In the days leading up to last Friday’s clash with Crystal Palace, our Opposition Opinion piece featured the pre-match thoughts of Eagles fan Chris Windsor from @FYPFanzine.
A few days on from our late win at Selhurst Park, Chris has given us his view on the game, that manic final 10 minutes, the Newcastle players that impressed, those who did not and his thoughts on Joelinton after what proved to be a big night for the Brazilian.
Here’s what he’s had to say when reflecting on last week’s game:
On the balance of play you could argue not, but then again you punished us for being ineffective in the final third despite probably having the better of the middle part of the game.
The game plan was perfect from you, nullify any easy opportunities, make Palace work hard to create chances and then hit on the counter wherever possible. It showed how much we missed playing with Zaha and how we struggle to find a way to beat teams without his magic! As a Palace fan it was a particularly painful watch!
It was typical Palace – dominate possession and chances only to throw it all the way at the end!
As it approached 80 mins I sensed that all it would take would be one chance for yourself to nick it and I’m more upset I didn’t lump on my own backing!
Darlow had a very good game in goal, with some excellent saves that get you in the game and allowed you to seize the opportunities later in the game. The back line was resolute, but Fernandez probably stood out the most with the key block from Kouyate and marshalling of the Palace front line.
Up top, Joelinton proved to be a handful and rightly deserved his goal at the end, despite floundering his earlier chances. If ever you need a player to score after a barren run, Palace will happily assist, as we did with Almiron last season! If only other teams were as generous with our players!
I don’t think anyone had a bad game, but I probably expected Shelvey to have a bigger impact on the match. In a game where chances were always going to be at a premium, I thought he would be the player to unlock our defences with his passing, but the entire midfield battle was quite attritional where noone really stood out, barring the one barnstorming run from Longstaff towards the end of the game.
After breaking his duck in the game last year, I thought Almiron was due another good game against us, but despite some pretty little runs was largely ineffective and despite our defensive woes, I was never thinking that the goal was truly threatened by him.
Watching Joelinton was very much like watching Benteke in a different shirt. Someone clearly void of a lot of confidence but with the potential to really trouble defences, the game looked like it was going to come down to one of them.
He clearly demonstrated his ability to get into good positions to get his shots off, and you can only hope that with the belief that now the ball has finally hit the back of the net, albeit with a slice of fortune, it will give him more conviction when he gets himself back into position again!
If he does go on to start to find the net more than regularly, all I can say is you’re welcome!
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