Magpies edge Canaries! Newcastle 2-1 Norwich

toonsy

Gouffran grabs the winner
Gouffran grabs the winner
Newcastle recorded their third straight win yesterday afternoon by despatching Norwich 2-1 at St James’ Park.

Goals from Loic Remy and Yoan Gouffran ultimately proved to be enough to secure the three points despite Leroy Fer ensuring a nervy ending to the game with a consolation goal ten minutes from time.

Overall it was a reasonably comfortable victory. Chris Hughton’s side had their chances but United could and perhaps should have put the game beyond any doubt before half-time and had it not been for an iffy (actually, make that incorrect) offside flag then Papiss Cisse would probably have added a third goal to put some daylight between the scores and give the full-time scoreline perhaps a fairer reflection.

United don’t score early. In fact the quickest we’ve scored this season prior to yesterday was the ten minute mark. However just 113 seconds into the match Yohan Cabaye flighted a corner in which managed to evade everyone bar Remy at the far post who powerfully nodded home from point blank range and credit us with a first league goal from a corner in over two years.

Norwich recovered well from the early setback and went about trying to equalise but Nathan Redmond’s finishing was woeful as he fired his shot high and wide over the Leazes End goal. There was further confusion in the home penalty area soon after until Shola Ameobi, who played well yesterday, managed to put his boot through the ball and clear the danger. In fact it was Ameobi who carved out United’s best chance of doubling the advantage on the half hour mark as he fed the ball through to Moussa Sissoko he screwed his shot wide of John Ruddy’s goal.

But back came Norwich who nearly mustered another equaliser. Nathan Redmond’s deep cross found Anthony Pilkington at the far post and his looping header looked to be header for the opposite corner of Tim Krul’s net. Fortunately it fell wide of the goal but the confusion didn’t end as Mike Williamson impeded Krul’s attempts at collecting the ball before hoofing clear himself.

However not long after that United grabbed the second. Ameobi evaded Bradley Johnson with a fine piece of skill before threading the ball out to Loic Remy who had drifted wide right. Remy then fed Moussa Sissoko who advanced forward and crossed for Ameobi to head towards goal. Ruddy was equal to Shola’s effort but he could do nothing to prevent Yooan Gouffran from slamming in the rebound to make it 2-0.

Two could have been three shortly afterwards after Shola Ameobi again tested Ruddy with a powerful effort from the edge of the penalty but his effort was beaten away and the score remained 2-0 at the interval.

Half-time: Newcastle 2-0 Norwich

Norwich improved after the break without really threatening and I got the sense that United had taken their foot off the pedal to some extent also, but in reality they were comfortable and just looked to be seeing out the game which is always a dangerous thing to do at 2-0.

And so it proved as a period of Norwich pressure resulted in a sequence of corners fired by Redmond, who eventually managed to put one onto the Canaries head of Leroy Fer who powerfully headed past Tim Krul to make the score 2-1 with ten minutes to play.

However that goal should have been the signal for a period of Norwich attacking pressure, but it didn’t come and United could and should have added a third through Papiss Cisse who saw his effort chalked off by an incorrect offside flag. In the end it was fairly comfortable for United, even though I wasn’t exceptionally happy about us sitting back but at least it didn’t cost us, this time.

Full-time: Newcastle 2-1 Norwich

A third successive win for United maintain what is so far a 100% record in November. A home game against West Brom next weekend gives us the ideal opportunity to extend that run despite the baggies being somewhat of a bogey team of ours. Could a purple patch in November be just the tonic as we head towards what is traditionally a black December for United?

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Tim Krul; Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Fabricio Coloccini, Mike Williamson, Davide Santon; Moussa Sissoko, Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote, Yoan Gouffran, Shola Ameobi, Loic Remy

Subs: Rob Elliot, Massadio Haidara, Vurnon Anita, Gabriel Obertan, Sammy Ameobi, Hatem Ben Arfa, Papiss Cisse

Norwich: John Ruddy; Russell Martin, Michael Turner, Ryan Bennett, Martin Olsson; Bradley Johnson, Leroy Fer, Jonny Howson; Nathan Redmond, Anthony Pilkington, Gary Hooper

Subs: Carlo Nash, Steven Whittaker, Sebastien Bassong, Wes Hoolahan, Johan Elmander, Luciano Becchio, Josh Murphy

Attendance: 51,328

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

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126 thoughts on “Magpies edge Canaries! Newcastle 2-1 Norwich”

  2. Bootsy

    He deserves it. 😉

    It’s amazing, if you had got your way last November we would have a new manager in. 😉

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  3. Good match report toonsy, I think yesterday was the litmus test as to whether we had just enjoyed a blip, or if we were finally putting some form and consistency together. I think the 3 points, albeit against a lower side at home, was a great result and indication that we are finally turning the corner. There are no such things as ‘home bankers’ any more in this division IMO. Especially not for us. I actually think some sides play better away from home as well and some teams have a bit of a toxic home crowd if they are struggling. We won’t win every game and West Brom will be a good test, but we seem to be going in the right direction and hopefully it’s going to be a more comfortable season than the last one.

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  4. Toonsy good read, I am well chuffed that after a few good if unexpected results we didnt fuk it up against a team we should be expecting to get points from, like we so often do.

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  5. What impressed me the most is after conceding, we didn’t panic. We were still trying to pass and move and we should of been rewarded if not for a bad decision. Players are beginning to look more comfortable with the roles they are playing, simple yet effective.

    Pardew definitely is getting fans back onside, long may it continue.

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  6. Thanks Toonsy.

    Shola Ameobi. Playmaker. MOTM. Shown now he can play up front selflessly with any partner, be it Carroll, Ba, Cisse, Remy or Goof.

    Not glorious in the end, but Sissoko should have scored and Cisse’s goal should have counted. I know Norwich had a few chances but we won deservedly. Not glorious but the second goal was a great bit of play, and the first was a terrible corner goal we’ve been crying out for for ages 😆

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  8. Good read Toonsy, thanks.
    Thought we did well first half all bar a dodgy ten minutes or so, second half was poor and it was another inconsistent performance but all that matters is points at the moment so I’m happy enough. We must work on our competitiveness over the full 90+ mins though, but maybe the international games had taken their toll this week . Will be interesting to see how we fair against the bogey team that is West Brom.

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  9. Pardew still needs to work out how to get the Lads playing for 90 mins not just 45.
    The reason we sat back after HT and tried to hold what we got, has got to be partly his fault too.
    Tho I accept the tiredness argument after the international break.
    No such excuses available for the Wet *** game.
    Its time to put an opponent to the sword good and proper.
    I believe the Lads are building up to it. 😛
    HTL

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  10. I think some will look at the game yesterday and think, what’s the big deal? we should be beating Norwich at home. But for me, yesterday was an important win after the international break and showed that the teams momentum and spirit wasnt a flash in the pan against 2 of the better teams in the league.

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  11. Newkie – Sholas performance yesterday is why I think we need a CF up there rather than Benny. I’m certainly not saying I called it right coz I was suggesting Cisse instead of Shola.
    My point was/is that to have a threat in the box really seems to suit Remy and Gouffran.
    Gouffrans goal yesterday is a good example of that. Shola got the ball near the half way line and passed it out wide to Remy. Shola then made his run into the box and got the header in on the 6yd box which obviously then fell to Gouffran. Had that been Benny I think he’d have stopped his run at the edge of the box and looked to get the ball back in that area of the pitch.
    I’m not having a pop at Benny, I’m simply on about the instinct of the player. I’m not saying that Benny can’t be a threat in a different way either. I’m just saying that Remy and Gouffran seem to prefer having that CF doing that work in the box for them to do their work off him.

    I agree with you about Cisses goal as well. Another one wrongly chalked off IMO. Real shame for him but I thought he looked better yesterday when he came on – still not great, but better.

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  12. Sharpy-I know you already said it-but you wanted Cisse, not Shola as his partner! Cisse would not have managed one of those knock downs, let alone the through balls 😀 Would still prefer to see Benny partnering Loic up top instead of Cisse because I think he has more potential as a partner, but if we’re going to keep Cis long term then it might be just as well we don’t keep Remy and we go for a more consistent and upgraded Shola for him to play alongside.

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  13. Re people talking about managers under pressure in the last thread, I am loving the Allardyce situation, absolutely loving it. Last season when they scraped a goal and beat us, I went on their forums and the collective arrogance was laughable. Many/most of them saying how good a manager Sam was and how he was their best one in years and years.

    Love it :mrgreen:

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  14. Newkie – aye mate, I wasn’t trying to claim the Shola one, but a CF is defo a better option with Remy than Benny for me. I think Gomis in Jan may be a good move to replace the role Shola is doing for the team at the moment. I think he’d provide everything Shola does but would chip in with goals as well.
    Shola is our Emile Heskey at the minute I think 😆

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  15. Everyone who works here has bought into this concept. Me, the football staff including the manager, the directors and all the eligible administrative staff employed at Newcastle United – we are together.

    what jfk had to say we still have directors 😯

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  16. @Bootsy

    You know the previous wind ups are just craic 😉
    We all have differing opinions and we’ve all called it wrong at times. Particularly Aussie who’s never right. 😛

    But on a serious note. Reflecting on your opinion that he should have been sacked after 18 months of **** football, do you not look back and think, I’m now pleased he was given time to try and prove he could learn from his mistakes ?

    I would have understood if we hadn’t finished 5th the season before but we had, and that for me grants him enough time to prove himself again.

    New managers every two years leads to turmoil generally.

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  17. @ TROY STAVERS
    think most of us called for pards head when we lost to scum and got tonked by liverpool,includeing meself,also think most of the toonarmy were panicing thinking we were going down,knee **** reactions happen in the heat of the moment but on reaching saftey common sense prevailed in the end and hes still in the job.And peeps calling for his head now just foolish in my opion 🙂

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  19. @Aussie

    You can now explain to all of us why you wanted him sacked as well.

    TAE has been big enough now it’s your turn.

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  23. There’s some teams that are in precarious positions that we can take advantage of this season

    Hopefully Spuds end up in turmoil.
    Evertons defence will hopefully be the undoing of them.
    Southampton surely can’t maintain their good form.

    Providing we stay relatively injury free and Remy stays fit, then we might just pull off another shock finish.

    If only Ashley spends in January then who knows.
    ****! That’s where the plan falls down. 😯

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  24. Current EPL form guide ladder – last 6 matches.
    Man U – 14 points
    Newcastle – 13 Points
    Arsenal – 13 points
    Chelsea – 13 points
    Man City – 12 points
    Liverpool – 11 points
    Sunderland – 6 points :mrgreen:

    So we are in some good company at the moment and maybe we are underestimating how well we have been doing of late..
    But saying that, there has been a lot of flukey goals, lucky defending, poor opposition teams and undeserved wins 😆 😆

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  26. Sharpy-but Benny came on and set Cisse up a treat for a header, think Shola would have done better with it. Cisse was unlucky not to score, he had it in the net, but then I think the keeper had stopped playing as the whistle had gone and other than that did little. I’m not sure Gomis is the right individual, but he’s probably the right type of player to go for. Shame we still only seem to be scouting France though.

    Aussie@24 😆

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  30. Unfortunately for us and the likes of Everton and Southampton our squads aren’t big enough to sustain a run at top 6 even when there’s a season like this where the likes of Spurs and Man Utd are struggling.

    Ashley Out!

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  31. You also said we would be stuck in 9th position even if we beat Norwich on the weekend Stuart 😆

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  32. Surely everyone wants a win, no matter the style than a loss. I can only think of KK and JJ who would rather see us lose a match… 🙂

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  34. Aye Aussie 🙄 we are here to entertain and nothing is more exciting than watching the opposition score well worked goals against us and ensuring that we don’t display any individual quality whatsoever when we attack, it has to be a 30 pass move with a tap in at the end, or it doesn’t count 😉

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  35. Anyone noticed how we’ve scored the same amount of goals as super attacking mr Roberto Martinez? Man that guy really knows how to slice sides open and make chances… 😯

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  36. Aussie – we were stuck in 9th after we beat Norwich weren’t we? It was only after Spurs got beat that we moved up to 8th, but I never mentioned that So therefore I was correct!

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  38. Martinez has cemented his status as a complete **** as well as an hugely overrated manager in my eyes by defending mirallas tackle on the back of the mcmanaman/haidara incident last year.

    Overall -110 goal difference during his time at wigan, Thats entertainment… 🙄

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  40. When did we sign that big Nigerian lad? He looks a right handful. Interesting it was him giving the team talk during the pre match huddle as well. Great find Pardew.

    So what’s the chances of four in a row?

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  42. CC-He lost any respect with me with the Haidara challenge and defence of. Everton are looking a dirtier side to me than under Moyes and maybe it’s just me but I always thought he had his Wigan lads playing a sly game. They were ignored because they weren’t ultra physical like stoke and the media loved him, but I do think he tells his players to leave a foot in.

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  43. Sounds like Stuart has done Aussie big style this time. Aussie sounds like a defeated man. 😛

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  44. Troy, I might have to take out a BRO (blog restraining order) on you. You seem creepily obsessed with me 😯 😛

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  45. Hahaha 😆

    I’ve got to wind someone up or I get bored. You just seem the easiest target. 😆

    Write a 25 page letter and I might relent. 😛

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  46. I’m waiting with anticipation to see if Shola can do what he hasn’t done since Glen Roeder was in charge…

    String two decent performances together in a row. 😆 😯

    If he plays high. He’s useless. But if he plays behind the main striker and can make things uncomfortable for the opposition while threading some silky through balls to the likes of Gouff, Sissoko and Remy then I’ll be more than happy for him to start every week.

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  48. Also, while I’d usually agree with those who say the team didn’t wrap up the game in the second half against Norwich – because Pard’s usually goes too much on the defensive.

    This time I think that’s unfair to say… He brough on Ben Arfa and Cisse to try finish the game off.

    Cisse scored a legitimate goal (for the umpteenth time it was mistakenly chalked off by the useless linesmen in the UK.

    That would have been game set and match.

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  49. JJ-Exactly, and Sissoko missed a sitter. It wasn’t glorious but I think most Norwich fans would say the scoreline flattered them.

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  51. Good stats Newkie..going by them, if we play Arsenal we better protect our left flank as they attack 43% of the time down their right.. Santon will have his work cut out..

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  52. Newkie,

    In fairness though, with those stats, we’re 12th in short passes and 16th in crosses.

    That just tells me we don’t keep enough possession. Ie. We don’t dominate enough games.

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  53. We’re also bottom in “shots from inside the 6 yard box” and last in terms of “shots inside the 18 yard box”.

    BUT first in terms of “shots outside the 18 yard box”, which again tells me we don’t give our strikers enough chances in really good goal scoring areas.

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  55. @Aussie.

    I’m talking cos I don’t take huffs over trivia however B&B has not spoke to me since November 2012, oh apart from when I forced myself upon him on Xmas day and he whispered, “I’m still not talking to you after today”

    Bless him. 😆

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  57. JJ, if you EAT it you can no longer HAVE it.. and vice versa.. basically you cant have it as all 😉

    Troy, tell B&B I said hi… next xmas 😆

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  59. loving seeing all this Shola lurve in the press. 3 starts and 3 wins – nobbad Big Lad! Willo and Dummy coming through too – very satisfying :mrgreen:

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  60. JJ 😆 fair enough, careful with all those cakes, youll end up like Troy, fat! 😆 😆

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  61. Aussie :mrgreen: See, all this manager malarky makes sense now! 😆

    JJ-Eh? We are second for shots inside the 6 yard box. Pretty sure it’s easier to score from less than 6 yards than 6-18 ❗ 😆

    As far as possession goes, really don’t give a **** if we’re scoring and winning. We were never bothered about possession under KK and SBR, this possession is all the rage now but I’d rather a smash and grab goal than passing it between our central defender for ten minutes at a time.

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  63. Point in case, Joe Allen, “The Welsh Xavi” because his stats were at one point similar, because he managed to pass it back to Britton or the centre backs for half a match. Congratulations! Then he misses an absolute sitter that meant not taking all three points in the derby 😆 The media obsession with possession is such a joke these days.

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  64. The long ball stats are much improved thankfully, Ive noticed watching man utd this season how many more long balls they have played but i wasnt expecting them to be that high in the stats.

    Moyes was/is such a weird choice to replace ferguson

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  66. I see we had to make two changes to our defence this Saturday just to bring in Colo. Why? We should have just played Anita at right back. Colo was also at fault for their goal too – like on so many other occasions this season Colo has been found wanting.

    Is it a coincidence that we kept two clean sheets against to of the better teams when Willo and Mbiwa were the centre halves?

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  68. Newkie,

    Ye, read that wrong.

    Possession doen’t concern me if we are playing counter attacking. But I’d like to have more possession against the weaker sides.
    It’s been a while since we really thumped anyone.

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  70. Whumpie-either get your coat or migrate to .com 😀

    JJ-it would be nice to give someone a thrashing, I’m not really sure where it stems from. Probably a collective “foot off the gas”-all sides have it, Fergie was the only one who could really iron it out of his side, the Cardiff result yesterday just goes to show it.

    If it weren’t for a silly defensive lapse from Colo and a poor lino/some more composure we would have wrapped that game up 3-0. I didn’t really fancy Mbiwa at right back either, he didn’t look comfortable. He’s alright on the left but I just don’t think it’s right to have him on the right and Santon on the left with their weaker feet.

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  71. did Collo really do so badly? Looked to me like Fer pulled off and absolutely world class header. Only saw it online though.

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  72. @ WHUMPIE
    collo wernt even in the hunt in my view collos man scored the header so its collos fault

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  73. Whumpie-well, he lost his man and his jump was terrible. Credit to Fer because the header itself was class, pretty far out and Krul couldn’t reach it. But Colo really should have done better imo.

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