Newcastle's world class duo and SJP atmosphere - Five takeaways from 2-0 win vs Chelsea
On a gorgeous spring afternoon Newcastle United beat Chelsea 2-0 in what was an almost de facto shootout for Champions League football. United secured a vital result via strikes from Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes as they moved three points clear of Villa in sixth with a vastly superior goal difference.
The game between the two goals, scored in the 2nd and 90th minutes respectively, was defined by a Nicholas Jackson red card for what was an ugly and unnecessary forearm smash on the returning Sven Botman - which, curiously, led to Chelsea having the better of the second half before United’s late clinching goal.
Here are our five key takeaways from the game:
- It’s a funny old game
Football is a game of few big, game-changing moments. It’s not like basketball where two teams trade hundreds of points back and forth and either side can trade momentum back and forth too, multiple times in a single game. In a game of football momentum often sticks with one side and looking at the stats on paper - you would again think United had dominated the game on Sunday afternoon.
United were better in every conceivable metric but it certainly didn’t feel like that at times. Throughout the second half the lads ceded far too much space to Chelsea players dropping between the lines, and Cucurella had a field day down the left side before Howe brought on Emil Krafth at right back.
Nicholas Jackson’s discount MMA fighter impression on Sven Botman undoubtedly ruined United’s rhythm as the 3-4-2-1 formation had totally stumped Chelsea and Maresca tactically 11 v 11 as United dominated proceedings - but Botman’s early withdrawal in the second half, when he was clearly still feeling the aftereffects of Jackson’s cowardice, shook the side as they struggled to get personnel into the right positions due to the lack of appropriate substitutes on the bench with Trippier absent via injury.
- Worst ever performance against ten men?
It seems churlish to say this at a time of the season when all that matters is getting positive results - but that performance against ten men was one of the worst I have ever seen. If the game plan was to let Chelsea’s ten have the run against our eleven for almost the entirety of the second half then it was a hell of a gamble.
Nick Pope was called into action to make two huge saves to stop Chelsea equalising and United made ‘silent-as-the-grave-for-the-
Needless to say, a side that cost £1.49B to assemble should be able to create and play well in adversity but I still feel like United allowed them play too much in the second half.
- World class midfield duo
On the day when Sandro and Bruno played as a two for the very first time; they ran the show in the first half. With the extra solidity of Burn, Schär and Botman behind them, the Italian and the Brazilian were immense, like Trojans resisting a Grecian siege, the pair were impassible for the first 55 minutes.
Bruno was the playmaker and Tonali snapped into tackles as Howe’s tweaked formation nullified Chelsea and gave United a platform to score the opener and what should’ve been a platform to score more as they were wasteful in front of goal - with Barnes being the most egregious offender and Isak looking a little lost.
I can count on one hand the number of times Bruno and Sandro have played as a duo this season (quite rightly too with Joelinton justifying his starting berth) but if that’s how they’ll do it - then can I have some more please sir!?
- Class atmosphere...tense atmosphere!
Categorically, early kick-offs stink - they have the potential to kill the crowd - but that simply wasn’t the case on Sunday lunchtime as everyone inside SJP knew how important the game was and brought the A-game atmosphere… for 45 minutes.
Wor Flags put on another excellent display, the players were welcomed by a throaty roar of unbridled encouragement, and the energy filtered down onto the pitch as the lads started at fever pitch speed and kept the foot on the accelerator for most of the first half.
The noises coming out of the players’ camp keep emphasising just how important qualifying for the Champions League is (as recently as this week Sandro Tonali’s quote was ‘we don’t want Conference League’ in a club interview) and everyone in the stands knew it too; even Maresca knew it despite his weird post match comments that it was because of the crowd that Jackson was sent off and not the strikers lily-livered, blatant attempt to hurt Sven Botman.
The Jackson forearm was another moment that fired up the crowd and it was class; but as the game went on, it got harder to watch across each phase as Chelsea’s ten men dampened the crowd, and nerves started to jangle as Nick Pope made some crucial saves. Reece James probably should’ve scored too when he was well placed but he is one the most over-hyped players in the league, so realistically there wasn’t that much danger, so despite the tense second half - United got the job done.
- Touching distance
It looks like one more win from the remaining two fixtures will be enough to secure a top five spot with how our rivals fixtures have fallen. Win both games and we finish second. Again, though, that is meaningless - just get the job done, finish top five, reset, buy some players, and see where we can go next season.
With a trophy in the bag already, Eddie Howe is on the cusp of achieving a perfect-adjacent season. From relegation candidates to where we are now in four short seasons is nothing short of miraculous and without a first team signing in the last three transfer windows too - it almost beggars belief but proves the man is a world class coach.
Back him in the summer and who knows where we will end up!
Keep the faith. HWTL
