Newcastle’s first Premier League home game of 2024 ended in heartbreak after a scintillating game of twists and turns saw Manchester City score a stoppage time winner.
Silva sent the visitors ahead after 26 minutes but a quickfire double from Isak and Gordon 10 minutes before half-time sent the Geordies into the break ahead. De Bruyne levelled with 16 minutes left to play and substitute Bobb restored City’s lead in the 92nd minute.
Defeat for Eddie Howe’s Mags sees them slip to tenth in the league with eight defeats in the last 10 games in all competitions.
The first half was equal parts pulsating and frustrating with controversy woven through the opening 25 minutes.
Newcastle thought they had an opener within two minutes after Isak squared the ball to Longstaff, but it was ruled offside. Longstaff had clashed with Ederson and the Brazilian keeper had to be withdrawn through injury with City feeling aggrieved at the fact that the injury was inflicted during a move that was offside.
City got the first goal of the game after Walker found himself in space on the right wing and fired a low ball in which was flicked into the far corner of the net by Silva. Trippier and Burn both made their feelings known about the goal as Gordon had seemingly been fouled by Dias in the build up.
But St James’ was soon in full celebratory voice 10 minutes later as Bruno played a sublime ball over to Isak who still had a lot to do when he jinked the ball onto his right foot and curled the ball past Ortega.
🎯 Bruno’s pass
🥶 Isak’s finishWhat a quality goal! 🤩⚫️⚪️#NUFC #NEWMCI
— NUFCblog.co.uk (@NUFCblogcouk) January 13, 2024
A mere two minutes later Newcastle were ahead as Gordon was sent through on the left by Burn. He cut in onto his right on the left hand side of the box and swept a brilliant finish into the far corner.
De Bruyne’s entrance to the game after the hour mark showed City’s resolve to get back into the game and he had the ball in the back of the net five minutes after coming on, gliding the ball into the bottom corner from around 25 yards out.
City’s pressure in the latter stages made for a tense end to the game as the Toon struggled to get the ball towards the Gallowgate. City kept recycling the ball and just after the amount of added time was signalled by the fourth official De Bruyne sent Bobb one-on-one who shimmied the ball around Dubravka to break Geordie hearts.
A lack of options from the bench meant that Newcastle inevitably ran out of steam in the closing stages and Howe will hope that the recovery time of those on the treatment table will speed up. Where we lacked options to impact the game and save tired legs, they were able to bring on arguably the world’s best midfielder, who made the difference in the end.
Newcastle head into the winter break without a win in the league this calendar year and travel to Fulham in the FA Cup next on January 27.
STARTING 11: Dubravka – Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn – Longstaff, Bruno, Miley – Almiron, Isak, Gordon.
SUBS: Karius, Gillespie, Dummett, Lascelles, Ritchie, Krafth, Hall, A Murphy, Parkinson.
The richest club in the world is forced to sell first team regulars to keep rivals happy.
PremAndUp(Quote)
Tripps, best RB in the EPL, but we do have Tino.
Callum, Brilliant Goal pg ratio would definitely need replacing, would want back up anyway.
Miggy, is Barnes a replacement? Bring Minteh back?
We need a DM as well, keep Hayden as Backup?
The permutations of January
PremAndUp(Quote)
Prem , I’ve long thought the starting front three are a rotating and fluid Barnes, Gordon and isak. That’s one of the reasons why I never really thought getting Barnes after Gordon was a mistake.
Backups to those three were wilson, anderson and almiron/ Murphy
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
Trippier is brilliant but if we can get £10m or more for him at 33 that would be good business sense imo.
If we can get anything £20m or more for Miggy I’d rip hands off!!.
It’s Wilson I can’t decide what a suitable fee would be. He’s such a good goal scorer – but at 31 & constant injuries, what would we realistically want for him?!.
Sharpy17(Quote)
So the offer for Miggy has been reported to be £17m – surely that’s a no brainer?!?!!!
Does that take care of our FFP issues this month as well – especially if we are moving Manquillo & Hayden off the wage bill as well.
Miggy – £60k pw
Manq – £35k pw
Hayden – £20k pw
We could either use some of that £17m to pay compensation to bring Minteh back early – or I wouldn’t be against the idea of playing Trippier RWF with Tino RB. Trips finds himself up there for large parts of the game anyway – playing Tino would just save Trips legs a bit 🤷🏼♂️.
Sharpy17(Quote)
So, we’ve rejected a £13million offer for Tripps. Interesting… he might still go but sounds like we’d get a decent price if he does. Miggy has apparently got a 20% sell on clause … we’d need to get a good £30mill I reckon to let him go.
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Gilly – it feels like they are putting all their eggs into the Miggy basket for the ‘big’ sale this window – I still think they will look to move fringe players as well but they will just clear some of the wage bill rather than bring a fee in.
Personally I’d be happy with £20m plus for Miggy – 20% or not. I think that’s good money & good business for a player that as much as fans have a soft spot for, proves time & again that he just isn’t good enough.
Again, another call that most would probably disagree with, but if you get a £15m plus offer for Trippier, I’d take that too. Though it’s not as easy to suggest that one I have to say.
He’s a big player for us on & off the field – I actually think he could end up with a coaching role on Howes team when he decides to hang the boots up. He’s 34 this year & as good as he is, time catches up with us all – £15m plus would be a good fee for a player that age & would help towards the summer rebuild.
(I see a great deal of benefit keeping him too though).
Sharpy17(Quote)
I’ve seen Gibbs-White being mentioned. I’m not sure where I see him fit into our team – certainly not as a Miggy replacement as suggested.
He’s a number 10 from what I’ve seen of him & we don’t currently play with one of those. So unless Howe is thinking of changing a formation that has worked so well for him, I don’t see Gibbs-White coming in.
Sharpy17(Quote)
If we were looking at anyone from Forest it would be Anthony Elanga for me. I know he’s only just gone to Forest & cost them around £17m so they would want to make a decent profit on that – especially with their FFP problems.
But when they beat us 3-1 he was excellent in that RWF position.
Hes not the finished article by any means but he is still only 21.
However, that said we have Minteh & having recently bought him for £8m I’d rather see if we can develop him as opposed to spending a biggish fee for Elanga.
Sharpy17(Quote)
richest club in the world means nowt,surely some rules much change or whats the point??,Liverpool seem to spend what they like nowt said talk of them bidding 100 mil for Bruno in the summer
icedog(Quote)
Whatever happens in Jan I think we had a building job on in the summer anyway.
GK. I’m happy with Pope & see him as our no.1 for a few seasons to come yet.
But behind him I’d like to see us getting a mid 20s talent to both compete with & eventually replace him. Move Karius & Dubravka out and get someone like Ramsdale in.
RB. Does Trippier stay?!. Does Krafth stay?!.
We can only afford to get rid of 1 imo. Either way, going forward I see Tino as our 1st choice & more than happy with him. Behind him, is Ashby good enough?!.
CB. Botman is the only ‘one for the future’. I’m happy Schar is staying on but we need younger RCB in the summer imo to compete with or replace Schar – ideally another to completely replace him eventually but that wouldn’t be needed this summer necessarily. We also need a younger LCB as Burn & Dummett are the only options behind Botman just now really. Someone like Lloyd Kelly from Bmth would be a good option coz he (like Burn) can cover LB as well. If we can get a fee for Lascelles this window I’d take it. He’s done well since coming in but he’s not the future either.
LB. What a headache!!. We have Burn, Targett & Hall are any really good enough?! (we also still have Jamal Lewis on the books who is getting game time at Watford). It appears we are committed to the £29m purchase of Hall – is he being held back coz Howe is working with him like he did with Gordon – is he going to come good next season like Gordon did?! – either way, there’s £29m.
We also have Targett on £100k pw so we committed to him – will he be the one once fully fit?!.
Burn I love, and he’ll always give everything for the shirt but time will catch up to him.
CMF – get Joelinton signed up!!. Bruno, Joelinton, Tonali, Longstaff, Willock, Anderson, Miley – I think we are well stocked. I’d like to replace/upgrade Longstaff but MF is not a priority imo.
LWF – with Gordon & Barnes both fully fit I’m really happy with how strong we look on this flank – especially with Joelinton & Anderson as cover.
RWF – Does Miggy go?! (I hope so). That would leave Murphy & Minteh as things currently stand. If we can get a real quality replacement for Miggy then I’d be happy with that.
I know some would say move Gordon RWF with Barnes left, but I think both operate better on the left & would want to see a real quality RWF in.
CF – Isak is a different class imo. He is our no.1 going forward. If we can get a good fee for Wilson I’d sell him – around £20m. Either way, we need another quality forward in & move Wilson to 3rd choice going forward.
That’s 6 players for me.
A new keeper. 3 CBs. A RWF. A CF.
That’s a lot of money 😂
Sharpy17(Quote)
if only life were simple
Consider Minteh; It’s known there is no callback clause, so the club would presumably need to compensate his loan club who are in the CL. Let’s suppose they could and did.
Nufc have signed this lad, a teenager, and worked hard to settle him at a club to get game time. He’s enjoyed some success, presumably made some mates and is looking to play in the CL.
Now fans think it’s a good idea to uproot him, drop him in a struggling team in a place where he knows no-one and where he may not want to come yet. A teenager! Sounds risky to me.
Sure nufc are his employer but it’s hardly a way to welcome someone the club is looking to nurture long term
Consider Almiron; a player towards the end of his contract who’s a squad player but with injuries has been forced to play more than expected . He’s been at the club for five years during which he’s settled, built a family and is respected at the club as a good squad player. He’s always been a middle of the road PL player at best.
nowts changed in that.
Now fans consider he’s not good enough for nufc ( no one’s saying not good enough at what), think he should uproot and move his family thousands of miles to a country that has a culture at odds with what he’s used to because it suits the club.
Lots of talk and it’s fun to speculate but it’s useful to step back sometimes and take a breath when thinking about the complexity and human part of trading players
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
GoWest – to clarify my position on it mate.
Ideally id leave Minteh where he is coz he’s getting game time & at a good standard of football.
But in response to your point – he was already ‘uprooted’ and sent to Holland in the first place – that’s the life of a footballer 🤷🏼♂️.
If we brought him in I’m sure it wouldn’t take him long to settle & make new friends – the club do it all the time.
With regards to Miggy, I’m not a fan that now thinks he’s not good enough – I’ve NEVER thought he was good enough!!. For what you ask?! – well just take a look at his stats for this season:
31 games, 5 goals, 2 assists.
Feel free to look at his NUFC career as a whole but it makes no better reading – especially on the assists front when you consider he’s a ‘creative’ player.
The only thing that keeps him in the team is his workrate – and for that he’s second to none, I will credit him that. Without the ball he makes our high pressing game work very effectively – however I would argue that given the opportunity Murphy has proven he can be as effective imo – though equally as poor when it comes to finishing & assists.
But he is entirely left footed, which means Trippier has to work twice as hard to be that creator down the right flank – then when he gets caught out, he gets the criticism.
We had less possession last season & without the ball Miggy is more of an asset – the high press & his workrate. But this season we have increased our possession & with that need our creative players to do just that – Miggy hasn’t & doesnt.
As for him uprooting his family – again, that’s the life of a footballer mate. He did it leaving Paraguay for Atalanta & then again to come to NUFC 🤷🏼♂️.
Sharpy17(Quote)
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/transfers/endendevertraege/statistik?plus=0&jahr=2024&ausrichtung=alle&spielerposition_id=alle&altersklasse=alle&land_id=0&yt0=Show
When I was talking about the rebuild in the summer.
Out of interest I thought I’d look at who may be available on a free – there are some very interesting names on the list as things stand (obviously may negotiate a new contract before the summer)
The 2 that jump out for me would be Tosin & Lloyd Kelly for CB – both PL experienced & both mid twenties.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I watched Fulham v Lpool last night and although Fulham got beat I thought Tosin was excellent.
I’ve watched him a few times for Fulham & he’s a really solid CB – pacy, brilliant in the air, timing in tackles & positions all really good. The only thing I’ve not really seen is his distribution.
Schar can ping the ball around really well & I think however replaces him in the team needs to be able to do that too I think. Tosin may be able to, I’m certainly not saying he can’t, but I think Fulham tend to play it into their midfielders for thar distribution.
That may be fine too when Tonali gets back in the team & Bruno pops the ball around too 🤷🏼♂️.
Sharpy17(Quote)
So it seems pretty clear we are looking to raise around £20m plus this window – we asked it for Trippier and Bayern walked. We wanted more from the Saudis but Miggy has said no, now it looks like it may be Wilson – and that coincides with us bidding for a young Turkish forward from Germany 🤔.
Suggestions are that Chelsea, Man Utd & Arsenal are all interested in Wilson with £20m being suggested.
Assessing it in the same way as Trips & Miggy – yeah I’d take £20m for a 31yr old very injury prone Wilson I reckon.
He’s a tremendous goal scorer, but in reality he could play the next 3 games then be out the rest of the season 🤷🏼♂️.
The down side to that is obviously it would only leave Isak – but if we can get the young un in. We could use Gordon – not ideal I know but clubs may not want Wilson in the summer.
We could potentially look at seeing if Arsenal would be prepared to make a loan of Nketiah, Nelson, Smith Rowe part of the deal.
Chelsea may be willing to loan Broja. Who knows if there’s a player they may want from Man Utd but you get my point.
But ultimately I’d be in favour of cashing in on Wilson while the interest is there.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Miggy is at the RVI in toon???
icedog(Quote)
Enjoyed Howe’s press conference with my marmalade and coffee this morning.
Outlining the complexity of seemingly easy transfer options and how speculation is managed at a personal level and through group think of the board and coaches.
I had to laugh when he was asked if any incoming players were close and he said no. I fully expected him to say and if you believe that here’s a magic bean
My conclusion; someone’s moving before Thursday
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
Only visting pal
Icedog(Quote)