3 Positives and 3 Negatives from Crystal Palace 0 Newcastle 2

Friday night ended Crystal Palace 0 Newcastle 2.

A game drifting seemingly inevitably to a goalless draw…

Only for sixty seconds to change all that as the 90 minutes were almost up.

Late goals from Callum Wilson and Joelinton giving late joy to the Newcastle fans who had braved the 88 minutes that went before.

Ahead of each match we ask one of our writers to come up with 3 positives and 3 negatives following the game.

This time it is Davey Hat-Trick:

POSITIVES

Breathing space

There are 10 points between Newcastle and the bottom three before the other teams kick-off this weekend and we got three points against a team whose level we are more-or-less at.

This had 1-0 defeat written all over it but I’m more than happy with the win. Well played lads.

Some good defensive displays

We’ll always look to the goalscorers when we are doling out credit but we owe debt to the boys at the back.

Manquillo and Lewis barely put a foot wrong, Darlow made some valuable saves, and Fernandez was immense – my Man of the Match. Maradona must have been in his corner tonight.

Joe!

He would have been under particular scrutiny tonight given that Saint-Maximin would have played if he’d been available.

He got into some good positions in the first 80 minutes but you could see the little confidence he had draining from his body as he fluffed his lines.

However, he kept going, he kept grafting, he kept trying, and lo and behold, he provided a top class assist for Wilson’s goal with two minutes to go.

Then he got his head down, and with the last bit of energy he had, he scored a minute later. It wasn’t a great goal, it needed a deflection, but so what? I couldn’t be more pleased for him. Well done Joe.

NEGATIVES

Poor finishing

We’ll get fewer chances against better teams than we got tonight and for 88 minutes it was the typical story of wasted opportunities.

Joe was, of course, the biggest culprit, but he wasn’t alone. We need to be more clinical.

Lack of finesse

You’ll often hear managers and pundits going on about ‘that little bit of quality’.

Well, Newcastle seldom provide a great deal of it, and there were enough poor passes, head tennis and aimless long balls to suggest it is still in limited supply.

A bit of finesse would have seen us winning this more comfortably.

Papering over cracks

It would be easy to think that things are going well for Newcastle United, 10th in the league with a comfortable cushion against the relegation places is a position a lot of teams would take.

I would too, but we all know that all is not well at St James Park.

For every decent performance like this there is one poor one and one terrible one, and tonight’s showing doesn’t make everything better.

Stats from BBC Sport:

Crystal Palace 0 Newcastle 2 – Friday 27 November 8pm

Goals:

Newcastle:

Wilson 88, Joelinton 89

Crystal Palace:

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Possession was Crystal Palace 58% (58%) Newcastle 42% (42%)

Total shots were Crystal Palace 12 (3) Newcastle 14 (6)

Shots on target were Crystal Palace 3 (2) Newcastle 7 (3)

Corners were Crystal Palace 7 (3) Newcastle 3 (1)

Referee: Graham Scott

Newcastle United:

Darlow, Manquillo, Fernandez, Clark, Lewis, Shelvey, Hendrick, S Longstaff, Almiron (Ritchie 68), Joelinton (Schar 90+3), Wilson

Unused Subs:

Gillespie, M Longstaff, Yedlin, Murphy, Anderson

Crowd: 00,000

(Trolls attack Newcastle United fans after 2-0 win at Crystal Palace – Read HERE)

(Crystal Palace 0 Newcastle 2 – Watch HERE as Wilson and Joelinton clinch it in official match highlights)

(Crystal Palace 0 Newcastle 2 – Instant NUFC fan/writer reaction to Friday’s victory – Read HERE)