Newcastle 3-1 Luton: The Mags march into the 4th round of the FA Cup – goal highlights

We were made to fight for it, but two poachers goal from Ayoze Perez and a well worked move finished off by Jonjo Shelvey saw us see off a battling Luton side in front of a superb 47,000 crowd at St James’ Park.

Firstly, a hat tip to all those Luton fans who made the trip today. Over 7,000 made the 250 miles trip. I’ve never seen an away support fill level 7 of St James’ like they did today. A superb effort and a decent showing by their team too.

Now to Newcastle. Rafa fielded a strong team (as promised) and despite us not really getting out of first gear in the first half, we found ourselves 3-0 up! As seen below, Perez was alive in the six yard box to prod home the first two, however our second was a lovely move, slotted home calmly by Jonjo Shelvey:

Luton pulled one back just 4 minutes into the second half and made a game of it in the end, but it was relatively plain sailing in the end, with us keeping our lead at two goals despite a poor display in the second.

A few observations. It was the first time we’ve seen Merino and Shelvey start in a while. They both look comfortable in possession, but I noticed today that they are both keen on coming deep to pick up the ball. They made be our two most talented midfielders, but unless we have more of a natural number 10 who wants to come looking for the ball off them (Perez isn’t that man) then I feel they’ll struggling to get us going from such a deep lying position. They both put in decent shifts, mind.

On the subject of Perez, his two goals today mean he’s bagged in consecutive games for the first time in a few years for NUFC. He was alive in the box for both and made a decent burst forward for the third goal, but his all round play aside form this was pretty poor all game. I really don’t see him as a natural number 10. He’s too often on the fringes of things, and the conviction and quality (or lack of it) behind most of what he does often fails to convince me. A good number 10 will probably get more touches of the football than any other player on the pitch and constantly demand the ball. Perez most definitely does neither. I don’t mean to have a dig at the bloke after a two-goal haul and 3 goals in 2 so far this year, but he needs to offer more in that role for me.

Woodman made his first start for NUFC and had a mixed time of it. He took a cross confidently in the opening exchanges, made a decent stop in the second half and looked to have a good kick on him, however he wanted a bit too much time to clear his lines on more than one occasion and was very nearly caught out. He was partly at fault for their goal, being rounded as he rushed out, but it was good to see one of our brightest talents finally get a chance. He got a good receptions as he ran out towards the Gallowgate and will have gained some valuable experience from that. Hopefully he can secure a decent loan move this month and kick on from here.

Great to see us get back to winning ways at home and give the St James’ Park crowd something to smile about after a woeful winless run at home recently. Into the 4th Round we go with the outright odds for the Toon to win the competition hovering around 50/1 if you were to place bet at 888sport.com and 66/1 at most other bookies.

Finally, Lascelles limped off and was replaced by Isaac Hayden at centre-half on the half hour mark, but the early signs are that it was just precautionary. Thank god!

A sensational 47,000 crowd, a strong team played and a much needed win at St James’ Park. Who said the romance of the FA Cup is dead? Onto Swansea we go!

NUFC team – (4-2-3-1): Woodman – Manquillo, Lascelles (Hayden 31), Clark, Dummett – Shelvey (Diame 71), Merino (Saivet 80) – Murphy, Perez, Ritchie – Gayle – CLICK HERE for full player ratings.

(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

113 thoughts on “Newcastle 3-1 Luton: The Mags march into the 4th round of the FA Cup – goal highlights

  1. 2 observations: Actually 3:

    1) This site takes ages to load between comments.

    2) Krul says being banished to the academy by Rafa was harsh and had potential to damage his prospects. He could have let gim continue to train with the first team after all his service. I agree.

    3) looking forward to seeing Krul in action tonight. Is he really worse than Darlow/Elliott? I dont think so – Hart is being linked to us a lot. I dont rate Hart. Would rather have kept Krul.

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  2. Does it really matter who we draw in the Cup? I remember last year we got Oxford away and most thought that it was a decent chance. We got tonked 3 nil.

    I also remember a few years ago, in the league cup I think, we got Man City away. We played a lot of kids and beat them anyway.

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  3. I had said on here that Swans FA Cup replay was this week and would be a distraction for them. It is next week. I got original date from The Guardian. Still might be a distraction as they might be thinking about it, but would have been better that they played midweek before us.

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  4. Swans new Manager has already said the FA Cup replay is a “distraction”. Expect a full strength team against us.

    Do we now treat the Chelsea game the same way playing squad players as the Burnley game is more important? Of course it could be a good game to give our new 25 million pound striker a run out in a game with little pressure.

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  5. So Rafe must sell before he buys. I wouldn’t trust this lot replace sold players before 31st Jan

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  6. Niasse going to either Brighton, Palace or West Brom. They’re in for him and willing to pay £13m.

    Can anyone put a number on how many years we’ve fell behind every other PL club under Jabba?

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  7. It will be bitter sweet if we stay up in my opinion if Jabba is still here. He doesn’t deserve a PL club.

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  8. I see Shelvey linked to West Ham for £12m !, that must be a joke right.
    Like him or loath him he has to be worth more than that in todays market. We paid more than that for young Murphy .

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  9. sell to buy, no loans on the horizon, nowts really changed has it.
    Takeover chat, smokescreen to hide lack of business, what a joke we are .

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  10. On a positive note, we are 13th with 22pts with the players we have. It could well be 25pts and up to 10th come the weekend.

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  11. To bring a probably unwanted sense of balance to this – didn’t we all know/expect that we would be selling first.
    Whether it’s a case of raising funds or balancing the wages.

    Whilst we have players like Colback, Gamez, Saviet, Mitrovic & Mbemba all collecting first team wages with only a handful of game time between all of them – that’s probably around £200k a week in wages – and of course Colback hasn’t even got a squad number.

    I Rafa doesn’t want these players, then fair enough. But we have to get rid before we can replace surely – but I would expect that even if Mandy was at the helm too.

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  12. Sharpy17:
    On a positive note, we are 13th with 22pts with the players we have.It could well be 25pts and up to 10th come the weekend.

    Unfortunately others are also winning and it’s a guarantee we will have strengthened less than every other team.

    Kim- I said last week that Shelvey wants to go to West Ham. Rafa’s biggest problem is trusting the regime to actually get replacements in. Their form is horrendous so I think it’s likely we’ll bring in max 2 loan players if we’re lucky.

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  13. Sharpy17:
    To bring a probably unwanted sense of balance to this – didn’t we all know/expect that we would be selling first.
    Whether it’s a case of raising funds or balancing the wages.

    Whilst we have players like Colback, Gamez, Saviet, Mitrovic & Mbemba all collecting first team wages with only a handful of game time between all of them – that’s probably around £200k a week in wages – and of course Colback hasn’t even got a squad number.

    I Rafa doesn’t want these players, then fair enough.But we have to get rid before we can replace surely – but I would expect that even if Mandy was at the helm too.

    We let go of 3/4 players at the end of summer because it was needed before we brought anyone in. They still didn’t bring anyone in. Now you think we need to sell even more players before we buy? What’s happened to the tv money or the money from sales in summer?

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  14. Stu this is my gripe too mate, where is the summer funds raised and cash not spent. We know they won’t replace players we lose and if they do it’s likely it will be last minute cheap options ala Joselu.
    Remember he signed who he could not who he wanted and I see more of the same.

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  15. Stuart79: We let go of 3/4 players at the end of summer because it was needed before we brought anyone in. They still didn’t bring anyone in. Now you think we need to sell even more players before we buy? What’s happened to the tv money or the money from sales in summer?

    Stu – we got rid of some of the players surplus to Rafas requirements, but those I’ve mentioned are still there. Rafa doesn’t seem to want them – he’s rarely played them, but there is equity in the likes of Mitrovic, Mbemba and afew mill to be brought in from the likes of Colback and Saviet. The trouble is (as was in the summer) there aren’t many clubs who can afford or are willing to pay their wages.

    I’m not saying we can’t or shouldn’t be able to bring anyone in before those players are moved on – I’m just saying I comes as no surprise that the money men are coming back with – you’ve got a £13m forward on £60k pw who’s not getting play. Colback on £35k pw without a squad number.

    I think those 2 would be the main ones to move out.

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  16. But Sharpy, they used the same excuse in the summer. They asked him to move some players on before he could bring in others – he did that and they failed to bring anyone in. Now they’re saying the same again. They’re not saying sell him or him to make room for wages, they’re saying sell him and him to raise funds. There’s a big difference. We know this is the case because the wage bill is the same as it was when they asked him to sell players in the summer. If they were happy then, what’s changed?

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  17. Since Rafa has been here, he has sold and purchased around £100m worth of players. The question is, what finance has been availale on top of that from TV etc? And – what is the wage budget? Is the squad size bloated or under? I have no idea.

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  18. Tv pay a tranche in January. About £20m.

    Sharpy – Rafa was told to sellthe players in the summer which he did do. That was to fee up wages. He’s now told sell to raise funds. Which other promoted sides are that hamstrung? Your figures suggest we spent £18m in the summer! Do you think that’s reasonable?

    Sham – Everything Rafa has spent has been generated by sales apart from about £11m.

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  19. I doubt the finaces for the past year will be available on public record for a while yet. I have no idea what impact relegation had on the club and how that affected the financial stability of the club. What is the club’s cutrent and projected balance by the end of the financial year in April? Do we overspend with no guarantee of staying in the league and risk financial ruin? Where is the happy medium and what is the magic number for wages/funds available to us? If Colback and Mitro etc are not being used then it is relevant for Sharpy to bring them up. They are eating a sizeable chunk into the budget no matter which way you look at it.

    We can dismiss Staveley until she actually owns the club. So Ashley is what we are dealing with until at least the summer.

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  20. I don’t know when the big TV money is due, but I’m sure someone on here posted something proving it was due at the end of the season. I’ll stand corrected like, but I’m sure that was the case.

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  21. Stuart79:
    Tv pay a tranche in January. About £20m.

    Sharpy – Rafa was told to sellthe players in the summer which he did do. That was to fee up wages. He’s now told sell to raise funds. Which other promoted sides are that hamstrung? Your figures suggest we spent £18m in the summer! Do you think that’s reasonable?

    Sham – Everything Rafa has spent has been generated by sales apart from about £11m.

    Stu – they aren’t my figures mate, I merely found them. It’s a tad unfair to judge against the other promoted clubs though mate as their financial position is totally different. They came up with a squad of players on Championship wages & players who cost them very little – hence why they are breaking their club record fees. We came back up with a load of players still on PL wages from before we were relegated.
    As for the £18m, to be honest mate I don’t define a good window on how much we spend – we brought in £40m worth of players – and spent more since coz Merinos loan deal was made permanent.
    We were never buying top class players because we weren’t an appealing club to players – just promoted.

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  22. Sharpy17: Stu – they aren’t my figures mate, I merely found them.It’s a tad unfair to judge against the other promoted clubs though mate as their financial position is totally different.They came up with a squad of players on Championship wages & players who cost them very little – hence why they are breaking their club record fees.We came back up with a load of players still on PL wages from before we were relegated.
    As for the £18m, to be honest mate I don’t define a good window on how much we spend – we brought in £40m worth of players – and spent more since coz Merinos loan deal was made permanent.
    We were never buying top class players because we weren’t an appealing club to players – just promoted.

    Sharpy – it’s perfectly reasonable to compare us to other clubs in relative terms. You say they came up with Championship players on Championship wages. We have more than double or triple their turnover.

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  23. And Sharpy – we were never going to buy top class players because we weren’t ever prepared to spend any money. It’s not about being appealing, it’s about spending some decent cash. Do you think Bournemouth or Palace or Stoke are appaealing clubs?

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  24. I’m also sickened by the clubs response to this Beardsley nonsense. How on Earth is it reasonable to him or the players for him to continue as “business as normal” when there’s been these allegations? Stinks of Jabba getting his moneys worth if you ask me. He’s also ***** at his job so he shouldn’t be there anyway regardless of these allegations. Of course he’s innocent until proven guilty but not suspending him on full pay until the investigation is complete is absolutely ridiculous!

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  25. Stuart79:
    I’m also sickened by the clubs response to this Beardsley nonsense. How on Earth is it reasonable to him or the players for him to continue as “business as normal” when there’s been these allegations? Stinks of Jabba getting his moneys worth if you ask me. He’s also ***** at his job so he shouldn’t be there anyway regardless of these allegations.Of course he’s innocent until proven guilty but not suspending him on full pay until the investigation is complete is absolutely ridiculous!

    STU i agreee 1000% ive said for a couple of yrs he just cannot coach to save his lfe great player he may have been but as a coach hes a dunce

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