Newcastle 1 Arsenal 0 – Instant NUFC fan / writer reaction

Newcastle 1 Arsenal 0 – Saturday 4 November 5.30pm

Back at St James’ Park after that excellent win at Old Trafford.

What a follow up to that!

Nat Seaton:

‘What an absolute fantastic WELL DESERVED win!!!

We were amazing even though everything seemed against us tonight.

Thankfully they couldn’t find something to disallow the goal for 😉

This team belongs with those fighting at the top of the league and tonight we proved it!

Bring on Dortmund…’

Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey:

‘Fantastic!

What a win.

Three times VAR tried to deny us but we still won out.

More injuries to cope with and Bruno suspended but let’s worry about that tomorrow!’

Billy Miller:

‘And tonight’s WWE Pay Per View…

A match with so much controversy you could see them spending more time talking about it than showing the highlights on MOTD later.

A huge win though. So hard fought and so deserved.

We’re building up something of a rivalry with Arsenal in recent times and it was so enjoyable to get one over them.’

David Punton:

‘Heroics from Gordon as we edge out the Gunners in a powderkeg of a game just before bonfire night.

It was tetchy.

It was tense.

It has abysmal refereeing from Attwell and it had a United winner in the second half.

A goal given, through VAR relentlessly tried to find a reason to disallow it.

Special mention for Kai Havertz – a deeply loathsome player who really ought to have been sent off.

Maybe Bruno should have gone as well?

The injuries mount up but we won again.

To beat Arsenal is massive.’

GToon:

‘Massive win.

Even my son says “just amazing, a proper win” and Elliot my eldest reckons it was fully deserved.

I asked the lads as my reply would have been full of expletives.

But yeah get the … in.

Eddie is rewriting our history against the top six and long may it continue!’

Simon Ritter:

‘The grittiest performance since John Wayne starred as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.

But this was a team effort, no stars, just 15 players who gave their all against an Arsenal team unbeaten in the Premier League until tonight.

Five yellow cards against one for Arsenal gives a totally false impression of a match refereed incompetently by Stuart Attwell, who for some unfathomable reason decided a two-footed, off the ground lunge by the odious Havertz on Sean Longstaff in the first half warranted only a booking rather than instant dismissal.

Understandably, some of United’s men lost their heads in an instant reaction when they realised the German was being allowed to stay on the pitch.

A yellow for Bruno G near the end might be a blessing in disguise, because he will now miss the match at Bournemouth, but if the authorities decide his off-the-ball elbow that hit Havertz in the head is deserving of retrospective punishment, our hot-headed midfielder has only himself to blame.

Anthony Gordon deserves the headlines for scoring the only goal, aided by Jacob Murphy and Joe Willock, who had been on the pitch only two minutes when they both made vital contributions.

Murphy looked distraught when his shoulder injury was aggravated.

But he, like the rest of United’s battlers, can wear their shirts with pride after another fantastic effort.’

Davey Hat-Trick:

‘A great win and three brilliant points in a scrappy, febrile game.

Arsenal are a horrible team, so it was particularly satisfying.

The ref lost control of the game after 20 minutes.

He should have given Havertz a red, or at least a second yellow in the second half.

Instead he booked three of our players for pointing out how bad he was.

VAR considered three separate reasons to disallow our goal before reluctantly giving it.

What a load of rubbish.

Anyway, monumental performances all over the pitch from the boys in black and white.

More down to hard work, concentration and discipline than flair, but a special mention for Jamaal Lascelles, who was magnificent.”

Tony Mallabar:

‘Back in the 84/85 season, after promotion, games I looked forward to were us dining back at the top table and Arsenal were one of those teams I looked forward to visiting.
Highbury didn’t disappoint.

Under King Kev and SBR we competed with them sporadically.

But tonight it felt like we are here full time.

Rice is class but Bruno stuck with it till the end.

Only downside was wor flags doing nowt for Remembrance Sunday. Shame on them, I will be cancelling my direct debit.’

Jamie Smith:

‘Terrific hard fought win.

The ridiculous decision to allow Kavertz to stay on after a blatant assault was reminiscent of his behaviour for Chelsea a couple of years ago.

The ref booking Longstaff, Schar and Gordon for protesting, the tackle was utter madness and needs looked at in spite of the result.

Fortunately Kavertz didn’t rub salt in the wound as per last time as a typical Arsenal performance was cancelled out by a strong United showing, with the stupid amount of checks on Gordon’s winner the only irritant in a stellar second half.

Disappointing for Bruno to pick up a suspension (although would you rather he sat Bournemouth out and returned for Chelsea, Man U etc) and Murphy’s shoulder obviously wasn’t ready, but we head to Germany full of confidence.

Last time we beat Man U and Arsenal in the same week anyone?’

Stats via BBC Sport:

Newcastle 1 Arsenal 0 – Saturday 4 November 5.30pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Gordon 64

 Arsenal:

Possession was Arsenal 60%  Newcastle 40%

Total shots were Arsenal 14 Newcastle 9

Shots on target were Arsenal 1 Newcastle 2

Corners Arsenal 11 Newcastle 0

Referee: Stuart Attwell

Attendance:  52,194 (3,000 Arsenal)

Newcastle team v Arsenal:

Pope, Trippier, Lascelles, Schar, Burn (Livramento 45), Longstaff, Bruno, Joelinton, Almiron (Murphy 63 (Ritchie 79)), Wilson (Willock 62), Gordon

SUBS:

Dubravka, Dummett, Krafth, Hall, Lewis Miley

(Newcastle 1 Arsenal 0 – United are absolutely back… brilliant! Read HERE)