Newsletter

Get your daily update and weekly newsletter by signing up today!

Match Reports

I’m calling out this main Newcastle United problem regardless of what people want to think

1 year ago
Share

I think perspective is hugely important at the moment. There’s a reason this was our first cup final in 24 years and why it has taken so long to make our first proper visit to the new Wembley.

The club was wilfully diminished and restricted for the vast majority of that time by an oppressive ownership that is now gone, to be replaced with one that is driving the club forwards towards a brighter future.

We all know that getting to this final was ahead of schedule on that particular journey but the belief was burning brighter than ever that this could be our moment for an actual bona fide trophy.

My own particular cup final story saw me and my crew rocking up at the “Geordie Quarter” – a series of bars helpfully highlighted by the London Mags as being gathering points, very early to the smashing news that both O’Neill’s and the Dolphin had early licenses. They also had massive queues as it felt like a decent portion of the 32,000 Geordies heading to the game had rocked up there for a ten o clock beer. We settled in Mabel’s round the corner for a bit then made our way to Wembley.

Wembley way was a bit special. The expected sea of black and white ahead of what was my first up close look at the famous arch. They need a not more in the way of toilet facilities mind as the walk up got brisker and brisker until I found the portaloos.

The walk was 90% Newcastle as we headed towards our designated fan park but the odd opponent infiltrated the area en route to their own half of the ground. As usual they brought their delightful array of anti-Shearer chants, which served as a reminder of the condescending attitude and unnecessary venom this club holds towards us.

Always makes me chuckle a bit that a club who has had so much success through the service of solid Geordie players, from Charlton, Robson and Bruce through to Carrick will gleefully call us out as sad Geordie b……s because on one occasion we actually kept one of our own. Frustratingly, we have had to tolerate this in the face of so many lost battles, and unfortunately today was going to add another chapter to that.

It didn’t feel like a lost cause in The White Horse pub in the fan park, as songs and banter flowed while videos were shared from events of the day, including what looked like a great time at the box park with a number of ex-players in attendance. Despite questionable form in recent weeks there was a sense of belief that this time we were taking a team to Wembley to win, and the emergence of the team news enhanced this a bit. ASM’s man of the match turn v Liverpool saw him retain his place, with Karius debuting in goal as expected and Willock fit enough for a place on the bench. High spirits indeed as we were off into Wembley.

We knew Wor Flags had something big planned and it was a bit special to see half of Wembley in black and white stripes as everyone waved the flags provided with gusto to welcome the team onto the pitch. This then gave way to scarf twirling, which was equally impressive, before it was finally time to get down to business.

The opening exchanges offered some real encouragement as we looked the better side and certainly had the lion’s share of possession. Indications started appearing though, that our opponents were maybe a bit more streetwise and experienced than our lot. ASM was to be our main attacking outlet on the left and he attempted to do his thing with mazy runs and trickery aplenty, which led to a ridiculously early booking for Diego Dalot for fouling him during one such dribble.

At this point I hoped that the strategy would be to revert to the Steve Bruce playbook and give it Maxi every single time, with instructions to run at Dalot who would either bottle a challenge and allow Allan a run at goal, or be drawn into a foul that could see us playing a large part of this game against ten men. But this did not transpire.

Bruno was busy in the middle but his passes to launch attacks would often go down the right hand side, where Trippier would be covering a punishing amount of space on the massive Wembley pitch, attempting to link up with Almiron, but more often than not finding the way blocked by an organised and resilient Man Utd back line. Tripps would then look to retain the ball by playing it back to Schar/Botman, who would play it among the back line etc etc. This kind of thing led to us ending the match with a hefty possession advantage, but nothing to show for it.

This is because it exposed the main problem Newcastle United have at the minute, one I’m calling out regardless of what people want to think about how far we’ve come, how things need time to build up, FFP is against us and so on. The problem is that we lack creativity in making goal scoring opportunities, or willingness to take shots at goal, and when we do the shots are often of an extremely poor quality. The performance in the final third is a concern and has been for some time, and if not addressed could cost us a golden opportunity to steal an advantage in the immediate future over those trying to stop us catching up with them.

It was an example of the latter category that led to our best chance of the first half. ASM made a run and found his way into the box, electing to take the shot when the possibility of a pass to Wilson may have been an option. The shot was relatively weak and close to De Gea, who saved comfortably. Moments later Man Utd broke away through Luke Shaw and put the game to bed. Fine margins.

In these scenarios where you’re hoping to upset a team in better form, you need the first goal. If it goes against you things can go downhill fast. Shaw was found near the touchline and the resultant free kick was met by Casemeiro, whose sharp header gave Karius no chance. Another lesson here, if you can manage to get headers on goal from set plays, it could offer you a route to score a few more.

There was a hint of a possible reprieve as the restart was halted for a VAR check for possible offside. This went on for what felt like a while, leading to a growing belief that it was going to get chalked off. I even let myself consider the fact that this could work in our favour, as the let off would surely spur us on. It ended with it being given to a second massive cheer from the hateful red hordes to my left. Footage showed that Weghorst was clearly offside but he was past where Casemeiro was when he headed it and nowhere near interfering with play. The scorer was on and the decision to give it was right, despite some online protestations persisting even after the match.

This was a hammer blow and brought back memories of these games in the past where this kind of opponent has just been better at managing the occasion than us. It’s possible that heads going down in the crowd translated to the pitch, as I think the nerves and the lingering impostor syndrome among the emotionally scarred Toon Army was tangible on the day. It took another six minutes for Man Utd to kill the game with the second we all knew would leave an unclimbable mountain.

It seems teams have recently worked out that our high defensive line can be exploited by long balls in behind to fast forwards. Marcus Rashford is one such forward in imperious form, although he was fairly quiet for most of the day. He got in behind Botman and somehow managed to arc his shot past the diving Karius to create heartbreak behind the goal. It later transpired that Karius had dived for Rashford’s initial shot (which may have been heading wide) only for Botman’s despairing challenge to divert the shot at a different angle, so much so that the strike was subsequently credited as an own goal to Sven. There seems to be debate as to whether Nick Pope would have saved it had he been available, but it’s pointless to debate hypotheticals.

Karius for me performed admirably and can hold his head up high. The second half saw him produce a fine save to deny Weghorst’s top corner bound effort and another to deny Fernandes late on, with him producing eight saves in total as our defence didn’t have its best day.

Shots at the other end weren’t really a thing of course, we did register a second shot on target when Joelinton reacted to a goalmouth scramble, but the effort has the familiar hallmarks of being devoid of power and straight at the keeper. When Manchester fetched Harry Maguire on in injury time, I did wonder if the outcome would have been identical today if they’d stuck him in goal for the full 90.

Isak appeared at the outset of the second half, with Longstaff withdrawn to make a more outright attack. The Swede injected a bit of impetus with his tricky runs and desire to get at them, but it all seems a bit confusing up front and sorting this out must be Howe’s number one priority.

Wilson looks wrecked. He was anonymous for this match and has been a shadow of himself since the World Cup. I believe he focused heavily on making that England squad and, having achieved that he has become directionless, with strange combinations of illness and injury robbing him of both appearances and form. I believe this final looming led to further insistence that he was good to play when a period of recuperation seems in order while he gets over whatever the hell is going on. By contrast, Isak is our record signing, one of the worlds top striking prospects, yet is reduced to cameos off the bench, playing in whatever position the bloke he replaces was in. Eddie need to start Isak in the position he intends him being in long-term, and utilise who he can around him until the point he can move in the transfer market for attacking reinforcements. A similar approach is needed to accommodate Anthony Gordon, now that his cup-tied status has expired.

There’s a bit of a free punch at Man City next week, where no one should panic in the event of defeat, but the subsequent Wolves game needs a properly defined and improved attacking plan, that can continue past this season. It would be useful if this focus could include working on our corners, which have become Pardewesque in their uselessness, more often than not providing an opportunity for the opponent to launch a promising counter attack. I even feel that teams are readily conceding set plays, knowing they have little to fear in spite of Trippier having fine delivery technique and there being several six foot plus players in the box. Ironically, the one time this did almost come off was from a short one, with Trippier’s returned ball finding Dan Burn at the back post, but he headed wide to deny the celebrations of what would be a very popular goal.

The introduction of Jacob Murphy turned out to be the biggest changer, as Murphy provided exactly what had been missing. He made a run into the box and fired horribly high, but at least je was having a go, then moments later unleashed an absolute thunderbolt from distance that hit the outside of the post with De Gea beaten. He also produced a tremendous sliding tackle to snuff out one of Man U’s many counter attacks.

The final whistle went to much sagging of shoulders while the horrors at the other end erupted at yet another trophy, despite protesting their dastardly owners towards the end of the match (while wearing scarves those owners had provided). This is something that hurts for me, as these fans have always directed such vitriol towards us in the face of their teams consistent high achievements, it seems they take more pleasure in spite than the actual trophy they’ve discussed since like it’s part of some accountancy balance sheet, getting that first trophy nailed down before moving on to serious business. All a sharp contrast with the reception the league cup would have received on Tyneside.

I thin’ this is why the toothless performance has really bothered me. The echoes of the past, when Man U repeatedly ruined our dreams, as another chance passed us by, a big one. I have seen many comments about the man who wrote in The Mag about how he was excited for this game being the last opportunity to see his team win a cup as his life was sadly drawing to a close. One of my closest friends actually revealed that he may be unable to attend games in the near future as he awaits a critical medical procedure, which brings with it a similar threat to mortality. I have to admit I am angry at the thought of him being denied the opportunity to see this little dream come true. However, in the main I think attitudes need to change towards this sort of thing.

I have seen some people stating how proud they are at the fans performance, that we did the region proud. First of all, I’m not sure this is true. The scenes pre match were excellent, and the Wor Flags display spectacular both before kick off and when it resurfaced amid the certain defeat of the closing moments (although I was sat in a white section, and the waving of these flags felt frustratingly appropriate). However, I would say the support throughout the match was patchy, with a nervous air emanating and songs not really getting going. The nature of the cavernous stands at the enormous stadium is probably a factor in this, but I’ve seen many reports of people being told to sit down by irregular attendees who perhaps have no experience of this being the norm at away games (including for kids, who stand on seats). This will undoubtedly have created negative atmospheres in various areas and the presence of so many there to merely spectate instead of helping create a supportive environment surely came through in a muted display more akin to the earlier rounds of this cup than a typical game on the road.

Secondly, we cannot continue to foster an environment of “we had a good day, we did the region proud, never mind”. We need to want to win, and to ask questions why we didn’t or can’t if the performance is not up to scratch. This is not mutually exclusive with showing appreciation for where we’ve come from, you can still respect and support everyone at the club while asking questions about their intentions for making us better. If the general vibe is one of wispy-washy acceptance of second best, that is exactly the role we’ll continue to occupy and even if you are willing to accept this, I can assure you that the people bankrolling the club will not be.

Leaving Wembley with that horrible, empty, heartbroken feeling again, wondering whether we’ll ever see the day was made worse by bumping into opposition fans, some of them too bored to stay and watch another trophy being lifted, a few on our train taking a quick hop back to their Essex home. You want accountability for ensuring that these nonplussed plastics don’t continue to get to monopolise these feelings and everything is being done to ensure that the people of our city can have just one moment of the happiness we crave instead of it being handed to snarky plastics who use it as a tool to throw some abuse our way. A good start might be practising a few corners.

There will be another day. I’m not sure when, but I want us to be up for it, and I hope it’s before many more Mags miss the chance at the moment they crave. Better please.

Stats from BBC Sport:

Newcastle United 0 Manchester United 2 – Sunday 26 February 4.30pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Man U:

Casemiro 33, Rashford 39

Possession was Man U 39% Newcastle 61%

Total shots were Man U 14 Newcastle 15

Shots on target were Man U 10 Newcastle 2

Corners were Man U 6 Newcastle 6

Referee: David Coote

Attendance: 87,306

Newcastle United:

Karius, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Longstaff (Isak 45), Bruno (Willock 79), Joelinton, Almiron (Anderson 90+1), Saint-Maximin (Murphy 78), Wilson (Ritchie 90+1)

Unused Subs:

Gillespie, Targett, Lascelles, Manquillo

(BBC Sport comments from ‘neutrals’ – Interesting on Newcastle United after Manchester United final defeat – Read HERE)

(Small margins conspire to cause huge divide between winners and losers – Read HERE)

(Newcastle United 0 Manchester United 2 – Match ratings and comments on all the NUFC players – Read HERE)

(Newcastle United 0 Manchester United 2 – The next morning NUFC fan / writer reaction – Read HERE)

You can follow the author on Twitter @Mr_Dolf

Share

If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk

Have your say

© 2024 The Mag. All Rights Reserved. Design & Build by Mediaworks