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Opinion

3 Positives and 3 Negatives from Fulham 1 Newcastle 4

1 year ago
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Saturday afternoon ended Fulham 1 Newcastle 4.

A match full of drama and goals, United finally get the second Premier League win of the season that many of their performances have deserved.

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 David Punton.

POSITIVES

Getting the job done

They often say it’s harder to beat a team with ten men, and while that’s a cliché, you did wonder if Fulham might dig in and scrape a draw.

The good news is that our players had other ideas and were able to ruthlessly see off the home side.

Fulham were like a boxer trying to clear their heads as we ran riot in that first half.

Newcastle made the man advantage work beautifully for them. They used the spare the man to carve open the chances. It should have been more.

What a great way to tune up and for once a sense that a game was going our way a bit more than they had been before the international break

The even bigger positive – I genuinely think we’d have come off with the win even if the hosts had kept 11 men on the park.

It was all achieved with Isak and ASM absent, and Joelinton having to drop out with a knee issue. Howe also alluded to some ‘illness’ in the camp.

It was a wonderful day after such a long wait for the Premier League to return.

Miggy at the double

Almiron is living proof that a player can thrive under a good manager.

Under Eddie Howe he is really getting back to the player we all hoped he’d be when he first signed for the club.

The Paraguayan scored two goals. His first a stunning volley and you can see he really loves to bang them in from impossibly acute angles.

The second was a great run to the back post to finish off a sweeping move.

A player reborn then. Perhaps fired up by all that Jack Grealish nonsense.

Hitting form

What a sight to see Bruno back on the pitch.

We had missed the Brazilian maestro massively.

He just finds passes in tight areas that others can’t. It’s a god given talent. In his 57 minute run out he has 88% passing accuracy, six chances created, and one assist. It perhaps could have been more.

At the other end, I have to save some words for Sven Botman. What a unit he is. A tank of a player.

And finally, Joe Willock. Two assists. He goes under the radar but he had a brilliant game and it’s clear just how important he is from midfield, just as much as Bruno. He’s a driving force. Amazing levels of fitness. Good legs on him!

NEGATIVES

Marco nonsense

The Fulham boss was unhappy with the red card. I assume the point he was making was that he’s seen other games when a red wasn’t given in these circumstances?

The fact is Trevor Chalobah could have snapped Sean Longstaff’s leg and put him out for a year.

Thankfully, no injury was sustained.

Marco Silva, a manager I actually quite like, wouldn’t have been saying that if it was the other way round.

Managers need to think harder about media utterances when it comes to VAR.

A reminder of what we lost?

When I saw Aleksandar Mitrovic and Kevin Mbabu running out for Fulham, I did wonder what might have been.

Both players once on our books, albeit under the previous joke of a regime that was Mike Ashley.

Mitro has matured into a hell of a striker. He’s a better player now and people forget he was a bairn at NUFC and still had a lot to learn.

We were perhaps a tad fortunate he got a heavy knock on his ankle for Serbia in midweek.

Missing out on the clean sheet

It’s hard to find negatives after a 4-1 win away from home, but perhaps when Howe rang the changes late on it showed a bit of where we lack – strength in depth.

There seemed to be a mix up with Lewis and he allowed their player to nod the consolation goal home.

A minor blot in the copybook but one that shows the bench isn’t as strong as we’d like.

You could see when they scored that Sven Botman was visibly peeved that after such a great day we let the oppo score a goal so late on.

Things to work on for messrs Lewis and Lascelles.

Stats from BBC Sport:

Fulham 1 Newcastle 4 – Saturday 1 October 3pm

Goals:

Newcastle:

Wilson 11, Almiron 33, 57, Longstaff 43

Fulham:

Chalobah red card 8, De Cordova-Reid 88

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Possession was Fulham 31% (24%) Newcastle 69% (76%)

Total shots were Fulham 4 (0) Newcastle 19 (13)

Shots on target were Fulham 1 (0) Newcastle 10 (7)

Corners were Fulham 1 (0) Newcastle 8 (4)

Referee: Darren England

Attendance: 22,913 (2,300 Newcastle)

Newcastle United:

Pope, Trippier (Lewis 83), Schar (Lascelles 83), Botman, Burn (Targett 83), Longstaff, Bruno (Anderson 59), Willock, Murphy, Almiron, Wilson (Fraser 66)

Unused Subs:

Karius, Dummett, Joelinton, Wood

(Eddie Howe reflects on Fulham result and performance – Read HERE)

(Looking on at classic Archibald Leitch – Sitting on our hands in with the Fulham fans – Read HERE)

(Watch all four NUFC goals here – Fulham 1 Newcastle 4 match highlights -Watch HERE)

(Marco Silva embarrassingly blames match officials for hammering by Newcastle United – Read HERE)

(Fulham 1 Newcastle 4 – Match ratings and comments on all the NUFC players – Read HERE)

(Fulham 1 Newcastle 4 – The instant NUFC fan / writer reaction – Read HERE)

(Fulham 1 Newcastle 4 – Capital fun for Eddie Howe and his players as they run riot – Read HERE)

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