way back into the game.
Davide Santon was next to join our injury list limping off five minutes into the second period to be replaced by Shane Ferguson. Santon has been an ever-present in the league for us this season and has been showing some steady form so it would be a shame if he was to be sidelined for any amount of time.
Chances at goal were hard to come by as the hosts seemed comfortable with the 2-0 lead they had. Papiss had a couple of efforts at goal although none threatened and it was left to Cheik Tiote’s half-time replacement to put the icing on the cake with a first senior career goal.
Former Coventry City midfielder Gael Bigirimana cut in from the right and unleashed a curling left-footed shot into the top corner of Ali Al-Habsi’s net. A cracking first goal for a youngster who has impressed when called upon both domestically and in Europe.
From then on the game pretty much petered out. Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse combined to mess up a chance when they were pretty much through on goal with Demba Ba suffering injury as a result ensuring both sides finished the match with ten men although it would appear that Ba’s withdrawal was more precautionary rather than an indication of a full-blown injury.
In the end it was a comfortable victory which is just what the doctor ordered after the run we’ve been on.
Full-time: Newcastle 3-0
There were a number of positives last night which should boost confidence. Vurnon Anita had his best game for the club in my opinion and Davide Santon looked assured before coming off with injury. We passed the ball around a bit and cause problems and Papiss Cisse, even without a goal, showing improved work-rate.
However I don’t want to p*ss on any chips and the win was very welcome but…. We still have a tough run of fixtures coming up. Take Bordeaux on Thursday out of it and our fixtures are still tricky. We play away at Fulham next Monday before Manchester City come to St James’ Park followed by QPR a week later. Then on Boxing Day we travel to Manchester United before visiting Arsenal just a few days later. Not easy by any stretch.
Howay the lads!
Newcastle: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; Cheik Tiote, Vurnon Anita; Papiss Cisse, Sylvain Marveaux, Jonas Gutierrez; Demba Ba
Subs: Steve Harper, James Tavernier, Shane Ferguson, Gael Bigirimana, Sammy Ameobi, Shola Ameobi, Nile Ranger
Wigan: Ali Al-Habsi, Maynor Figueroa, Gary Caldwell, Emerson Boyce, Ronnie Stam, James McCarthy, David Jones, Jordi Gomez, Jean Beausejour, Franco Di Santo, Aroune Kone,
Subs: Mike Pollitt, Romain Golobart, Adrian Lopez, Fraser Fyvie, James McArthur, Mauro Boselli, Callum McManaman
Attendance: 43,858 – Lowest for a league game at St James’ Park since 28th August 2011.
Such an important win. very happy to see that the passion is back, shame it wasnt there at the start of our “winnable” run. how long is hba out for?
Thought marv impressed considering how little game time he’s had since his injury.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
Toonsy very good read and agree with you,
I do believe that against 11 we wouldn’t have looked as good.
But the wins a win and hopfully that will give us a bit of confidence.
Was so pleased for Bigi and hope to see more from him
Big Dave(Quote)
Fergie sure did look assured at LB, I think he has found his niche’ position within the team. He certainly isn’t cut out to be a LM. 🙂
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Well Aussie we might get to see more of him there now with Santon getting injured.
Big Dave(Quote)
Agree with Toonsy and Dave that if they hadnt gone down to 10 men so early it ould of been a different game. I think we were lucky with the pen and the red card , as I think we have all seen them not given. We got the rub of the green and I think the match was more or less over from there. But I wouldnt of cared last night how we got the 3 points as long as we got them.
Thought Anita and Marv done very well last night and once we got the goal we settled down and played some nice stuff. Was a bit nervy at times but understandable since we hadnt won in 7 games and lost 4 on the bounce.
Johno Toon(Quote)
Agree with Johno.
Is that only our 4th EPL win of the season?
Only saw the first half but we are starting to look like a team again. Glad to hear the kids are not looking out of their depth.
Premandup(Quote)
Of course playing against 11 would have been more difficult 🙄 That’s Wigan’s fault, not ours, for having their defender sent off CORRECTLY. Little has been made of Figueroa, after the initial shoulder charge, lifting his left arm under Cisse’s shoulder before easing him away – look at it again. Even less has been said about the interplay between Cisse and Ba which led to the penalty. If that had been Arsenal or one or two others the pundits would have been drooling. It was also good to see Marveaux play as we hoped he would – a like for like replacement for Ben Arfa I have thought for a while. He is one of those players who can cause instant panic in a defence. A shame about Santon – a class act, so I hope his injury is not serious. As for Sammi – I hope he is not going to turn into another Shola. I certainly don’t think he is deserving of a place just now despite his undoubted talent.
ballerfan2(Quote)
I guess we will never know how tough the game may have been if Wigan had 11 men for the whole game? To say we would have struggled is a mute point, we may increased our intensity even more and caused them more problems? Could have, should have, would have, none of it matters as we won comfortably.
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
Big Dave, Is Fergie better suited to a LB role or as a mid, in your opinion? Legit question 🙂
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
I would like to remind everyone that the sky is still falling. Our only hope of avoiding relegation is the end of the world on the 21st. 😉
Wellington(Quote)
Wellington, the sky would have fallen last night had we lost the game 🙂 🙂
Aussie Magpie Fan(Quote)
No, it was being held up by the club’s carbon positive status. (AND WHY HAVE WE NOT SEEN A BLOG POST ON THAT TERRIBLY IMPORTANT NEWS?) A temporary reprieve, I’m sure.
Wellington(Quote)
I see Carrol is still up to his own tricks
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/liverpool-striker-andy-carroll-probed-over-claim-of-assault-in-dublin-3315602.html
Johno Toon(Quote)
*old tricks
Johno Toon(Quote)
Was so pleased with last nights result that I’ve decided to start posting on here again. Is it a coincidence that we end our losing streak and play our best football when we revert back to ground passes? Granted we had a man advantage for the majority of the match and there was still some sloppy play but I thought we did well. Also before the match they highlighted that we had the most long balls per game than any team this season (over 66 per game), I’d hazard a guess and say there were half as many as that last night.
Andymag(Quote)
Yeah Andy we played some nice stuff at times last night. We did do a few long balls until we got our goal. Think we had a lot of tension last night in team and once we settled down we were grand. Need to keep it up next Monday away to Fulham
Johno Toon(Quote)
Nice win for Newcastle last night and hopefully for you guys the start of an upward turn again. The penalty was a bit contentious but I thought with Figueroa’s arm extending into Cisse it was the right call.
Anyway, I wrote about the game and more EPL stuff here. It would be much appreciated if you took a look and maybe spread the word a bit: http://dailyfootballtalk.com/2012/12/04/back-to-the-ba/
Cheers.
Daily Football Talk(Quote)
Just happy to get the 3 points, shame about the injuries but that’s football, that’s why you need to invest and get strength in depth like we did, oh wait!…..whatever happened to the AC £35m? 😉 😆
Johno…Maybe AC was already in a bad fettle ‘cos someone had called him a ***** earlier in the evening? 😉
richietoon(Quote)
The Mayan calendar does not predict the end of the world on the 21st. It merely says that 2012 is the year that shift happens 🙂
Premandup(Quote)
Maybe Richie 🙂
Johno Toon(Quote)
Love a front 6 of Marv, Anita, Tiote, HBA, Ba and Cisse against Fulham. They’re on a horrible run and that attacking lineup would scare the **** outta their shaky defense. Fully expect Perch and Jonas in there though.
Brendan(Quote)
For me, it was a soft penalty, but still a penalty. He put him arm cross Cisse, made solid contact and got absolutely nowhere near the ball.
A penalty but not one many referees would be brave enough to give.
I don’t believe it should be a red card, but that’s what the law is. Stupid law though.
Aussie, at the moment I don’t think Fergie is good enough for either position. He needs to learn to cross a ball first time. He shouldn’t have to control it first.
Same for Simpson, but saying that he was outstanding on the night. Proved he can actually play going forward.
I think that if Ben Arfa was playing instead of Jonas, we would have won by a much bigger margin.
Enjoyed Marv in the middle. Good signs. Still a lot of weaknesses though. Williamson still a huge concern.
JJ(Quote)
Premandup@19 – I am happy to admit that I don’t give any serious thought to the Mayan calendar. 😉
Wellington(Quote)
You’ll regret that when you get “shifted” 😉
richietoon(Quote)
Marv, Anita, Tiote, HBA, Ba and Cisse against Fulham certainly is a tasty prospect – on paper. It won’t happen though because football is not played on paper and Pardew has to put out a team that can defend as well as attack. Jonas gets through a heck of a lot of work in both areas whereas Marv and Arfa for all their talent …… I would love to see it but it would be risky. Can we afford to risk it just now?
ballerfan2(Quote)
Prem @ 19 It doesn’t even say that. It doesn’t say anything. It just ends … then starts again from 0. A bit like Dec 31st 1999.
brisvegas(Quote)
Bris, True
premandup(Quote)