Porto 0-0 Newcastle: Two players stand out as NUFC stay unbeaten for pre-season

A good test against one of the top sides in Portugal and a special occasion for both sets of fans, with over 40,000 turning up to the Estadio do Dragao to celebrate the life of the great Sir Bobby Robson.

Before I talk about the game itself, here’s a clip of the scenes inside the stadium just before kick off:

A brilliant tribute to a truly brilliant man.

Now to the game. It was one that Porto dominated from start to finish, but to come away with a 0-0 draw against such an impressive side shows just how well we defended.

We showed so little going forward, with them dominating the ball and putting pressure on our back four from start to finish, however it was the perfect run out for us with just two weeks left until our opening day encounter with Spurs.

Two players stood out – Martin Dubravka and Jamaal Lascelles – with the former being absolutely outstanding.

We saw what he was capable of during his loan stint from Sparta Prague and tonight’s display showed just what an incredible bargain he looks set to be at just £4m.

He made a number of world class saves in the second half, constantly communicated with the back four and dealt with crosses into the box expertly as well. His reflexes and handling look second to none and with a poor goalkeeper, we’d have probably lost this one two or three zip.

Lascelles was impressive too. Aboubakar and Marega were a real handful up top for Porto but the skipper handled them very well. Cleared our lines on several occasions and made a few crucial last ditch interceptions – blocking one goal bound shot from Aboubakar superbly (see below).

I wouldn’t say he put in a particularly impressive display, but there were promising signs from Diame again, who lead by example in terms of his pressing and energy in midfield. It’s good to see given how contrasting his form was between the start and end of last season!

A hard fought draw and a brilliant test for us at this stage of pre-season – especially when it sounds like we best get used to defending without Florian Lejeune (Rafa confirmed cruciate knee ligament injury tonight!).

Braga next on Wednesday.

RIP Sir Bobby

(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.

199 thoughts on “Porto 0-0 Newcastle: Two players stand out as NUFC stay unbeaten for pre-season

  1. I do have faith in the police Eric, by and large they do a hard job well from what I have seen. There is good and bad in any organisation, that’s human nature, it’s what makes us an epic fail as a species and will be our ultimate undoing sadly.

    there is a famous saying by Edmund Burke
    “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
    Very good thing to remember when dealing with not just our owner but all lives **** bags.

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  2. After Maggie changed the rules, if you are picketing an establishment you are allowed a very limited number of people on the line. I think it is 5 or 6. Too many and after a warning people can be arrested. General marches or gatherings have to be registered with the police giving the requisite notice. Many councils require street entertainers to be registered and have the pitches and times programmed in advance. Outside of those circumstances you are free game. This is part of the attack on civil liberties that has happened since Maggie. EU regs are as usual more lenient.

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  3. We have enough left wing extremists in Newcastle who know how to hold a protest. They should all get together.

    Prem – there are not Thatcherite laws against protesting. The ultra left wingers protested in their hundreds outside Costa Coffee I think it was for some trivial reason. They only started to get arrested when the windows started getting smashed. I’ve also seen union members on a picket outside establishments over the last 10 years and they weren’t arrested.

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  4. Can’t understand the reporting on Anthony Limbombe. Which LW are we trying to sell to create the space for him Atsu? He want’s to leave nearly as much as Gayle

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  5. Prem – it’s a very thin report. Limbombe and several others withdrawn from training .. . . can’t see it happening when we’re desperate for other positions.

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  6. Stuart: I have seen it first hand here in Chicago with complete overreactions to peaceful protests. And, I spent a couple of hours with my school friend hearing how the Police targeted individuals at NUFC games and then had to fill their quota of arrests with innocent fans. He had no reason to explain this to me except that we were friends 20 years before and I was leading him on to let him talk.

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  7. There is also a very fine line between CCTV helping people and Big Brother. Hard fought freedoms that have been won have been compromised by TV cameras and technology. By collecting data and selling data. And the right to assembly has also been compromised in the UK by the ever presence of CCTV.

    In the US there is not CCTV everywhere.

    Individual freedoms and liberties are being trodden on in the name of individual safety and protection. It is a very fine line I tell you between safety and Big Brother.

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  8. Ed Aarons‏ @ed_aarons

    Follow Follow @ed_aarons

     More

    Everton are interested in signing Newcastle defender Jamaal Lascelles #efc #nufc

    🙄

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  9. So the chronicle were going to stream the game live but now been told they are not allowed.

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  10. If Gayle is staying and let’s face it nobody wants Joselu. Then we have Muto and Armstrong. Does that mean there is no spot in the squad for another striker?

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  11. Role on the end of the window when all the ridiculous rumours and scaremongering can cease for a whole. I have zero expectations right now… ??☹️

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  12. Uncle Ed has done his calculations and has us ahead by 25 million in transfers. He didn’t include agent fees so let’s be kind and say it is 20 million. Even going by the sell to buy criteria that should be enough to get us a couple of players in with Gayle staying put.

    From what I have read on here and other places Rondon misses quite a few chances but I still think we need a target man, because that is what Rafa wants. I never wanted rid of Gayle in the first place but I don’t think this saga is dead yet as I think pressure will be applied from both sides.

    Better watch out for Everton with Lascelles. They may make Fatman an offer he can’t refuse at the 11th hour like they did with Swansea and Sigurrdson. Then we really will be in trouble with Jamaal gone and scrambling around for a loan on deadline day. My guess is 45 million as Everton seem to like that number 🙂

    We will probably sell Darlow as well as we don’t need 4 ‘keepers.

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  13. PremAndUp:
    If Gayle is staying and let’s face it nobody wants Joselu. Then we have Muto and Armstrong. Does that mean there is no spot in the squad for another striker?

    Rafa doesn’t seem to fancy Armstrong so he will probably be gone on loan to Blackburn.

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  14. Get Lucas Perez in and stop farting about. I would rather have too many strikers than too few and there is still every chance that the Gayle/Rondon swap will be back on. Somebody will take Aarons and that will only leave Lazar as an unwanted player on the books. Fatty should be happy as all of the deadwood has been cleared and that is almost unheard of. Every team has players they would like to shift, just look at Sunderland.

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  15. Icedog:
    Toon stopped local rag streaming game,pleased I can see the game

    I think it was blocked all along it was just that The Chronicle put out the wrong information (surprise, surprise). BBC Radio Newcastle commentary is blocked here as is Test Match Special.

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  16. Apparently the clubs streaming service isn’t working again… Os there anything this club does that isn’t cheap and isn’t fit for purpose?

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  17. Stuart79:
    DT – You really shouldn’t have had any expectations before the window started.

    I didn’t really have much expectation before either Stuart, it’s just all these ridiculous rumours that do my head in… there is always that small glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, this one or that one will be true, knowing in your heart that it’s also total bollocks. Especially when you see the value above £10mil. ☹️

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  18. New Mackem owners have sold 20% of the club to an investor for 3 million pounds. Ashley should take a close look at that and maybe think about what he is doing to Rafa. Louise Taylor wrote a very optimistic article on them but forgot to say it is promotion or bust as Ellis Short has a 25 million lien on the parachute payments and if you extrapolate from the new investment that is more than the 15 million total value of the club!!!

    Weeys Keys Louise also talks about their new Manager like he is the second coming of Fergie because he got St Mirren promoted to the SPL. It was his 3rd season and I wouldn’t be putting a crown on him yet as he has only managed in the Scottish Championship so far.

    It may work out but it is just as likely to be an epic fail with the new owners having done pretty badly at their previous attempt at football ownership at non-league Eastleigh.

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  19. PremAndUp:
    The Transfer Tavern.
    Drunks talking rubbish.
    Grelish to Spurs = Sissoko to Newcastle.
    And that’s them at their best

    Prem: I watched Spurs against Roma and they took them apart even with 10 men because Sissoko was awful. He has been that way every time I have watched Spurs and their fans hate him. He hasn’t even done his trick that he did with us of playing 1 good game in 5.

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  20. They just make stuff up, especially HITC and Teamtalk and then it gets picked up by supposedly reputable news sources like The Chronicle and an air of authenticity/believability gets added. This can only happen so many times until you start to question everything that is said as click bait. Add in twitter, shake, and you end up with a **** cocktail.

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  21. Oh dear, any positivity from finishing 10th is just ebbing away. Club wouldn’t understand progress if it slapped em round the head with a wet fish.

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  22. Our Championship team from two seasons ago hasn’t really been strengthened to be fair…

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  23. Rafa: “Things aren’t going well off the pitch.”
    When asked what he said: “Everything.”
    When asked about money to spend: “I have no idea.” #nufc

    Go on Rafa! Expose these toss pots!

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  24. Stu, I can honestly see him walking mate, he must be tearing his hair out by now.
    What a feckin mess we are.

    Eric, I knew you would be the one to post that python sketch 😆

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  25. kimtoon:
    Rafa: “Our fans are very clever. They know what is going on.” #nufc

    Do we? We don’t have a bleeding clue! Neither does Rafa!

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  26. Keith Downie‏Verified account @SkySports_Keith · 19m19 minutes ago

     More

    A frustrated Rafa Benitez on transfers: “I said two months ago what we needed, and 10 days before the start of season we still are where we are. There’s 4/5 players we thought we could bring but we haven’t

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  27. kimtoon:
    Rafa: “Our fans are very clever. They know what is going on.” #nufc

    Seems like Ashley might have worn him down.

    It is like Trump over here. He says so much stupid **** and gets away with it that eventually you just accept nothing will change. The media still call him out but after sleeping with a porn star and paying her off and he still get votes from the Christian right family values crowd they have just about given up. Even the comedians are sick of repeating the same jokes.

    Rafa has even given up on Charnley now, whereas before he said they had a close relationship and spoke every day.

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