Newcastle 2-4 West Ham

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Match Summary...

Finally, football is back! Or should that be, finally, we are back at the football? Either way, not being able to atttend live matches has been one of the hardest parts of this pandemic for me (and I am sure for countless of you as well) and so it was just bloody lovely to get back to SJP, gaze at the hallowed turf below, sing my heart out with my comrades and just appreciate being a football fan again.

In a word, this match was 'entertaining'. For those that have been crying out since the Rafa days for a team that gets forward, scores goals and might leave themselves vulnerable on the counter, then this was most certainly a game for you. The noise and passion that greeted the first whistle brought a beaming smile to my face and that smile was stretched even wider when after just 4mins of the game, the roof came off SJP and we were able to celebrate our first goal of the season thanks to (unsurprisingly) outstanding work from our mecurial Frenchman ASM down the right and superb center forward play from our 'new' No.9 Wilson to bury his header at the near post. Great goal. Great start!

The first half ebbed and flowed with both teams looking dangerous. Saint-Maximin and Wilson for the Toon, Benrahma and Antonio for the visitors. Indeed both Rice and Shelvey also had good aspects to their game in the middle of the pitch for their respective sides with both players creating good opportiunities for their forward lines with inch perfect passing.

West Ham's first equaliser came about after some extremely dodgy NUFC defending (a sign of things to come) left Cresswell with the freeedom of the Gallowgate to send a cross/shot into the bottom right of PL debutant Woodman's goal. A temporary reprieve from the assistant's flag proved exactly that, when VAR (correctly this time) showed that the ball had already crossed the goal line by the time Bowen got anything on it. Cresswell's goal, 1-1, bugger.

Newcastle responded well to this set back and didn't take long to get the fans back on their side. Another excellent run and lay off from ASM saw Almiron take a deflected shot that rattled the top of the crossbar. West Ham also pressed hard to take the lead as well however, as a slaloming run from Bowen was only denied an early 'Goal of the Month' contender by a brave, solid block from Woodman.

With 5mins left on the clock in the first half, good work from Miggy on the left side saw him play Ritchie in on the by line, Ritchie's resultant cross (probably one of his only positive contributions, unfortunately) arched in the air before being met with a guided header at the back post from opposite wing-back , Murphy, which nestled beautifully in the bottom left corner of the net. Cue elation in the stands once more and the players from both teams being applauded from the field at half time after a really quite good first half of football.

The second half saw more of the same... from West Ham that is, as they continually looked for the pacey, powerful Antonio, and the tricky, agile Benrahma. The Newcastle defence had their work cut out for sure and quite simply, were not up to the task. Whilst we still occasionally threatened at the Gallowgate end through the impressive Wilson and Saint-Maximin, a kamikaze style defensive display f0r the opening 20mins of the second half saw a 2-1 lead disappear and a 4-2 defeat come roaring into view.

West Ham's second goal reminded me very much of our first, with an inch perfect, high velocity cross being expertly headed home. Antonio had no right to produce the quality in the cross that he did after his dodgy first touch, however what Ritchie and Clark were doing when Benrahma was free to head home unchallenged at the back post is beyond me. Poor.

At 2-2, this game could hae gone either way, with both teams creating half chances. It became obvious that the next goal was going to be vital. Unfortunately, the only outright terrible piece of refereeing in the entire PL this weekend saw our visitors inexplicably awarded a penalty after Murphy's inch perfect, clean challenge on Benrahma (who in his defence did not appeal in the slightest) was adjudged to have been a foul by the man in the middle, and then, even more ridiculously, by VAR who didn't even suggest that Mr Atkinson consult his monitor before confirming the decision. Bad officiating for sure.

The resulting spot kick gave Newcastle fans the most temporary high I can remeber after Woodman's good save was bundled home by Soucek after he showed infinitely more desire to chase in after the ball that Ritchie did. 3-2 down, more poor defensive play and a real sense of injustice.

I genuinely thought at this point that Newcastle still had a good chance of winning the game - our forwards were playing well and we had exposed Dawson's lack of mobility at the back on regular occasions. However, a few moments later, it was clear this was not going to be the case. Antonio robbed Shelvey of possession just inside our visitors' half before turning and outrunning our entire defense (who were running in treacle by comparison) to get on the end of Benrahma's slick through ball and lash home from 15 yards giving poor Woodman little chance. Slack defending for sure, but an outstanding counter attack from the visitors.

At 2-4 the game was all but over as a contest, but there was always hope, with Wilson on the pitch we always stand a chance of getting a goal or two. Steve Bruce decided to put an end to that when he replaced him with Joelinton having already replaced Shelvey with Fraser, essentially asking Hayden to run midfield on his own against the impressive Rice and Soucek. In case I haven't been clear in this paragraph, our manager's substitutions made little sense to me.

Fraser had one decent effort from the inside left channel go a yard or so wide and Ritchie's effort from the edge of the box was deflected dangerously behind for a corner, but other than that, NUFC struggled to create much more in the way of clear cut chances and were essentially well beaten in the end, after a second half to forget.

Player Scores...

Woodman 7.0 : Very unlucky to concede four on his PL debut as none of the goals were his fault. Nothing he could do about either of the first two at all. Saved brilliantly from Bowen and also stopped a penalty. Maybe could have done more with the 4th goal as it wasn't too far away from him but I am probably being harsh as it was a venomous strike from Antonio.

Murphy 7.2 : He's not a defender, but he's doing the job. He got forward really well at times and scored a lovely header - really pleased for one of our own to get his first SJP goal and he can consider himself extremely unlucky to have conceded the penalty after a superb challenge. The best of the back five by a country mile!

Krafth 4.5 : A below average right back. A woeful center half. I've been told by friends in the pub that I criticise his work ethic unfairly but he's just not good enough in my book. Seeing him play at CB with Schar and Lascelles sat on the bench is criminal. Needs dropping vs Villa.

Fernandez 5.0 : Looked every bit the 'past it' CB. Hasn't got the pace to get himself out of trouble which you need with the speed of West Ham's counter. Passing was poor and he dived in on a few occasions where he should have stood his ground, most noticeably in the case of Bowen's slalom run in the first half.

Clark 4.8 : I have always like Ciaran Clark. 100% grafter who has never let us down when called upon since he signed in the Championship season. But today I found myself asking, is he still good enough for this level? I'm worried the answer may be, 'no'. Regularly outpaced and played around for fun by the West Ham attackers and he even lost the physical battle with Antonio too. If possible, I think he needs replacing, at the very least with Dummett when he returns from injury.

Ritchie 4.2 : Oh dear... cross for the second goal apart, Ritchie was dire here. his defensive awareness was lacking in three out of the four goals and his lack of pace was exposed for the fourth as well. He will have better days but he was really bad here. Proving yet again, we are asking players who have carved a living as wingers, to play as part of a defensive line. Would be tempted to give Lewis a try next time out.

Hayden 5.0 : I felt sorry for Hayden. He had Shelvey playing in what I consider 'his position' in front of the back four and so was asked to try and break forward and be the box to box player that supports the attack. This is what will surely be Willock's role moving forward as Hayden showed here that despite his best efforts, he is a versatile defensive player but not exactly an attacking threat.

Shelvey 5.5 : Showed a great range of passing, especially in the first half but was completely overrun and outpaced in the middle. With Hayden playing further forward, Rice and Soucek had a field day in the middle with Shelvey chasing shadows. I use 'chasing' very loosely here as I'm still not sure the guy can actually run.

Almiron 5.8 : Ran around. Linked play occasionally. Being asked to play an unfamiliar role to accommodate ASM as a forward. He wasn't bad here but he wasn't great either. I am hoping having Willock in the team will allow Almiron to play more freely.

Saint-Maximin 8.3 : NUFC's #MOTM. Showed exactly what he is all about! Outstanding pace, trickery and on this occasion, end product to match. Keep him fit and we will have far more good days than bad this season. Only criticism is that he lost the ball in our own half on three separate occasions, one of which directly led to a West Ham goal. This definitely needs to be worked on moving forward.

Wilson 8.2 : NUFC have a PROPER No.9! If it wasn't for ASM he would have been my man of the match for sure. He took his goal perfectly, was unlucky not to have a second with a sublime improvised flick of the heel and generally just led the line brilliantly. If he stays fit, he will score at least 15 goals this season. Get him in your fantasy teams, folks!

SUBS:

Fraser 6.5 : Showed glimpses of what he can do. Could well take on the role of impact sub in games to come. Has a real fight on his hands to get in the starting line up ahead of our other 'forwards' though.

Longstaff N/A

Joelinton N/A

Final Thoughts...

Conceding four goals at home on the opening day to a team that, although pretty good, are not exactly world beaters is hard not to feel disappointed about. However, there were a lot of positives to be taken from today IMO. We have a front two on the top of their game and who, when Willock is added to the equation as well, will give anybody a scare.

It is further back on the pitch that have alarm bells ringning for me. Clark, Ritchie, Shelvey and Hayden were all part of our Championship winning team FIVE SEASONS AGO. This of course doesn't automatically make them bad players now but the back line needs refreshing for sure and as I have outlined above, Emil Krafth is not the answer.

The transfer window is still open and with Willock signed up I am not going to pretend that Ashley is likely to shell out any more cash before the month is out. However, some shrewd loan signings are going to be required if we are going to really compete with the upper middle section of the league this year. If it was me, I would be looking for a new CB and probably a mobile CDM but also a new LB and backup ST could easily be considered priorities too... Don't want much do we!? I guess we will have to wait and see what happens...

So a disappointing end to a match that promised so much at one stage. And whilst watching my beloved NUFC lose will always hurt, good God it was good to be back. HTL.