A brutal end to a bruising day for Newcastle United, who conceded two late goals and lost a big player to a potentially serious injury as Arsenal came away 2-1 winners from St James’ Park.
The system change did not make for a pretty watch, but with just over 15 minutes left to play, we were 1-0 up thanks to Nick Woltemade’s first half strike and hoping to see out our second win of the season.
However, we saw Tino Livramento stretchered off, former Mag Mikel Merino equalise on 84 minutes and Gabriel score from a corner deep into stoppage time to complete a late comeback and a total collapse from our perspective, sadly.
VAR played its part (again) and somehow denied Newcastle a clear penalty to go 2-1 up as Anthony Elanga’s effort was clearly blocked by Gabriel’s arm in anything but a ‘natural’ position, but we had ourselves to blame in the end, managing our lead poorly and conceding two set pieces while having four towering centre-backs on the pitch.
The result leaves us with just one win in the opening six games, stuck down in 15th and the league’s joint lowest scorers with four goals so far. Yet, perhaps the biggest blow today is the worrying injury to Livramento, who was in tears as he came off after falling awkwardly on his knee.
Howe made six changes from midweek, with Pope, Burn, Livramento, Tonali, Murphy and Woltemade coming in, with Hall missing out and Ramsdale, Krafth, Miley, Elanga and Osula dropping to the bench.
Newcastle XI Pope, Livramento, Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Murphy Tonali, Guimaraes, Joelinton, Gordon, Woltemade.
Subs: Ramsdale, Trippier, Lascelles, Barnes, Krafth, Osula, Elanga, Willock, Miley
Arsenal made a strong start and Pope, our unsung hero of the first half, made one of three vital interventions, pulling off a superb early save to deny Eze. Our new system saw Burn faced up against Saka and he had a tough start which fortunately wasn’t punished.
At the other end, we forced a flurry of corners and our first sight of goal as Thiaw headed straight at Raya before the games first big talking point. Gyokeres went down under Pope’s challenge and the initial decision was penalty. However, a VAR check showed the Toon stopper took the ball first, sparking St James’ Park back into life after a big let off that was inches away from a penalty and red card for the ‘denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity.’
Another Arsenal attack saw Trossard go close, smashing the post after arriving as the spare man, and they’d soon live to regret it as Newcastle took the lead through that man again, big Nick Woltemade! A rare goal from a corner and another towering header, where Gabriel wasn’t strong enough, allowing our club record signing to score another vital first half goal at the Leazes End.
The final big moment of the opening 45 saw Thiaw show his class with a superb piece of defending, stopping a big Arsenal break by holding up Gyokeres and reading his every step to perfection just as the Swede broke into the box. It was a top performance from the former AC Milan centre-back, who looked imposing physically, fast across the ground and confident on the ball.
The second half wasn’t an easy watch, as we struggled to keep the ball or offer enough of an attacking outlet, other than a fast break from the restart that almost saw Woltemade score again, only to be denied by Murphy’s offside and the crossbar!
Pope made another superb stop on the hour mark, this time tipping Timber’s header wide. Much of our defending had been superb, but our midfield could not get a grip of the game, our wide men were pushed back and Woltemade was often lacking support, no matter how good some of his link play was with his back to goal.
Howe made a triple change with 25 minutes to play, seeing Osula, Elanga and Trippier replace Woltemade, Gordon and Murphy, giving us more pace on the break and another body at the back.
Livramento’s injury was a sickener in so many ways. An awkward landing from Saliba’s push, a delay that left St James’ Park a little flat and the man himself in tears as he was carried off on a stretcher, seeing Lascelles come on.
Then, with 84 minutes on the clock, Arsenal found their goal. A Rice cross from the left and glancing header from Merino was the moment they’d been searching for, giving them the equaliser and plenty of stoppage time to find another given the stoppage for Tino’s injury.
That said, it was Newcastle who could and should have won it first in one of few second half attacks, as Elanga’s strike very clearly struck Gabriel’s hand, with his arm up high and wide, playing a key role in diverting the effort while not in a natural position.
But VAR somehow ignored it and we know the rest. An erratic Pope kick, which was trying to release Elanga on the break, gifted the ball back to Arsenal in the 96th minute, they forced a corner and Gabriel powered a header home with seconds left to play.
An absolute gut punch, rounding off a really poor second half in the worst possible way, handing Arsenal a rare win at St James’ Park after losing to nil in their last three visits.
Next up, a trip to Union SG in the Champions League on Wednesday before a vital home clash with Nottingham Forest in the league.
Keep the faith. HWTL.
We have Pope to thank for not being obliterated.
Not a fan of such a negative formation at home, we need to start putting teams on the back foot.
Joseph(Quote)
Worst part is losing Tino, gutted for the lad.
kimtoon(Quote)
Im fuming at that result for several reasons
1 Clear penalty denied for handball. How far up in the air did his hand need to be
2We went defensive way too early to defend a 1-0 lead against a top side like Arsenal.
3 Gabriel, who scored the winner, should not have been in the side. He smashed Waltemade in the face, clearly, with no intent to get the ball, and not even a yellow card. Clear red that.
4 Saliba clearly went straight into the side of Tino’s knee. You could see it … injured badly and again not even a yellow.
5 pope was excellent all game, but that kick at the end was awful.
6 VAR I mean, where to start… awful decisions today.
However, we had that game, and we threw it away by going defensive too early. We switched off and paid the price. Should’ve been 2-1 win against 10 man Arsenal. 😡🤷🏻♂️
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Not to mention… another pull on Waltemades shirt in the box to stop him reaching the ball. No penalty! Yet Manure and Liverpool get penalties for it. 🤬🤬
Gilly Toon(Quote)
If Big Nick had went down holding his face I think VAR intervene and send the ref to look at it, which would have likely resulted in a red card … BUT – it should not need a player to force that review imo. It was entirely obvious what Gabriel did with just 1 look back at it – big Nick asked the ref to look at it and they didn’t – so honesty doesn’t pay 🤷🏼♂️.
Gilly – I understand what your saying about the pen but it looked like it hit his leg first then spun up and hit his hand – if that was given against us I’d be foaming.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Perhaps on that one, but Nick getting his shirt pulled yet again?
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Mate I just hate cheat to win tactics and that what Arsenal are all about. The about of times their players threw themselves to the ground – blatantly!! Then complain to the ref while Arteta is at the 4th official constantly – I just find it hard to watch.
Credit to players like Eze & Rice who just get on with it, but too many of the rest of them are cheats.
Thought Gordon & Murph were brilliant getting back and doubling up today but we desperately miss a CF. Nick did well but he’s a 9.5-10 rather than an out n out forward.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Thiaw MOTM for me today – he’s class!!!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Arteta has turned arsenal into a deeply unlikeable team. But they had the edge on us today and we need to be more savvy with and without the ball to compete at the very very top.
Gutted for Tino.
Howe the toon(Quote)
We don’t play football this season. Just hoofing in up front. We are awful to watch. If you play negative, the result won’t be positive. Pope’s feet aren’t good enough.. He just kicks it up front inviting pressure, instead of building up play. Bruno and Joelinton very poor yesterday. Very few positives. MUST win game against forest now
Matthias Opdenakker(Quote)
3rd game this season when ref has ignored a blatant foul by an opposing defender while Newcastle were on the attack only because it would have to lead to a 2nd Yellow Card = Red Card for the opponent, in this case Calafiori. 2/3 ‘happened to be’ vs Liv & Ars.
The slo-mo of the penalty shows the ball touches Gabriel’s foot first then Elanga smashes it onto his raised hand. More importantly any ref wanting to call it correctly would see it & call it as a pen coz that’s what it looks like in real time & in case there’s an error VAR would intervene (like in case of Pope touching the ball in 1st half).
Gabriel who scored the winner should’ve been off in the first half for punching Woltemade in the face. PUNCHING!
PL office pushes its refs to ensure the old big 4 teams & exp those in a supposed title chase (boosting viewing figures) come through unscathed (check Salah’s handball – clearly seen from the angle behind the goal- not given for Liv’s equaliser vs Palace). I can take a late loss to Ars or whoever if these things don’t happen but they do – and repeatedly for years.
This plus the absolutely disgusting behavior of Arsenal fans online post the match (I know its their insecurity & fueled by the rabid win-by-any-means aggression of their manager but still) makes me want to give up watching the PL in every way, just cut myself away from it.
This has happened on repeat for over a decade & will continue unless the structure/personnel/rules/broadcaster (been over a decade that Sky keep putting Liv midfielder of 80s Jim Beglin on comms for most of our games – he blatantly derides us & calls everything against us wrongly, pushing the wrong perception of what happened to neutral viewers/potential fans – globally) of the PL changes.
P(Quote)
Oh and I forgot, Saliba never went up for the aerial ball, aimed for the back of Livramento’s leg as he jumped, turned his face at the last sec as if he doesn’t know he’s going to hit the player, and hit him hard & ran away immediately & ref didn’t even give a Yellow Card.
We all know what these decisions would’ve been if it was NUFC players being the culprits, as do the players themselves which is why they don’t do anything more than niggly fouls. Liv/Ars/Chel/ManU players know they have more leeway & use it. Saliba also blocked Pope for their winning goal but that kind of action should’ve been addressed 3 years back by refs when Ars started doing it on every corner & now everyone will point fingers at everyone else for doing it so it can no longer be considered a foul.
P(Quote)
Absolutely agree with everything you say mate. I too saw Saliba clearly hit Livramento in the side of his knee. The bias in var and referees decisions is so clear, it it either total incompetence, or it corruption. Either way, it’s unforgivable. 😡
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Sadly, this appears to be the only way teams like Arsenal can beat us these days. They have to resort to brute force, deliberately aiming to injure our players, and basically cheat their way to points. Then the PL just say, oh yes, we were wrong, sorry! But it doesn’t give us our points 🤷🏻♂️
Gilly Toon(Quote)
Exactly mate.
kimtoon(Quote)
Hard to say whether Saliba meant to hurt Tino or not really – but what I did notice is you had a young lad in tears getting stretched off and no Arsenal player went over to him – including Saliba!!.
I could kind of understand a challenge like that going in on Joelinton or Bruno – players who leave a bit on themselves or egg the fans on – I could see how that would make them a target. But Tino is such an honest, clean young player – no dirty tackles, no getting involved in the nonsense, just gets on with it.
If one of ours done that to one of theirs, no question Arteta would have been all about it in the post match press conference – but I haven’t once seen Howe call it out once.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Hopefully it’s not as bad as it looks.
Gilly Toon(Quote)