All,
for those of you unable to attend games at Gallowgate for whatever reason here is the seventh of my match accounts for this season, including personal thoughts as a Newcastle supporter as the day’s events unfolded both outside and inside St James Park.
The visit of Chelski meant another earlier than usual foray into the Toon. Mainly thanks to Sly Sports and their powerful dominance over the fixture list, including such matters as even dictating stupid kick off times. That said as with the previous lunchtime fixture against The Toffees I had the pleasure of some Blues for company during pre-match training, this time the West End of London variety rather than those from Liverpool. They were of the old school and have been following the Club far longer than the Roman era, in deed as one of them said quite seriously, “It felt like it had been since Roman times before they had anything to cheer about”. Which is something most, if not all, Toon fans can relate too. The conversation also included various thoughts and personal anecdotes about Gary Speed. That again included views from the Chelski supporters. As for predicting a possible score-line that became almost secondary to discussing what makes someone take their own life when they appear to have so much to live for. Things tailed off as one or two around the table sat quietly with their own thoughts and it was a kind of relief when everyone finished their drinks then set off for the ground.
It became obvious as we made our way up towards Gallowgate that the fixture was a sell out with over 52,000 attending the game. Thankfully, I managed to get myself inside the ground without too much fuss just as they announced the teams. The only change from the team that faced Manure being the surprise return of Peter Lovenkrands, with the Danish forward replacing the suspended Jonas at outside left.
Before the game kicked off the revised tribute to Gary Speed took place. Now whether this tribute became screwed up because it had been changed from what had originally been agreed is open to debate. However to have the announcer blast in halfway through the minutes applause to tell everyone there would be a minutes applause on the refs whistle just beggared belief. To say it got my blood boiling a bit more before a ball is even kicked would be an understatement. With the principal formal tribute now completed the game eventually got underway with Newcastle attacking the Gallowgate End.
I expected this game to be a lively encounter and believed it was a very good opportunity for The Mags to record a victory against Chelski, something that has not been the case for quite a while. With the game hardly having completed five minutes the first major incident took place. David Luiz brought down Demba Ba to deny what appeared to me to be a goal scoring opportunity. Luiz certainly was the last man and it was certainly a foul, however referee Mike Dean thought a caution was sufficient rather than the anticipated Red Card. That outcome was in many ways to set the tempo for the whole of the first half as Dean in my view continued to favour the away side with his decisions.
Not that Chelski needed much help as for some reason the Newcastle defence played a much higher position up the field than I have seen them this season or would have recommended. This effectively left a huge amount of space for the extremely quick Daniel Sturridge to take on Ryan Taylor. On another occasion this may not have been as much of a problem however as Peter Lovenkrands was given the nod to replace Gutierrez it was one that would have adverse effects in terms of Newcastle’s defensive capabilities. It’s hardly a secret that Gutierrez offers vital cover to Ryan and unfortunately with Lovenkrands played in a more attacking role it left Taylor totally exposed. Not that I was thinking Lovenkrands was strictly playing on the left wing as he often drifted inside and even into Chelski’s penalty area. Therefore, whenever The Blues regained possession, play shifted to Sturridge who very quickly created havoc down the right flank. The warning bells were ringing loud and clear long before the eventual foul for a penalty. Not that it was much of a tackle from Cabaye. More a case of stick your foot out and I’ll fall over it, which only gave ref Dean the perfect reason to award the spot kick and produce the second talking point of the game.
Yet such is football it was not as you may have guessed the scoring of a goal from that incident, but a stunning save that produced the roar from the terraces. You could almost sense Tim Krul saying this one is for Speedo as he dived to his left to stop Lampard’s effort. Chelski were stunned and The Mags in raptures. The next twenty minutes or so was The Blues against Krul as wave after wave of counter attacking play headed towards the Leazes End goal. It was also during this period of the game that Coloccini (27) left the field with an injury for substitute James Perch.
The opening goal when it came also involved another bout of contention between the match officials and the crowd. They appeared unsure that the attempted right side cross had come off Ryan Taylors head although Dean again indicated in favour of the away team to give the throw on the other side of the pitch to Chelski. At this point Newcastle fell asleep leaving Cabaye slow to close down Mata and Perch to defend against Drogba in the box. The Ivorian centre forward easily out jumping the inept defender Perch to send a powerful header past Krul for one nil. It remained that way up until the break.
Most of the talk at half time was about the red that was not for Luiz and the fact Newcastle had been very poor as an attacking force. Obertan had done his right sided version of Jonas with plenty of effort but little product while Lovenkrands just appeared totally lost to me with barely an idea of what it was he is supposed to do. The midfield equally struggled with Cabaye and Guthrie practically playing the same role. Despite a huge amount of running this often resulted in one or both of them being out of position at crucial times allowing their opponents to counter attack almost at will. Ben Arfa had also been poor with Chelsea’s defensive midfielder Oriel Romeu giving him little room to show his skills. The highlights of the half being a Ba effort off the post somehow Cech kept out and a deflection that Terry cleared with the assistance of Luiz, which only added insult to injury among Mag supporters.
The second half started with an immediate change for the home side with Stroller replacing Ben Arfa. Newcastle now started to press forward and the game became a much more even affair. Strangely, Lovenkrands began to come into the game more as a playmaker. The Toon were now looking for an equaliser and could so easily have got one from an unexpected source had Drogba’s defensive header not crashed against the bar. Barely a few minutes later and the woodwork was rattled again this time from Stroller’s thunderous strike. The game was becoming delicately poised as APee sent on Sameobi for a tired Lovenkrands with less than twenty minutes to go to try to find that elusive equaliser. It almost paid off as he subsequently had a shot cleared off the line by Terry. As the game drew to it’s conclusion I had the feeling this was just going to be one of those fixtures where the score doesn’t reflect the full story. Sad to say it was to get worse as Chelski substitute Torres raced towards the Gallowgate goal only to mess up. Yet some how the ball found fellow sub Kalou who did eventually score to make it two nil. Chelski also took advantage of Steven Taylor’s injury late in the game with Daniel Sturridge getting a third although it had taken him eight shots before finally beating Tim Krul.
In the end, the 3-0 scoreline flattered Chelsea in my opinion and wasn’t a true reflection on the match, as the contest was a lot tighter up until the injury to Steven Taylor in the closing stages. Despite having more possession than Chelski, Newcastle couldn’t capitalise as The Blues played their quick counter attacking football very well and in particular, Juan Mata playing in a free role. Of course, things could have been a lot different had Luiz been sent off in the fourth minute…
Positives…...the side keep on trying and give a 100%, a magnificent crowd of over 52,000 and in my view No disgrace in this defeat.
Negatives……….Injuries to key defensive players Coloccini and Taylor, the unbeaten home record ends and further doubts in my mind regarding quality of replacements.
Next up is an away game at Norwich, the Canaries having established themselves quickly in the Premier League under the impressive stewardship of Paul Lambert. Injury problems at centre back ensure that Newcastle will have a new defensive set up for the first time this season.
CWL
I've seen Newcastle United win silverware!